Chapter 27 - Maddie: New Beginnings
“He kept me up all night last night. I didn’t even get any sleep.” I yawned. “I can’t believe I’m going to get one in less than two months.”
The baby was silent in the day and super active at night. Just like his damn father. I often scowled at Marcus while he slept peacefully beside me.
My hormones had been so all over the place. One minute, I couldn’t wait to jump his bones, and the next I wanted to slap him. Marcus said his son was taking after him by causing me stress, and I couldn’t have agreed more. I loved being pregnant, but I was over it now.
My feet were swollen, my boobs would leak occasionally, and don’t even get me started on the bladder situation. I was almost seven months, but I looked nine. I blamed Marcus’ big-head genes. I was not looking forward to pushing that out of my vagina.
I stared at Axel and Marcus, as they played together by the swing set he had built. Danny and I were sitting by the porch drinking lemonade. Since my second trimester, I had been craving lemons. I loved them in anything and everything.
I even ate them whole as they were. Marcus was thoroughly disgusted by it, and I took advantage of that. I would chew on lemons night and day in front of his face just to annoy him. I knew he secretly loved it.
I made lemon everything. From cakes to biscuits and even seafood. I was sure after Peter was born, I would be thoroughly repulsed by the idea of lemons.
Yes, we were naming our baby boy after my dad, my real dad. Peter Hunter Anderson.
It had been six and a half months since the whole incident with Ashleigh. She had escaped the fire as well, but no one had seen nor heard from her since then. Linda and Ryan McNeil refused to tell anyone anything and claimed they didn’t know of her whereabouts.
The woman was unhinged, and I had said it the first day I had met her, but no one wanted to believe me when I said it. But, at least, she was finally out of our lives.
I was at peace, and I was happy. I had a husband whom I loved and a baby boy who was going to add to our growing family.
Lily had given birth to the most beautiful baby girl, Anna. She was perfect. She was the carbon copy of Ethan, much to his dismay, but she had the firecracker energy of Lily.
Grayson and Jade were finally tying the knot after almost a two-year-long engagement. They were scheduled to get married just before thanksgiving, and they had asked to use the ranch which I had agreed to of course.
Since losing the house, we decided to move to the ranch until our new house was ready to move into. I had thought that living on a ranch would have bored me. I loved it. It was peaceful and serene and a great change of pace from what I had originally been used to in my life.
Riverroad had become my new home, and I wasn’t complaining. Did I miss New York? Not at all. There was nothing back there for me anymore. I hadn’t spoken to my mother since the day at the hotel and Richard had made it very clear that I was cut off. Did it bother me? No. They had made their choices and I had made mine.
I only hoped that, down the road somewhere, they would be able to look back on what they did and be at peace with their decisions.
I placed my glass down and opened the letter that had started all of this. I hadn’t read Peter’s letter in over a year. But today, I woke up feeling nostalgic.
It read:
Dear Maddison,
Do you know that I picked out your name before I even knew you? I fell in love with the name when I was 13 and, when I started dating your mom, I told her that, if we ever had a daughter, I would want to name her Maddison.
Now, I know what you are thinking. Who the hell am I? Well, sweetheart, I’m your dad. I know I haven’t been much of a dad in your life, but truth be told, I never knew about you until a little while back.
There is a long history of things between your mom’s family and me that lead to the end of our relationship, but one thing I do want you to know is that you were created out of love. Your mother and I were deeply and madly in love with one another. We had planned to spend the rest of our lives together, but her family had other plans.
I had found a job in Sandlewood, and we were going to run away together but, at the last minute, your mom turned around and said she couldn’t come with me. I knew her father had a lot to do with it. So I left. Now looking back, I should have fought harder for us. I should have resisted her no, but back then, I was a man who didn’t like hard things. I liked easy things.
When I finally got my head out of my ass seven years later, I came back, but your mom was gone, and your existence was not made known to me.
I tried hard to move on from your mother, but I couldn’t. She stole my heart the day I met her, and she left with it when she left to marry Richard. You see, Maddie, in life, love is rare. It is so rare that not everyone gets to taste what it is like. We are surrounded by a superficial love that is dressed up like the real thing. And the problem is everyone thinks the superficial thing is real when it's not.
If you are reading this, then it means that I have met my end. I wished I could have found you earlier. I wished I could have gotten to know you. I wished you would have gotten to know me.
Seeing as I have all 26 years of presents to catch up on, I’m leaving you with a gift. I am giving you my ranch. You can contact Arnie, he is my best friend, he will help you with the whole process.
You won’t understand now, but you will understand later when I say just trust the process. I know what I will be asking you is a lot, but I have faith that the task you will undertake will bring you the greatest joy you can ever imagine.
If I am to ever say anything as your dad, it will be this. Take the chance on love and life. Don’t always sit on the sidelines trying to think things through and find the quickest and easiest way. Things worth having in life are not easy. If they are easy, they were never worth having.