Then again, that conceived in sin…
Fuck Phillip.
Fuck Madison.
Fuck them all.
I’d be sure to follow through with my revenge.
The Butlers would lose, but not as much as they could. If they did, it would bite the McGraths and ultimately, Julia. That hardly meant I was letting them off the hook. It was one fucking battle. In the end, the war was mine. We had many battles to go.
What I didn’t need were reminders of the past.
I’d been waiting to hear how Lena’s visit with Madison went. The thought of Madison even more out of touch with reality didn’t bring me joy.
Was that Julia’s influence?
Madison deserved to be Brooklyn’s mother even if neither Phillip nor I deserved to be her father. If Lena found the answer Madison needed, I’d offer to help. Lena was probably right that we all had our share of blame.
My thoughts went back to the night Phillip was on my property, when he came for Madison. Closing my eyes tightly, I saw her. I was standing on the second floor, demanding him to leave, to leave her alone.
Their marriage wasn’t simply a fairy tale without a happy ending. No, there was a darkness in Madison that hadn’t been present before. It came out first in her paintings and later in her confessions.
She was going to walk away with my child to go to a man who was too fucked up to appreciate the gift she’d helped create for him.
My stomach knotted as it did that night.
I said things, threatened things…
With an exhale, I let it go.
I was done.
Julia was my future.
My past was filled with chaos that cleared the path for what would come.
Now I knew what that promise was all about.
That promise was Julia.
She was lying beside me, ready and willing to take the title no one else had taken. Julia was to become my wife. My real wife.
I marveled at the way the sheet hung over Julia’s hips to her waist. With her back to me, I had the perfect view of her curves, the crest of her breasts, and the way her hair fanned behind her in a golden veil.
My thoughts slipped back to Thursday night in the cabin.
As the night faded into morning, I watched with relief the change in Julia. She was so responsive and still trusting. It wasn’t bad. It was refreshing.
Her willingness to see beyond the ugliness of the world and to believe in us. It was as if she saw a me I’d never known. She brought that person out by simply being herself. With her I’d become a person who craved to be better, to want the more, bigger, and better, but no longer in the manic way I had.
The distractions of the last week faded into background noise as in the cabin we took back what we’d lost. The two of us alone with the fire and each other for heat, we came together. I craved everything about her.
Her laugh.
Her smile.
The tone of her voice.