Authors: Suzette Vaughn
It didn’t take long after she moved in the apartment for him to find ways to sneak in.
He opened the window to his bedroom and ease
d
out, putting his feet on the bay window below. Then move
d
his hands under the eave
, hoping a spider wouldn’t decide he was invading
it’s
home. He h
e
ld onto the eave and drop
ped
the rest of the way down.
The first time, he side stepped his way up the stairs of the garage making sure no one was watch
ing
. She’d almost screamed when he slipped into bed behind her.
Then he did it every Friday night.
He couldn’t through the week Fredric woke too early. And Sunday they all went to church.
They’d made love in that apartment. They’d planned what they were going to do.
Plans have a way of changing.
Galen hung his head cursing himself that he’d never added that up. It was outrageous to think it though. Will wasn’t a murderer. Will was the one that gave him a job at the fish plant when he’d fought with Fredric over Maddy. Will was his uncle for Chr
ist sake. If Will did cause her all the years of pain, he would suffer for it. One way or another.
He went in the back door with the intention of finding out what she wanted to do from this point. If possible
,
he needed
to repair the damage from his reaction. She sat with her arms over her head, which lay on her knees. He pulled her off the floor, her arms swinging at him before he could say anything.
Holding her firm
,
he kissed her, not sure what he hoped it would accomplish. She molded to him, her arms wrapping around him. Lips parted and his tongue slipped through. There was no doubt she was still his Madelyn.
“You don’t have the right to do that anymore.” She was breathless when he finally released her lips. She could taste him as her tongue eased over the warmth he’d left.
“I don’t ever remember giving up that right.”
A feeble attempt was made to push him away.
“Not this time. You can talk to me right here and you will talk.”
“Galen. . .” She shook her head, then rested it on his shoulder. “What do you want me to talk about?”
“What you’ve done since I left.” He moved a stand of hair from her cheek. “I didn’t come just to find out the truth, I came because I wanted to see you. I had to know why you left.”
“But you don’t want to discuss that anymore?”
He thought for a moment and shook his head. “Not right now.”
That was a bit of a shock. She expected him to continue storming on. “Do you want to sit in the parlor?”
He looked down her body and back up. “I think we are fine where we are.”
She laughed because his eyes were sparkling. Gently she pulled away. “How about some coffee
,
too?”
“Now
,
that sounds good.” His eyebrows
rose
.
“Feeling a little pain from last night?”
“You could say that.” He rubbed across his face. “I would ask if you have anything strong to put in it but I’m sure you’d say no.”
“Ah, he knows me so well,” she laughed trying to keep the conversation light as she started the coffee.
“That I do.”
She turned to find him leaning
against
the doorjamb. The look was unmistakable. She’d seen love in his eyes for
many
years.
“Coffee will take a little while. Why don’t we go on in to the parlor and sit down?”
“Sure.” He smiled, the look gone for now.
He stretched out on one end trying to look comfortable, while she curled up on the other. Slowly she told him about traveling across country.
She e
xplained
that
,
around Nebraska
,
she figured out she couldn’t go back no matter how much her heart wanted to. He’d gone through New York City too and couldn’t believe how many people lived there.
He’d slapped his knee when she told him she’d paid a lot less for a room at Stan’s while she worked for old man Tate.
He admitted that the right hook to his jaw was on purpose. It’s what he got for charging so much for a room
.
Then
she shared
the
first time she saw the dock and how she’d saved the money to buy the cottage.
They had lunch in the library and he told her how beautiful England was, at least when there
weren’t
planes overhead. He told her about Germany, France, and countries she
had never heard of
.
There were times when he would look different. A sadness that wasn’t normal to Galen, except maybe when her pa had died and he stood across from her at the funeral. She assumed there were many stories he would never be able to tell her even if they had eternity. Perhaps the dream
that ended up with her on his hotel bed,
was part of that, though she wouldn’t ask.
She laughed when he talked about spoiled little Rita marrying Harland. Even Galen was shocked at how much she’d matured over a few years. He was sure that the little engagement
had done wonders for her attitude.
Through the afternoon, they just talked. No one held the floor. She told him about Frank, everything a
bout Frank
. He vowed to be nice on their next encounter. He was in awe of the hours she put in at the diner. She pointed out it was less than she worked in Washington and it was far more rewarding. Owning where you worked did wonders for an attitude too.
After dinner, they convened to the porch for coffee and to watch the water as the sun
set. While in Washington they would have watched it set over the water she enjoyed the sunrises far more.
She kept her distance wh
ile they spent the day together
. His eyes flipped to that loving look but she didn’t fully bite. Over the years she’d learned not to trust people as a whole, even it the person was Galen. He’d broken her heart once. He wouldn’t do it twice.
Galen had attempted to inch closer. Sitting on the porch, he did so literally. Still she kept pushing him away. Not actually pushing but the body language was clear, she didn’t
trust him.
When she’d made the comment about him knowing her so well, she
’d hit it on the head. There was something she wasn’t sharing. Although it could be something very small, she was doing it on purpose. Not that he could tell her every aspect of the last three years of his life. There were some things that a person just couldn’t talk about.
“How long are you staying?” Madelyn broke the silence.
They’d been quiet for a while just sitting there watching nature go by. It was fairly warm on the porch considering it was February.
“I’m here until I decide to head back.”
“No one at ho
me expecting you to come back soon.”
“I have
as long as it takes
.” He said it strong
ly
trying to keep her off the subject.
She turned and faced him. “That’s not an answer.”
She was worse than a bulldog.
“It’s the best one you’re going to get.”
Standing she stormed in the door. He wasn’t going to let her push those buttons, he followed with the same gusto.
“Madelyn Murphy!”
She turned on him, “Don’t speak to me like that.”
“We’ve been having a perfectly fine day, there are things I don’t want to discuss.”
“Like taking me back there? Or like buckling under the pressure of
Daddy
?”
“I do not buckle to him.” His anger was getting the best of him, he took a deep breath.
“No, you’ve never done what he told you.” The sarcasm stung.
“Don’t you dare.”
“Me?” She glared.
“We are not going through this.”
Her nostrils flared with the breath she
drew
in. “And I’m not so weak
as
to standby when Fredric barks this time.”
“I had to do something, Madelyn.”
“You were supposed to stay with me. You promised.” Her features went from anger to pain.
He stared at the floor, pushing his anger down. “I couldn’t let you have a life like your mama
’s
. I couldn’t
not
be able to take care of you.”
“No one ever asked you to take care of me. I did it just fine on my own.”
He sat in the chair at the table just inside her library. “You shouldn’t have had to.”
“What should happen and what does happen normally differ.” Her anger rang through the room.
“I just wanted to make it right.” He rested his head on the wall continuing
,
to calm himself. This was a three-year-old argument on at least its fourth round. “I couldn’t take care of you the way I wanted without either college or some kind of plan. The plant didn’t pay anyone enough.”
“It fueled most of the families in the county.”
He studied her face. The
creases
that were there with anger. The way her hair bounced when she paced across the room, a caged animal wanting out of this room. She didn’t really want to discuss it again either but she needed to.
“It did fine for some. Dad convinced me the military would do better by us both.”
She stopped pacing and took a few breaths seeming to calm herself. “I didn’t want better.”
“I did.”
Her eyes came across meeting his, closing
almost as fast
. His heart felt
as if
it
would
burst
in
his chest. This was why he didn’t want to go through the motions again. They didn’t need to yell at each other over him leaving.
“I did what I thought was best. We can’t go back and change it.”
“There
lies
the problem.” Her eyes came back to him. “You did what
you
thought was best, not what
we
thought was best.”
“You wouldn’t have been happy, it might have taken a while, but it would have happened.”
“Do you think for one moment Mama was unhappy with her life?”
“She should have been.” He closed his eyes trying to remember Cassie as she was, trying not to let anger rise over what Will
may
have done.
“Really think, Galen. The woman who always had a smile even at home. She loved him everyday and he couldn’t offer her anything. He couldn’t give her anything. Most days for her love, she received pain back, but she was always satisfied with her life.”
“And look what it did to him.”
“To him? Was his fault. Not Mama’s, she kept faith in him through it all.”
“You’re not Cassie. You couldn’t even wait for me to come home. Let alone live like that.”
He heard
her
footsteps on the stairs and bounced his head on the wall. He couldn’t leave it like this, not this time. The chair made the same dull thud against the wall that his heart was creating as he took off after her. Anger was officially taking over.
“You wanted to do this Madelyn.” He called up the stairs.
A door slammed. The stairs ended at that door. He banged on it.
“Do not shut me out.” He continued when she didn’t yell back. “I spent three years fighting, to make sure I came home to you, and you weren’t there. I listened to Dad when he told me about Harland, about the payroll, about you leaving, and
I
didn’t believe a damn word of it.”
He hit the door again. “Open up.”
He took a deep breath and heard the sob through the door.
“God.” He cursed at himself. “Don’t cry. Open the door.”
“Go away.” Her voice cracked with emotion.
He sat on the stairs to be closer to where she sat on the other side. “No. No matter how many times you tell me to, the answer is no.”
Another sob
erupted
.
“I know you well but maybe you don’t remember me as well. I didn’t come to drag you home. I didn’t come to accuse you of anything. I came because you’re Madelyn. I came for the same reason Harland married Rita.
The same reason your parents stayed together.
I fell in love and
I
refuse to let you slip through my fingers.”
He heard the rustling under the door and stood up but the door didn’t open.