Her First (26 page)

The tears wouldn’t stop flowing from Madison’s eyes. Her mom handed her a handkerchief.   “Madison, you have to stop crying,” she told her.

“I know. I feel like a big baby,”
Madison replied.

“That’s because you are,” Adrienne joked, but stopped when everybody shot their eyes at her. “Sorry.  I know this is the wrong time to be joking.”

Madison noticed that Pam was the only one who hadn’t said anything. “Pam, I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” Pam frowned.

“You’ve all done some crazy things, but I must admit, Madison you got them all beat.” Ethel half-heartedly smiled.

“I promise to cook the next four Sundays if y’all forgive me,”
Madison promised.

“Girl, there’s nothing to forgive. I wanted to see how low you would go,” Pam said, hugging her.

Ethel went and poured her some water. “You need to pull yourself together and go back out there to that wonderful man of yours. Don’t worry about anything else.”

Madison
took the water and drank a little of it before heading back into the dining room with her mother and two sisters on her heels.  When they re-entered the room, Madison noticed everyone in side conversations, but then the room got dead silent when she walked back in.

Napoleon stood up and hugged
Madison before kissing her on the cheek. “Everybody hold hands so we can pray and eat this cold food,” he ordered.  A few chuckles were heard around the room.  “Father God, please forgive us this day for the sins we have knowingly and unknowingly committed. You know our hearts, Lord. Thank you for my family and soon to be son-in-law. You know his heart was in the right place when you sent him to protect my daughter from herself. Bless this food we’re about to eat and keep us close to you as we travel on this journey we call life. Amen.”

Madison
kissed her father on the cheek before sitting down next to Ethan.

***

After warming up some of the food, the rest of dinner was uneventful. Ethan marveled at the strength Madison’s father showed during the entire ordeal. He reminded him of his own father; and he vowed that day if he ever had a son, he would teach him the same wholesome values.

“A penny for your thoughts,”
Madison whispered in Ethan’s ear.

“Give me a quarter and I might tell you,” he replied.

“I remember when…” She opened her mouth to say, before Ethan bent down and kissed her.

Napoleon walked over and pulled them away. “Save that for the honeymoon,” he said.

“Daddy,” Madison bashfully said.

Ethan
enjoyed the time he spent with Madison’s family. He knew the love he had for both Madison and her family was genuine. Even knowing what they did, they welcomed him again into the family.

Madison
bent down and wrapped her arms around Ethan’s shoulders. “Are you ready to go?” she asked him.

“Only if you are,” he responded.

“Mom and Dad, we’re going to leave now. I’ll call you later.” She picked up her purse.

“Now that we know you’re not actually husband and wife, you guys need to be living in separate quarters,” Ethel said as she walked them to the door.

“We already are,” Madison said as she hugged Ethel and Napoleon.

“Don’t be a stranger now, son,” Napoleon stated. “You’re welcome over here anytime, whether
Madison is with you or not.”

“I won’t be. I promise,”
Ethan said.  Then he and Madison walked to their cars.

“Your place or mine?”
Madison asked.

“Yours. I’ll follow you,”
Ethan said with a smile.

***

While driving home, Madison called Charlotte. “I couldn’t wait to tell you. Ethan and I are engaged.” Madison went on to tell her what happened at her parents.

“I’m going to be a bridesmaid,” Charlotte sang.

Madison drove down her street. “I want you to be my maid of honor.”

Charlotte got quiet. “Are you sure? What about one of your sisters?”

“You’re my very best friend and besides, you know they would argue if I chose one over the other.”

“In that case, girl I’m honored.”

Madison smiled. “I’m at home now, so I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later girl.”

“Bye.”

Madison
parked and threw the phone in her purse. Before she could get out of the car, Ethan was opening her door for her. “Thanks.”

“You’re quite welcome,” he said as they walked to the front door.

“I still can’t believe everything is out in the open.” She sighed as she unlocked the door and let them in.  “I feel like a ton of bricks have been lifted off my shoulders,” Madison exclaimed as she threw her purse on the chair.

Ethan
swung her around. “I’m glad you agreed to be the
real
Mrs. Campbell.”

“How could I resist with lips like these?”
Madison stated as they kissed passionately.

Ethan
was the first to pull away. “If you don’t stop, I don’t think I can control-”

“You don’t have to,”
Madison moaned.

“Yes, we do.”
Ethan took her hand and led her to the couch and continued to say, “We’ve waited this long, so there’s no reason why we can’t wait until we say our vows.”

“But-”

He placed his finger on her lips. “No buts. You’re a virgin now and you’ll be one when I marry you.”

She pouted. “But what if I’m not good enough?”

“Oh, there’s no doubt in my mind that making love to you will be the most extraordinary thing for both of us. I’m not saying I’m an expert, but I’ll teach you what I know.  And what I don’t know…well, there’s always a video.”

She playfully hit him with her hand. “You’re something else.”

“What’s on TV?” he asked as he kicked back on the couch.

She picked up the remote and turned it on. “How about a
Lifetime
movie?”

He couldn’t help but laugh.  “I’ve lived a
Lifetime
movie,” he said with a smirk on his face.

“There’s nothing else on,”
Madison said, flicking channels.

He reached for the remote, turned it back on
Lifetime
and placed it on the coffee table.  “Come here.” He pulled her into his arms.  Madison placed her head on his chest. She smiled, because she felt at home.

They watched the movie and fell asleep in one another’s arms.

It was well after midnight when the ringing of Ethan’s cell phone woke them both. “Madison, I’m sorry,” Ethan said.  “It must be an emergency for someone to be calling me this late.”

“What time is it?” she asked with a yawn.

“I don’t know exactly, but it’s still dark outside,” Ethan said before answering the phone.  “This is Ethan.”

His facial expression changed.
Madison asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ethan
reached for her. She snuggled up to him. “No. I don’t have any of that information, but I’ll find out what I can and get back with you.  How’s the ba-?” Ethan went to ask before obviously getting cut off.  He nodded his head and then hung up the phone.

Madison
seemed scared. “Who was it?  What’s wrong?”

“It’s
Sarah.”

“What?”
Madison pulled away. “Why is she calling you at this hour?”

“Calm down, baby. It wasn’t
Sarah, it was about Sarah. That was the hospital. She was killed in a car accident last night.”

“Oh my God!”
Madison exclaimed while putting her hand over her mouth.

“It comes as a shock to me too.”

“What about Christopher? Is he-” Madison couldn’t finish asking her questions.

“No. His car seat saved him.”

“What is that sweet little boy going to do without his mother?” Madison asked as Ethan rocked her in his arms.

“I don’t know, sweetie. I don’t know.”

Madison sat up. “How did the hospital know to call you?”

“She still had me listed as Christopher’s father. I guess she never got around to changing the contact information.”

“We need to go get him. I know he’s scared out of his mind. I would be, too, after a horrible accident.”

“
Madison, Sarah’s Mom can take care of Christopher.”

“I don’t know.
Sarah and I weren’t the best of friends, but I feel she was serious about the type of woman she described her mom as.”

“Her mom is a character,”
Ethan confirmed with a look of doubt.

Madison
stood up and grabbed his hand. “Come on. We have to go check on him.”

“
Madison, I don’t know.”

“It’s weird, but even after all that transpired with me and her, I feel like it’s the right thing for us to do.”

Ethan looked up at Madison who had the deepest look of concern in her eyes. “I love you, Madison Allen.”

“I love you too. Now grab your keys.”

***

Madison
held Ethan’s hand the entire way to the hospital, and as they entered the emergency room. She watched Ethan take control of the situation. The nurse pointed them towards a set of elevators.  Tears flowed down Madison’s face when she saw some of the infants in the emergency room. One of the nurses was holding and playing with an infant that looked like Christopher from a distant.

The closer they got,
Madison said, “That’s Christopher. He looks to be alright.”  Christopher reached for Madison. She held him close to her chest. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”  For a moment, Madison forgot Ethan was standing there. “Do you want to hold him?”

He paused and reached his arms out. Christopher smiled and almost jumped into his arms. “Hey, little fellow. I’m
Ethan,” he said.

“Ma ma,” Christopher said.

Madison noticed the tears forming in Ethan’s eyes. She patted him on the back.

The nurse brought out some release forms. “I need you to sign here,” she said.

Ethan looked at Madison and back to the nurse. “There’s some misunderstanding. We didn’t come to-”

Madison
interrupted him. She looped her arm through his and asked the nurse, “Can you give us a minute?”

“Sure. I’ll be right over there,” the nurse said as she took Christopher and walked to the other side of the room.

Ethan whispered, “Madison, what are you doing?”

“Let’s take Christopher tonight and we can decide later on what to do with him,”
Madison suggested.

“Are you crazy? He needs to be with his real family.”

“If we leave him here, there’s no telling what will happen to him.”

“
Sarah has sisters. She has a mother.”

Madison
pouted. “But where were they when she really needed them? You dated her.  You should know better than anyone else what kind of family she came from.”

Ethan
listened and knew Madison made some valid points, but he wasn’t prepared to take on additional responsibilities. “We take him home with us tonight and then what?  We have our own lives. We’re getting married.”

“I know. I’ll probably beat myself up later. But my heart is telling me we need to take Christopher. I’ll take care of him until we find a home for him.”

“What if we don’t?”

Madison
didn’t have an answer to his question. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, I think he needs to be around at least one familiar face. I feel it’s the right thing to do under the circumstances.”

Ethan
hesitated. He saw the compassion in Madison’s eyes. He couldn’t bring himself to go against her wishes. “We’ll do it. Let me get the nurse.”

Madison
hugged him. “Thanks, baby. I know it’s going to be hard, but we’ll make it through this. I promise.”

Madison
held Christopher as the nurse gave Ethan some papers.  Ethan signed several forms. Before he was finished, an officer walked over and talked to him. He handed him a few items they were able to recover from the wreck, which included Sarah’s purse and some papers from her glove compartment.

He took the items. He looked at
Madison as she played with Christopher. He said a prayer before walking in her direction.

Lord I need you right now. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I need you to direct my steps. I pray I’m able to hear your answer when it comes. I’m temporarily in charge of that little boy’s life. Whatever your will is for him, please give me the insight and the strength to endure.  Amen.

Ethan wrapped his arm around Madison and smiled at Christopher. “Let’s go home,” he said.

“Your home or my home?”
Madison asked.

“It doesn’t matter. Home is where the heart is,” he said as they walked hand in hand out the front door of the hospital with Christopher laying on his shoulder.