rampant, chaotic. My thoughts were always jumbled. I thought Jackson wanted to put me in a gilded cage. Tie me down by having his children.”
He huffed. “Tie you down?”
“You’re misunderstanding.” She cried harder. “I got pregnant with you right after meeting Jackson. My disorder was out of control. I didn’t trust anyone. I loved Jackson, but I wasn’t in love with him. Not the forever kind of love. Every day, I was more confused than the next. I didn’t know what was happening. My therapist here told me that it was probably the baby blues, complicated more by my extreme mental state. When a woman’s hormones are up and down like that, and she’s bipolar, the outcome can be disastrous.”
“Yeah, I’d say disastrous about sums it up,” Max said flatly.
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t care, that I didn’t love you, Maxwell. I did. I do! Very much. But I didn’t know how to care for you. I was having all these horrible thoughts about Jackson, about killing myself and you. I did the only thing I could do…” More tears trickled down her face and her nose ran.
“Leave,” he said simply. Those words gutted me and made the snarling beast sitting on my chest pick up its head and take notice.
She nodded. “I knew Jackson had money, power, and support. He’d take care of you until I could get my head together. But that never happened. And then when I met Michael, he was so kind and loving. He took care of me. Worshiped me.” She sob-hiccupped. “At first, we were both wacky and different, and I liked that about us. It was us against the world. And then on a whim, in one of my manic moments, we got married in a Vegas chapel. Not long after we married, I got pregnant with Mia. And well…you know the rest.” She sniffed and blotted her tears.
“How come you never contacted us?” Maddy asked, her voice small and sad.
“Oh, baby, I wanted to. Every day. But I was afraid. Afraid of what you’d say. Afraid of what Michael would say. Afraid of going to jail. And then I was afraid I’d lose Kent. The one man that saw what was wrong and got me help.”
“So you didn’t know about us?” I asked Kent.
He shook his head. “No. Meryl broke down when she saw you on the Dr. Hoffman show that first time. Then it all came pouring out. The entire truth. Eventually, I contacted the show. Told them I was your stepfather, and that I knew where your long lost mother was and wanted to reconnect the family.”
I sighed, letting all the air leave my lungs. Fucking Shandi. We could have been made aware of this bomb well in advance. I could not wait to get my hands around her spindly little neck.
“What do you hope to get out of this?” I asked coolly, my eyes laser-focused on the broken woman across from me. Unfortunately, the beast inside me didn’t give a shit that she was hurting. The three of us had been hurting for years while she lived in a wooded forest, happily painting the landscape and whittling away her days as a painter and housewife with no responsibilities. But she’d had responsibilities. One’s she skirted from the very beginning.
She ran her hand up and down her thigh. “Um…I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. I was mostly concerned about lifting this weight that’s been sitting on my chest for fifteen years. And I swear I had no idea about your paternity, Madison. I drank a lot during those days. To numb the pain. Jackson would come to town on business and often tried to get me to go back to Texas, but I refused. Told him I’d married someone else. Had Mia. He liked Mia.” She smiled softly at me. “The times he visited were a blur of liquor-induced highs and lows. I barely remember anything.”
Maddy nodded and played with her engagement ring, spinning it around and around her finger.
“I guess I should have known though. Seeing the two of you together…it’s incredible how much you look like Jackson. He’d have been so proud to have known you, Madison.”
Maddy
He huffed. “Tie you down?”
“You’re misunderstanding.” She cried harder. “I got pregnant with you right after meeting Jackson. My disorder was out of control. I didn’t trust anyone. I loved Jackson, but I wasn’t in love with him. Not the forever kind of love. Every day, I was more confused than the next. I didn’t know what was happening. My therapist here told me that it was probably the baby blues, complicated more by my extreme mental state. When a woman’s hormones are up and down like that, and she’s bipolar, the outcome can be disastrous.”
“Yeah, I’d say disastrous about sums it up,” Max said flatly.
“That doesn’t mean I didn’t care, that I didn’t love you, Maxwell. I did. I do! Very much. But I didn’t know how to care for you. I was having all these horrible thoughts about Jackson, about killing myself and you. I did the only thing I could do…” More tears trickled down her face and her nose ran.
“Leave,” he said simply. Those words gutted me and made the snarling beast sitting on my chest pick up its head and take notice.
She nodded. “I knew Jackson had money, power, and support. He’d take care of you until I could get my head together. But that never happened. And then when I met Michael, he was so kind and loving. He took care of me. Worshiped me.” She sob-hiccupped. “At first, we were both wacky and different, and I liked that about us. It was us against the world. And then on a whim, in one of my manic moments, we got married in a Vegas chapel. Not long after we married, I got pregnant with Mia. And well…you know the rest.” She sniffed and blotted her tears.
“How come you never contacted us?” Maddy asked, her voice small and sad.
“Oh, baby, I wanted to. Every day. But I was afraid. Afraid of what you’d say. Afraid of what Michael would say. Afraid of going to jail. And then I was afraid I’d lose Kent. The one man that saw what was wrong and got me help.”
“So you didn’t know about us?” I asked Kent.
He shook his head. “No. Meryl broke down when she saw you on the Dr. Hoffman show that first time. Then it all came pouring out. The entire truth. Eventually, I contacted the show. Told them I was your stepfather, and that I knew where your long lost mother was and wanted to reconnect the family.”
I sighed, letting all the air leave my lungs. Fucking Shandi. We could have been made aware of this bomb well in advance. I could not wait to get my hands around her spindly little neck.
“What do you hope to get out of this?” I asked coolly, my eyes laser-focused on the broken woman across from me. Unfortunately, the beast inside me didn’t give a shit that she was hurting. The three of us had been hurting for years while she lived in a wooded forest, happily painting the landscape and whittling away her days as a painter and housewife with no responsibilities. But she’d had responsibilities. One’s she skirted from the very beginning.
She ran her hand up and down her thigh. “Um…I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. I was mostly concerned about lifting this weight that’s been sitting on my chest for fifteen years. And I swear I had no idea about your paternity, Madison. I drank a lot during those days. To numb the pain. Jackson would come to town on business and often tried to get me to go back to Texas, but I refused. Told him I’d married someone else. Had Mia. He liked Mia.” She smiled softly at me. “The times he visited were a blur of liquor-induced highs and lows. I barely remember anything.”
Maddy nodded and played with her engagement ring, spinning it around and around her finger.
“I guess I should have known though. Seeing the two of you together…it’s incredible how much you look like Jackson. He’d have been so proud to have known you, Madison.”
Maddy
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