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Chapter 11 - Maddie: Blindsided
I was a horrible person. I knew that I was a horrible person. I had looked into Lara Anderson’s eyes, and I had promised that I would take care of her son. I was going to hell. I deserved to.
The Andersons were good people. And I felt like a monster for lying to them. They had welcomed me into their home with open arms. There were no games, no false pretenses, just genuine openness.
Marcus and I were meant to be on a plane on the way to New York to go and see my parents, but they had canceled on me. Shocker, right? Note my sarcasm. So, I had to break the news to them over the phone which went over well, as you could imagine. Again, note my sarcasm.
The FaceTime went like this.
I stared at my mother through the screen. She was at the dinner table with my father. They were enjoying their coffee which was their weekend ritual.
“So,” I stared, “I have something that I need to tell you guys.”
“What is it?” My dad sipped on his coffee not looking the least bit interested.
“I’m engaged, and I’m getting married in the next week and a half.”
My mother stopped her cup mid-sip, and my father looked like he was about to blow a gasket. His face was growing hotter and hotter with each passing second.
“What did you just say?”
“I’m getting married.”
“The hell you are!” My father’s voice boomed through the speaker. “I told you that this was a stupid idea to even let her go in the first place. Now, look at the erratic decisions she is making.”
“Richard calm down. I’m sure that she isn’t serious. You know how she is.”
“I’m dead serious, mom.” I waved my ring in front of the screen. “I’m getting married to Marcus Anderson.”
“What?!” She exclaimed. “You are marrying into that family? Are you trying to disgrace our family name?”
“They aren’t some scum on the side of the road, mom. They are good people. Great people even, and they are nice to me.”
“Does this have anything to do with Peter?”
“You mean my real dad?”
“Maddison,” my mother scolded.
“What? I’m not lying, am I? You lied to me about who my father is my entire life and for what?”
“Have I not given you a good life, Maddison?” It was my father who was now forcing his anger on me. “Did I not provide you with the very best that this world has to offer? I sent you to the best schools. You had a black card by the time you were 13. How ungrateful you must be.”
“You’re right,dad. I should be thanking you for all the missed birthdays and solo trips. I should be thanking you that, when I got rushed to the hospital for my appendix, you sent a get well soon card instead of flying home to see me. I should be thanking you for the daddy issues that I currently have!”
He slammed his hand on the table. “It is so difficult to love someone like you, Maddison. Do you understand how, over the years, I have struggled to even like you? You are so ungrateful and so selfish you don’t even see it.”
His words were like bullets right through my heart.
“After all we have done for you! After all I have sacrificed for you. I took you in as my own. I clothed you, I fed you, and I made you what you are today. Now you turn around and spit in my face like this?”
My mother tried to reach for my father, but he moved away from her touch. “Richard, please. Your blood pressure.”
“I don’t give a damn, Fiona. Do you know what this kind of news will do to the firm if this gets out? She was meant to marry Davidson's son. We had the paperwork drawn already. I knew her trying to follow this delusional hope that she would find herself in that dump of a town would cost us. Now, it will cost us billions!”
I couldn’t believe my ears right now.
“So you were just going to sell me away like cattle, dad?”
