Stupid tears sliding down her nose bridge, Maddie knelt and stuffed her strewn clothes into the ratty suitcase that had been hers since she was sixteen.
She swiped angrily at the tears. What was she? Five? She shouldn't be surprised by her father's actions. They shouldn't hurt her. And yet, here she was, tears and mucus running down her face.
She didn't know which she mourned the most. The chance to fulfill her promise to her mother or the money — her savings — tucked under her bed.
When the box couldn't contain any more clothes, she sat on the old box and forced the zipper close. She looked down at the remaining clothes that were left.
Well, she wouldn't be needing these much clothes out in the streets. At the thought of having to live on the streets, the tears came rushing back.
She sprang to her feet, pulled the box up to stand on its wheels and began to think of her options of a place to sleep this night. She wasn't really close to Andrea and Rache, plus she had no idea where they lived.
She scratched the "bunk with a friend" option out of the list. There was only one option left, she thought grimly.
Sleeping in the park.
At least it had benches. If she wasn't chased away.
Her eyes burned but she pushed the tears down, threw her shoulders back, gripped the handle bar of her suitcase and proceeded her march to the park.
Fresco Park was dimly lit, but even then she could make out human forms slumbering on the grass. Some were tucked under blankets. There were even few tents here and there. Then there were those that had no form of protection against the elements.
In all her twenty-two years, she had never for once imagined that a day would come when she would be sleeping in the midst of vagrants.
"Hey, you, pretty girl." The call came from her left. The voice was scratchy, like the owner smoked for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
She turned her head, wondering who it was.
A man with unkempt hair and mouth that had more missing teeth than anyone she ever knew. The teeth remaining were so weird looking she shuddered.
"I have a blanket, and I can keep you warm if it is not enough." The man continued.
Over her dead body. She faced forward and hurried away from the man.
Apparently, he had friends who laughed and made more lewd remarks as she fled.
Was this option going to yanked away from her? She would not sleep in a place she didn't feel safe. No matter how desperate she was.
Just then she noticed a woman with a face that told of life stories that were undoubtedly sad staring at her. Her eyes were unsettling. The woman was clothed from head to toe, save her face. When she got nearer, the woman spoke, "you can sleep close to me. No one will disturb you."
She looked around and noticed that the woman seemed to have carved out her territory and no one was attempting to breach the invisible boundary.
Maddie almost wept with relief. "Thank you."
"You might want to use your suitcase as your pillow." The woman said as Maddie claimed a spot not so far from her, while being not so near. The woman spoke so quietly, as though she couldn't dredge up the energy to speak louder than that.
"It is hard." Maddie replied.
"You have to choose between a crick in the neck or stolen property." The woman said, her stare still unsettling.
"I'll use it as a pillow. Thank you."
The woman nodded once, then dipped her hand into her jacket's inner pocket and produced a croissant. The woman habded it to her. "I do not have coffee."
Tears threatened. She collected the roll, and flashed the woman a watery smile. "Thank you." She gobbled it, then laid on the ground, her head hanging on her suitcase. It was a weird position, but like the woman had said, it was either a crick in her neck or her clothes stolen. "Goodnight."
The woman nodded. "No one will bother you."
That was enough for her. With a smile on her lips, Maddie settled into the most uncomfortable sleep.
The soft warmth of sun rays nudged her from sleep the next morning. She cracked her eyelids slowly. God, her neck hurt. She sat upright and rolled her neck around, trying to ease the cramps in her neck. She noticed the woman staring at her just as she rotated her neck to the left.
She froze then smiled. "Good morning."
The woman dipped her fingers into her jacket's inner pocket and this time produced a sticky bun. It seemed that inner pocket of hers was equivalent to Mary Poppins magical bag. Maddie wondered what else it contained.
"Thank you."
As soon as she collected the sticky bun, the woman stood up, grabbed her things and started to leave.
"What's your name, please?"
But the woman didn't answer. Just kept walking away.
Biting into the sticky bun, she let her eyes sweep the park in one glance. It looked like she was the only one left.
She sighed. The day was early yet, so visitors were yet to start trooping in.
What was she to do? Bruce would most likely have an heart attack if she showed up looking and smelling like she was. With a suitcase in tow.
She licked her fingers. There was nothing to it. She had to show up at Lobster's Cafe, looking all like the homeless girl that she was, and listen to Bruce rant. At the top of his lungs.
A pair of white sneakers appeared in her vision. A pair of expensive white sneakers. A pair that looked so familiar, Maddie was sure she was dying.
"Hello, good morning."
That voice. She knew it anywhere. It belonged only to one person. The hotshot that had made her drop a coffee pot. The same one who had being at the cafe with stupid redhead as his date yesterday.
Drew.
And Maddie knew she was not dying.
She was already dead.
She shut her eyes tight, willing it all away. But she felt the dratted man crouch in front of her.
When he said nothing, she opened her eyes.
His eyes were furrowed with concern. "What are you doing here?"
When she didn't say anything, Drew looked around where she had slept. His eyes latched to the suitcase lying behind her. "Did you sleep here?"Maddie still could not answer. She just stared at him like he was her nightmare come to life. Yesterday she had been bemoaning the fact that he had seen her when she was a sweaty mess. But this? This was worse."For God's sake, just tell me already..!" He sounded irritated by her silence. "It is hard to be mad at you when I don't even know your name.""It's Maddie." She said finally."Short for Madeline." His eyes searched hers. "It suits you." Then his face softened. "How about we talk over breakfast?""I need to head to work. Bruce won't be happy if I do not show up.""I will reimburse your boss. After I let him know I inconvenienced you.""I don't know you.""I'm Drew.""Drew McBride, I know." When his eyes widened, she said, "I have long ears. And I wasn't talking about your name. What I meant was that I have no idea what kind of person you
The coffee went down the wrong way and Maddie immediately choked. When Drew made to stand up, she shook her head. She shut her eyes and tried to bring her irritated throat under control. It seemed she was destined to die from mortification."Are you okay?" Drew asked when she didn't cough for a full minute."Yes." She whispered and cleared her throat. She pushed the offending cup of coffee away. "Did you just ask me to marry you?"His eyes held hers, unwavering. "Yes.""Why?" Panic clawed at her chest. "You don't know me for Christ sake." What game was he playing?"Calm down.""Don't tell me to calm down." She snapped. "Marriage is not something to entered into lightly. No matter how many people are doing exactly that. Marriage is…sacred.""Are you done?" He nodded at the half eaten sticky buns remaining on her plate. She nodded. She didn't think she could stomach any food right now."Let's go then."Go where? He must have read the question and fear in her eyes because he reached out
Drew opened the door and only had to take one look at Aiden's face to know what his best friend thought of his plan to marry Madeline. And if that wasn't enough, the words that came out of his mouth rid any lingering doubt whatsoever."Are you out of your mind?" Aiden roared."Keep your voice down. Madeline is in the kitchen.""Don't tell me to keep my voice down." Aiden said fiercely, but at least he dropped his voice to a whisper. "And to think that you call me the one who's always with harebrained ideas.""This isn't harebrained. I called you so that you can be my best man, just like we promised each other in middle school."Aiden dug his hands into his hair and tugged it up. "This is not funny, Drew. What do you know about this Madeline?""She was kicked out of the house because she refused to give her father money — money that she worked for — to buy booze.""So we are marrying everyone kicked out into the streets now, are we?"He shot Aiden a "don't get sarcastic with me" look.
"Do you, Madeline Taylor, take Drew McBride to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish and obey till death do you both part?” Judge Martins — who was unsurprisingly a friend of Drew's parents — looked up from the book of vows to smile at her.Maddie paused, looking into Drew's eyes. On the way to Judge Martins' office, she and Drew got talking about what exactly this marriage would entail, and he mentioned that even though the marriage was not real in the true sense that a marriage should be, the vows were binding.She pointed out the impossibility of that happening since they were not in love and she was not going to be wrapping her arms around him in a burst of affection, and told him point blank that if he had been nursing a hope for that to happen, he could forget about it.He replied that even though there was no hope for romance ever developing betwee
They agreed to get takeouts and return to Drew's home — their home; she was still trying to get used to the fact that she was married. Crazy didn't even begin to define it.Aiden suggested Chinese, but she was in the mood for something greasy so she asked for burgers. Drew got chicken salad. She couldn't stop the snort that slipped through her nose when he made his order.His eyebrow winged up. "Have a problem with my food, Madeline?""Didn't take you for a salad guy. Last I remember, you like them" — her smile widened to a grin — "hot."He grinned back. "I do, but," he let out a faux long-suffering sigh, "this do usually happen once in a while."Another snort slipped out, ending in a smile. Aiden turned into Drew's compound, nodding at the black security guard as he drove past. He killed the engine and they moseyed into the house."Can you show me my room, please?" She asked Drew quietly."No, no, Madeline." Aiden stepped between her and Drew."Maddie." She corrected.The annoying gu
Drew woke up to missed calls and messages. All from his uncle. Guessed Aiden's editor friend had published the press release Aiden sent her last night.After the "wedding breakfast", they had all gathered in his office and crafted the perfect press release that sold the story they wanted everyone to believe. Well, it had been Aiden that had done most of the crafting while he and Madeline laughed, cringed and told him outright nos.Let the games begin.Ignoring the notifications on his phone, he rolled off the bed and walked into the bathroom. When he was done with his ablutions, he headed out and found Madeline in the kitchen, nursing a cup of coffee and looking absolutely too pretty for seven am in the morning.She smiled at him and he had to fight the urge to walk over to her and see what her breath tasted like in the morning."Hey, good morning."He smiled back. "Good morning. Slept well?""Like a baby." She let out a soft sigh. "The bed is heavenly."He poured himself a cup of cof
Drew's call came in a few minutes after her second class ended.She answered it. "Hey, wassup?"Aiden joined the call. "What's going on Drew?""Uncle Rich wants to have dinner with us." Drew said."Who's Uncle Rich?" She asked, just as Aiden asked, "what did you say?""Uncle Rich is my Dad's brother, babe." Drew answered them consecutively. "And I said yes, Aiden. What else was I supposed to say? He would get suspicious."The endearment distracted her for some seconds before what Drew said dawned on her. "So I'm meeting the family." She murmured."Yes, you are. Think you can handle it?"She gave a decisive nod. It was not like Drew was not going to be with her. She'll be fine."Wait, Maxwell is coming too?" Aiden look horrified."Of course he is. Do you think he'll miss something like this?""Who's Maxwell?" And could someone please explain to her what was going on? She really hated not knowing what exactly it was that was causing panic.Drew's gaze swiveled to her. "Maxwell is Uncle
Maddie stood back as Drew opened the door to admit his uncle and cousin in. Left to her, she would be in the kitchen, but Drew had insisted on her being by his side when he welcomed Rich and Maxwell.She understood the need to present a happy-to-have-you front, but she would have preferred that Drew and only Drew handled them.Rich was dressed so impeccably in a navy blue suit — and who wore suit to an informal dinner with family? — his salt and pepper hair neatly combed back, not a strand out of place. His icy blue eyes swept her form from head to toe and without a word looked away from her in dismissal. "Drew."Rich reminded her of an ambush predator's. Patient and calculative. She couldn't place her finger on why, but she disliked him already.The sound of a catcall jerked her attention away from the sterile greeting between uncle and nephew to where a younger man stood just outside the door."How were you able to snag such a sexy lady, cuz?" The younger man's eyes swept her form b