Mad Summer Love

Ice Cream

Madison ran in immediately and up to the counter to order her ice cream.

“I want a big cone with 3 scoops of Chocolate Peanut Butter,” she told the cashier.

“Madison Rose! You were told one extra scoop, not two!” Summer scolded, shaking her head.

Madison just shrugged and kept ordering. “My mom wants Chocolate Chip in a cone, but only one scoop and…” She turned to Maddox and smiled. “He wants the same as me, but one scoop too,” she laughed.

Summer just shook her head and smiled at Madison's silliness.

Maddox laughed. “The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. She has that infectious spirit that I love about you. She is beautiful.”

Summer blushed briefly at his words. He still loved her? She didn't think she'd hear those words from him again. They only exchanged them briefly before everything came undone.

Maddox turned his attention to the cashier. “I will take two scoops,” he said, beaming.

Madison giggled, “OK, give him two then!”

She really is beautiful. Summer thought as she watched her daughter bounce around the ice cream shop, handing everyone their ice cream as it was finished.

“Thank you, Baby,” she told Madison as she handed Summer her ice cream.

Then, she sat down at a corner table, watching out the window at nothing in particular, wondering what could have been as she waited for Madison and Maddox to join her.

Maddox sat beside Summer and across from Madison. The booth was small, causing their legs to touch. Heat rose through his body. He shifted slightly, trying to get more comfortable, causing his thigh to rub against hers.

Summer felt his leg on hers and she blushed. All she could think about was what she felt like the last time he touched her. She sat there in silence, licking the cold creamy treat from the cone she held in her hand, while she watched the interaction between the two people she loved most in the world.

“How do you like your school, Madison?”

He didn't know what to say. He had so many questions, felt a pull to know the little girl who was created during the most beautiful part of his life. It was hard to believe that during the darkest years of his life, there was this amazing light just out of his reach.

“It's OK,” Madison replied, shrugging a shoulder. “I hate history. It's so boring,” she rolled her eyes.

Summer giggled.

Madison's bright eyes flashed suddenly and a smile crept up her face. “So...I was right, wasn't I?” she asked, looking between both of her parents before her eyes stopped to meet Maddox's. “You are my dad, aren't you?”

Maddox paused midway through licking his ice cream. The question caused him to flinch, just enough that he ended up with chocolate peanut butter on his nose. Grabbing a napkin, he wiped his face, using the time to let his brain catch up.

He looked at Summer, almost like a deer caught in the headlights. His eyes made the question in his head obvious. Do you want me to tell her? Madison was a smart girl, just like her mother. He knew Madison had already guessed the truth and he realized anything he said next could have a profound effect on this little girl's life.

Summer was expecting it. She knew her daughter's curiosity was vast, as was her own. So, she didn't even blink twice when Madison asked. She saw Maddox's need for her approval or maybe it was him wanting her to answer instead, but he chose a life without them. So, he could stand a few questions from a little girl who had been asking about her father ever since she was a toddler.

Summer nodded at Maddox, letting him know that he could answer if he chose to, but she wasn't doing it for him; not when she had been making up excuses for him to their daughter her whole life.

Maddox took her meaning, they had always had that seemingly metaphysical connection. Their minds and souls had seemed linked. It was what made the moments they were intimate feel like pure bliss.

He folded his hands on the table and looked at the girl, Madison, his child. Maddox felt a giant lump grow at the back of his throat. Here he was, a man who had killed people, who had nearly been killed himself - more than once - terrified of a ten-year-old.

“Yes, Madison. I am.”

That's it? His brain scolded him. What else could he say? He knew the explanations would have to follow, but slow was better. At least he hoped it was.