Madison's Journey

Chapter 4

Madison’s weekend had been busy, and when she picked Gracie up from school on Monday afternoon, exhaustion was flooding through her body. She had woken up that morning feeling like she hadn’t slept at all. Several times throughout the day she had repeated to herself, “It’s going to get better. It has to.” And that mantra helped her get through the day.

When Madison walked onto the school grounds of Grace’s elementary school, dark clouds loomed overhead, making the day as gray as Madison felt. She glanced around the playground looking for Grace. There were children of all ages chasing each other around the play structures, screaming and laughing with delight while their parents tried to convince them to say good bye to their friends. It took Madison several minutes to locate Grace through the crowd of playing children, but she eventually saw her hanging upside down on the monkey bars. 

“Maddie! Look at me.” Her red curls flopped all over, and she was waving her arms in an attempt to get Madison’s attention.

“Be careful, Gracie.” Madison ran to her and quickly helped her off the bars.

“Madison, did you see what I could do?” 

“I certainly did, monkey girl. Now, let’s get your stuff and head home.”

Grace’s mouth instantly turned into a pout, “But I want to play some more.”

“Not today, Gracie, I think it’s going to start raining soon.” She looked up at the sky to prove her point but Grace was not at all interested in listening to what Madison thought. 

She pulled her arm away and ran to the other side of the playground. “No!”

Madison sighed. She was tired and in no mood for this. Grace was normally very well behaved, but like every child, she had her moments. Madison huffed, her patience wearing thin as she threw her arms up in defeat. She walked over to the slide that Grace was hiding under and bent down. “Gracie Mae, you get out here right now. I told you, we’re leaving.” Madison’s voice was stern and a tad bit elevated.

“No!”

“I am going to count to five. If you aren’t out here before I reach five, you’re grounded. I mean it.”

At that, Gracie turned to Madison, her fists were clenched and her eyes were clouded with darkness. A pink hue began to creep up onto her normally pale face. “You can’t ground me, you’re not my mommy.”

Madison closed her eyes and counted silently; one, two, three, breathing in and out as she counted. She opened her eyes and tried to speak as calmly as she could. “No, I’m not, but I am in charge, and your mommy said that I can ground you if you are being bad. That means no helping me make cookies and no helping with dinner.” If there was one thing that Gracie loved as much as playing outside, it was helping Madison in the kitchen.

Grace’s expression instantly changed. “Cookies?

“Uh huh.”

Grace crawled out from under the slide. She wrapped her arms around Madison’s neck and said, “I’m sorry, Maddie. I promise to be good from now on.”

The two girls hugged, and then Grace ran off to grab her backpack. They made their way home, hand in hand with the incident from the playground quickly forgotten. They spent the rest of the afternoon laughing, talking and baking cookies. There was peanut butter, flour, chocolate chips and sugar all over the kitchen counters, floors and even Grace.

“Look at you, Ms. Grace.” Madison poked her lightly on the nose and laughed at the flour in her hair. “I think you got more flour on you than in the cookies.”

Both girls giggled as Madison gently brushed flour off Gracie’s shirt and cheeks. As they waited for the cookies, Madison set Gracie up with her favorite TV show so that she could quickly do her French worksheet. It was one of Madison’s favorite subjects and didn’t take her long to finish. Most days, she was able to spend an hour doing her homework while Gracie watched her program. It was the one hour of TV Gracie was allowed to watch on school nights, and Madison was grateful for it.

Dinner that night was tacos, Gracie’s favorite. Grace sat on her stool and watched as Madison cut up the veggies. Madison was slower making dinner tonight than usual, her movements weighed down by the exhaustion she was feeling. She chatted with Grace in an effort to keep herself awake and was glad that Grace seemed to have forgotten their argument on the playground.

“Thank you for the tacos, Maddie.” The two of them were sitting side by side on stools at the kitchen island.

“You’re welcome, missy. Thank you for helping.”

“I like helping.”

“I like it when you help.”

“Maddie?”

“Yea, kiddo?”

“I like you. Can you live with us?”

The question caught Madison off guard, and she choked on her water. She put her glass down and turned towards the little girl’s round, eager eyes. “I like you too, Gracie. But I have to live with my mommy at my house with all of my stuff. Don’t worry though, you’re my favorite little munchkin, and I’m going to be your babysitter for a long time.” She hugged Grace and the little girl hugged her back.

Gracie was quiet for a few moments, and then a huge smile crept over her face. “Guess what Shelley got for her birthday?”

“A Barbie?”

“No, a puppy!”

“Oh, my goodness. What a lucky girl.”

“I know. I asked mommy and daddy if I could have a puppy and they said maybe when I’m older and can take care of it better. I told them I was old enough to do that now, but they said I needed to be a bit older.” Grace’s lips began to form a small pout as she spoke.

“I think your mommy and daddy might be right. Puppies get up really early and need to be walked all the time. Who would take care of it while you’re at school?”

Grace thought about that for a moment, and then nodded her head as if in agreement. She didn’t say anything more, but instead went about finishing her dinner. Madison knew that when she was quiet, she was usually thinking hard about something. She smiled at little Grace and finished her own dinner. She was thinking about the question that Grace had asked her earlier. Moving in with the Shipyard’s, wouldn’t that be something? A small part of her wished that she could be a piece of their family; Lisa and Bill were amazing, and she loved Gracie like a sister. 

After the two of them ate, Madison got Gracie bathed and ready for bed. Her parents would get in at six and Gracie went to bed at seven. Madison liked to have her ready for bed before her parents got home so that Lisa and Bill could spend that time with her reading or playing instead of doing chores. It was something that they both were always grateful for. They both worked hard for their family, and they enjoyed being able to spend time as a family at the end of the day. Madison always gave them that. Both of them had successful careers; Bill owned his own construction company, and Lisa was the partner in an interior design firm. From what Madison could see they both loved what they did.

Madison and Gracie were sitting in the living room reading a book when Lisa and Bill walked in hand in hand. Madison’s eye lids were drooping as Grace read but they snapped open as soon as she heard Lisa and Bill. When she saw them, Madison was struck by what a beautiful couple they made, despite the differences in their appearances. Lisa was a few inches taller than Madison, with a slender physique and the same red curly hair and green eyes as Gracie. Bill was almost a foot taller than his wife, with brown hair that was always neatly trimmed, just like his beard and mustache, and he had the toned physique of a man that worked hard for a living.

“Mommy, Daddy!” Gracie jumped up from her spot beside Madison and ran into her mom’s arms. Madison smiled as she watched Bill grab Gracie, lift her into the air and fly her around the living room and down the hallway. Madison could see Lisa cringe as she watched Grace’s head narrowly miss the kitchen door frame. Neither Gracie nor Bill noticed, and Gracie was laughing so hard that it infected everyone else in the room. The joy that Gracie felt was contagious, and it was exactly what Madison needed. The Shipyard family often reminded her of her life with her mom and dad, which was why she enjoyed being around them so much. They gave her a taste of her lost past. She stayed a few minutes to chat with Lisa and then headed home. As she walked the few blocks to her house, she felt her heart ache as she thought of her mom and dad. She grabbed the elephant around her neck and held it, missing the man that had given it to her.

The next day, when Lisa and Bill got home from work, Lisa pulled Madison into the living room while Bill read Gracie a story. Madison sat nervously on the couch while Lisa stood by the window. Lisa came across a bit intimidating in her business suit; in her line of work, she always said that she needed to dress to impress. And she was always beautifully dressed. In fact, she was one of the most beautiful woman Madison had ever seen, and today, as she waited for Lisa to speak, it made her more nervous than impressed.

“Maddie, Gracie told us about the incident yesterday.”

“Really?” Madison let out a sad sigh. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I thought she forgot about it. I’m so sorry I raised my voice.” Madison’s words came out in a rush.

Lisa came over, sat beside her and put her hand on hers. “Maddie, honey. It’s okay. I would have raised my voice too. Gracie told us that she was really sorry she upset you, and it was her fault that you were tired yesterday.”

Madison smiled and shook her head, “No, it wasn’t her, Lisa. I really was just tired. I started my new job at Burger Town this weekend, and I’m just not used to working so much and being on my feet all day.” 

Lisa’s eyes narrowed at her, and Maddie shifted underneath them. After a long moment, Lisa’s lips curled upwards. “Okay. But if you ever need to talk about anything, I’m here. Okay?”

“I know, Lisa, thanks.” Madison was tempted to spill her guts to her, but she knew she couldn’t. When she got home to her empty house, tears started flowing down her cheeks and her breath became short from the loud unwanted sobs. She ran to her room and flopped onto the unmade bed.

“Why can’t my mom be like Lisa, or Mrs. Fernie.” She sobbed into her pillows and wished that life could be different. She fell asleep that night in her clothes, to exhausted to change, and didn’t care about the tears covering her pillows.