The Father of Her Son - By Kathleen Pickering Page 0,95
as she struggled with what she wanted to say. “I woke up to find you waiting outside for the taxi. You were nervous, fighting tears, talking nonsense. You kept glancing down the drive expecting Buzz to come back from his jog any minute. I knew something was wrong.”
The memory of that morning stung hard. Emily and little Mary Kate had stood in the doorway, their hair mussed from sleep, still in their pj’s watching Kelly argue with their mom over why she was leaving. She closed her eyes at the memory. “I’m so sorry, Madeline.”
The fierceness in the other woman’s voice startled her. “No, Kelly. I’m the one who owes you an apology.”
“How did you know?”
Madeline swallowed. She sipped her coffee. She pushed that lock of hair behind her ear once more. When she looked at Kelly again, there were tears in her eyes. “I found your torn nightgown in your closet. You’d put your sheets in the wash, but I knew. There was no way that gown ripped itself. My husband attacked you and you left my house to save yourself from having him assault you again.”
Kelly fell back into her seat as if she’d been hit by a boulder. “You really knew?”
Tears fell freely down Madeline’s face. She swiped at them with the back of her hand, but they kept coming. “Back then I didn’t want to believe the truth. I had two small girls. Buzz was my high school sweetheart. We’d broken up during college, but he came home to find me, swept me off my feet and made me believe that everything he was doing in his career was for me—and then the girls. Never did I suspect he had that...that bend...until you.”
Kelly’s voice choked with emotion. “I could have used your help.”
She nodded. “I know. I’m so very sorry. But once I figured it all out, I wanted you gone. I wanted to pretend it wasn’t real. I wanted my life the way it was before you came into my house.” She gave Kelly a pointed and miserable look. “I wanted to blame you for corrupting my husband. It was how I kept putting one foot in front of the other.”
As she listened to Madeline explain herself, the truth of the matter hit home, obliterating any outrage that had risen. The calm that settled over Kelly overwhelmed her. “My God, Madeline. You are as much a victim of that man as I was.”
She nodded. “He’s sewn me up so tight to his side that I am his lovely little marionette, believing anything he tells me so I won’t have to change my comfortable life.”
Kelly shook her head. “Maybe so, but I’ll bet you another cup of coffee that the real reason you kept your own counsel is because you are afraid of your husband.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you telling me this now, Madeline?”
“Because until that Doyle report with Helen Thompson, I had no idea that you’d had a baby from the assault.”
“But Buzz told Dean Porter...”
She held up a hand. “I was sitting in the room during Porter’s interview. I watched Buzz lie right there on camera. He hadn’t told me about the DNA test. I hadn’t forgiven him, let alone agreed to stand by him in investigating further into who your son was. There I sat listening to Buzz dictating on national news exactly how I was going to respond when anyone questioned me.”
Kelly’s hand flew to her mouth. “My God.”
Fire rose in Madeline’s eyes. “I’m finished, Kelly. I can’t do this anymore. My soul has worn paper-thin. I don’t want my girls growing up thinking that men like my husband are what they should seek for themselves. I know this sounds cowardly, but if my husband goes to jail it would be so much easier for me to file for divorce and start a new life for the girls and me.”
Kelly appraised Madeline. She needed one more question answered. “How do you feel knowing my son is Buzz’s child?”
Madeline closed her eyes briefly. “Not knowing the child I find him difficult to accept. We both know Buzz wanted a boy. Part of me will have to deal with the fact that you gave him what I couldn’t....”
“Stop right there, Madeline! I didn’t give Buzz anything. By raping me, he took away my choice over whether or not I wanted to have a child. Getting me pregnant was not his goal. He has and never will have any rights to the baby that came from that