Always Dakota - Debbie Macomber [102]
“What am I going to do now?” he asked Hassie. She’d lived through this; she would know. “What happens next?”
“Pain, lots of pain, but eventually you and Merrily are going to release your son,” she said.
“Release him?” This was a sick joke. They’d lost Axel five months ago, only they hadn’t realized it until this morning. The boy would never be theirs again.
“Not from your heart,” Hassie was quick to amend. “That would be impossible. Never from your heart.”
Early Friday afternoon Maddy was at the grocery. She generally came in once a week to check on her store, although most of the everyday management was handled by Pete Mitchell.
This arrangement worked well with Jeb and Julianne, too, and gave her husband one afternoon a week to spend with their daughter. Jeb had proved to be a wonderful father. Maddy delighted in watching her husband with Julianne and the tenderness that suffused his face as he rocked her to sleep.
Maddy was just finishing up some paperwork in the small cramped office when she heard Margaret. Her loud voice carried all the way to the back of the store. “I’m here to see Maddy,” Margaret insisted gruffly.
On their most recent visit, Margaret had broken into tears and told Maddy about her husband fathering a child with Sheryl Decker. It’d nearly broken Maddy’s heart to hear such pain. When she’d finished telling her story, Margaret had asked for advice. Sadly, Maddy didn’t know what to tell her. She was disappointed in Matt, but the fact that he’d fathered a child didn’t distress her nearly as much as the heartache he’d caused her friend.
“Margaret?” Maddy came out of the room, not knowing what to expect. She discovered her friend barreling down the produce aisle with all the grace of a lumberjack on his way to the mess hall.
“Maddy,” Margaret cried, “I’ve been looking all over for you!”
“Didn’t Jeb tell you where I was?”
“He did, but I thought you’d be home and—” She paused, dragged in a deep breath. “I need to talk…. Can you spare me a few minutes?”
“Of course.” Maddy stepped aside to allow Margaret into the compact quarters.
She fell into the chair, looking pale and about as forlorn as Maddy could remember. Maddy sat down, too, and waited, certain Margaret would tear into her reason for coming. When she didn’t, Maddy decided to prompt her.
“Did something happen?” she asked, deciding to take the direct approach.
Margaret put on a brave smile. “I…Matt moved out this morning.”
Maddy was sure she’d misunderstood. “Moved out?”
Margaret nodded. She blinked a few times and Maddy knew she was struggling not to break into tears. “I didn’t know who else to turn to for help,” she blurted out.
“I, uh, take it this came as a shock?” Maddy didn’t know what else to say.
Margaret shook her head, then nodded just as emphatically. “I didn’t ask him to leave, if that’s what you’re thinking.” She hesitated, and as though embarrassed to admit it, she said, “But it was what I wanted, and I made sure he knew it.” She bit her lower lip. “He said he was going to fight for me, for our marriage, but apparently he didn’t mean that any more than the other things he claimed.”
“You wanted him out of your life, right?”
Margaret swayed, and Maddy felt a moment’s alarm, especially considering the pregnancy. But Margaret rallied and took a deep breath. “Some days I wanted us to patch up our differences,” she said, “and then I’d start thinking about him with that woman and I’d get so damn mad I wanted to scratch his eyes out.” She shook her head wildly, as though to dislodge the mental image of her husband with Sheryl Decker.
“Did something trigger this?” Maddy asked, hoping to shed light on the current situation. “The fact that he left, I mean?”
Margaret looked down and nodded. “I saw an attorney.”
“You did?”
“I