The Journey Home(76)
Author: Kelly Elliott

She looked at me as I wiped her tears away. “Please, Cale, please don’t leave. You promised me.”

My heart broke as I let my tears fall freely. “Never, Maddie. I’ll be right here.”

They pushed her through the doors and she held my hand as long as she could.

Dr. Green stopped and put his hand on my shoulder. “Everything will be fine, Cale. I promise. Maddison will be out for about forty minutes. As soon as possible, the nurse will come and get you.”

I nodded. “Take care of them, please. I can’t live without her.”

He nodded and smiled as he turned and walked through the doors. I raked my hands through my hair and walked over to the small waiting area. I sat down in the chair leaned back against the wall as I thought about the day Lily was born. Zoey had pretty much given up the fight. For months, I couldn’t get it out of my head—why Zoey did what she did. I’d finally asked Jack for the name of Zoey’s cousin, and I’d called and arranged lunch with her.

I closed my eyes and was brought back to the day I meet Zoey’s cousin, Lori.

I WALKED INTO the restaurant and looked around. A young girl with blonde hair stood and waved. I smiled and nodded as I made my way over to her. I reached out my hand.

“Hey, Cale,” she said. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise, Lori.” We both sat down and the waiter arrived almost immediately. “What can I get you to drink?”

I took a deep breath. “A root beer, please.”

He nodded his head and turned to leave.

I couldn’t help but notice how much Lori looked like Zoey. I told her so.

Her smile faded and she looked down and played with her fork that was sitting on the table. “Yeah, people used to tell us that all the time. Zoey liked to live a more…carefree life though.”

I nodded. “Lori, listen, I’m just going to cut to the chase. You knew Zoey better than anyone. Hell, I didn’t even know you existed until right before Zoey died. I can’t stop going over in my head why all this happened. Why would Zoey get pregnant knowing that it could possibly take her own life?”

Lori stopped spinning the fork and looked into my eyes. “I’ll never forget the first time Zoey talked about Maddie. It was as if she’d found a kindred spirit. Maddie was nice to Zoey, when others weren’t. Zoey was a bit of a…bitch.”

I let out huff and grabbed my root beer, taking a sip. I needed to remember this was still Zoey’s cousin.

She grinned weakly. “Zoey quickly became obsessed with Maddie.”

“What do you mean?”

Lori shrugged. “She basically wanted to be Maddie. She wanted her life, her looks, her personality. Her health.”

My heart dropped and now it was my turn to play with my fork.

“She told me how Maddie had mentioned this guy. She had talked about you, I guess, to her best friend and to Zoey once or twice. Zoey loved the idea that there was something that Maddie wanted so desperately. The day she met you in the coffee shop and heard your name, she figured it out. After you took her home and fuh…” Lori blushed and cleared her throat. “Um, after y’all had sex, she called me and was so excited that she could hardly talk. She kept saying that she’d found and taken what Maddie wanted. At first, I had no idea what she was talking about. Then it dawned on me.”

I closed my eyes and shook my head. “She lied about the pregnancy. Why?”

She slowly nodded. “She knew you didn’t have feelings for her. But she was obsessed with keeping you. She came up with this twisted idea and convinced herself that she was doing the right thing. All that fueled her at that point, Cale, was taking something that should have belonged to Maddie. She wanted to be Maddie, and she thought this was the way. She wasn’t thinking clearly. When she realized what she’d done, she talked about getting an abortion and telling you she’d lost the baby.”

I instantly felt sick. “Thank God she didn’t.” I barely whispered.

“Well, one night, when we were at a bar, she broke down crying. She said that Maddie still had everything. A rich and powerful boyfriend, a job she loved, and friends who cared about her. She even talked about trying to hook up with Maddie’s boyfriend after having the baby.”

I leaned back in the chair, trying to take it all in. I knew most of this already, but hearing it from Zoey’s cousin just made it all so real.

“So Zoey was never in love with me.” I said. “She just wanted me because Maddie wanted me. She got pregnant out of fear that I would leave her. I get all of that. But how long was she going to keep this all up? Didn’t she think about her own life when she came up with this whole pregnancy thing?”

Lori shrugged. “I don’t think she thought it through. The further along in her pregnancy she got, the more she pulled away from me. She told me once that she didn’t think she was going to make it through the entire pregnancy. She really didn’t think the baby would, either.”

I sighed as I dragged my hands over my face.

“Cale, the only reason she did any of this is because she wanted what Maddie desired. What Maddie dreamed and fantasized about. Once she found out you where the Cale Maddie had been talking about, she was going to stop at nothing to make you hers. To hell with her own health or other people’s feelings. She wanted to take you and keep you from Maddie. But the only thing she ended up doing was taking her own life.”

I CAME OUT of the memory when I head a female voice clearing her throat. I opened my eyes and saw the nurse standing in front of me smiling.

“Are you ready to meet your daughter?”

My heart beat rapidly in my chest. My daughter. Our daughter.

MY EYES FELT heavy as I forced them open. I could hear Cale talking, and it sounded like he was talking to our baby. My eyes opened and focused as I saw Cale standing there holding our baby. I instantly started crying. Cale glanced over to me.

When a tear rolled down his cheek, I covered my mouth with my hand and tried to hold my sobs back. The nurse came in and asked if I was feeling okay. I was sitting up just a bit, as I looked around the room. I nodded and Cale came closer. When he turned, all I saw was the most amazing, beautiful, perfect, precious face staring back at me.

“Say hello to Mommy, Paige Evelyn.” Cale smiled. To me, he said, “She’s been waiting patiently for her mommy to wake up.”

A girl. We have a girl. I could no longer hold back my emotions. As Cale placed our daughter in my arms, I began crying like a baby. I could hardly see her through my tears. I pulled back her blanket and checked all her toes and fingers.