Finding Madelyn (11 page)

“I respect her very much.”

“You better.”

“Galen
,
shut up.” Maddy pleaded.

“Donald just calm down.” Cassie used the same tone. “We were dating when I was fourteen if I need to remind you.”

Galen stopped stepping back. “Mr. Murphy, I will not run from you.”

“Galen?” Maddy tried to hold on to the board between her thighs and watch them. Wondering if it would be worth another bruise to make this stop.

“It’s alright.” He stood his ground. “I spent all morning arguing with my father about us, it’s only right to get this over with.”

“What’s your father got against my girl?”

“Nothing
,
sir. He thinks I should date someone who can help forward his career like my brother does. Mama spent all morning arguing on my side too. Talking about friendship, love, choices, he just didn’t want to listen.
I told him I didn’t need his permission to date Madelyn and was on my way to talk to Will about a job at the plant when I saw her on the roof.”

Maddy was dumbfounded. He actually stood up to his father like that and now hers.

“You’re really not gonna run, son?”

“No
,
sir. I might not need my dad’s permission but should have yours.”

“And you don’t.” Pa confirmed.

“Yes
,
sir.” Galen stared at the ground. “I can still stick around and help out if you’d like an extra set of hands. Will and the plant will be there tomorrow.”

Pa scratched his beard. “We could use a hand. Still she’s the smartest choice to be up there, ‘cause she’s the lightest. I’m not real good on a ladder and you can help there.”

Pa handed him a hammer and a few nails. “You can start on that ladder and nail the bottom when she’s done the top. Oh, if she starts to fall I expect you to be able to move quicker than me.”

“Yes
,
sir.”

Galen went to the ladder but didn’t look at her. He was mad, probably at himself. There was nothing they could do now but leave Pa to think and pray that he changed his mind. Every time she thought of Galen standing up to his father, let alone hers, she smiled.

Over the time she spent on the roof that smile became contagious and Galen loosened up. They moved into the pattern of friends they had always been. Pa didn’t say much, just orders on who did what as they progressed on the roof and finish
ed
up the walls.

Galen helped her down from the roof, neither of them thinking that it would be him touching her. When she realized she waited for a few seconds for Pa to yell, when he didn’t she continued going about following Galen to put up the next piece of wall.

When the last board was in place, they stood back and looked at the little room. It was barely eight by eight but it was hers with a window facing east. Even more important they’d done it as a family.

“Cassie
,
why don’t you take the girl inside and set up that bed.”

“Donald?”

“We’re just gonna have a talk.” He patted Galen on the shoulder.

Cassie pulled Maddy along.

“Mama
,
we can’t leave them out there.”

Cassie shut the door. “He can still run from him.”

“But he said he wouldn’t.”

“If cornered
,
anyone would. Now get away from that window and let’s get your bed set up.”

“Mama, he won’t run.”

Maddy tore herself from the window to help Mama but her mind
remained outside
. If Pa stayed by his decision
,
there really wasn’t anything they could do about it. They would be forced to stealing kisses on those rare days he came home and she was still there. And that was if their mama’s let them have that much time alone.

Tears were nearing the surface when the front door came open. Galen looked somber as he crossed the living room into her room and her heart sank.

“Mr. Murphy and I had a long talk.” The corners of his mouth turned upward for a split second. “We have limited permission to go steady.”

His mouth gave way to a full smile and his arms encircled her. Her heart almost stopped as she went back over what he said.
Limited permission
was better than none.

She slipped out of his grasp and for the first time that she could remember
,
hugged Pa. It only lasted a moment until he pulled her away.

“I think you should walk the boy out. He does have other things to do today.”

“Yes, sir.”

She walked past Pa, taking Galen’s hand when he joined her in the living room. Cassie was whispering as the front door closed behind them. Then she was back in Galen’s arms with a shout of glee from them both.

“Now
,
I just have to talk to Will about a job, since Dad’s cut me off
. His head is going to spin when
I tell him we are officially seeing each other.”

“You’re not joking.”

“No.” He shook his head with a gleam in his eyes. “Just means dates are going to be low budgeted until I get a pay check.”

He guided her off the porch.

“Dates.” She smiled.

“As many as your pa will allow.”

She’d slept peaceful and sound that night in her new room
,
waking before the sun rose.

“What are you doing up so early?” She didn’t jump at the sound of Pa’s voice.
Hadn’t in weeks.

“Watching the sun come up through my new window.” She was sitting on the end of her bed snuggled deep into her cover.

Madelyn sat on the dock with her blanket wrapped around her, looking over the water
,
waiting for the sun come up. This had been the reason she bought the cottage. The cottage i
tself was too big for just her. C
ute, but all the space became lonely. It was close to the diner,
which
made it convenient, but the dock was the reason she’d settled here. The dock was the reason it was home.

It was her place to think, to relive the past, plan the future, or just forget about everything. This morning there had been no forgetting. Her mind was stuck, skippin
g along on a scratched record of
a never-ending player.

Those first few months after her room was complete, after Pa had given them permission to date
,
had been near bliss. At least as near to bliss as she’d ever known. Slowly she was getting to know a sober father. There was laughter at the
kitchen
table versu
s the awkward silence of years past.

Galen worked at the fish plant with his uncle Will after school and every chance he had.
It seemed ev
er day he got stronger, and happier.

If they both had time, then there would
be a date
.
Outings to the shore
, the river, or wherever they could be alone. There was dancing to the car radio with picnic lunches. Stolen kiss
es when no one was looking w
ere as common as rain in spring.

Not a soul in town said a sentence that put the two of them together to Fredric Langley. Then May took her life away as easily as December had given it.

Mama’s screams woke her in the middle of the night and she ran into her parent’s room.

“Run to the neighbors, call the doctor.”

“Mama?”

“Now.” She yelled.

Maddy slid on her shoes and started running. The closest
neighbor with a phone was
the Van Horn’s.
It was about a five-minute walk;
she knew because they walked past every day on their way home. All that walking had done wonders for her legs.
The years of running from Pa hadn’t hurt.

She sped up
,
thinking of the panic on Mama’s face
,
then pushed harder remembering what her father looked like. His eyes rolling back in his head. One arm clasped to his chest. His skin changing colors.

As the house came into view she tried to yell, she was too far out of breath to succeed. Instead, she pounded on the door
,
taking large gasps of air.

“What in the ha . . .” Mr. Van Horn stood in the doorway with a shotgun and underwear.

“Doctor,” Maddy spit out. “Pa needs a doctor.”

Mr. Van Horn nodded and moved to the phone. Maddy took a few more gasps o
f air.

“I need to get back.”

“I’ll give you . . .”

Maddy didn’t hear more of what the man had to say as she took off again. By the time she waited for him to put on pants and find his car keys, she’d be back home.



Aunt Vicky looked so small holding Ma
ma up at the funeral
, t
he same mourning frock Maddy had seen her wear to funerals before.
Mama
kept
her hand clasped over the cross around her neck.

So many turned out for someone
to whom
most
never gave
the time of day. Mrs. Langley stood on the other side of the grave with Galen. Harland was at school but sent his condolences. Fred
ric had stayed away but
Will stood by him.

Maddy stood next to Mama wondering
,
much
as
she had for the past three day
s
, if she could have ran faster, would it
have made
a difference. Even with the
doctor’s
assurance that there was nothing anyone could have done, she still had to question herself. The doctor said that drinking the way Pa had was too much on his body. It was that simple.

She’d wanted to scream at him, no death was that simple.
Instead, she hadn’t screamed at anyone, hadn’t even shed a tear.

Galen’s eyes were filled with sorrow and planted on Maddy, though she didn’t return the look. There was too much pain for a man she spent most of her life avoiding. Finally, she was to the point of being numb after spending every night trying to console Mama.

It wasn’t her first funeral. Mama took her to every church member’s memorial service. Said it was only right to give the remaining family all the spare love they had. Pa
’s
however was the first
funeral she ever attended that was personal
.

It felt wrong to put him in the ground and leave him there, alone. For someone to be so alive,
more
alive
than he’d been in years
,
one minute and gone the next
.
With
the only thing
anyone
could do was bury them and move on.

Vicky held the after service dinner. Her home was far nicer than Mama’s and could accommodate more people. They settle
d
Mama o
nto the sofa in the parlor where people could talk to her and give their
respects. Maddy couldn’t si
t still
so she
walked aro
und the house then
watched from the doorway as each person kissed Mama.

Maddy could see the physical difference in her. Dark semi-circles incased her eyes. Her hair was disheveled from having her head on someone’s shoulder for the better part of three days, mostly Maddy’s shoulder at that.

Will leaned down by Mama and she feigned a smile. The doctor had given Mama a pill so she would be calmer for the day. Maddy had another in her pocket to ensure Mama slept that night. There were whispers exchanged
and
a pat on Mama’s back.

Will was an odd man. He kept to himself, to the point that
,
even though he lived over the Langley’s garage, he rarely came to the main house. He was taller and lankier than Harland
,
with darker hair like Fredric. He’d talked to Mama now and again, as they passed each other by
,
but never looked at Maddy.

He stood from Mama’s side and today
he
actually looked at Maddy as he tried to pass from the parlor to hallway.

“Sorry about your
pa
, Madelyn.”

“Thank you.” She tried to smile, realizing she was a broken record repeating the same monotone thank you all day.

He stopped in the hallway and turned back toward her. “Watch over your Mama, she’s taking it real hard.”

It wasn’t the first time that someone had said that
,
but none had looked at Cassie in quite that way. There was a sparkle in his eye
and she wondered
if that was normal.
The longest she’d ever seen Will, was when he stopped the car and asked if they wanted a ride the rest of the way home.