But ever since her conversation with her mother, she’d decided to forget about the whole age thing and focus on the man who’d made her happier than she’d dreamed possible. In fact, she had a surprise for him after the party that she predicted would pretty much make this birthday unforgettable for both of them. Despite her earlier protest to Helen, a little black lace might have come in handy.
When she arrived at the house, she could hear laughter from the kitchen. Hearing Cal’s deep laugh blending with Ty’s, Kyle’s and Katie’s made her smile. There were party hats and streamers on the dining-room table along with brightly colored paper plates and matching napkins. There was a pile of presents at the end of the table. Looking at the display, she decided it might be an even better party than the previous year’s when Bill had called at the last minute to say he couldn’t make it home. It had been the first of his lies.
One of the family traditions was to play music from the year—or at least the decade—the person was born, so Maddie went to find her stash of CDs with music from the late sixties. She’d just put a mix into the CD player when the doorbell rang. Opening it, she was shocked to find her ex-husband standing there.
“Bill, what are you doing here?”
He looked past her into the dining room and spotted the decorations. “Oh, hell, I’m sorry. It’s your birthday, isn’t it? I forgot.”
“It doesn’t matter. Come on in. You look upset.” She studied him intently and realized she’d never seen him quite like this before. His shirt was wrinkled, his tie askew. Even more surprising was the day’s growth of stubble on his cheeks.
“Is this about the divorce?” she asked him. “The papers took me by surprise, even though I’d been expecting them.”
He regarded her with bewilderment. “The divorce?”
“You didn’t know? It’s final,” she said. “Helen brought me the papers a little while ago.”
“I see,” he said as if they were of little or no importance. “I hadn’t seen them yet, but I haven’t been in the office. I imagine my attorney sent them there.” He headed straight for his favorite chair and sat down, then hung his head as if he couldn’t bear to look at her.
She studied him with dismay. “If it’s not the divorce, did something go wrong at the hospital? Is that why you look as if you haven’t slept in days?”
“I haven’t slept, I haven’t even been at the office in a couple of weeks,” he told her. “I took some time off. I needed to think.”
Maddie sat on the edge of the sofa across from him. “Think about what? What’s wrong, Bill?”
He finally met her gaze. “Noreen and I have split up,” he said, then added with a touch of belligerence, “Go ahead. You can say it.”
“Say what?”
“I told you so.”
Maddie shrugged, unwilling to play that game with him. “It hardly matters now.”
“You were right,” he said bitterly. “I was an idiot. It was a mistake from the beginning. Noreen figured that out before I did.”
“Then breaking up was her idea?” Maddie asked, trying to keep the amazement out of her voice. Maybe she hadn’t given Noreen as much credit as she deserved. Even more amazing was that no one in town had found out about the split. She hadn’t heard a word, though she couldn’t help wondering if that was why Helen had regarded her so warily earlier. Had she known?
“Actually Noreen left a couple of weeks ago. She moved home to be with her folks in Tennessee.”
“I’m sorry,” Maddie said, not knowing what else to say. Did he want her sympathy? Was he here expecting her to gloat? What? “So why are you here?”
Bill’s exhausted gaze caught hers and held it. “I want to come home, Maddie,” he announced with a perfectly straight face, even as Maddie’s mouth fell open. “I want us to try again. And before you say no or toss me out the door, I want you to think about our family and what’s best for all of us.”
The audacity of the suggestion astounded her. “The way you did?” she scoffed.
He winced at her tone. “No. You’re smarter than I am. You don’t walk away from things this important without a fight.”
His attempt to twist this around and make it seem as if she were the only roadblock to their recapturing their marital bliss made her want to smack him. “How dare you come here today and throw this in my lap? We’re divorced, dammit! Your choice, not mine, but I’ve made the best of it. I’m not interested in looking back.”
He looked shaken by her declaration, but he pressed on. “It’s a piece of paper, Maddie,” he said. “That’s all it is. We can get married again. In fact, maybe it’s for the best that the divorce came through. With a new ceremony and our kids standing up for us, it’ll be a real second chance. A fresh start.” He was clearly warming to the theme he’d chosen to win her over. “I’ll do this however you want, whenever you want. You make the rules. You set the date. I’ve spent the past two weeks thinking this through and it’s the right thing to do. I know it is.”
Maybe if there’d been even a touch of humility in his tone, she would have given his plea more thought, but he was still the same Bill, the cocky, assured man with all the answers, never mind that they’d come months too late. It was all just words, and not very convincing ones at that. He hadn’t even uttered a real apology for all he’d put them through.
As she sat there listening to him, Maddie clutched one of the birthday napkins that the kids had picked out for her party. She prayed they remained in the kitchen and heard none of this. She didn’t want them to be as shaken and confused as she was.
“I can’t do this now,” she said at last, her voice tight with tension. “You need to go.”
“Let me stay for the party,” he countered. “Let it be a real family celebration.”
“You walked out on this family,” she reminded him. “So, no, you can’t stay, not today.”
His expression faltered at that. “Cal’s coming?”
“He’s already here.”
“I see,” he said, his voice turning cold.
“No, Bill, I don’t think you do. He and the kids planned this party for me. I will not have it spoiled because you’ve suddenly had a change of heart now that your girlfriend’s abandoned you. You can’t waltz in here and assume that things can go back to the way they used to be.”
“I’m not assuming anything, but they can be that way again,” he insisted. “I believe that, I believe in us.”
Before she realized what he intended, he pulled her to her feet and kissed her, taking his time about it. She detected a hint of desperation in the kiss.
“Marry me again, Maddie,” he said. “We can get back everything we lost. I swear it.”
Maddie wanted to scream that she didn’t trust his promises, not anymore.
But before she could utter a sound, she heard Katie’s gasp from the dining room and then the kitchen door banged open and closed again.
She cast a furious gaze at Bill. “See what you’ve done! How could you?”
“What?” he asked blankly.
“You’ve just turned your children’s lives upside down yet again,” she said wearily. “And you did it every bit as thoughtlessly and impulsively as you did the last time.”
She left him standing there as she went to see just how much damage he’d done this time with his lack of consideration for anyone’s feelings but his own.
C
al and Katie were coming out of the kitchen to put the somewhat lopsided, pink-frosted birthday cake on the table when he overheard Bill Townsend’s proposal and guessed the rest. He felt his stomach drop. Beside him Katie gasped, then whirled around and raced back into the kitchen. Cal met Maddie’s dismayed gaze for barely a heartbeat, then turned and went after Katie.
He barely had time to hunker down in front of the little girl and take her hands in his, before Maddie and Bill followed them into the kitchen.
“Hey, Katie-bug,” Bill said, a weary smile on his face. He held out his arms, but Katie continued to cling to Cal’s hands.
“Did you come for Mommy’s birthday party?” she asked her father, regarding him with distrust. “Is that what you meant?”
Ty stood there, scowling, his body tense. “What’s going on?” he demanded. “Why are you here? We didn’t invite you. We have everything planned and now you’re going to ruin it all.” He looked at Cal. “It’s ruined, isn’t it?”
“It’s okay, Ty,” Cal reassured him. “Nothing’s ruined.”
“I don’t need you interfering in a conversation between me and my son,” Bill snapped.
“He has more right to be here than you do,” Ty retorted. “You left us!”
Bill heaved a sigh. “I know, son, and it was a terrible mistake. I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I put all of you through that. I’ve already told your mother that I want to come home for good,” he said, aiming a hard, pointed look at Cal.
Though Cal’s every instinct screamed at him to stay right here and claim this family as his own, he knew what he had to do. He faced Maddie. “I should get out of here and let you guys talk,” he said quietly. “This is a family matter.”
“No,” she said, her expression pleading.
He bent down and gave her a hard kiss. “Talk,” he said. “I’ll call you later.”
“But the party,” she protested. “You and the kids worked so hard.”
“We’ll have it tomorrow night. No big deal.”
She stood up. “I’ll walk you to the door, then.”
When they reached the front door, she said, “I had no idea he was coming over here, much less that he was thinking along these lines.”
“I know.”
“He said he and Noreen are over.”
“I figured as much, if he wants to move back in here.” He searched her expression. “What do
you
want?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he shook his head. “Sorry. That’s not a fair question. He’s just hit you with this. We’ll talk later.”
“But Cal—”
“Later,” he said firmly and closed the front door behind him. He was afraid if he lingered for even a moment, he’d do
or say something to try to convince her she belonged with him. She didn’t need the pressure. The decision was hers and hers alone.
As much as he might hate it, those two had a history. They had kids. And they were the same age, same generation. Cal knew exactly what she was going to decide. And when she told him it was over, he didn’t want her smug, unworthy ex-husband sitting there listening as she tried to let him down gently.
He hadn’t even made it to his car when Dana Sue and Helen pulled in behind him, blocking his way.
“Where are you going?” Dana Sue asked. “Did you guys forget something? I can run out for it.”
Helen studied him with an assessing look. “This isn’t about party favors or ice cream, is it?”
Cal shook his head. “Bill’s inside.”
“Damn him,” Helen muttered. “I
thought
that was his car on the street. What does he want or do I even need to ask? I know Noreen left him.”
“He wants Maddie,” Cal said tightly.
Dana Sue stared at him with shocked expressions. “But their marriage has been over for months.”
“Apparently Bill doesn’t see it that way,” Cal said. “I really need to get out of here.”
“You’re leaving?” Dana Sue demanded indignantly. “What’s wrong with you? Get back inside and protect Maddie.”
He managed a half smile. “Maddie can take care of herself.”
“Well, I know that,” Dana Sue said with a wave of her hand. “But she’s vulnerable to him, especially today.”
“Why today?” he asked.
“The divorce is final,” Helen explained.
He sighed at the irony. “Tell that to Bill. He seems to want to come back and take up where he left off.”
“He actually said that?” Helen asked, looking as dismayed as he felt. “In front of the kids?”
“In so many words,” Cal confirmed. “Katie and I only caught the tail end of the conversation he had with Maddie, but he generously repeated some of it for Ty and Kyle’s benefit.”
“Damn him!” Helen repeated, this time with even more feeling. “I’m with Dana Sue. You need to go back in there and fight for what you want—I’m assuming that’s Maddie and the kids.” She scowled. “Or don’t you want them enough to fight for them?”
“I love them enough to give them a chance to figure out what’s best for them,” he said.
“If that isn’t a bunch of noble hogwash!” Dana Sue said with scorn. “Maddie needs to know you care enough to fight for her.”
“Maddie knows how much I care,” he said.
“How?” Dane Sue demanded. “Have you made a commitment to her? Have you told her you love her? Proposed? Done anything she can hold on to? Or is she going to have to weigh Bill’s concrete offer against your ambivalence?”
Cal thought of the ring he’d buried in her birthday cake. The kids knew just which slice to give to their mom. It was the only slice that had a lopsided, malformed rose on top. The ring was between the layers.
“You’ll have to trust me,” he told them. “Maddie knows how I feel, or she will before the evening’s over if they go ahead with the party.”
If some twist of fate put that slice on Bill Townsend’s plate, Cal hoped he’d break a tooth on that diamond.
“You’re making a mistake,” Dana Sue said, her tone dire. “Bill might be a jerk, but he can be very persuasive when he wants to be. How else do you suppose he got a beautiful young woman like Noreen, even if it all fell apart in the end?”
“Maddie’s not a naive twenty-four-year-old,” Cal reminded her.
“You think she’s going to stay with Bill, no matter what you do, don’t you?” Helen said. “That’s why you’re leaving.”
“I’m leaving because her ex-husband and the father of her children just announced he wanted a second chance. She needs to be able to consider that without me in her face.”
“Men and their stupid pride,” Dana Sue said with disgust. “Go home. Lick your wounds. That’s what you’re really doing. You don’t want a bunch of witnesses just in case she chooses Bill over you.”
Cal could hardly deny that. He had faith in what he and Maddie had. He just couldn’t be sure it would hold up against her sense of duty to her kids and the history she had with Bill.
“You’re right. I’d rather not force Maddie to make a choice with everyone she loves hanging on her every word. Come on, you know this is what I have to do. She needs time to think. She doesn’t need Bill and me in there haggling over her like she’s the last piece of prime rib in the butcher shop.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we don’t feel that way,” Dana Sue snapped. “I intend to go in there and stop her from making the second-worst mistake of her life.”
“What was the worst one?” Cal asked.
“Marrying Bill the first time,” Dana Sue said.
“Amen to that,” Helen said. She met Cal’s gaze. “And while I think you’re making a mistake to walk away right now, I understand and admire you for doing it. You and Maddie have
me believing in love again. I hope to hell you don’t ruin that for me by carrying this damn nobility thing too far.”
Cal laughed at the annoyance in her voice. “To be perfectly honest, I hope so, too.” He glanced at Dana Sue, who was still seething. “You going to move your car out of my way?”
“No!” she snapped.
“Fair enough.” He considered trying to maneuver around it as Maddie’s mother had done a few weeks ago, but the rosebush was just now starting to recover. “I’ll walk.”
Dana Sue nodded. “Maybe that will get your blood circulating back to your brain.”
“Don’t mind her,” Helen said, giving him a commiserating look. “Come on, Dana Sue. Instead of berating Cal, let’s get inside and save the day before this whole mess spins out of control.”
“I can’t wait till Maddie’s mom gets here,” Dana Sue said. “I bet she’ll have plenty to say about this reconciliation.”
Cal didn’t envy any of them. From the look in Maddie’s eyes when he’d left, he had a hunch the chaos was already way past anybody’s attempts to save the day.
Bill was surrounded by a sea of hostile faces. He’d expected an uphill battle with Maddie, but he hadn’t counted on the arrival of Dana Sue, Helen and his former mother-in-law to make matters worse. Obviously his timing sucked. Even the kids had been very wary about, if not hostile to, his stated desire to come home, and indignant at being sent from the room when it became clear that a discussion about his relationship with their mother—and not a birthday celebration—was on the agenda.
“Maybe I should go,” he said eventually. “We can talk about this later, Maddie, after you’ve had time to consider what’s sensible.”
“Now,
there’s
a romantic thought.” Helen shook her head. “By all means, Maddie, do what’s sensible. Don’t listen to your heart.” She seared her best friend with a look. “And if you do, I promise you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.”
Bill tried to counter Helen’s remarks. “Look, sweetheart,” he said, “I’ve put all my cards on the table. I thought long and hard before doing it because I wanted to be sure it was the right thing. Now I’m trusting you to do the right thing, as well. You always have. Whenever you’re ready, we’ll talk.”
“She has nothing left to say to you,” Dana Sue declared. “You’re divorced, remember?”
Maddie cast a warning look at her best friend. “I can speak for myself.”
“I know,” Dana Sue said. “I’m just putting in my two cents’. Sue me.”
“If we’re all going to say what we think, I have a few things I’d like to get off my chest, too,” Paula said.
Bill knew there’d be nothing pleasant coming out of her mouth. “I think I can guess where you stand.”
“Really?” Paula said. “Maybe I just wanted to say that Maddie needs to remember that you’re the father of her children.”
Bill didn’t think for a second that she was going to let it go at that. “And?”
Paula gave him an approving look. “You’re smarter than I remembered. I was also going to say that that is not a good enough reason for her to take you back. The way you treated her was deplorable. That’s the bottom line. And while I will
live with and support whatever decision Maddie makes, there’s only one I will truly respect.”
“You can’t even consider the possibility that I’ve learned from my mistakes?” Bill asked, stung by her comment, even though he’d been expecting something very much along those lines. He knew he deserved her wrath, but it cut just the same. Until he’d gotten involved with Noreen, he thought he’d been a good husband and father. Paula seemed to have forgotten about all those years when he’d been devoted to her daughter and their family.
“No, I can’t consider that possibility,” Paula said, her expression unrelenting. “It’s been my observation that men who treat their marriage and their family in such a cavalier manner don’t learn from their mistakes. They repeat them.”
“I won’t,” he said.
“And Maddie should believe that because?” Dana Sue demanded.
“Okay, enough,” Maddie said. “As much as I appreciate all the advice and moral support, ultimately this is my decision.”
“Agreed,” her mother said.
“And you need time to think about it, consider all the ramifications of what you decide,” Bill said.
“No,” she said, her gaze lifting to his. “I don’t.”
Bill swallowed hard at the certainty in her voice. This wasn’t going the way he’d hoped. He could see it in the pitying look in her eyes.
He forced himself to say it before she could. “It’s Cal, isn’t it?”
Maddie nodded. Her gaze went from her mother to Dana Sue and Helen before coming back to him. “I know all of you thought I didn’t know my own mind, that I’d put the kids
ahead of what I want and need, and in some ways you were justified in thinking that. My kids are the most important things in my life and I would do just about anything for them.”
“But—” her mother began.
Maddie didn’t allow her to finish. She held up her hand. “I would do anything
except
make myself miserable. I won’t turn myself into a martyr for the sake of my children.” When she met Bill’s gaze, her expression was sad. “I couldn’t marry you again, Bill. You’re not the man I married and I’m not the woman I was when I was married to you. It would never work.”
“How can you be sure if you won’t even give us a chance?” he asked, hating the pleading note in his voice. He realized how much he’d counted on being able to win her over. From the minute Noreen had walked out the door of their apartment, he’d been obsessed with winning Maddie back. He’d considered every angle, debated all the right arguments to make it happen. But it hadn’t been enough.
“I’m sure,” Maddie replied, “because I love someone else, someone who values who I am now, not someone who values the way I was. Because my heart races when I see him, because he makes me and my children happy.” She glanced at her mother and smiled. “Because Cal is my soul mate, Bill. It’s taken me a long time to realize it, but you never were.”
He saw the conviction in her eyes and knew he’d lost. Maybe their marriage would have ended someday anyway, but it had happened now because of his stupidity and recklessness. He had no choice but to concede defeat graciously.
Ignoring the other women in the room, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to Maddie’s brow. “Be happy, then. Cal’s a lucky man.”
She smiled at him in a totally confident way. He recognized that self-confidence because for a while, because of him, she’d lost it. His heart ached.
“Yeah,” she said happily. “He really is.”
It was after midnight when Maddie let herself into Cal’s apartment, shed her clothes and slipped into bed beside him. As if he’d been waiting for her, he sighed and folded her close so she could hear the steady beating of his heart.