Chapter 15
MADISON
A nurse wheels me out of the hospital, and I blink in the crisp December light. Seth is at my side while Damiano gets out of his car, which is idling at the curb.
I’ve been here for about a week, and I am so ready to go home.
The doctors wanted to monitor me, because my concussion was concerning for one reason or another.
At least Seth or Damiano was always with me.
Usually they were here in shifts, and they always overlapped to make sure I was never alone.
Which was good, because I wasn’t allowed to read or watch TV.
If they didn’t visit, along with Danica occasionally stopping by, I would’ve died of boredom.
“It is so nice to see you outside of that place.” Damiano hurries around the car to grab me in a gentle hug.
“Same.” I smile. “Thanks for getting me out of there. I just want to go home.”
They help me into the car, fussing over my seatbelt and making sure I’m comfortable.
“Guys, my arms and legs work—I can do all of this.”
“You can, but we’d rather do it,” Seth says. “We love to take care of you, Madison.”
Well, I can hardly be upset about that. If they want to pamper me, I think I’ll let them.
Instead of driving toward Salding, though, Damiano navigates us toward my neighborhood.
“Wait, I thought we’d go to Nove?” I’m not ready to face the destruction of my home.
I didn’t even ask about the extent of the damage.
Any time the guys brought it up, I begged them to drop the subject.
But stress pulls my muscles tight. Maybe it would have been better to know one way or the other. Is the place a pile of charred ruins?
“You did say you wanted to go home,” Seth says.
“You guys are my home.” It’s true. That old house is just a house. It doesn’t matter where we are—if I’m with Seth and Damiano, I’m home.
“Well, we should perhaps check on the place, either way.” Damiano expertly steers the car down the highway.
I don’t think this is a good idea. In fact, I think it’s a very bad idea.
My emotions are already all over the place.
I’m still so, so angry at Ford despite his sincere apologies.
He came by the hospital once, with flowers.
He didn’t stay to visit, probably afraid of upsetting me.
Instead, he dropped the flowers off with a note, which is currently tucked in my pocket.
Madison, I understand if you never want to talk to me again.
I was an idiot and I tried to protect my friend, thinking I could keep you safe at the same time.
He and I could get onto the property from the Kavlans’ yard, and from there, to that crawl space we escaped from.
It was wrong of me, and of him. I shouldn’t have allowed it to happen.
I failed and I’m sorry. If you want to talk, yell at me, or anything, you have my number and I’ll always answer.
I hope you can forgive me someday, but if not, I understand.
I haven’t decided what to do yet. But the beauty of it is, I don’t have to decide anything until I’m ready.
So I’ll hang onto the note and maybe, someday, reach out to my cousin.
He’s the only family I have left, but one thing I’m learning, from getting to visit with Danica and her guys in the hospital, as well as with my guys, is that we can make our own families.
Thinking of families and estrangement reminds me of the card and bouquet sent by Seth’s parents. They apologized to me and asked for another chance. They seemed sincere, but we’ll have to wait and see if it lasts.
All will be well, whatever happens with Ford, and with Seth’s parents.
Except I still don’t know what’s happening with my house. And as the car gets closer and closer to my driveway, my shoulders get tighter and tighter.
Seth squeezes my hand. “Madison, you can trust us.”
I nod, nervous, as we pull up to the drive. Damiano punches in the security code, and the wrought iron gate swings open to let us through.
I hold my breath as we move down the driveway. In my mind, the floor kitchen floor is collapsed, the pantry is a burnt-out husk, and my beautiful walls and new wallpaper are peppered with ashes and stained with smoke.
In my mind, flames are still licking along the base of the house.
What we see when we reach the end of the drive, though, is a house that looks completely normal on the outside. How is this possible? I know it was burning—it was the last thing I saw before I left a week ago.
Seth and Damiano get out of the car. I remain in my seat, staring at the front porch. I don’t know if I have the strength to go inside.
“Come with us, bella.” Damiano opens my door and helps me out.
“Are you sure we’re allowed?” I ask. “Has the fire department cleared it?”
Seth passes me my house key. “Yes, we’re allowed. Come on, let’s go inside.”
I force myself to breathe as I walk up the front steps to the door. “Have you guys been inside?”
“Yes.” Damiano brushes a kiss against my cheek. “I promise, all is well, Madison.”
I unlock the door and swing it open. I brace myself for devastation, but instead, everything looks normal. The rug on the floor is new, but it’s close in color to the one I had before. The wallpaper is the same, but with the fire trucks spraying water everywhere, I would think it should be ruined.
“What—what’s all this?” I gesture at the clean, put-together entryway. The last time I saw my house, as I was loaded into the ambulance, fire was swallowing the lower floor and licking up to the upper floors. “Did I dream the fire?”
“No, the fire happened,” Damiano says. “You didn’t dream it, bella. But the firefighters were able to minimize the damage.”
“There’s no sign of any damage.” I walk through the entryway and toward the kitchen. A spike of fear slices through me when I see the wall Cormac swung me into. My skull remembers that impact.
“We’ve been working on it over the past few days.” Seth touches the edge of the doorframe leading to the kitchen. “New wallpaper, new walls in some places. New flooring where it was needed. The damage wasn’t really that bad.”
That’s why they were so often taking it in turns to visit with me—they were busy running renovations of my house. They must have spent hours upon hours here, not to mention whatever the financial cost has been.
Insurance or the money left to me by Great-Aunt Vivienne could easily cover the financial aspect. But Seth’s and Damiano’s time, their dedication, and their thoughtfulness?
I grip their hands, trying not to cry. “You guys…I can’t ever repay you for this.”
DAMIANO
I lean down and kiss Madison’s sweet lips. “My sweet, sweet bella. We don’t want repayment. We did this as a gift for you, because we love you.”
My heart feels like it could burst, it’s so full of love for this beautiful woman. She is everything to me, and her happiness is paramount. I would rebuild this house with my bare hands for the smallest chance of seeing her smile.
Madison looks at the entryway before wandering into the kitchen, her hand pressed to her mouth.
She takes in the new tile floor, which we arranged to match the old one as closely as possible.
She gazes at the new microwave, since the old one needed to be thrown out.
Thankfully, most of the cabinets and the other appliances evaded the worst damage and could be kept.
Madison asks, “Is this real? It must have taken a giant crew to do all of this work so fast.”
It took a rather large team, and expert organization.
We hired a construction management company called Calink Construction.
Lincoln James and Caleb Swann usually work on much larger jobs.
However, for the right price, they were willing to help us out with this short-term project.
It did not hurt that their lovely wife, Evelyn, assists in managing their company.
She heard our story first, and seemed touched at what we wanted to accomplish.
I suspect she influenced her husbands into accepting the job.
We spent the entire week working on it with Calink’s subcontractors.
If I wasn’t in the hospital with Madison, I was working on the house.
Seth did the same, and we made sure to always have one of us with Madison.
It was a stressful week, worrying about our girl and rushing to finish her house.
We tore out drywall, put in new flooring where necessary, reconfigured the kitchen and entryway electrical, and replaced whatever decorations had been ruined in either the fire or the subsequent water damage.
Seeing Madison’s resulting happiness makes all the hard work worthwhile.
Taking hesitant steps into the pantry, Madison stares at the wall. We couldn’t block it off completely due to fire risks and other regulations, but we placed a heavy latch and deadbolt on the not-so-secret door.
“When SEFD said we couldn’t block the wall off completely, we wanted to fill the whole thing with cement,” Seth says with a smile. “But we were told it was impractical. This seemed the next best solution.”
“It’s brilliant.” Madison nods.
I rub her shoulder, letting her feel my unspoken support.
Turning to face us, Madison blinks back tears. “So, when are you guys moving in?”
“We’re ready whenever you are.” I swoop her up into a hug, squeezing her gently.
“Now,” she whispers in my ear before kissing my cheek. “I’m ready now.”
Seth grabs her in a careful hug of his own. “We are, too.”