"Forever in My Heart" Pt. 04

Hanlon let fly his opening arrow, "Well you had the problem with the antiques... your barn."

Madeline smiled the look of the defeated. She'd been used. It was like her freshman year in college all over the again. A frat boy had fucked her over once more. She had one last shot, "What does Mr. Schilling have to say?"

Hanlon sank his final dagger, "Mr. Schilling found out about your 'antique problem and didn't like it. You know how he is about the firm's reputation, not a trace of scandal," Hanlon paused and went on, "Of course you must know everyone knows you got your position because of Mr. Schilling and your dad," then he finished her off, "I have no idea what his response would be if he thought you were using your...well."

Beaten, beaten and done Madeline shrugged, "Mind if I take the rest of the day off?"

Relieved Hanlon worded, "Take the week if you want."

She started for the door. As she reached for the knob she heard him say, "Nothing personal Madeline. You know we all like you."

Passing into the outer office she mumbled, "Yeah sure," and just like that she knew she was through at Schilling, Prendergast, and Hanlon. She knew now it was the bastard Hanlon who'd told Mr. Schilling about the antique thing. Such a minor fracas; if she stayed Hanlon had her as his very own private sucking machine, and worse he'd use her over and over again as the firm's whore. Feeling stifled and abandoned she was at a loss. What would she do next? She knew what she wanted to do; she wanted to go back in there and kick Hanlon in the balls, she wanted to tell Mr. Schilling the only reason they got the Lingtalevought account was because she'd bought it with her body, she wanted yell and cuss and scream her head off, but she knew she'd do none of those things.

She stepped out to the street, opened her purse, found her cell phone, and punched up the number. It rang twice, she said, "Colt... Colton," then she cried.

~~~V~~~

The days dragged on and on. Colton's life had become a continuous series of false hopes and dashed moments. He'd given up staying at Chelsea's bedside. It was back and forth from home to the hospital or to Madeline's. He was all out of sorts. Someone was paying all his bills; not just the hospital costs, but everything else too. He wondered; had the father he'd never met heard about Chelsea? Irma and Emit had given up; they didn't have any answers. Who else could it be?

He'd given up and found another job. He was a late night stock boy at the Walmart. 'Well,' he'd thought, 'it was only part-time, but it was something.'

Then there was Madeline, the rich but poor dumb whore, lawyer bitch. What was he going to with her? She called... again, and yeah...he'd gone over. She'd been a total mess. Her bosses had fucked her over. She'd lost the partnership, and she didn't know what to do. He didn't either so he'd taken her in his arms, consoled and then made love to her. Crazy how that worked; over the past weeks she become increasingly soft, not obsequiously soft, but like lovingly soft, really loving. Yeah, she'd been falling in love with him, he'd tried to pretend he didn't know and didn't care, but damn it, he had known and did care. Funny thing about it; he enjoyed it, and worse, or better, he thought maybe he was beginning to feel the same way. It was a strange world.

~~~V~~~

It was Wednesday, October 13th 2010 when he was sitting glumly by Chelsea's bed staring into the darkness wondering what his life had become when he though he heard something. What was it? The sheets! Chelsea? He sat up, "Chelsea?"

He heard her murmur, "Colt?"

He jumped up! He screamed and yelled, "Chelsea you're awake!"

In came the night nurse, "We saw something."

Colton pointed, "Look!"

Chelsea was awake. Groggy, but awake, "Colt, where am I?"

He grabbed her warm and oh so alive hand, "Oh Chelsea..."

Another nurse had arrived, looked and exclaimed, "I'll get the doctor."

A befuddled Chelsea asked again, "Where am I?"

Colton laughed, then giggled, "Oh sweetheart you're at Saint Isadore's, the hospital."

And yes she was alive and awake, then she slipped off to sleep again, but only briefly. For Colton the clock had started ticking again. The world could and would go on.

~~~V~~~

Two days after Chelsea awakened the police found both Girty brothers. Their throats had been slit, but not before someone had thoroughly worked them over. For Lieutenant Hargreaves and his side-kick Venice Biscotti their deaths marked the end of a once promising lead into a part of the illicit drug world of their region. With Patty Lantern's remains found and identified, and now the Girtys out of circulation they were back to square one.

Venice looked down at the older Girty's mangled body, "That only leaves Colton Stewart."

Hargreaves shook his head and muttered, "I doubt it. Don't think he had anything to with any of it."

Not too many miles away two very mean looking men in a black Chevy Suburban were mulling over the same possibility. One looked at the other, "What do you think? Go after Colt?"

The older man chuckled, "No. We both know him. He's clean."

The younger of the two, a skinny kid named Steve Brady lit up a cigarette, "Yeah, he's one lucky son-of-a-bitch, but how will we explain the lost cocaine to the 'people' back in Philadelphia?"

The older Brady shrugged, "We won't. We'll just have to eat it."

~~~~V~~~

The partners were having their final meeting to determine who'd be invited to join the firm as an equal. Mr. Schilling scratched his chin in disbelief, "It's unfathomable. You say Madeline, Ms. Westerbrook has been...?" he couldn't utter it, "...misbehaving? I just can't believe it."

Hanlon innocently added, "I'm sure it's true. She's just outside. You want to speak to her?"

Schilling glowered at Hanlon, "Yes. Would the two of you excuse us?" He glanced at the other partner, "Ask her to come in will you?"

Outside Mr. Hanlon smiled at Madeline, "Mr. Schilling wants to see you."

Primly dressed in a knee length grey skirt, grey blouse, and grey jacket she stood, straightened her attire and walked in.

Evincing no emotion Mr. Schilling pointed to a chair opposite his desk, "Have a seat Ms. Westerbrook."

She sat.

He asked, "Is it true?"

Hands in her lap, looking down, in a barely audible whisper she responded, "Yes sir."

He softened, "You know I have to tell your father."

Like smashing a rare and expensive piece of imported porcelain Madeline completely collapsed. Falling on her knees she burst into tears, "No please Mr. Schilling," blubbering like a baby she begged, "No Uncle Horace. No please, oh please. Don't tell daddy! You can't you mustn't ... it will kill him. He's already ashamed of me. No please... you mustn't."

Not a real uncle, but so close to the family for so many years she'd come to look upon him as someone just like her dad. Since she could remember he'd been Uncle Horace. The polished woman, accomplished lawyer had lost all her aplomb. She cried bitter tears.

Mr. Schilling got up, came around, and on one knee knelt beside her. He put his arm around her shoulders, "Now, now Maddie. Your dad needs to know."

Tears pouring down her cheeks; she rolled her head in his direction and opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Arms wrapped tightly around her the older man whispered, "I think I understand how this happened. I'll tell him. You'll see. He'll understand."

Inconsolable, knowing she'd willfully played the whore much too often and for far too long she allowed herself to melt into caring arms.

Mr. Schilling held her for a few moments, and then leaned back and stood up, "Now Maddie. I want you to wipe away those tears. Straighten yourself up, and go home."

She wiped her make-up ruined face, "You're going to release me too aren't you," with that she started crying again, "I won't even get a reference."

Mr. Schilling softly chided, "Maddie I said to go home. Nothing's been decided," he had decided some things though.

Madeline got up, wiped her eyes again, turned, opened the door, and walked out into the main office.

Mr. Schilling watched her go. Then he opened his office intercom, "Hello Tildy?" Tildy was one of their secretaries, in fact his primary secretary.

"Yes Mr. Schilling."

"See if you can find Mr. Hanlon. If you can, ask him to come in." Schilling leaned back; he been thinking about opening a new 'tiny' adjunct office up in Erie. He believed he'd found the man to do it.

A few minutes later his door cracked open and Hanlon peered in, "You wanted to see me sir?"

Mr. Schilling leaned forward, "Yes, come in. There's something I want to do, and you're a team player right?" He sat still and let the meaning of his comment sink in.

~~~~V~~~~

Meanwhile Madeline walked through the office as swiftly as she could without drawing attention to herself. Outside to the parking lot, then to her car, she got in and sat down. She took mental stock of her finances. Chelsea's hospital bills had been a heavy burden, but she was still pretty well fixed. She thought, 'What was the absolute worst thing that could happen? That was easy; her dad... She felt so alone. She needed to talk to someone, but who? She pulled out her cell phone and punch in his number. On the third ring he picked up, "Hello Colton?"

Several hours later and after she'd poured out almost her whole story to the one man, other than her dad, that she knew she could trust she pressed herself against his chest. Of course she'd left out the parts about State College and the years immediately following, but about Hanlon, Bradley Thompson, Lingtalevought, Kesselring and the promised partnership she'd opened up completely.

Lying beside her on her queen sized bed Colton lazily glanced over at her, "You're such a whore."

She rolled over on her back. Staring up at the ceiling she murmured, "Yeah, I suppose so."

Then to her surprise he reached over, wrapped his hand around her neck, and pulled her close enough to touch noses, he whispered, "Not to worry. Sounds like that guy Schilling's in your corner, and for what it's worth I am too."

She snuggled in as close as she could; there was just something about this man... he seemed so right...

~~~~V~~~~

Except for repeated bouts of dizziness and dreadful fatigue Chelsea managed a slow recovery. Able to take only a few steps at a time Colton and his mom agreed Chelsea wasn't really ready to go home so they made arrangements for hospice care. There was just such a place in downtown Chambersburg. It was called Stella Maris Hospital; costs were high but now with her current temporary condition, as long as she displayed any improvement Medicaid kicked in a chunk. The rest was being picked up by someone; Colton still didn't know who.

He made daily visits; arriving in the late morning after her therapy and staying until well after dinner. She spent most of her afternoons asleep. He pretended she was getting better, but she'd already peaked. At least she was back to her old nagging ways about her virginity and his promise about marriage. He still held her off.

They talked about her stories. She made and he made a daily check on her earnings. Remarkably, people were buying them. He wished he knew who.

They talked about his supposed plans to go back and finish college, but mostly he fearfully watched her when she slept. He followed her slow shallow often gurgling breathing, her headaches, her frequent lapses in memory, her increased inability to focus, and the slow erosion of what stamina she did have. She was slowly dying; he and the doctors saw it, but they put up a brave front when she was awake.

One day her physical therapist called him aside and explained since she wasn't showing any progress Medicaid would soon be cut off. He begged, but to no avail. Yet, once she was dropped some unnamed donor picked up the expense, and her therapy continued.

Madeline was showing up too. He still wondered why, but then occasionally she'd plead for some personal time, and he'd stop off at her house for some recreation. Sometimes when they finished she'd quietly cry. He couldn't figure her out. She didn't mention her professional circumstances and he didn't ask. For him he pretended it was purely physical, but he knew, deep down there was more. For her, she seemed more and more to want to talk.

Sometimes their conversations were revealing. He thought about some of what they said; there were times it got pretty deep. He remembered...

He and Madeline were in her living room, on her sofa, they'd just had what he considered a rather nice warm round of sex; her facing him on his lap, her head actually more on his shoulders while they slowly and gently rocked back and forth. Every few strokes she'd lean way up and way far back and down so he'd slide out. He knew she did that because then he had to push and punch at her clitoris several times before he found his way back inside. He didn't mind so much since she got so silly while it was all going on. He added to her pleasure by holding her buttocks in both hands while using his fingers to tease her perineum and anus. Thinking about it, he'd never taken her anally, but he was sure, if he was careful and gentle she'd let him, she might even grow to like it. He figured this because of the way she talked about what Kesselring had done. He would be gentle too. Sure she'd been a bitch, but even bitches had feelings.

Anyway he remembered they were in her living room, all comfortable and sated when she started talking. She'd mentioned her dad first.

"Mr. Schilling," she started, "is going to tell my dad. That'll be the end of me."

"Oh come on Madeline," I said, "I don't know your dad, but I bet he'll be OK. I mean I don't think he'll be happy, but he won't disown you or anything."

"You don't know my dad Colt. He's always been pretty rough when it came to me. I was supposed to go to his Alma mater, State College, graduate cum laude, and join him in his practice in Philadelphia. None of that happened, and he's never forgiven me. Since I left State College he's been all for my little sister."

"What did she fulfill his dream and go to State?"

"No, she went south to the University of Florida. She took up oceanography. She got married. She's even got kids. She went to England to do research in the North Sea. She took her kids. Dad's been there twice to visit. See, he doesn't care about me anymore."

"Gee," responded Colton, How long's your sister been in England?"

"Two years."

He chuckled, "Two visits in two years doesn't sound like abandonment to me Madeline."

"Well he talks about her and her kids all the time."

"What, grandfathers aren't allowed to be excited about grandchildren?"

"It's not that Colt. It's, well other stuff."

Like what Madeline?"

"I don't know. I stopped answering his calls or responding to his emails."

"Does he call much?"

Not much, maybe twice a week."

"Jesus Madeline, twice a week, that's a lot. Why don't you take his calls?"

I don't know. Scared I guess."

"Seems like you'll be talking to him pretty soon. He'll probably drive out."

Madeline cringed, "If he does I'll leave. I'll run away."

Stunned, Colton sat up and back, "That doesn't sound like the hard assed shit kicking lawyer I've come to know and... well kind of like."

She stopped and stared, "You can't say it can you?"

"Say what?"

"That you love me. I love you."

He smiled and then he pulled her up so her head was under his chin, "I figured you liked me, and yeah, I guess I do sort of love you," he pushed her away so he could look at her, "you've become very special," but then he sobered, "but I have someone else on my mind right now."

She wrapped her arms around his head, leaned up and kissed him, "I love you. I really do, and I understand how it is with you and Chelsea. I'd never come between you two. Besides, if you knew about what happened at State you'd lose all respect for me."

He kissed her back and chuckled, "What makes you think I respect you now?"

She temporized, "I know you don't. You think I'm a slut or a whore, and I guess I am. But what happened when I was at State... well."

He picked her up and slipped her around so she sitting on his lap, "OK, tell me. What happened?"

She rested her head on his shoulder, "Promise you won't despise me."

"Come on it couldn't be any worse than what I already know."

"All right," she said, "I was a freshman. I'd gone to all girls private schools all my life. All the boys I'd gone out with had been pre-selected if you know what I mean."

He answered, "No I don't, but go on."

"Well I guess I went to college not knowing anything, or hardly anything. I joined a sorority my mom picked for me. She'd gone to State too you know."

He smiled, "No I didn't know."

"So I suppose I was feeling a little rebellious. My sorority sisters were all nerdy. Looking back, I suppose I was too. I started sneaking out. I met some boys. They belonged to one of the fraternities. I didn't know then, but some of the fraternities were always on and off probation for one thing or another. One the fraternities the boys belonged to was an 'off campus' thing. It wasn't a college recognized chapter. Anyway I fell in love. He was handsome, not like you at all; he was tall, blond, had big blue eyes, a Mustang convertible, lots of money and loads of friends."

Colton chided, "Not like me at all; short, fat, cross eyed, poor and cheap, with no friends, no money and no fancy car."

"I didn't mean it that way. What I meant was, he was college, he was going places, he was... important. We, or at least I fell in love. My sorority sisters warned me, but I blew them off. Phew, this is the bad part. He got possessive. I had to be with him all the time. He made me skip classes. When we went out I was warned not to look at anybody, keep my head sort of down, and only speak when he said to. I didn't realize then; he wasn't just a college boy, he was a pimp. I guess you know what happened next."

Colton kissed her, "You're done. You don't need to say anymore."

"No, she said, "I better get it over with. He started handing me around. You know?"

Colton nodded. The last thing, the hand around had made him angry.

"I was so in love. I didn't... Then there was the worst. It was a party, a kegger, they called it. I got a little drunk, not real drunk. I knew what was going on. My boyfriend took me upstairs to a bedroom. He handcuffed me to the bed. He undressed me. He took out a magic marker and wrote things, bad things, on my head and my chest. One by one all his friends used me. While one did me all the others stood around. Every time one got off the others cheered. I was so humiliated. They took pictures. They did a video. The next day they kicked me out with hardly anything to wear."

Colton held her and kissed her head, "You don't need to tell me any more."

She said, "I know, but I do need to. My sorority sisters shunned me so I quit. Then I was so self-conscious I just dropped out altogether. I went home."

"Did you tell your father?"

"No, but he found out. He contacted the college. The boys in the fraternity were all called in. My old boyfriend was expelled. Two others were too. One was a freshman like me and hadn't passed any courses anyway. Any future members of that fraternity were barred from attending State."

"What did your dad do to you Madeline?"

"Nothing at first. I got to go to Europe with one of my old best friends from prep school. We toured all over. We went to England, France, Italy, and Greece. I saw all kinds of wonderful things. Then when I got home me and my dad had a long talk. He said he was disappointed, but he said I could go to any school I wanted. I chose the University of Pennsylvania so I could stay close to home."