#thefreshmen

“Mommy! I be late!” Mariah pulled on my shirt pulling me from my thoughts. Becca held her cup of coffee out to me “You seem to need this more than me. Do we need to make an appointment for you to see someone?”

I gave her a smile a smile and took the cup “What are you doing?” I asked as she went digging in my purse “If you’re going to zone out on us there is no way I’m letting you drive.”

“Let’s go, mom! You slow!” I stared in shock at Caleb as I got my jacket. “What did you just say? We’ll see when’s the next time I let you have chocolate milk in the morning. Do you two have some hot date or something you forgot to tell me about?” He and his sister both gave me a dirty look “Gross mommy!” Mariah said grabbing her backpack. “Good answer.”

Well to be fair, you are really slowing down.” Becca lifted my hair “ I think I’m seeing some grey in there.” I swatted her hand away “Maybe I’ll dye it tonight. Something young like...pink. Yeah, that would be nice. “You wouldn’t dare!” I gave her a quick peck on the cheek “ Alright let's get going everyone!” “Hey, I was only kidding. You still look beautiful!” Becca called out

“You have got to be kidding me! What do they think they’re doing?” Becca rushed out of the car as soon as we got to my parents house not even bothering to park correctly. I straightened the car before following her.

My parents seemed a bit surprised at Becca explaining to Party Fever how they were doing everything wrong. My mom gave me a look as if she expected me to go save them “Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?”

I glanced over towards Becca “She’s going easy on them. Let’s leave her to that while we start baking.”

“You would think they broke something.” My dad said shaking his head. “If that was the case she would've already of killed them. They probably put things too close together.”

“Well why don’t I go out there and she can help you two bake?” “Because you two would probably be homeless. Never let her cook. Trust me on this one, dad.”

“Now this brings back memories. You need a hand with that?” Becca looked terrified as Chris and Sebastian stepping out of the house followed by two women I didn’t know. “Chris?! Sebastian?! What are you doing here? Becca pulled out her phone “it’s onl...Oh my god! It can’t be this late already!” She quickly put her phone away.

“Balloons! We need more of them and fast and… punch. Honey, why don’t we have any punch here?” She handed Chris and Sebastian some balloons. “Here, start blowing!” I grabbed her shoulders “Would you relax?” Her eyes were wide as she looked around the yard. I didn’t know when she looked cuter panicking or when she couldn’t figure something out like the how to put the swing set together. “ Are you seriously asking me to relax at a time like this? The kids will be arriving soon at it will be utter chaos if we don’t have punch and more balloons up.” I couldn’t help but smile “ I have the punch made and my parents are picking the kids up so everything is fine.” I went to kiss her but she held up a bag of balloons blocking my lips. ”Then you can help blow balloons.” I rolled my eyes and grabbed the bag.

After a couple hours the party was in full swing. Caleb was busy jumping on the trampoline with several other kids while Mariah stole Annisa from Kaitlyn so she could teach her how to make snow cones. She’s been addicted to that machine ever since we bought it. Becca still hasn't calmed down as she kept looking over at the trampoline “Do they really need to jump so high on that death trap?” “It’s totally safe and they’re having fun.” I told her” She gave me a dirty look. “Don’t worry. I cemented that thing down and added extra padding to the edge. I wouldn’t let my grandson play on something unsafe.” My dad said getting her to finally to her head away from it. “Well as long as you say it’s safe then I suppose.” I threw my hands up in defeat. I’ve told her that countless times but she would always argue about it. Let my dad say it once and she drops it.

It was a perfect day as everyone gathered and talk. It's hard to believe how much we’ve all changed especially my friends from college. Chris had actually made it to the NFL but hurt his knee after three years and decided to go into law with Sebastian. Funny how they were so against each other but was now best friends. Well, it’s really not actually. I did my college rival and now have two amazing kids that I love deeply. I wonder what me and Becca would of told someone who said we would be here today. James started writing books for awhile then scripts for Broadway. He definitely seems much more happier there than Hollywood. He married Raina and it looks like number three will be popping out of her before long. Zig now runs an auto repair shop which he seems to enjoy. Zack and Teddy are still going strong and seem more crazy about each other every day. Kaitlyn and Annisa’s band just got done with a long tour and have released their third album.

With old friends, new friends, and family all gathered around it makes me realize how excited I am for the future. Things don’t always go how you might expect, but if you continue on, they can turn out even better.

The rest of our honeymoon was back to business. Becca had took off early to catch up at Femsational and I wrote a wedding article for the Northbridge Gazette. For some reason I had been thinking a lot about it. I even started working on the sequel to Runaway Lovers. Not bad when chasing after two kids nonstop I thought to myself.

“Mommy, MC!” Mariah tugged at my blouse. “We’ll go later, sweetheart, when Becca gets back. I also really need to get some work done.” I’m way behind I thought. Since Madison got sick and we took the kids I had only gotten a couple articles done and I wasn’t even through the first chapter of the book. Of course, that was partially my fault as I wasn’t sure I even wanted to do it. But the constant pressure from the publishing company finally pushed me to start it. Well that and we needed the money. “It’ll be a guaranteed best seller!” Kevin had told me. I hope he’s right.

“Mommy, MC!” Mariah insisted once again. “I want mommy!” Caleb joined in. I let out a sigh and began typing again. Mariah started crying and throwing a fit. “Oh for the love of… I give up! We’ll go see mommy!” I closed my laptop.

Apparently they didn’t believe me as they they continued throwing a fit during the entire ride over there. It’s ironic how most of the time Caleb and Mariah seemed like they wanted to kill each other but let one of them get mad about something and the other was right there for backup in an instant. It was only when we pulled up to the hospital both of them finally started settling down.

I carried them down the hallway towards Madison’s room only stopping to tidy them up a few doors down. After fixing their hair Mariah started running off towards the room and Caleb quickly followed. My poor arms agreed it was better than carrying them.

She didn’t seem to like the fact that she couldn’t reach the handle on the door and started hitting it “Mommy! Mommy!” I came up behind them “Can you wait for me?” I opened the door.

“You have two children that-“ I stopped looking around. It was cleaned out and empty. None of the gifts or even the cards she had received was in sight.

I stepped back out to make sure it was the right room, but it was. “Mommy! Mommy! I want my mommy!” Mariah started crying again. “I...I don’t know...They must of moved her to another room, honey. Let’s go find out where she’s hiding.”

“I’m MC Davenport and I’m here to see Madison Eckhart. I brought her children with me and she’s not in her room. Could you tell me where she is?” I said to the woman sitting behind the counter. I held them so she could see them. “I want mommy now! Mariah screamed as she kicked me repeatedly and pulled my hair. I must look desperate I thought.

She stared at each of them for a moment before returning her attention to me. “I’m afraid she suffered another massive seizure last night. We were unable to save her.”

The world stopped spinning. “Wh-wh-what?” “She passed away last night.” She repeated. “I’m really sorry for your loss.” My brain was numb as I tried to think what to say next. “Wh- what’s being done with the body? “We will have it sent to the mortuary. Are you a relative? “No she’s a friend of mine from college. She also works for my wife. She hadn’t had really any contact with her family after she got with someone they disapproved of.

“I see. Is he the father? We should contact and notify him.” “Yes, he was. He died in a trucking accident a few years ago.” “Mommy! I want mommy!” They were both crying hysterically and I had to put them down.

Do we need to contact someone for you about the children?” I shot back at her “Why would you need to do that?” “So the children could go live with a relative.” I didn’t like her tone and whatever fog that affected me vanished as I went into full defense mode as I immediately picked them back up. “That won’t be necessary. Me and my wife have full custody of them and they’re not going anywhere!” I stated a bit more forcefully than I intended. Thank goodness Becca got that lawyer my mind said to me.

“I see…” she said disappointedly. “Well Ms-“ “It’s Mrs!” I interrupted her. “ I have mentioned her twice now.” Screw it! She’s going to get force! “What is being done about the body? Is there a certain mortuary company the hospital uses?”

“I’m afraid I can only give that information out to relatives. It’s company policy.” She gave me a dismissive look. “I am family and it doesn’t matter if you like it or not! What does matter is both these children are hers and I have custody. They want to see their mother!”

“I’m just following hospital policy. I didn’t make the rules.” This was going nowhere. I decided I had enough of her. “We will just see about that. I’ll be back soon.” I turned and headed for the door.

Once outside I was grateful that Mariah seemed to of worn herself out while I still had some hair left. I sat her and Caleb down on a bench and called Becca. She answered on the first ring. “Miss me already?” “You know I do.” I sounded 80. “What’s wrong?” How do I tell her? I decided to just come out with it. I was way to beat, upset, and sore from Mariah kicking me to beat around the bush and I told her what happened

“I’ll be right there.” I nodded “Becca, all the papers on the kids are in order right? I don’t trust her!” “Of course it is. Don’t worry about her or anybody else. Shawn Lancaster is the best family law lawyer in the area. I wouldn’t hire some loser for them.” “I know. I just… we’re out front. I’ll wait for you here.” I heard her start the car. “I’m on my way. I love you.” “I love you too.” I hung up and waited for her.

I couldn’t help but think what would happen if we lost the kids especially with Madison gone. We’ve only had them a short time but I couldn’t imagine my life without them anymore.

Calm down I told myself over and over again but how could I believe it? It just wasn’t fair- none of it was! Madison should be here. The fact that someone like her could get so sick at her age was proof of how messed up everything was. After a bit thinking about things I wiped some tears from my eyes as the sound of high heels walking quickly towards me broke me of my thoughts. I didn’t even need to look to know It was Becca.

She looked like a million bucks walking up and I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Several guys was checking her out as she walked by them. “Dream on boys, she’s all mine too!” Did I say that out loud? I chuckled. Just seeing her made me feel better.

I got up from the bench rushed over and kissed her. “I called Shawn after we hung up so there is no need to worry. Madison having signed these papers makes sure nobody can touch them short of one of us becoming a killer.” I let out a sigh “I know one person I would like to kill. Right in front of the kids after she just said their mother had died. What kind person would be so heartless?” Becca face hardened “Speaking Of which… leave the killing to me. You’re supposed to be the nice one, remember?

Becca pulled away and started towards the door. “You’re not-“ She turned back around “Don’t tell me not too! She treated you terribly, threatened our kids, and we still don’t know where Madison is. I’m not going to stand around letting her get away with that! And I’m certainly not going to let them throw Madison in some fire pit or cardboard box- She deserves better!” Becca turned back around and went inside before I could say anything else.

“C’mon, you two, let's go watch Becca murder her! Mariah looked like she was half asleep as I got her back up.

Becca was only in there a few minutes before I was able to catch up but she already had security around her as she talked to some gentleman in a suit. “I’ve already contacted our lawyer regarding this on the way over so you can explain it to him! I want her fired immediately for this! What kind of hospital are you running when you won’t even tell a close friend of hers what morgue you use?!”

“Mrs. Davenport, I assure you, there is no need to involve any lawyers. We have no problem with giving you or your wife that information-“

“Then she knowingly lied to me.” I said to the gentleman as I walked up. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to obtain any confidential information or step on Madison’s parents rights. I had explained to this woman, Madison hadn’t had any contact with them for some time. And being a close friend, we do want to see she is given a proper service.

“I had no proof of that. We can’t just take the word of anybody with questionable… well, I mean, who walks in.” The woman from before said sarcastically.

“You mean gay?” I asked her. “I never said that.” “I want something done now or there will be a lawsuit not to mention a great article in the Gazette! Becca demanded.

The man looked at the woman for a moment. “Ms. Conners, you’re fired! Please go collect your things and leave the property. Brian will help you.”

Another man who was next to Becca moved towards her. “You can’t be serious, I’ve worked here for over ten years! I’ve -“ You have damaged the reputation of this hospital and put it at risk of a lawsuit. Don’t make this any worse!”

The woman or Ms. Conners started to object but one of the guards cut her off. “Let’s go Liz.” She turned and stormed off.

“I trust this will help correct what has happened.” He took a couple steps towards me “I do apologize for her conduct earlier and hope you understand that is not how we do things here Mrs. Davenport. I also read your articles in the Gazette and I enjoy them very much. I plan on taking my wife to Nishinomiya Hashimoto Park soon.”

Prologue

Stillness and silence. It was something I rarely got to experience these day. What I once took for granted was now hard earned and unexpected. It’s just…what is that? My senses started returning and I couldn’t help but smile as I opened my eyes.

“Well good morning to you t…” “Shhhhh!” Becca put her finger on my lip “Be very, very, quiet” she gave me a wicked smile while pulling her finger away to kiss me again.

I couldn’t help but giggle. It felt like I was in High School again and my parents could walk in and catch us making out instead of studying at any moment.

“I dreamed I had you all to myself last night” she said as her kisses started going lower. “Imagine my delight when I woke to the discovery that dreams do come true.”

My fingers moved through her hair as my body started to climb. “Gosh, how I missed this! Becca reached for the elastic on my panties when we heard the door open

“Mommies?”

Becca screamed as she rolled over in an instant and sat up. I’m sure her face was more redder than mine. Our daughter made her way over to Becca’s side of the bed rubbing her eyes.

“Why are you not sound asleep young lady?” Becca said as she helped our daughter get on the bed.

“I was thirsty.” she said like it was obvious. “I see.” Becca said as she glanced at the clock with a frown. “Well it’s almost time for you to get up anyways. Let me guess, you’re hungry too?”

Just then our son, Caleb, comes running into the room yelling “I want Pancakes!” “I want french toast!” Mariah yelled back. “Pancakes! ” Caleb yelled again at Mariah while pushing her as he climbed up. “Enough! Both of you!” I said. “Now apologize to your sister for pushing her.” Caleb crossed his arms “We always have french toast.I want Pancakes!” “Caleb”! “Fine, I’m sorry.” he mumbled in a low depressing voice.

“Thank you. Now you are right. We’ve had french toast a few times this week so…” I look at Mariah “How about we do pancakes this morning and you can have chocolate milk with it?”

“I want chocolate milk too.” Caleb said excitedly. “You both can have some chocolate milk but no more fighting, got it?” They both nodded.

“Honey?” I said looking over to Becca who still hadn’t lost her frown. “coffee” she said sternly. “I’ll put some on.” as I got out of bed with a laugh knowing it wasnt coffee we both wanted.

——————————————-

I had just put several pancakes on a plate when Becca came in grabbing a cup of coffee. she took a sip of it before heading towards her computer. “ No! you are setting a bad example for the kids. You need to eat too as you’re making it a habit.” “I’ll grab something at the office. I need to get these proposals in before…” “Mommy eat!” Caleb said demanding in between large bites of pancakes with WAY to much syrup. Becca smiled at him. “Okay then young man” ruffled his hair then walked over and grabbed a plate. “I’ll meet you at you-know who’s at noon. Don’t be late as I don’t trust those idiots with the…” She looked at the kids before continuing “Stuff. Mrs. Rochester used them last year and they didn’t have anything set up properly and I’m not about to let them screw this up too!” She sat down at the table with her plate and coffee and glanced at her phone before she started eating.

I smiled warmly. Seeing her get so worked up over this surprise party for the kids, I just couldn’t help it. She hadn’t lost any of the sass I fell in love with back in college. I mean she even called up my ex who’s in the middle of a tour and got Kaitlyn to agree to come to this party insisting it will impress all the other kids.Who does that? My wife, that’s who. I cant even believe we’re married’ especially after how we met. it’s all like a fantasy!

I’m reminded of the first party she hosted after moving in back in college. I thought my friends was going to kill her. I had to convince her to make a store run to save her. I didn’t understand her obsession but now I see its because she cares so much and wants everyone to have a wonderful time. Sorority, business, or children’s parties, it doesn’t matter to her. She puts everything into it. This one especially.

We agreed to hold it at my parents after school. She may of agreed to lighten up on Kaitlyn for the party, but unfortunately, the folks of Party Fever are not so lucky and she’s been on them non-stop the past few days and after a quick stop at Femsational its to my parents to make sure everything is perfect.

All our friends are showing up to this party to celebrate our adoption of the kids two years ago. We wanted to do it last year but they still wasnt ready. This year though things have became more wonderful than i could imagine. The kids started calling us mom, and we finally got settled in to this new place, and I’m married to the woman of my dreams!

It’s shocking how so much happiness could come from something so horrible and heartbreaking..

I tried calling Becca throughout the day but she hadn’t answered her phone and her employees hadn’t seen her either. At 8:30 I decided to try again.

“Thank you for calling Femsat…” “I’m looking for Becca, has she been in by chance? She’s not answering her phone. "Ummm who’s calling please?” I was losing my patience with this one. “This is her girlfriend, MC. Now is this Megan, and have you seen Becca?”

“Oh hi, MC! Uh yes, it is. I didn’t recognize your voice. Hey, I read your book…” “MEGAN! I’m sorry, but right now I only want to talk to Becca. Its really important. Has she been in?”

There was a bit of a pause and she dropped her voice low. “She came in about an hour ago but just went straight to her office. I think she’s still in there but the blinds are drawn. She told us to tell anyone who asked for her that she wasn’t here. I’m not going to get fired am I?”

I took several deep breaths before responding. “I’ll see that she doesn’t do that. Will you check, and if she is, put her on please?” There is was another long pause. “Listen Megan I know she can be intimidating, but it is important, it’s about our kids.”

I was hoping this would persuade her but It really pointed out how emotionally invested I had become in this commitment. It was the first time I ever used the term ‘our kids’.

“Becca has children?” Megan asked surprised. “Yes, she does. It’s all happened very recent and it’s a long story. Would you get her please?” “Okay. Just one moment.”

It was longer than one moment, but finally Becca came on the line. “What has happened to the kids?” She asked in a slurred panic voice.

…AND SHE’S BEEN DRINKING AT WORK?! of all the messed up things she has done over the year’s… this has got to be high on the list. And it’s a big list! I tried my best to keep my voice down as the kids were just in the next room but the results were far from impressive.

“Well, let’s see…they had spaghetti for dinner. I finally decided to try that vegetable sauce in Women’s World. It was really good. They then had ice cream for desert, and they’re now playing with their toys. Where the hell have you been all day? Why haven’t you answered my calls? And, the latest to be added to the list, WHAT THE FU…” Both the kids looked up towards me. Damn it!

I pulled the phone away from me and put on the best smile I could manage. “ It’s okay, go back playing with your toys.” I took a deep breath before continuing. “Are you doing drinking at work?”

I had some wine in my office while I was trying to catch up. We fell behind with Madison getting sick and I have not been putting in the hours either do to this. Anyway, that is why I told them to just tell people I wasn’t here. Ease up MC, geez! As for earlier’ I told you, I had things to deal with. We should have a lawyer look at everything so I hired one. Oh by the way, we need to be over at the hospital tomorrow first thing, to sign the papers he is typing up. All of this has also also put a sizable dent in our funds, especially the lawyer, so I also stopped by the bank and talked with them about a loan.

How dare she! “Don’t tell me to ease up! I’ve called you repeatedly today! And thank you very much for including me with the lawyer and the bank, since it’s our money, and not just yours. And, let me explain something, we have two little kids now Becca…”

“WHAAAAA!” I heard Mariah cry as Caleb hit her and took some toy away from “IT MINE!” Caleb yelled at her. “Oh for the love of…” My phone dropped from my hand as I ran over to Mariah just as she hit him back “MINE!”

I grabbed Mariah “Okay, just because I’m mad at Becca doesn’t mean you two need to be fighting as well.” Mariah kept trying to reach for one of the Leap Frog laptop things we had recently bought for them that Caleb held. I fell in love with it the moment i saw it and was so glad they both liked it but no need for them to kill each other over it.

I glanced around and spotted the other one next to the television. I picked it up and handed it to her

“How about this one and we can sit on the couch together… just as soon as i find my phone.” “Yes.” she said while nodding her head. I took a deep breath “Thank you.” and went to grab my phone off the kitchen floor.

“Okay, I’m back!” I told Becca as I sat down on the couch with Mariah. What was I saying…“What was I saying to you?”

“You were reminding me of the kids that apparently you feel I forgot about while I was ensuring we can keep and provide for them.”

“Right! Actually it’s you walking out and ignoring me. You don’t have the luxury of just shutting me out anymore and ignoring my calls. What would of happened if one of them got hurt? You have the car! How would I of gotten them to the hospital? Carry them on the damn bus?! What if Madison…”

I took a deep breath to try and move my mind from going there. “I need… I need be able to get ahold of you.”

I expected a full on assault but instead i got what sounded like she was sniffiling with the phone away from her. If I had something on I might of had trouble hearing her.

“You’re right… I wasn’t thinking. And I didn’t mean to shut you out. I was just wanting some time to myself to…”

I could hear Becca start crying. She was the strongest and proudest person I ever met. The couple times over the years I’ve known her that she did cry, it tore me to pieces.

“She’s not going to make it through this… And I have been…I have been bitching about ads and missed days….JESUS! You had to stop me from FIRING HER! She’s been my best friend for years and instead of being there for when she needed me…I was wanting to let her go. "I FEEL SO DAMN GUILTY! Like this is all my fault! I didn’t even not want to give up the kids when it looked like she might make it through this. After everything she had been going through, I just kept thinking how much I would miss them!”

Hearing her fall apart like this was killing me. All the anger that I built up throughout the day vanished in a instant and was replaced by the need to hold her tight and comfort her.

“Oh honey, none of this is your fault. You didn’t give her cancer, it’s just something that happened. And she probably didn’t want to worry you which is why she kept it a secret for as long as she did. You have been nothing but the most loving and devoted friend to her this whole time since we found out.”

I was now falling apart myself crying and had to try and push the lump in my throat down before continuing.

“Taking on just one child is a huge responsibility by itself and you didn’t even hesitate to take both. And they’re absolutely wonderful children, it’s impossible not to love them. How could anyone want to give them up? I sure as hell don’t!”

Mariah started rubbing my arm and I gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head as Caleb came over to join us. “Come home. It seems like we have a big day tomorrow and we’re all worn out.”

Becca sniffled a few times “I’ll be back soon. My make-up looks terrible now-how embarrassing!”

“Ask someone to drive you. I don’t want you to be when you’ve been drinking.” “MC, I’m fine. I only had…” She stopped and I could hear her take a deep breath. “I’ll ask Megan.”

By the time Becca returned Caleb and Mariah had fallen asleep. We carried them to bed and tucked them in and going to bed ourselves. Falling asleep holding each other tight.

I woke up to aching muscles and body. I looked beside me and was surprised to find Becca wasn’t next to me. I managed to get to my feet and walk into the kitchen and was relieved to see coffee already made. I poured myself a cup while noticing the time 3:39 in the morning. I then went into the other room where we had our offices.

I almost dropped my coffee as the entire room was a disaster. My books was all piled on the floor with what appeared to be from the file cabnet, several tables and our laptops was missing, and Becca sitting on the floor taking a sip of coffee with sweat pouring off her.

“Is the coffee good? I wasn’t sure how many scoops you put in.” I took a sip and knew she put way to much coffee in. However, I couldn’t recall when she made coffee before and looking at the room strong coffee is what I’m going to need. “It’s tastes fine. How many scoops did you put in?” “I don’t know… six? I couldn’t sleep so I figured I would get started on this so we can hopefully have our room back tonight. The sooner this is cleared out the sooner we can go see about beds. We should go early to make sure they can be delivered today.

I was shocked as I couldn’t believe she was putting so much effort into this. I set my coffee down and walked over to her. "Okay, let’s do this!”

By the time the kids woke up it was going on eight a clock and the room was cleared out. Not only that we found room to set up our computers and tables in the living room though most of my books would have to go out to the garage.

we got the kids ready and went to get breakfast and then shopping for beds for them. we did have Madison’s key but Becca felt it would be to much trouble to move that stuff back and forth especially once she was released. We ended up purchasing two complete beds with matching nightstands and dressers and they was able to deliver and set everything up by three so we would have plenty of time to visit Madison.

——————————————

Just over a month had gone by since we took in Caleb and Mariah. While they did have a few rough nights they seemed to be doing well. They missed their mom and I couldn’t blame them. We went everyday to visit her when Becca got back from Femsational and sometimes we even would go earlier as well.

They had cut her hair do to the chemotherapy and her skin was heavily flaking but otherwise she seemed like she was going to beat this and that made seeing her in this condition a much better. Becca had bought her a wig that looked great on her and got a lock of her hair in a zip-lock bag that we held for her for safe keeping.

Madison was all smiles as we walked in today. “The doctor said my red blood cell count is a lot better. He wants to wait till after my next chemotherapy treatment and then he said I could probably return home.” “That’s wonderful Madison. I’m so happy to hear that.”

We stayed about an hour before heading home again. She was always so full of energy when we first arrived but she would quickly get tired so we would go and let her rest.

I was a bit sad at the news as I had actually gotten use to the kids being with us. We had both had worked so hard on their room and Becca had even put up comic book Superhero’s and Disney princesses all over it. She really had gone all out in it and it looked amazing.

Was it wrong to feel this way? I wasn’t sure but I felt awfully guilty about it. I had often thought about kids but Becca had said several times she had no such desires. Then out of nowhere two amazing children fall in our lap and Becca’s all for it. Maybe it is because of how much she cares about Madison, but it works.

I looked over and could tell Becca was depressed about the idea of giving them up as well. She had been such a different person the past four weeks but now she was moody and snappy a fair amount of the time.

“Hey it’s okay.” I walked over and gave her a hug as we got ready for bed. “ I’ll miss them too, so you’re not alone in this.” Becca just nodded then got into bed without a word. I decided not to push it we’ll see how things go.

—————————————-

Midnight Maiden started playing waking both me and Becca up. I looked at the clock that read a quarter to five. “Who is it?” Becca asked upset. “I don’t know” I looked at the name that listed initials I didn’t reconize. I decided I better answer it just in case. “Hello”

“Hello I’m calling to speak with either MC or Becca. Is one of them available please?” Said the gentleman on the other line. “This is MC, who is this and what is the reason for this call so early?” “I’m apologize ma'am but I’m calling from General Hospital and we have you listed as an emergency contact for A Ms. Madison Eckhart. "Oh yes! I’m so sorry, what can I do for you? is something wrong?”

Becca had rolled over as if asleep so I hit her leg a few times and she sat up. “I’m afraid Ms. Eckhart suffered two large seizures last night nearly right next to each other…” “Oh my god!” “It was a close call but I am pleased to say we did manage to get her stabilized. We’re not really sure of the cause of the seizers but it’s believed to be a reaction to the antibiotics she has been on. We have changed them and hoping that takes care of things. Ms.Eckhart is of course very weak, but is insisting on seeing you and Becca as soon as you’re able.” I looked over at Becca who had a worried look “Wake the kids!”

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Madison had been moved to the ICU on the 3rd floor. Becca notified the staff with the phone attached next to the door and we heard the buzzing of the door unlock.

Madison was like a ghost from even the day before when we had visited. Her skin looked like it had never seen sunlight and her eyes was sunken in.

What the hell do you say to someone like that? I was a published author yet I couldn’t think of anything appropriate. We definitely need more ways to greet someone besides ‘How are you?’

“Madison….I…” “I want you two to keep the Caleb and Mariah. I don’t trust my family and I don’t want them….” Madison started coughing a few times. Becca filled up her glass with some water and held it for her as she took a few drinks from the straw.

“I don’t want them to go into some foster home and I know…” “You think for one minute we would allow that to happen? Don’t you worry about them at all. Besides, this was just the antibiotics and those have replaced. You are going to be fine so dont be thinking like that!”

Becca could hardly even form the words. She constantly had put her down since we were in college but there was no mistaken how much she cared about her as she kept wiping the tears that flowed. She looked like she was going to fall apart at any moment.

Mariah and Caleb picking up on the tension started crying. Both of them had been wanting to be with their mom and in her shape we couldn’t let them. Before we could use hand sanitizer but now the chance of Madison getting any germs was to much.

“I’m going to take them down to the cafeteria and get them some breakfast. They haven’t eaten yet and I’m sure they’re both hungry. Why don’t you two talk alone for a bit.”

I had got them some oatmeal and Apple juice but both Mariah and Caleb was too upset to eat more than a few bites no matter what I tried. I figured I was probably wearing more than I managed to get them to eat. At least they did drink the juice.

Becca came down after about 40 minutes. I have never seen her look that way. “You want something to eat they didn’t…” Becca shook her head and I decided to drop it. I tossed what was left in the trash and we left.