Madison
Maddie stirred gently and her eyes fluttered open. She woke to a dark, unfamiliar room, and it took a moment for her to get her bearings. She was in her sister and brother-in-law's Manhattan apartment and she must've dozed the early evening away. The darkness filtered into the windows interrupted only by the twinkling of city lights. Something moved in the corner of the room and she shot up off the bed. She walked over and sighed with relief. “Oh, Beast, you startled me. I missed you, you ugly thing,” Maddie crooned to the cat as she reached down to scratch what little hair the animal had. Beast was her sister’s cat, and most of her hair had been pulled out from a nervous disorder. She really was the world’s ugliest cat, but Izzy and Thomas loved her. To prove it, she had quite the kitty bed and toy collection.
Madison padded into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face to wake up a bit. She grunted at the time displayed on her watch and popped her allergy tablet and birth control pill. The time change was killing her routine. Although she wasn’t sure why she was bothering with her pill since there was no lover in her life. She’d ended things with Robert four months ago when he proposed to her.
Robert had had her whole life planned out for her. She would work in the museum’s art restoration department via one of his university contacts, at least until she was pregnant. She could then stay home and raise the professor’s brood. He would advise her on what to wear and how to speak, and of course she would get that dragonfly tattoo that went across her thigh lasered off. He thought it unseemly. Robert had gone from being an older, stable boyfriend to a controlling creep. She had only taken one psychology class but was pretty sure that the relationship was her subconsciously looking for a father figure. The whole idea skeeved her out, and she broke things off with him.
She exited the guest suite and went down the stairs in search of her sister and nephew. She could hear music coming from Thomas' studio once she reached the main floor. He was playing something on the speaker system and harmonizing gently with it. Her brother-in-law had such a beautiful voice.
Maddie headed down the hall to reach the family room. Isabel and Christopher were cuddled up on the couch watching an episode of a nature documentary. As soon as she entered the room, Christopher looked up and saw her. He clambered off of the comfortable leather couch and came rushing toward her with arms outstretched. She welcomed her nephew with a big bear hug, picking him up off the ground and swinging him around. He giggled with mischievous glee. He looked so much like her they could pass for siblings, both with the same blue eyes and dark wavy hair. Strangers often commented on their resemblance, and it made them each feel more like “real” family.
“Maddie, Maddie. I've missed you! It's been forever," Christopher chirped.
"I know! I missed you too, Christopher, but it's only been three hours," Maddie replied, stifling a laugh at his youthful exaggeration.
"So now that the funeral stuff is over, what do we get to do while you're here? Can we go back to the art museum, or even better, what about the natural history museum? I love it there," he exclaimed.
"Of course we can go to the museums. I love them too. But I’m starting a new job so I won't have tons and tons of time. Just enough for my number-one nephew," Maddie assured him.
"Ha ha. Until Mom’s new baby is born I'm your only nephew. Besides, wait until you see the story I'm writing. Maybe you could draw all the pictures for it; that would be so awesome."
Maddie smiled at Christopher calling her sister “Mom.” That was new, and she knew it meant the world to Isabel. Guess his mother, Sasha, hadn’t been bothering with the supervised visits she had requested in family court. She would ask about all that later, out of her nephew’s hearing.
"Oh, no. Not another book about Mr. Refrigerator Man, superhero of junk food," Maddie uttered in mock horror.
"No, I’m sick of Refrigerator Man. I got a new superhero I'm writing about. Come sit with us. We’re watching this cool show about prehistoric monsters." Christopher pulled on Maddie’s arm to get her to come toward the couch and sit down. Isabel made room for her and gave her an apologetic shrug. She probably felt bad about forcing Maddie to watch such a silly show.
She still couldn't get over how tired Isabel looked. Even her strawberry hair seemed a bit limp and lifeless. She just hoped everything was going to go okay with this pregnancy.
The three of them sat for the next hour passing around popcorn and watching the Discovery Channel shows that Christopher adored. A bit later Thomas came out and gave her a warm greeting, asking all about her last few months away at school. He explained that he'd been doing a lot of studio work trying to get a head start for when Becket would be meeting up this summer to record. All in all he was downright domesticated and looked like he enjoyed the time at home. It was a quiet evening for everybody. They all needed to get some rest. The funeral had made for a really long day.