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Authors: Francis Ray

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But she wouldn't be a fool again. She jerked the front door open, desperate
to stop Zachary before he drove away, and gasped when she saw him hunched over on the steps, his head in his hands.
He surged to his feet and whirled to face her; hope and love shining in his dark eyes. “Madison.”
“Don't go,” she pleaded. “Please don't leave me. I love you.”
His eyes widened. In one step he was inside the house, kicking the door shut behind him. His arms closed tightly around her. “Say it again, please.”
Laughter spilled from her lips. “I love you. I love you.”
His mouth covered hers in a kiss that left both of them trembling. “I love you so much. I never meant to hurt you or betray your trust.”
“I finally figured that out. To you loving means forever.” Her smile faded. “You were right about my shutting Wes out. It takes two to make a marriage work. I stopped trying.” Her finger stroked his strong jaw. “You wouldn't stand for me doing that for too long. Your not leaving proved that.”
“I couldn't make myself leave.” He kissed her palm. “I had a better example than Wes about how a marriage should work.” His head rested against hers. “I realized something tonight about myself as well. Deep down I hadn't gotten over A.J. turning his back on me until I stood in front of his house and thought about how much he and Vanessa had hurt you. For me, that was the end of it.”
“Then we're both free of the past,” she said. “But, if you ever lie to me again …”
He kissed her quickly. “Never,” he vowed.
“And you're going to marry me?”
He didn't hesitate. “Tomorrow, if you want to fly to Vegas.”
She rubbed her cheek against his chest. “People will talk, you know.”
His thumb made lazy circles on her arm. “I don't care. Do you?”
She searched her heart and listened to the comforting beat of his. “No. But the last couple of days have taught me that secrets never stay buried. Louis was even hinting at the identity of Manda's father.”
“What do you want to do?”
She lifted her head. “Talk with Miss Taylor in the morning and, if she agrees, call a news conference. First, we're going to wake my parents and sister. Introductions and explanation are long overdue.”
Fifteen minutes later, Madison hung up the phone in the den, still a
bit stunned. Her parents had suspected her marriage was in trouble. They'd waited and worried for her to come to them. With Zachary's arm around her, she'd tried to explain about her pride and fear for her mother's health, but was brought up short when her mother asked, “When Manda is older how will you feel if you know she's having problems, but she won't open up for you to help her?”
Madison hadn't had to think long. “Miserable. A failure as a mother.” She'd blinked back tears. “Mama, I'm so sorry.”
“You're forgiven since you're giving us another grandbaby to spoil,
and
a son-in-law.”
“A yummy one at that,” Dianne chimed in on the three-way.
Madison had smiled through her tears. “I love you.”
They'd chatted a few minutes more, then she'd hung up with a promise to call the next day to discuss wedding plans. “Your parents are next.”
Zachary's mother cried when he told her he was getting married. Any doubts that Madison might have had that his mother and father would dislike her because she'd been married to Wes quickly faded. They were happy for them both and they were coming for the weekend.
“Now that that's taken care of, how about we take care of each other?” Zachary slipped off her robe and pulled Madison down on the couch.
His zipper rasped as she tugged. “An excellent idea.”
 
 
After discussing her plans for a news conference with Gordon the next morning, he persuaded her to use the
Noon Day
time slot. They could use the first fifteen minutes to expound on the need for volunteers, donations, and programs to help children in abusive situations. The last fifteen would be Madison's. It was Zachary's idea to use the tape of the man in Miss Taylor's room which had arrived that morning to illustrate what lengths unscrupulous people went to to uncover information.
“Counting. Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”
“This is Madison Reed, back for a special segment of
Noon Day
. Be sure and tune in tomorrow for the new host, Paula Dennis.” She switched to camera three. “What I'm about to tell you is very personal, but I feel it's necessary if I am to live a life without fear. If Manda, the baby who I'm adopting, will live without fear. Because of my so-called popularity, people may be tempted to use any means necessary to ferret out information,
no matter who they hurt.” Camera one zoomed in for a close-up of her face, composed and determined.
“What you're about to see is the tape of a man who went into the room of Manda's great-aunt to get information about her father. Roll tape.”
The camera picked up Louis Forbes when he got out of the cab, tracked him as he entered the building and lost him when he entered Velma Taylor's room. It picked him back up when he came out, his eyes wide and frightened, two minutes and thirty-eight seconds later.
Madison's hands clenched. She wished they were around Louis's neck. With difficulty she controlled her anger. Louis would get his. She'd made sure of it.
“The man you just saw was my agent. My ex-agent. When he left Miss Taylor's room she was having chest pains and was later diagnosed as having had a heart attack. He did nothing to help. What he did was unconsionable. He snuck into her room to find out the identity of Manda's father. He jeopardized a life for profit. To stop him and any other unethical person from any further harassment of Miss Taylor, myself, or Manda, I'll give the name of Manda's father.”
Briefly, she paused, and gazed unblinkingly into the eye of the camera: “Wes Reed.”
Standing off-camera, Gordon had to glare at the camera crew for them to be quiet. “The public thought Wes and I had a perfect marriage. It obviously wasn't. He fell in love with a bright, intelligent woman who died before her time. Unknown to the public, my co-workers, or our closest friends, Wes and I were about to file for divorce. He had taken a position in Chicago, and I was being courted for one there as well.”
She paused briefly. A little more and she'd be finished. “Without the slightest hesitation or regret, I will decline the position and remain in the Metroplex.”
Gordon pumped his fist.
“There are two special reasons for my decision. One is Manda; and the other one I'd like you to meet.” Madison stood and beckoned. Zachary walked onto the set, a smiling Manda in his arms.
“This is Zachary Holman, a man of incomparable measure, the man I love and plan to marry.” She leaned into him as his arm circled her waist. “It has taken me time to figure it out, but I know who holds my tomorrow. Talk, speculate, whisper. It matters not.
This
is what matters.”
Lifting her head, she kissed him as their arms circled each other. “Love is all that matters.”
“Fade to black,” Gordon said, his grin huge and ecstatic. The cameras stopped rolling.
His arm still around Madison, Zachary walked off the set counting his blessings. The police would handle Louis. No one messed with Zachary's family. He had more happiness than he ever thought possible. It was only going to get better. He also knew who held his tomorrows and they were in his arms.
A
S MADISON PREDICTED, PEOPLE talked, speculated, whispered, but true to her word, she didn't let it bother her because the people who supported and loved her far outweighed the people who didn't. Besides, she was too happy preparing for her wedding, moving into Zachary's house, finding a balance between caring for her new family and work, and renewing old friendships.
One worry she didn't have was finding an agent. She had been inundated with requests. Those numbers climbed once it became known that TriStar still wanted to take
The Madison Reed Show
into national syndication and if she wanted to stay in Dallas, that was fine with them.
Madison thought it couldn't get any better than the day she married Zachary. She was bursting with joy. She and Zachary spent the next two days in the honeymoon suite of the Mansion with a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door. She already knew Zachary was an inventive and attentive lover, but he outdid himself.
As expected, when they arrived home, Manda had made out like a bandit with new toys and clothes. On outings she had picked up more loot. Her two sets of doting grandparents who had stayed with her had spoiled her rotten. She was a charmer and a heartbreaker-in-the-making.
 
 
It couldn't get any better, or so Madison had thought until she held a screaming Zachary Lowell Holman, Jr. in her arms. Tears streamed down her cheek as she counted and recounted fingers and toes, checked him thoroughly and decided he was the most perfect, the most precious baby in the entire world. His father was just as awed, and didn't feel the least
ashamed of his own tears or the fact that his hand was unsteady as he cut the umbilical cord.
As soon as Madison was back in her room, friends and co-workers streamed in. Three-and-a-half-year-old Manda was scooped up by her father and sat on the side of the bed to see her new brother.
“Daddy, how long before he can play with me?” she asked.
“Not for a little while, munchkin,” Zachary said. “But you still have me.”
She giggled as he swept her up in his arms and gave her a smacking kiss. Her Tiffany bracelet dangled on her wrist. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you, too.” With his daughter in his arms, Zachary reached for Madison's hand, then stared down at his sleeping son with pride and a heart bursting with love. “He's so incredibly small.”
“Six pounds three ounces is just right, from my point of view. He can get big
afterwards,
” Madison said with a smile.
“Men,” Camille said, and frowned at Gordon. “If this one weighs an ounce over seven pounds you're in trouble.”
Grinning, Gordon curved his arms around her bulging stomach. “It was probably a fluke that Jeremy weighed eight and a half pounds,” he said referring to their fifteen-month-old son.
“Chastity weighed six pounds,” Clarence announced proudly, as if he'd personally seen to the weight of his nine-month-old daughter.
“And we'd better get going to pick her up from the sitter,” Kelli said; then, to Madison, “He's beautiful.”
“Thank you,” Madison said, gazing adoringly back at her son, tears misted in her eyes. He was absolutely perfect.
Immediately Zachary was by her side. “What's the matter?”
She blinked back tears. “I'm just happy. I have everything I've ever wanted.”
Gently he brushed his lips across hers. “That makes both of us.”
The door opened. Madison's parents, her sister, and Zachary's parents, who had gone to pick them up at the airport, entered. They rushed across the room. Hugs were given, Zachary Junior and Manda praised.
Through it all, Zachary's and Madison's gazes touched again and again. Life couldn't be better.
Or could it? There was always tomorrow.
I was lonely today, and you did not listen.
I was reaching out for comfort that never came.
I was hoping that you would see me.
But you ignored me just the same.
—CAROLYN MICHELLE RAY
The Turning Point
 
ANTHOLOGIES
Rosie's Curl and Weave
Della's House of Style
Welcome to Leo's
Going to the Chapel

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