In the next couple of days, things in Maggie's and Jack's life returned to normal. He would spend his mornings in the office, taking care of his business and the afternoons and nights with Maggie and his son. Maggie, on the other hand, spent her morning at home with Eric, whom she really got close to. She also got herself busy with sawing since she liked the feeling of creating something new and wearable out of a piece of fabric, though Emma swore her dresses and skirts were attention-worthy. Speaking of Emma, she barged in less often. She was too big now to simply go wherever she wanted. Her delivery date was close, so she stayed home a lot, and Maggie took on herself to visit as much as she could.
After that deal she made with Jack, Maggie noticed him being extra clingy towards her. He used every possible chance to touch her and to kiss her, and their heated make-out sessions were starting to get unbearable for Maggie. What started to worry her was that Jack never even insi
Long after midnight, just before dawn started to show its face, Jack sneaked out of the bed, careful not to wake Maggie, to tend to his son's needs. Little later, he was back in the warm bed next to Maggie. She didn't wake when the bed dipped behind her, but she moved towards him, seeking his body's warmth. Jack didn't hesitate; he pulled her even closer and wrapped his arms tightly around her soft body, but he couldn't fall back asleep. His mind was working a hundred miles per hour, and it kept the sleep away.He was thinking about the previous night with Maggie. How she made him feel when she surrendered herself to him completely, without hesitation. She was the one to initiate the step they made. It surprised him for sure since he had a plan to restrain himself and his urges for some time more, to give her enough time, but he also welcomed what she wanted with open arms.Maggie was everything. Everything he didn't believe existed in the first place, everything he ne
"So, I guess you have something to share with me?" Maggie was trying her best to keep her face straight. After she showed the living room seating, Maggie brought coffee for all three of them, and now she was sitting across from her mother and her father that were sharing a sofa. "Well, honey, you see… Den and I have talked, and to cut it short, we've settled our differences and decided that we don't want to lose more time." Rebecca declared, leaving Maggie completely flabbergasted. She suspected something happened since Rebecca didn't call her last night, but she did not expect her parents to get back together after two decades. Maggie blinked a couple of times, trying to comprehend what she just heard. "I don't understand," she mumbled. "But I guess I don't have to… I just need you to be safe and happy, ok, mom?" she said looking at her mother, ignoring the man that was sitting
"Let's see if I got everything correctly… first, you two had an affair, and when mom got pregnant with me, you almost made her abort me, but she ran away, and you haven't seen each other ever since. In the meantime, you got divorced and she had cancer, and now we are a little happy family?" Maggie was sarcastic, but she couldn't keep a smile hidden too well. It crept on her face and lifted the corners of her lips a little. Rebecca knew this expression too well, but Denis was unfamiliar with it."Maggie, I know I have no right to ask this from you but I will dare too I… I've spent the better half of my life regretting what I've done. My actions and my words haunted me for all the time Rebecca wasn't by my side, and now that I have her again,… Maggie, you have to trust me when I say that there is not a thing in this world I wouldn't do for your mother." Maggie had to give it to him, he did appear to be honest. She could not spot a speck of lie in him. "Rebe
"Yes, ok. Sure. Thanks for letting me know. Of course, you too, detective. Bye." Jack cut the call and returned to Maggie, that was waiting for him in the bed. It was already late, but Jack asked the detective earlier to notify him if there is any new information.He snuggled with Maggie, pulling her impossibly closer before he shared the news: "Detective located the postman that delivered the mail today. He told the same story as that pizza guy did. Someone gave him a hundred bucks to add that envelope with our mail and said it's a birthday surprise that he forgot to mail it on time. The description he gave to the police fits the previous one. I have no doubt it's the same person.""I don't care anymore. I just want it to stop, so we can live in peace. Is that too much to ask?" Maggie mumbled."Of course, it's not. He'll get caught soon, very soon, and we'll have our peace. I promise." Jack kissed her forehead gently."What if he tells the truth about … u
"Move!" he ordered and motioned with the gun. Maggie, though she was petrified with fear, made a few steps backward making a clear pass for the intruder to come straight into her home. Maggie moved back until the back of her knees hit something that made her stumble. Luckily, it was just one of the sofas in the living room. When did they get here? How hasn't she noticed? Right, she couldn't focus on anything but a gun pointed to her head. That, for sure, would distract anyone.She was half lying on the sofa while the intruder was advancing towards her more and more. He stopped when he was feet away from Maggie's knees but still haven't said a word. Her brain was working a hundred miles per hour, trying to figure out what she could do or say to… to what? Not get killed?"Kevin? Right?" she dared to ask. Never in her life has her voice sounded like this, squeaky and trembling, but the fist of fear that was tightening its hold around Maggie's throat was preventin
Maggie tried to stall while climbing up the stairs, both because her legs felt too heavy to move them easily, and because she was thinking hard about what she should do, how could she overpower him. Kevin was of an average built, not too tall, and not too athletic. He looked more boyish than as an adult male, comparing to Jack or one of the guards, but he was still bigger than her. She maybe could outrun him, but where could she go? To one of the rooms from where she could jump out of the window and find help since there was no way to call 911 from the house, but then she would risk leaving Kevin alone with Eric, and the baby was the actual reason for him being here tonight. And if she manages to lock herself in the nursery? A locked door can keep him out but for how long?A nudge of the cold metal in her back made her go faster, Kevin was seeing through her attempts. But that feeling of the gun pressed against her acted as a breakthrough in her messed up thoughts. It gave he
"Why the hell he's not picking up?!" Jack was losing his patients after not being able to get Fred Parker on the phone for all the time he was up in the air, and that's almost 3 hours now. He was close to LA anyway, but he needed to talk to him beforehand. He wanted a report of what happened and what are their losses, both human and material ones, and he wanted it now.He tried calling Maggie again, but she didn't answer either. What's with the connection today?! Jacked growled loudly, frustrated that he couldn't get anything done from the air. Usually, he had no problem finishing his work while flying, but today things were not going his way at all.Come to think of it, he hasn't been able to talk with Maggie ever since he left her in front of the gate around 5 p.m. and he tried calling a dozen times, and every single one went straight to the voice mail. Now he was starting to worry. Maggie always answered when he called, always. He quickly tried the landline, but the
A couple of hours earlierAfter the loud shot echoed through the room, Maggie froze. She felt like the time stopped and the space around her ceased to exist. The gun she was trying to get a hold of was now burning hot, and she had to release it. The smell of burning gunpowder filled the room.Maggie gulped once and raised her gaze to meet Kevin's, but what she saw there was the sight she will never be able to forget… it will haunt her for the rest of her life. For a moment that seemed like an eternity, Maggie watched the light of Kevin's life diminishing until it was no more. Kevin, too let the gun from his hands, and it fell on th
A week after Maggie came back to Chicago, her parents organized a modest wedding with only a dozen people present, including themselves and the minister. Maggie was ecstatic for them. How many grown-up women had a chance to attend their parents' wedding… She loved them so much and wanted nothing but happiness for them. A small reception was held in their manor, and the present guests enjoyed the celebration with discreet music, food, drinks, and a lot of laughter. That day, Maggie met one of her uncles and his wife, one of Wade's brothers. He was a nice man, and he was genuinely glad to meet her. His wife seemed decent too. The rest of the family she was yet to meet, and Denis had plans for family dinner so that everyone could gather and get to know what a wonderful daughter he has. Why did he wait for so long? Simply, he didn't want to overwhelm Maggie before she accepted him as her father. And it looked like she did. She would come by his house every so often for dinner, a
"Hi." Jack's voice trembled while he was taking in the sight in front of him.Maggie was standing there in the middle of the kitchen, holding Eric on her hip, supporting him with one arm and mashing the carrots with the other.Maggie raised her gaze from the bowl and looked at him. Their eyes met, and they told what they needed to tell, a story of love and anticipation, need and desire."Hi," Maggie said back quietly.Jack made a few steps towards them, but he didn't get close enough to touch her, afraid that he had finally crossed the line of missing her, and he was hallucinating at full speed. And if that was the case… if he touched her, and she disappeared again… burst like the soap bubble… no, he better not risk it. He needed her here, even as a wraith, she was here…When his eyes slipped from her face, the face he loved so much, he saw his son clinging to Maggie like she was his lifebelt. He didn't even raise his he
It's been a crazy few months in Jack's life since Maggie left. He did his best to not let it affect him much, but he couldn't help it. Her leaving him reflected on every single aspect of his life. It was easy for him to get irritated and to snap at anyone in close vicinity, so much that his subordinates started to avoid him.It didn't help that Eric was much more irritable than ever, he cried more and smiled less. He missed her, it was obvious. Just like Jack did. It was his fault, it was all his fault… if he didn't have that stupid idea that he needed her, that he wanted her… maybe if he had stuck to his original plan and paid her off to sign the divorce papers when he first met her… maybe, just maybe, he and his son wouldn't be brokenhearted now.On the other hand, he got to know love and the feeling of belonging to a family, something his own always busy and overachieving parents failed to give him even when he was a child.Jack tri
It's been a whole month since Maggie left Chicago and returned to her home town. That day, when she took off, she managed to get a ticket for a midnight flight, and she was back home before the sun was up. For a couple of days, she didn't even leave the house except for the short trip to the nearest supermarket to stock up on food and other necessities. She also started ordering in food, something she never did before here in Charleston, but now she had no desire to cook at all.At first, Maggie spent her days crying and missing Jack like crazy, so much that she contemplated with herself to go back to him and beg him to never manipulate her like that again and to promise her to always be like he was for the last 6 months, but she managed to hold herself back and stay where she was.She needed to try, she needed to give herself a chance to live without him, to try to move on and go back to her life… or to get over what he had done and forgive him.Maggie wasn't
"I've been meaning to tell you…" Jack came into the living room to see Maggie sitting in an armchair with papers spread in front of her.As he saw her, Jack broke into a cold sweat. He knew exactly what she was looking at. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He forgot that he left the folder right on the desk when he called her earlier to get the one he needed and sent for. He should have destroyed them long ago, but nooo, he was too stupid for something like that. He enjoyed torturing himself with those…"Tell me what?" her voice was cold like he never heard it before. She was capable of sounding like this?"Everything.""Everything... like why there are dates from July on the divorce forms or those for full custody? From before we even met..." Maggie finally rose her head looked at him."Yes." Jack didn't move from where he was standing, at the entrance to the living room."So, you want to explain how I ended up here, with you, instead of you giving
"You know, when we first met Denis Wade at that Gala, I thought he was scary. But now I think he's actually quite decent." Emma commented while standing in Maggie's new kitchen. Maggie came in to get some refreshments for the guests, and Emma followed.Jack and Maggie moved into their new home a week ago, and on the first following Saturday, they organized a small party to celebrate the event with their closest friends and family. Robert and Emma came with Aurora, and now both babies were sleeping upstairs in Eric's nursery, while their parents were downstairs catching up.Mary came to congratulate them, happy about how things turned out between the two of them, but she almost had a stroke when they told her about everything that happened since the last time she visited.Jack's friends from college and their better halves were invited too. Maggie met them at Evans' couple of months ago, right after she came to Chicago, and she actually liked them. She felt like
The next day Maggie was forced to spend in bed, even though there was no particular need for that. She did have a couple of stitches on her waist, and it could get uncomfortable if she tired herself too much, but other than that, she felt good. More than good if she was honest… Jack was pampering her like never before. He brought her breakfast to bed the first morning when she woke up in her father's house, he didn't let her walk around and insisted on carrying her around in his arms even when she needed to go to the bathroom.Even though Maggie enjoyed all the things Jack was doing for her by the evening, it started to annoy her, so she snapped at him and ordered him to stop because she wasn't invalid, and she didn't like to act like one.The good thing about the whole arrangement of the three of them living at Wade's was she could enjoy her mother's cooking after so long. Rebecca tried to compensate for all the years she was absent with excessive cooking and b
A note for those that are reading this story as I upload it: I made a mistake in uploading the previous chapter, 46. I uploaded only half of it and additionally added the rest. Please, delete this book from your library, clear your cache memory and then add it again, so that the glitch that is caused by me being stupidly clumsy is fixed. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for understanding. Sending you my love <3"Can you talk now? I am seriously starting to lose my patience," Rebecca said in a threatening way. Jack and Maggie sat on the sofa in the living room in Wade's home with Rebecca and Wade sitting opposite of them. Eric was in the room that their hosts equipped as a nursery before they came, and there was a room upstairs prepared for the two of them too.It was so like Rebecca to take care of every possible need of her guests, and the fact that she already prepared everything for her daughter told Maggie that her mother already felt com
A couple of hours earlierAfter the loud shot echoed through the room, Maggie froze. She felt like the time stopped and the space around her ceased to exist. The gun she was trying to get a hold of was now burning hot, and she had to release it. The smell of burning gunpowder filled the room.Maggie gulped once and raised her gaze to meet Kevin's, but what she saw there was the sight she will never be able to forget… it will haunt her for the rest of her life. For a moment that seemed like an eternity, Maggie watched the light of Kevin's life diminishing until it was no more. Kevin, too let the gun from his hands, and it fell on th