An adult stories – A Beauteous Flower Ch. 19 by Tanemund,Tanemund Chapter 19 – The Dinner and a Show, the Gut Punch and a Race Through the Dark
*****
Madison had thought to paint, powder and perfume every inch of her body, but as the day wore on, Madison’s muddled mood caused her to decide on a more natural look. She still used plenty of her favorite nighttime perfume, but she didn’t paint on her smokey bedroom eyes as she had originally intended. Instead, she went with simple eye liner to accent her eyes as Deva would have done. She stuck with subtle and nude tones and for a dramatic touch she put on red lipstick to match the blood red nails on her fingers and toes and some thick black mascara to lengthen her eyelashes. When she looked in the mirror, her hair and her make up worked well for her.
Still, Madison didn’t feel right. She felt depressed and frightened and that would not do if she hoped to reach Daniel’s heart and she wished for some magic like that night in the garden, like in the cabin. A sultry and sexy and mysterious mood that would allow her to cast a night spell of love. She thought maybe a little music would help, so she scrolled through her playlist on Spotify until she found “Rhiannon”. Even though she didn’t entirely like Daniel’s taste in music, through him she had discovered Stevie Nicks and with a few clicks she dialed up “Rhiannon”.
The thick bass line oozed into the room and Madison allowed the music to move her into a slow undulation of dance. Arms out to her sides and head back, Madison spun slowly in time above the buttery rhythm. The raspy vocals, darkly vulnerable and feminine, flowed above the meld of instruments, and Madison closed her eyes and willed herself into Daniel’s arms.
“Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn’t you love to love her?
Takes to the sky like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover?
All your life you’ve never seen
Woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?
She is like a cat in the dark
And then she is to darkness
She rules her life like a fine skylark
And when the sky is starless
All your life you’ve never seen
Woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?
Will you ever win?
(Rhiannon)
(Rhiannon)
(Rhiannon)
(Rhiannon)
She rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn’t you love to love her?
She rules her life like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover?
All your life you’ve never seen
Woman taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you heaven?
Will you ever win?
Will you ever win?
(Rhiannon)
(Rhiannon)
(Rhiannon)
Taken by taken by the sky
(Ah-ah)
Taken by taken by the sky
(Ah-ah)
Taken by taken by the sky
(Ah-ah)
Dreams unwind
Love’s a state of mind
Dreams unwind
Love’s a state of mind.”
When the music stopped, Madison opened her eyes and looked in the mirror.
“And wouldn’t you love to love her,” she whispered to her reflection.
With her spell cast and satisfied with her hair and makeup, Madison went to the closet and shimmied nakedly into the red silk dress. The effect was exactly as she hoped. The double slits showed off her toned and tanned thighs and the simple, monochromatic red highlighted her face and centered attention on her eyes. The Madison in the mirror looked mysterious and magically feminine, like a witch. She turned this way and that in front of the mirror and then struck a dramatic pose like she had cast a spell.
“He loves me!” she said in a sultry whisper to her reflection.
Her look and the music gave her confidence and with her confidence up, Madison’s mood rose as well. She slipped into her black pumps and gave herself a once over in the mirror. Once again Deva had nailed it, and Madison felt as sexy as she looked and she determined to own it for all she was worth. With another spell cast pose and a snap of her red tipped fingers, she strutted out of her bedroom to the top of the stairs to make a dramatic sweep of an entrance.
Daniel waited for her at the landing. He wore an impeccably tailored black suit and held a dozen pink roses. Madison floated down the stairs to him as gracefully as her ballet training allowed, and at the bottom of the stairs, Daniel offered her the roses and his hand with a small bow. His face showed a look of appreciation, and that pleased Madison. As always, Daniel made Madison feel like he noticed every ounce of effort she had put in to looking her best.
“Shall we, my lady?” Daniel questioned as he draped her bare shoulders with her favorite wrap of black faux furs.
“My pleasure, sir,” Madison responded with a truncated curtsy to avoid exposure too early in the evening. Her sultry game of hide and seek under Daniel’s gaze was intensely erotic. Now that she was with him, she couldn’t wait for the world to see them together.
A short car ride brought them to Bistro Chardenoux. Daniel opened her door and she carefully slinked out, so as not to flash the entire restaurant. Daniel flipped the car keys to the valet as he offered Madison his left arm. Madison daintily slipped her arm through his and gave him a sparkling smile in return. Together they strolled into the restaurant just five minutes late for their reservation. That hardly mattered as the unctuous maître d’ awaited them and made a fluttery show of welcome for the distinguished guests of the evening. Madison nodded gratefully to the maître d’ as he personally escorted them to a table for two positioned so that there were walls on three sides of them for maximum privacy in the busy dining room. Daniel pulled out her chair and removed the fur from Madison’s shoulders as she sat. She neatly tucked her legs under the tablecloth to avoid a provocative presentation to the other guests in the dining room and accepted the offered menu.
“We are so happy to host you here at Bistro Chardenoux!” the maître d’ fawned in his fake French accent. “Anything we can do to make your experience with us enjoyable, please let us know.”
Madison shot moon eyes at Daniel.
“How about some Champagne?” Madison cooed for Daniel. “After all, it’s a celebration!”
The maître d’ fawned again as Daniel slipped him a discrete and robust tip.
“I will send the sommelier immediatement, Monsieur!” gushed the maître d’ with an oily grin.
Madison reached across the table and Daniel took her hand. For a few candlelit moments Daniel and Madison silently gazed at each other until the sommelier interrupted with a gentle cough.
“Bonne soiree, Madame et Monsieur!”
Daniel never took his eyes from Madison.
“Good evening, Garcon. A bottle of Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades Demi-Sec, please.”
The sommelier raised a hesitant eyebrow at the request, so Daniel looked up at him and nodded in confirmation. The sommelier disappeared as deftly as he had appeared, and Daniel’s eyes returned to Madison.
“He expected me to order some Brut champagne, but instead I ordered Demi-Sec and that threw him for a second.”
Madison wasn’t sure what that meant, but before she could ask, Daniel simply explained.
“Demi-Sec is sweeter champagne than Brut, and this particular champagne is pink,” Daniel winked. “But don’t worry. It’s expensive, so he won’t mind.”
Madison beamed. A double flattery with one choice. As the sommelier produced the bottle and poured out their first glass of the evening, she shot Daniel a dazzling smile.
“To us,” Madison chimed cheerfully.
Daniel raised his glass and inclined his head.
When the hors d’oeuvres arrived, Madison finished her glass of champagne. The sweetness of tiny bubbles popped in her brain, and she became coquettish. She batted her eyes and gave Daniel pretty glances from behind her curled curtain bangs, buzzed enough to be flirty, but not buzzed enough to get sloppy. It wouldn’t do to get drunk and pass out on Daniel tonight, so she moderated her alcohol consumption to maintain a light buzz.
Between the salad and the main course, Daniel excused himself, and Madison started another glass of champagne. Madison couldn’t remember how many glasses of champagne Daniel drank, but it probably wasn’t more than one. Daniel wasn’t much of a drinker, but that didn’t matter because Madison preferred that he was sober for what she had in store for him later that night.
Madison still had hopes that she could steer this evening into bed and in accordance with what she had in mind, Madison posed herself for his return. She pulled her legs from under the tablecloth and crossed them right over left, so that the double slits exposed her legs while she pinned the dress between her thighs to cover the grand prize. So positioned she popped a heel out of her right shoe and let it dangle from her toes. Every eye in the restaurant settled upon her; lascivious sidelong glances of the men and cool catty stares of the women. Madison didn’t care. She was here for Daniel, and she wanted his eyes on her.
Daniel appeared across the restaurant and as he adjusted his cuff links, he glanced up and caught sight of her. Through her bangs, and she noted that when he saw her, he paused. Madison gently kicked her right foot, which caused the shoe to rock slightly as it dangled from her toes. When she raised a steady gaze to him and gave him her best “I’m-all-yours” look, Daniel nodded a smirk of appreciation and blew her a kiss. Madison placed her hand on her heart and puckered her lips to receive it.
Daniel resumed his seat just as the salads arrived and Madison neatly slipped her legs back under the table. Her display had the desired effect and she and Daniel, despite the crowded dining room, were alone in the own bubble. Secretly under the tablecloth, Madison slipped her feet out of her shoes and stroked Daniel’s calf with her bare toes. He paused with his salad fork midway between his salad and his mouth and smirked down at his salad with the slightest tremor. Meanwhile, Madison stirred her salad around the plate to make appear that she had eaten some of it lest the evening get sidetracked by a belly ache.
Several sumptuous courses took close to three hours to present, and a substantial amount went into some doggy bags. After dessert Madison put her feet back in her shoes and excused herself to the lady’s room. While she was there, she refreshed her lipstick and mascara and checked to make sure there were no unsightly creases in her dress.
“He doesn’t stand a chance, does he?”
An elderly gentlewoman in the mirror nodded a knowing smile to Madison.
“You look like a million, my dear,” the gentlewoman chimed. “He’s a lucky man.”
Madison blushed a touch, like her grandmother had caught her in an inappropriate moment at a church function.
“I’m the lucky one,” she stammered.
The elderly woman gave Madison the half-narrowed eyes of someone who didn’t quite believe her.
“Well, no matter. You look magnificent, dear. He’s captivated by you.”
“Really? You think so?
“I’ve never seen Daniel flustered before. He’s always so cool and collected.”
Madison was a little stunned and it showed on her face.
“Oh, don’t be surprised, dearest. He’s very popular around here, but only a very few can get him to appear at their parties and functions. He did come to one of mine though. Three Christmases ago. I’m Abagail and my husband is David. We live on the other side of town. We’re great fans of his; both as an author and a photographer, but we’re even greater admirers of him personally. He’s such a good person, and a real charmer!”
Madison returned the elderly woman’s smile gratefully and she leaned closer as if to share a secret with Madison.
“He’s all yours, dear. Don’t let him go!”
“I don’t intend to.”
Madison left the bathroom flush with giddy glee. Daniel waited at the door, and she couldn’t help but grin. He looked so good; tall, calm, and warm. Madison flushed a little as a stray sexual thought scuttled across her mind. She halted to let it pass and posed for Daniel’s attention. Once he looked away from the maître d’, who fawned appropriately over Daniel’s generosity, Daniel gave her a double take smirk. She puckered her lips at him again, put on her best runway strut and gave everyone in the restaurant a perfect demonstration of how work a double slit dress with no underwear and not expose oneself. Daniel offered her his arm and led her to the car.
The ride home was quiet and sultry. Madison crossed her ankles and let her left thigh show through a slit. Daniel didn’t take his eyes off the road but laid his square right hand on her and gently stroked the inside of her thigh. Madison purred a little pleasure and Daniel’s hand advanced a little closer to the goal, but Madison studiously kept her legs crossed. She didn’t want car sex like some teenager on a Saturday night McDonald’s date. Tonight, when she gave it up, she wanted to be in their home as husband and wife. Still Daniel’s hand felt luscious on her bare thigh and Madison tingled with anticipation. One way or another, Madison was going to get her Daniel back, no matter what it cost.
*****
When they arrived at the lake house, Madison didn’t give Daniel a chance to escape her. When he opened her door, she artfully mesmerized him with a flash of her nakedness and led him by the hand to the back door. There she landed the first of what she hoped would be many passionate kisses of the evening. The second of those kisses occurred with her back pressed against the door and Daniel’s hands on her hips. When Daniel finally managed the door, Madison drew him inside and closed the door behind them with a thrust of her hip.
“Almost there!” she thought to herself.
The momentum of their touches built steadily, and she didn’t want it to stop. Daniel left his jacket and tie in the kitchen and Madison slipped her shoes off as they entered the living room. As she led him to the stairway, she worried open the buttons on his shirt, but before they could mount the stairs, he gave the first sign of resistance. Madison encouraged Daniel with another passionate and shamelessly sexual kiss.
“Stay with me, Daniel,” she hissed in hot breathy tones. “Be with me.”
Daniel kissed her back with verve.
“I love you, Daniel.”
Again, she felt him pull back from her touch.
“It’s OK,” she whispered into another kiss. “It’s OK. Go with it.”
Daniel’s lips parted from hers and his dusky green eyes sighed desire. His face showed his internal struggle for control and then the walls went up in his eyes and he stepped out of Madison’s embrace.
“Oh, no…,” Madison moaned forlornly.
Daniel shook his head to clear the tense, sexual fog around them, and Madison’s heart dropped. She could no longer put this off. All that was left was to fight.
How could he do this to her? How could he be so cruel as to make her be cruel to him? How dare he keep her in abeyance and not allow her to care for him, to heal him, to save him? Wasn’t that what he wanted and needed and hoped for? Why wouldn’t he allow her to return the warmth she drew from him? Why wouldn’t he let her love him? Why did it have to come to this?
A terrible anger flared in Madison’s heart: Anger at this situation and what had brought her to this pass; anger at the expectations that weighed on her since puberty; anger at the people that gave her those expectations; anger that those expectations inevitably led her to predatory men like Miles and Steve; anger that she had pursued men like Miles and Steve rather than men like Todd, like Daniel; anger that she had wasted time in pursuit of men like Miles and Steve; anger that because of her experience with men like Miles and Steve she felt that she didn’t deserve men like Todd, like Daniel; anger that the pursuit of high value men had cost her chances with men like Todd, like Daniel; anger that only now she had learned to tell the difference between pretty and beauty; anger that only when it was too late and her marriage lay in shambles around her did she finally understand love. As all of that anger swirled like a firestorm in Madison’s heart, intense and wild, it sought a target.
Daniel.
She was angry at Daniel. Daniel who defied those expectations, who made her doubt her choice to pursue high value men, who made her detest those high value men because he had shown her kindness and calm and patience and compassion and all the things she never knew she needed until he gave them to her, who made it safe for her to live out her fantasies, and to be silly and romantic, who had awakened a desire to care and to heal and to love in Madison and now would not let her express that desire to him, for him, with him. Madison loved Daniel, but he wouldn’t let her love him and that filled her with a rage unlike any she had ever known. Rage at Daniel. Madison’s eyes took on a hard edge which she reflected in her voice.
“OK, Daniel,” she said with a sob which belied her ire. “That’s it. I give up.”
Daniel looked confused.
“What?”
“I give up!” Madison cried at him. “I can’t do this anymore!”
Daniel shook his head in confusion.
“Do what?”
“Do this! Whatever this crippled thing is between us! I can’t do it anymore!”
“Madison….”
Madison’s anger locked on like a heat seeking missile and it bore in on its target with deadly accuracy. She cut him off with a harsh chop of her hand.
“No, Daniel. I’ve waited and waited for you to talk, but you never did. Now you listen to me!” Madison sobbed through hot tears of wrath. “I love you so much, and I’ll do anything, anything, to keep you, but you won’t let me!”
Daniel’s face wavered. His eyes showed the cracks in the dam and for the first time Madison could remember, Daniel’s intelligence failed him. She watched him cast about for a rejoinder or a way to deflect the attention from himself, but not this time. Madison gave him no time to recover.
“You’re the best man I’ve ever known! I’m so lucky to have you, but I can’t continue in this holding pattern you’ve got me in!”
“Holding pattern?” Daniel staggered.
“Yes! You mope around and wallow in this pain and I feel just awful and scared all the time! I walk around on eggshells! I’m so scared you’ll leave! Daniel, I can’t live like that anymore! I can’t eat! I can’t sleep! I can’t even breathe right! All I want is you and you keep me at arm’s length!”
“Madison….”
“Don’t you see? I’m scared it’s over and you just can’t tell me!”
“Over? No… but….” Daniel’s frame shook with barely contained emotion as Madison upped the stakes.
“Then why do I feel like it is? I don’t have a marriage anymore! I don’t have you! I live with the shell of the man I love! You’re still there and I can see you, but it seems like there is nothing inside of you and I can’t take it anymore!”
Madison stepped back from Daniel. She had rehearsed this scene in her mind, but now that she was in it, she was lost. Words ran out of her mouth so fast she couldn’t keep up with the script, but she could not give him any chance to recover. Daniel, the culmination of all her unspoken hopes and dreams, was right in front of her and it was the only chance she had.
“You can’t treat me like this anymore, Daniel! Tell me what you want me to say! Tell me what you want me to do! I’ll say it! I’ll do it! Just don’t leave me in limbo anymore! On the one hand you tell me you love me, and on the other, there is a divorce over my head like the Sword of Damocles!”
Daniel looked startled by her reference.
“Yeah, you’re not the only one that can read, Daniel! I’m tired of this push pull game! Either I’m your wife or your ex-wife! Pick one, for God’s sake! I want so desperately to be your wife! To be with you forever and have a family and a home! I want that so bad my heart aches! But I can’t have it because you won’t give it to me! You tease me with it and then cruelly yank it away before I can reach it!”
“Madison….” Anger flecked Daniel’s eyes as they flared from dusk to electric. Undeterred, Madison raged on.
“No! No, Daniel you can’t just turn this around on me and make this into some kind of hysteria on my part! I won’t let you! You need to either let me in or let me go! Let me work to earn your forgiveness and trust or tell me to leave! Do one or the other but don’t do both because it kills me! It kills us! Do you hear me? It kills us, Daniel, and it has to stop! Right now!”
Madison took another step back. She had not planned to be so angry with Daniel, but it just poured out of her, just as it had with Todd.
“I’ve apologized! I’ve bowed and scrapped and done my I’m-not-worthies, Daniel! Where has that gotten me? I just tread water! I get nowhere! We get nowhere! We have to get down to us! So, tell me, Daniel, for once in our relationship! Tell me what you feel when you look at me! Is it love or loathing?”
“Madison… I’m just trying to sort it out… what I saw… that kiss…”
“I told you I’m sorry!” Madison screamed, flush and lightheaded with emotion. “I choose you, Daniel! Over and over and over again, I chose you! I chose you when he kissed me that night! That’s what stopped me! I chose you and I knew he was the mistake I’d been making my whole life! My whole life, Daniel! Until I met you! I’ll never love anyone else in my life but you!”
Madison backed up another step. Something changed in Daniel’s posture and his face twisted in distress. She’d never seen a look like that from him before and it frightened her. She wished she could stop, but for better or worse, her fears and self-loathing and his fears and self-loathing had to come out right now, tonight.
“So, why let him win, Daniel? He’s got nothing on you! You’re everything he could never hope to be, and I want to be with you, Daniel! But you allow the memory of this man to haunt our home! To haunt our love! He’s nothing and yet you’ve already convinced yourself you’ve lost me to him, even though I wouldn’t ever be with him if he were the last man on Earth! It’s all up to you, Daniel! You! If you want me, I’m right here! And I’ll always be right here! But you’re the one that holds back, Daniel! You’re the one that keeps this thing between us! This is our home, Daniel! Our home! You can’t just hole up in the cabin for the rest of your life! You’ve got fight back to take back our home! For me! For you! For us!”
“Stop it,” Daniel warned as his frame bent uncomfortably. “Just stop it.”
“I won’t! I can’t! You have to fight, Daniel! You have to fight! Fight this thing! Fight for us! You can’t just huddle in a ball and take punches! I’m fighting! I’m fighting for us! I’m not the one who just knuckled under to a guy who can’t even hold a candle to you! I might have kissed him, Daniel, but after that I sent him away! You let him live here rent free! You hold on to him like some sick self-flagellation ritual!”
“I’m not…” Daniel struggled to control his breath and held out his palm at Madison. “I won’t listen to this!”
Madison retreated another step to line up the kill shot.
“You will listen to it, Daniel! You can’t just let this eat you up inside! When are you going to fight back? When are you going to claim my love, Daniel? I want to love you! I want to make you so happy and safe, but you won’t let me! I swear I want to love you through it all, but you won’t let me! You won’t let me because you’re scared of a guy that has nothing at all on you! Nothing except for one thing!”
“Stop!” Daniel warned in voice thick with tension and threat. “Stop it, now!”
Madison paused and put her hand to her throat. She forced the molten steel of contempt into her voice and bored in on Daniel.
“He thought he deserved me! He made his play! He tried to have me for his own! He went after me, your wife, in our home, despite your presence all around him! You have every advantage on him! You deserve me! I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you! This is our home! But you can’t do what he did! You can’t reach out to me! Even here, in our own home, while I grovel in remorse and throw myself at you like some shameless harlot and all that’s left of him is your memory!”
“I! Said! Stop!”
But Madison didn’t stop. Instead, she took a ragged breath, stepped back into the kitchen and screamed her vitriolic coup de grace at the distraught and twisted Daniel.
“Well, maybe you don’t deserve me! Maybe you’re not the man I thought you were!”
Instantly, something inside of Daniel snapped loose. Madison’s attack had struck home with deadly accuracy and the tightly wound coil of Daniel’s emotions finally broke. Daniel’s presence darkened and loomed like thick, black pall over the room. His body strained outward, muscular and dangerous, his chest heaved in effort, and Madison’s blood froze as his green eyes flamed with naked and unchecked emotion. One minute Daniel had been cool, calm and collected and one horrific minute later, Daniel spun out-of-control, dangerous and predatory.
“Daniel?”
Daniel glared malevolence and with a move that was both terrifyingly smooth and blindingly quick, he seized a vase and hurled it into the fireplace. A shower of crystal exploded against the bricks and glittered into the dark recesses of the room and underscored a low growl of threat from Daniel’s chest as he focused his eyes on Madison. Instantly, Madison felt herself become prey and with her heart in her throat, Madison desperately squealed his name again.
“Daniel?”
*****
His roar of pain scalded down Madison’s back like a whip crack. Daniel menaced one step towards her, and Madison turned and fled like a rabbit confronted by a hungry wolf. Behind her Daniel’s footsteps pursued in unhurried, but ominous heavy thuds and his tempo portended Madison’s inevitable capture. Madison’s hands, numb with fright, fumbled the doorknob as Daniel thundered into the kitchen like a storm.
“Madison!”
Madison squeaked terror through a tight throat as Daniel stomped closer. Somehow the door sprung open before her, and Madison sprang into the night with just enough wit to pull Daniel’s keys from the dead bolt lock and slam the door shut behind her. There she braced the door shut with all her strength while she trembled the key into the lock and the deadbolt clicked home just as Daniel’s face, marred by an ugly sneer, glared hungrily though glass.
“Madison!”
Madison shrieked blind fear, turned, and bolted for the path to the lake. This was not the way this was supposed to happen. Sure, Cassidy had warned her of the dangers of this path, but she never in a million years pictured this. It was supposed to be like the Rom-Coms she watched with her friends; a cathartic moment of kisses and caresses and love, not an eruption of rage and terror. Daniel was supposed to cry gently on her shoulder while she whispered platitudes to him, not mutate into an enormous emotional beast. Whomever she had just locked in the house had consumed her quiet, sweet Daniel and her only thought now was not of tender moments, but escape. Madison’s bare feet pounded on the dirt path as she fled towards the perceived safety of the dark woods, and she glanced back just in time to see the back door explode open. Someone that bore Daniel’s face stepped into the moonlight, stripped to the waist, and, impossibly, seemed even larger than before.
“There was another key, Madison!”
With another shriek, Madison flew into the woods with desperate speed. Lake fog curled around her as Madison tore down the path towards where she could only guess. She had no plan other than to run as fast and as far as possible. Daniel, obscured from her sight by the thick mist, pursued her. His pace never hurried, but his muffled footfalls gained inexorably through the night. With every stride Madison imagined his angry breath on the back of her neck as it hissed closer and closer. Another terrified shriek burst from Madison’s throat as she realized she could not outrun him. In scant moments, that man that had been Daniel would catch her defenseless and alone in the woods.
Madison gulped fear as her mind tilted and whirled and grasped for a solution. Her only hope was to hide, hide until whoever that was calmed down or she could escape, hide until her dear, sweet Daniel came back from wherever he had gone to hold her and warm her and keep her safe. The path forgotten, she dodged around trees and frantically searched for a place to hide. Madison’s greatest dark fantasy, her Little Red Riding Hood dream, was now terrifyingly real and Madison had never imagined it to be this vivid and visceral. The Faceless man now had a face, and that face was the contorted countenance of the man who only moments ago had been her sweet, quiet Daniel. Moonlight stabbed through the gaps in the trees and threatened to reveal her. Behind her Daniel crashed into the undergrowth and a vengeful cacophony of snapped twigs and branches pressed every closer. Every bush and brush that snagged her clothes made her flinch as if Daniel had grabbed her from behind.
Finally, just as it seemed that at any moment, Daniel would seize her from behind and do God knew what, Madison dodged behind a huge oak tree and froze. The forest went deathly quiet, so much so that it seemed Madison’s ragged breaths echoed in the dark. Madison pressed against the rough bark of the tree as if to force herself into the cracks and disappear from view. After only a few tense second, Daniel’s footsteps raced closer and then the immense black shadow of Daniel crashed past and continued downhill toward the lake. Madison held her breath to let the sound of Daniel’s pursuit move farther away. When she could no longer hear him, Madison sprang from cover and ran back towards the house. As she ran for what she hoped was safety, it was all she could do to not collapse and sob in fear. Where had her sweet, quiet Daniel gone? Who was that monster in his place?
Back at the house she paused on the patio and looked at the back door. Surely when he reached the lake, Daniel would figure out she had doubled back and return to the house to hunt for her. Should she lock the door and hide in the house? No, she couldn’t shut him out because Daniel had the spare key. Fear crept up Madison’s back like a cold spider. Where could she go?
Madison whirled in place and saw the cabin. She had Daniel’s keys and since the party only Daniel had the key to the cabin. She could hide in the little cabin and stay nice and quiet until she could escape, or this madness left Daniel. The cabin was a magical place after all. Maybe it could keep her hidden until the coast was clear. Quickly Madison unlocked the cabin door and closed it behind her. What now?
A howl of rage shattered the night and cowed the night creatures to silence. It’s raw edge and import made Madison’s flesh crawl. Daniel knew she had doubled back. He would be here in minutes. Blank terror took her thoughts again, and she huddled under Daniel’s desk like a frightened little girl after a nightmare. A second roar echoed from the lake and Madison whimpered and wished for morning, then just as suddenly the night went deathly quiet. All Madison could do was cower under the desk and strain to hear any warning of Daniel’s approach.
Tense seconds passed as Madison chased her frightened breath. Eventually tense seconds piled up into a tense minute and, after a forever, another tense minute crawled passed. Madison’s teeth began to chatter, so she clenched her jaws and took deep breaths through her nose. It was vital that she remained quiet and still, and she clutched her knees to her chest to fold in on herself and vanish.
Madison’s ears strained out into the night, but she heard nothing. No screams, no footsteps, no Daniel. She began to hope. Maybe Daniel still raged through the woods and chased shadows, or maybe he’d calmed down and just sat down. Alone, afraid and huddled under the desk, Madison’s fears ran wild inside her mind. She had known what she had said would cut him to the bone and would hurt him, but she never imagined that Daniel would undergo a metamorphosis like that. Nothing in her experience with him had prepared her for that reaction. In fact, if she had known this could happen before she started, she would have never chosen to fight Daniel. She was no match for Daniel even when he was sweet and quiet. Now he was full of rage and danger. What the hell had she been thinking?
“We’ll just stay here and it will be alright,” she consoled herself in a whisper. “It will be all right.”
Time passed slowly, but all remained quiet. Despite herself, Madison’s mind began to spin down from panic and her fears subsided enough for her to think. Perhaps Daniel must have given up and calmed down. Maybe now she could talk to him? Madison didn’t know exactly what to say after what she had just witnessed, but it was obvious Daniel needed help with all that pent up emotion and pain. Emotion and pain that she had brought to the surface with her own anger. Emotion and pain that she had caused.
Suddenly, in those moments of quiet Madison felt a deep stab of guilt. She did this to Daniel. She summoned the monster of hurt and pain in him and then left him alone to deal with it. Her words, her actions had caused all the hurt and pain to well up in him until it burst out like a flood from behind a rickety dam. Now he was lost in that torrent of hurt and pain and she had caused it, but she was the one who was supposed to save Daniel, save him from all that hurt and pain and self-loathing. After all, she loved him. Right?
What was her alternative? She could leave Daniel and… and what? Go back to her parents? Go back to her apartment? Go back to a life with someone like Steve the Oaf? Her mind revolted at the thought. Besides, could she live with herself if she just left? She caused this explosion inside of Daniel. Could she really just abandon him here, like this, when he needed her the most? If she did, wouldn’t she be just like everyone else in Daniel’s life? He would be left to believe she didn’t really care about him and left him because everything in him was worthless and stupid. She had hurt him again and this time it had been intentional and if she ran from it, then she was worse than everyone else. She would be the one that mocked his deepest pain.
This line of thought challenged Madison. What was she so afraid of? That was her Daniel out there, alone in a forest of pain. He needed her. It made little sense given the circumstances, but it sounded right and extinguished her fear. Madison could not abandon him like this. Not her Daniel. Not ever. For the last six weeks she had wished and waited for him to come to her. It had been her most fervent hope. Now Daniel, all of Daniel, was out in the open and because he had finally shown her his deepest pain, she ran from him. Something about that seemed terribly incongruent to her, and suddenly her fearful flight and urge to remain hidden no longer made sense. What did make sense was she had to go to Daniel right now and show him the love he needed from her so desperately. The Daniel had just seen was what made Daniel beautiful. His pain and need, the dark, attractive mystery inside him, was what made him beautiful to Madison and in that moment of clarity, Madison chose to give herself, all of herself to Daniel and chose the path of beauty and love. Her fear evaporated like a thin morning fog before the warmth of the sun, and Madison unfolded herself from under the desk and stood with purpose and determination. She would not selfishly hide like a little girl anymore. She would sacrifice like a grown woman and boldly love her man with everything she had and all she was.
Just then the whole cabin shook and groaned as if something wild and huge had struck it with a terrible blow. The door creaked with some unseen force and Madison emitted a surprised and involuntary squeal. A second blow buckled the door and rocked the cabin again. A third blow landed, and a rent opened in the wooden door as one of the door’s panels splintered under the impact. Daniel’s face peered at her through the rent, and he smirked manically as he rocked back on his heels and then slammed his shoulder into the door with another thunderclap blow. The whole cabin shuddered in protest, but despite the violence Madison returned Daniel’s gaze with a calm and even heartbeat.
The whole door buckled and bowed under the next blow. It was solid, but not much of a barrier. It certainly would not stand up to this kind of assault for very long. Another giant impact bulged the door and Madison steeled herself. The cabin was small. There was nowhere for Madison to run. Nowhere for her to hide. She was trapped in a little box with no escape in sight, but that didn’t matter to her. All that mattered was her Daniel was here and she had to save him; she would save him.
The next impact sprayed splinters of wood across the room. Daniel would be inside very soon. A last tingle of fear and doubt flitted through Madison mind, but she shoved it aside just as the door exploded open. Daniel’s body careered across the cabin and smashed into the louver doors of the small coat closet. Shards of wood and items from the closet cascaded down to cover his body and for a moment he lay still in a pile of rubble. Blood oozed from a gash that a splinter of wood had carved in his left shoulder. Then Daniel raised himself on his elbow and faced Madison. His eyes sparkled with emotion, but not anger. Instead, rivulets of sweaty tears streaked the dirt that covered his tortured and twisted face. It was not a face of rage, but a face of anguish and suffering. His mouth worked out a single word.
“Why?”
Madison’s heart went out to him as he lay bereft in a pile of rubble. Yes, she saw the dark and dangerous man that stalked her in the woods, but she also saw her quiet, sweet Daniel. Her Daniel was still there, lost in all the pain and frustration and shame that poured out of his eyes. He was lost and he needed to come home. He needed her help to come home, to the home she wanted to fill with love and laughter and children with Daniel, all of Daniel. Daniel needed Madison to love him, all of him.
Despite his size and strength, Daniel splayed on the wreckage in defeat, like a bull that struggled and fought and chased so hard, but finally downed the accumulated pricks and cuts and stabs of the bullfighters. He had pursued her and fought to reach her and now, bloodied and masculine, he lay before her, awash in pain and self-hatred with all his soul laid bare before her, and cried to her for help. Madison drew closer to him and posed, feminine and vulnerable, on bare feet.
“I love you, Daniel,” she told him honestly. “I love you so much. But if you want me, I’ll be in the house.”
With a sultry gaze of hooded eyes, Madison invited the wreck of Daniel to follow her.
“Our house, Daniel. Our home.”
Daniel’s face pinched and fresh tears streaked from his eyes, so Madison placed a gentle finger on his lips, and shushed to him.
“Come home, Daniel. Come home to me.”
Then Madison turned on her toes and sashayed out of the cabin towards the house, their home, without a backwards glance. She didn’t have to look back. Daniel wanted to come home, so he would follow. Halfway to the house, Madison shimmied out of her red dress and strolled naked through the silver moonlight and into the kitchen.
And she wished with all her might for would happen next.