Free All for Maddie by Jettie Woodruff Page A

my dad. I
guess I was just hoping that after Alex realized what a handful Maddie was, he
wouldn’t want her anymore. Maybe it would all be over after this weekend.
    Maddie jabbered from her car
seat beside me as we drove to Lincoln. I tried to pay attention to her and
answer her silly questions. I was just having a hard time staying focused. I
was taking her to her dad, whom she didn’t know from Adam. It was messed up.
This whole thing was messed up. I tried to talk to her about it and tell her
that she was going to spend the night with a man named Alex. She didn’t
understand. She wouldn’t understand until I left her. Oh, God. I couldn’t do
it.
    Thank God for Kylie. I knew I
couldn’t go to a hotel and keep my sanity without her. Kylie knew now. Kylie
knew that Alex Wesson was her dad. She, however, didn’t know that he raped me.
She thought that he and I went out a few times after she moved. I told her that
lie.
    “Why that light turn green?”
Maddie asked.
    “Because, it means we can go
now,” I answered.
    “Where we go?”
    “Remember, you’re going to
spend the night with a very nice man that loves you. He wants to play with
you.”
    “What him name?”
    “Alex,” I answered the same
question for the tenth time.
    “Where that truck go?” she
asked, on to the next three-year-old question.
     
    My heart couldn’t have been
heavier as I listened to the GPS letting me know that we would arrive at our
destination in ten more miles. Ten more miles and Maddie was going to spend an
entire weekend with a man, I despised. I had never been away from her. Not for
one day. Yeah, she stayed with my dad and Dana some, but I saw her all day and
first thing the next morning. I trusted my dad. He loved her. I had no idea
what this guy’s motives even were.
    I held my breath as we pulled
into the drive of the most elaborate house I’d ever seen, right next to the
white sports car. The garage alone looked to be bigger than my house. The lawn
was flawlessly kept with fresh straight lines. It was early, not even noon yet.
I didn’t want to bring her at Alex’s required two o’clock time. I didn’t want
her to fall asleep and wake up crabby, which she was known to do.
    “I here?” she asked, leaning
up.
    “Yeah baby, you’re here,” I
smiled with a broken heart.
    Alex walked out to the
concrete landing in front of his house. His girlfriend stood beside him. She
didn’t look extremely happy about the situation. I never thought about her. I
wasn’t sure how I felt about her being around my daughter. Yes, I was; I didn’t
like it. I lifted Maddie from her car seat and sat her on the blacktop, while I
reached for her backpack. I held onto it, not about to hand it over yet, giving
Alex a hateful glare as he squatted to Maddie.
    “Hi,” he said taking her
hand.
    This was when I hated the
people that Maddie was exposed to. I swear the girl would talk to Bigfoot. She
wasn’t shy a bit. I wanted her to hide behind me and scream, throw herself to
the ground, and refuse to talk to him. She didn’t.
    “What that?” she asked,
touching the fancy gold tie clip.
    “That’s my tie pin. Do you
want to wear it?” he asked, taking it from his tie and pinning it to her pink
floral shirt. She giggled and looked up to me. I smiled a sad smile down at
her. Please don’t like him.
    “I’m sure you would like to
check out where she will be staying,” Alex assumed. Was he really being nice to
me?
    “Yes, that would be nice.”
    Maddie let him hold her hand
as he led us inside his home. Goddamnit, Madelyn Rae, don’t hold his hand.
    “Hi, I’m Madelyn’s mom.” I
introduced myself to the same blonde that I had seen him with the past two times.
    “Kendall,” she smiled a fake
smile with her perfect too white teeth. I didn’t like her.
    “What dis?” Maddie asked,
touching the nose of some ugly, skinny dog statue with shiny gold eyes.
    “That’s a dog,” Alex replied.
    “What him name?”
    “He doesn’t