A very nervous
Maddie sat in the plush leather chair in Dr. Bettencourt's office. Her body felt
like one great big ball of tense energy. She couldn't sit still. No position was
comfortable. She played with her fingernails, she twirled her hair, she counted
the number of degrees lining the walls, anything to keep her mind of f the
reason she was there.
Ron sat next to his daughter, seemingly deep in
thought. In actuality, he was staring blankly at the floor where Dr.
Bettencourt's teak desk met the lush gray carpeting. His mind was absolutely
blank, a state much more preferable to the mind-numbing anxiety that had clawed
at him all night long. He remembered back eleven years when he had sat with
Maddie and her mother in this very same office. What they had thought was a
simple childhood tendency to catch illness on top of illness actually turned out
to be a parent's worst nightmare. Or so he'd thought at the time. In the past
two days, from receiving the phone call saying that Maddie was home unexpectedly
to sitting down with her as she haltingly explained what she'd been going
through to sitting beside her through the barrage of tests taken that same day
to the seemingly interminable wait of the last twenty-four hours while all the
tests were run; through all this he'd realized that a parent's real worst
nightmare would be having to see their child suffer through a fatal disease,
conquer that disease only to have it come back years later.
The door
opened and Maddie twisted in her seat to see the unfortunately familiar
countenance of Dr. Andrew Bettencourt. He was the same specialist they had come
to see eight years ago when Maddie had started to develop bruises from even the
smallest bumps and those bruises and cuts would not heal.
Recommended by
a friend whose son had suffered a similar affliction, Dr. Bettencourt had seen
Maddie through some tough days. He'd held her as she cried through some of the
more brutal treatments. He had rejoiced in informing her of her cancer's
remission. He had come from his first vacation in eight years a week early to
help her celebrate her fifth cancer-free year. He'd wanted to weep when he'd
received the phone call from Ron two days earlier. Dr. Bettencourt, because of
the nature of his work, could not afford to become attached to his patients. He
couldn't always pay the emotional toll such relationships often carried. But
with Madison, he hadn't been able to help himself. She'd been a sweet-faced
seven-year-old when they'd first met. She'd accepted all that they'd told her
and the possibility that she might die with a maturity and dignity that made Dr.
Bettencourt, more than forty years her senior, wonder if he would ever attain
that level of poise and grace. He was happy now to be able to lay her fears to
rest.
Maddie's eyes, luminous with worry, followed his every step as he
walked over to his desk. He set the folder he'd been carrying down on his
already crowded workstation and turned to face the Morses. He regarded them
solemnly for a moment. Maddie's heart seemed suspended in her chest. Every cell
in her being was focused on the good doctor. She thought dimly, 'Now I know what
an inmate on death row feels, waiting-praying-for that stay of execution.'
And then he smiled.
(Four days later)
(Savannah,
Georgia-Savannah Marriott Riverfront)
Exhausted after an extra long day
of radio and TV interviews, a charity luncheon, soundcheck and then the concert,
Justin threw himself down on the couch in the central room of their suite.
"Put a fork in me and flip me over," Joey said as he eased his body into
the seat opposite Justin.
Eyes closed, Justin frowned his irritation.
"What?" He had been out of sorts, waiting to hear from Maddie. A phone call, a
letter, hell, a singing telegram, just SOMEthing. It had been almost two weeks
and nothing.
"I'm done," Joey as an explanation.
"Whatever."
"Justin, here."
He opened his eyes to see Jen standing over him,
holding his cell phone. "It only rang about a thousand times." She pointed to
the blinking indicator light. "And Joey, Janine said her flight gets in at 2:17
and if you're late, she's gonna kick your ass."
"Man! I cannot wait til
she's here!" Joey sat up, suddenly energized. "Thanks, Jenna. Get a lot done?"
"Not really." Jen had been coming to the shows every weekend since the
start of the tour. She had stopped coming to see them perform after about the
third or fourth weekend, preferring to stay in the relative comfort of the bus
or some hotel room to get some studying done. Her nerves couldn't take it, she'd
told them, and if she had to see JC do that one move he does during Digital
Getdown one more time, she was going to give the fans a REAL show. Besides,
she'd pointed out, that was only one aspect of him.
Justin tuned out
Joey's ramblings about how much he'd missed his Nina and pressed the button on
his phone to connect him to his voicemail. He entered his pass code and grimaced
when the computerized voice told him that he had fourteen messages. He figured
some fans had gotten their grubby little hands on his phone number again. He
sighed and pressed the button to listen to his messages.
The first
message made him smile. It was his little brother, John, wishing him good luck
at the concert. It also brought a pang of sadness to his heart. He missed his
family so much. He hated that he missed out so much on his brothers' lives but
it couldn't be helped. He hit '5' to pause the message and then went to his
caller ID feature to try to screen his calls. There was the one from Jonathan,
one from his house in Orlando, so he figured his mom had gone over there and
called to say that everything was OK. He counted two calls from an area code he
wasn't familiar with. The rest were from friends and family. He was a little
intrigued about the calls from that 713 area code. Usually fans would call until
he answered, but they wouldn't leave messages.
He hit '9' to un-pause
the voice mail feature and smiled when he heard his mother's soft twang. It was
as he'd thought, she'd stopped by his house to make sure that rabid fans hadn't
broken in and ransacked the place. He was still smiling as he deleted the
message and forwarded to the next one.
"Hey, Justin. Um…I know you're at
a show right now but that's good cause I don't think I'd be able to say all this
to you." Maddie sounded nervous. Justin's heart pulsed in his chest and he sat
straight up in his seat. Lance, who had just come into the room, stared at him,
startled by his abrupt movement. He saw the look on Justin's face and asked, 'Is
that Maddie?"
That name brought six heads whipping around to look at
Justin. "Ssshh!" he reprimanded them, "she left me a message."
"Aw,
yeah!" Joey and Chris slapped hands. "Pay me my money! I told you she'd call,"
Joey crowed.
"Shut the hell up," Justin hissed. "Dammit!" He jerked the
phone from his ear and hit the button that would rewind the message to the
beginning.
"I don't really know how to say this so I guess I'll just
start at the beginning. I've always been attracted to you, even from when we
first me and you probably thought I hated your guts. See, the thing is…God, I
can't believe I'm going to say this…but, I guess a part of me always knew that
it would be like this…that you would have this effect on me…So I tried to run
from it, I guess. And I…OK. Let me just…
OK, it's like this. My dad's
been married three times. My mom is on her fourth divorce. My step-parents have
all had multiple marriages. So, I don't really believe in happily-ever-after
because I've seen it go bad so many times. These people pledged themselves to
one another and so far, they're zero and seven. I mean, my dad's still married
to Maggie but she's never even here so…The thing that freaked me out-I've had to
do some soul searching these past few days…Something I thought was over and done
with came back and bit me in the ass. It turned out to be OK but it REALLY made
me think. And I just got home so this is all fresh in my mind, otherwise, I
wouldn't have had the guts to be doing what I'm doing now. I guess what I'm
trying to say is--"
BEEEEEEEEP.
"God dammit!" Justin growled.
"What?" Lance said anxiously. They all wanted to know what she'd said.
"She got cut off!" He furiously pressed '7' to save the message and then
smiled when he checked the caller ID again. She must have called back. He
brought the phone back to his ear.
"As I was saying before I was so
rudely interrupted. I don't really believe in two people being able to live
their lives together. I've seen it fail too many times. And I was freaked cause
you made me think that I was wrong. Just looking at you, never minding the
conversations we've had, which really aren't that many, but just looking at you
made me think I was wrong. Made me WANT to be wrong. But I was determined to
just ignore it, the way I was feeling, which is probably why I was such a bitch
to you half the time. God, I'm probably freaking you out right now. I'm not
saying I want to get married tomorrow and have your babies…I just…I don't know
what I'm saying. I guess I just wanted you to know where I'm coming from. Or
where I was coming from. Things…things are different now…I don't want a
relationship…but then again, I don't NOT want a relationship…you get me? I hope
so cause I don't get myself. Anyway, just wanted you to know that, so um…yeah. I
guess call me whenever you get a chance. Or not. No pressure here. I guess
whatever happens will happen…I don't know…Can you tell I'm really confused now?
Maybe I shoulda thought this out before I called but if I would have waited, I
woulda lost my nerve and then I'd be back at square one so…OK…Just…wanted to let
you know how I feel. So…um…bye."
Justin pressed '7' to save the message
and flipped the phone closed.
"So?" Johnny prompted, "what'd she say?"
Justin raised dazed eyes to look at his friends. "I'm not really sure.
She's attracted to me and I guess she…I don't really know."
"Good grief,
gimme that." Jen marched over and grabbed the phone out of Justin's hand. "How
do I listen to it?"
Justin stood up and showed her. Jen turned her back
on them to hear better.
"So call her back!" Joey pulled his cell phone
out of his pocket and handed it to Justin.
He looked down at the phone
in his hand then back at Joey. "I don't know what to say."
"Man, tell
her you wanna see her again, tell her-"
"Tell her that you'd like to see
where things go from here," JC said. "Tell her the truth about how you feel. If
there's anything I know about Maddie, it's that she respects honesty."
"Yeah, I see that now," Justin muttered.
"What do you mean?"
Lance asked, easing his shoes off his tired feet.
"She was...she just
laid it all out on the line. Told me where she was coming from, why she acted
the way she did. She wants me to call her."
"See?" Joey pushed Justin
towards his room. "Call her, man."
"Justin," Jen spoke quietly. "You
gotta do right by this girl. You know how much it took for her to admit all that
to you? Don't wuss out on her."
"Yeah." Justin nodded once then walked
into his room and closed the door behind him.
Almost immediately, the
door opened again. He walked over to Jen and took his phone from her. Seeing the
inquisitive looks being thrown his way, he held up his phone. "Her number's in
here."
The collective reply: "Oohh."
He retraced his steps and
shut the door behind him. He stood there for a minute, just inside the doorway.
He hadn't had time to process all this. He never thought that he could affect
anyone the way he obviously affected Maddie. And it wasn't just an ego thing.
Her confession made him understand so much more about her.
He smiled to
himself. She wasn't the only one who'd been impacted in a major way by someone
she barely knew. Ever since the Kelly incident, he had gone out of his way to at
least be civil to all the fans. There was no way he could stop and chat it up
with them the way they seemed to want it but he at least tried to throw a smile
their way every now and again. And he found himself doing other small things
that he thought Maddie would like, even though he knew that she would never see
it or know of what he'd done.
He sat on the edge of the bed. He flipped
over his phone and went to the caller ID menu of incoming calls. He used Joey's
phone to make the call.
