Chapter 3
The room was dark. Jeanie had been
sitting for hours and hours in the rocking chair in Madi’s room holding “Boo”
bear…Kevin had given Madi, “Boo.” Boo looked pretty bad, but only because she
loved him so much. One of his eyes was gone and he was dirty, but it didn't
matter to Madison. Boo and Madi were inseparable...until now.
“Jeanie?” Lindsay and A.J. slowly
opened the door. A.J. looked as if he would cry as he saw her sitting alone in
the dark holding the rag-tag bear. They had received a frantic telephone call
from Jess. All she knew was that Kevin left and took Madi with him. Jeanie was
hysterical and crying and begging him to please leave her baby. Madi was crying
because Mommy was crying. Jess didn’t know if she should call the police or what
to do, so she called Lindsay. She and AJ took the next flight out.
“Hey, Boss lady,” Lindsay
whispered as she and A.J. knelt down in front of the rocker. Jeanie seemed to
be in shock; she didn't even know they were there. A.J. held his hand up to her
cheek.
“Tex?”
Jeanie’s chin trembled. “Kevin
forgot Boo…” she whispered. “He forgot…” she broke down into grief-stricken
tears, falling into A.J.’s arms.
“Come on, Tex…” A.J. tried to get
her up and walking, but she balked, shaking her head.
“No. Don’t make me leave…this is
all I have…” she cried.
“Shh…Jeanie…come on. The room
isn’t going anywhere. I’m gonna run a hot bath for you. Maybe you'll feel
better after a bath. We’ll eat and talk. Okay?” Lindsay helped A.J. steer her
toward the bedroom door. “You can come back in her later, okay? Sweetie?”
“He took Madi…what am I going to
do? My baby...”
“We know, come on.” They gently
led her toward the door.
“It’s my fault…Oh God…”
A.J. and Lindsay shot each other a
“what the fuck is going on?” look. One way or another, they’d find out.
“He forgot Boo…Madi has to have
Boo...”
* * *
Given Jeanie's state of mind,
Lindsay was afraid to leave Jeanie alone in the bathroom. She’d never ever seen
her like this. Never.
A.J. went to talk to Jessie. She
wouldn’t come out of her room. If there was one thing he knew about Jess, she
loved spying on all of the BSBs. When she refused to come out and spy on him,
that was a pretty good indication how upset she really was.
Jeanie leaned back against the
side of the tub. Her eyes were closed and she was quiet. She suddenly opened
her eyes and spotted one of Madi’s bath toys on the edge of the tub. She picked
it up and started sobbing again.
Lindsay ran to take it from her.
“Let me have it…” she tried to pry it away from her. “Come on…” Eventually
Jeanie let go and Lindsay sat the toy on the vanity. “Okay, what the hell’s
going on? This isn’t like you and Kevin. You guys adore each other. What
happened, Jeanie?” Lindsay whispered.
“I-I can’t tell you. Then you and
A.J. will hate me, too.”
“Sweetie, we’re not going to hate
you. Besides, you know Kevin’s gonna tell A.J. Don’t you want us to know your
side, too?”
Jeanie knew she was right. Kevin
would eventually tell the guys. Hell, Brian probably already knew through his
family since Kevin showed up on his mother’s doorstep with Madison. Jeanie
began to slowly tell Lindsay about every thing. She could tell by Lindsay’s
expression that she was shocked.
“I can’t believe you didn’t even
tell me…”
“Linds, I’m sorry. After everything
I put you and my other friends through when I was pregnant with Madi, I just
couldn’t do that to you again.”
“Are you sure that’s the reason?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Look, Jeanie, I love you. But ya
know what? It looks like you had the abortion to get even with Kevin…”
“NO! How can you think that?”
“I didn’t say I thought that…I
said that’s how it looks. That’s probably how it looks to Kevin, too.” Lindsay
felt terrible saying that to her, but it was the truth. It looked really bad.
Jeanie sat silent. Finally, she
said, “Maybe you and A.J. should leave.”
“What?” Lindsay couldn’t believe
it.
“I lost the two people I love more
than life itself today…I thought you knew me better, Linds. If you and A.J.
think I’m that awful, just leave.”
“Jeanie…” Lindsay, exasperated,
stormed from the room.
* * *
“He’s not answering, Lindsay…”
A.J. was fresh out of ideas. He tried to call Kevin, but reached Ann instead.
She said Kevin wasn’t there and Madi was asleep. She also demanded to know what
was going on. Apparently, Kevin wouldn't even tell his mother. A.J. lied and
told her he didn’t know. Then he called Brian who said that he’d heard that
Kevin had Madi, but didn’t know much else. He called Nick, but Nick wasn’t
home. Neither Nick nor Kevin answered their cell phone.
"I dunno Linds, I don't think
we should leave her. She's just upset…she didn't mean what she said." AJ
rubbed his face with his hands. "I feel bad for Jess. She doesn't know
what to do. Jess needs Jeanie right now. Is Jeanie asleep?"
Lindsay shook her head.
"She's back in Madi's room, crying. I'm gonna go check on Jess." She
headed off down the hall. A.J. went to the bar and got another beer. This
couldn't get any worse..
He'd never been so wrong in his
life. It was about to get a lot worse. A.J. didn't realize it, but Brian had
talked to Nick. Now, Nick was not only in Texas, but within five miles of
Jeanie and Kevin's ranch.
One more time, he'd be there for
her. Only this time, he wouldn't step aside for Kevin or for anyone. They loved
each other and that's all that mattered…