Page 105 of Savior
Maddie darts across the fairgrounds towards us, as soon as she spots Dean pulling Serene into the lot, leaving Lucinda and Tamra behind at the picnic tables in the shade. Dean is hurrying to shut down the bike and dismount, only turning from Maddie to assist me in getting off the bike. The moment he’s sure I’m steady on my feet, he turns, kneeling on the pavement, intime to scoop an excited Maddie up into his arms, spinning her around in her little sundress, as if her momentum required it. I watch him twirl her through the air. The tough guy Biker and the little blonde girl. Maddie’s happy little squeal of delight in his strong, tattooed arms, rings out across the lot.
“Goddamn, I’ve missed you, baby.” He tells her, hugging her once more, before placing her back down on her feet. The smile never leaves his face as he stares down at her, and I force this unwanted jealous feeling back down where it belongs, glad to be wearing his pair of dark aviator sunglasses. There’s really no way to tell if the smile I’m wearing right now, reaches my eyes. Though, I scold myself for feeling anything but happy for them. Maddie is a precious little girl. Who wouldn’t love her?
She turns to me next, lifting her arms and hugging me around my upper thighs, honestly surprising me.
“Hi Vanna!” she smiles up at me. I remove Dean’s shades, placing them atop my head as I look down into her chocolate brown eyes. She seems to be searching mine, and her smile widens for some reason.
I bend to hug her back. “Hi Maddie, how are you?”
“I’m good.” She replies. “Momma and Aunt Tamra said I could spend some time with Uncle Dean, just us, but you can stay.”
I can’t help laughing at her words, glancing at Dean. He’s still grinning ear to ear, though he’s biting his lip. The blunt, unfiltered honesty of children.
“Well, thank you very much, honey.” I smile back at her. She releases my legs to grab my hand instead, reaching for Dean’s as well.
“Where are we going?” he asks, taking her little hand in his as well.
“Our spot.”
“Oh, you two have a spot?” I glance over at a still grinning Dean as Maddie leads us across the street to the ice-cream parlor. He shrugs in response.
“Yeah, me and Uncle Dean, we go way back.” Maddie replies, and I have to bring my free hand to my face and cover my mouth. Dean shakes his head, trying not to laugh at those words, himself.
We spend twenty minutes having ice-cream at Dean and Maddie’s special table, and I mostly listen to them have a conversation about school, and what first grade is like. How she wants a puppy but her momma keeps saying we’ll see.
Dean is all smiles the entire time, until he glances toward the front window. Suddenly, that smile isn’t reaching his eyes anymore. I turn to see which one of the two women Maddie came with, is out there.
Tamra.
“Looks like times up.” Dean sighs, collecting our ice-cream cups.
“No way that was an hour.” Maddie sulks, taking the cups from Dean. She walks off to dispose of them in the trash can a few feet away.
“She always pulls this shit.” Dean mutters under his breath so Maddie doesn’t hear him.
I reach across the table to squeeze his hand. “I’m sorry. I can see how much the two of you love and miss each other.”
“You mind if I walk her back?” he asks.
“Of course not.”
“I’ll walk you to Serene first. Promise me, you’ll wait there.”
“I promise.” I sigh, not wanting to make this any worse for him.
“Would you give me a few minutes with Maddie?” he asks, though his expression reads as if he’s worried about offending me. “I love you here with us, I do. I just… Never know when I’m going to see her again…”
“Stop.” I say, grabbing a napkin from the stainless-steel dispenser in the middle of our table and pressing it beneath my already tearing eye. “Don’t make me cry in front of her and those bitches.”
Dean squeezes my hand back, then lifts it to press a kiss to the back of my fingers. “Thank you for being so understanding.”
Maddie scampers back over to our table, looking at us as Dean releases my hand. She’s wearing a little smile on her face, and part of me braces for whatever her commentary is going to be. But this time, she doesn’t say anything.
“I’ll be back. I’m going to go wash my hands.” I say, getting up from the table. As I walk towards the back of the parlor, I glance at Dean and Maddie, in time to see her wrap her little arms around him once more. His arm wraps around her as well.
The things this man has put himself through, in order to hold onto a place in Maddie’s life. To stay in her heart. I can’t help thinking, how so many would have just walked away from the Hellish situation completely. Threw in the towel and washed their hands of the nightmare Lucinda created for them. The strength and depth of his love is awe-inspiring.
When Dean says forever, he means it.
