All for Maddie (21 page)

“Don’t call me anymore, Whit.
I’ll call you from the theater phone or something. I don’t trust him. He is the
one acting crazy right now.”

“You believe me, don’t you,
Regan?”

“I believe every word you
disclosed. Don’t worry. You’ll be okay. I’ll talk to you soon.”

I was beyond tired as Maddie
and I continued our journey the following morning. I didn’t sleep a wink. I was
sure that the door was going to be busted in at any second. Every little noise
had me jumping out of bed with Maddie and going to the window.

Maddie on the other hand was
back to being her silly little self. The cold medicine helped and the DVD
player was a Godsend. She was so happy, singing and talking to the cartoon,
hanging from the back of the seat, oblivious to what was going on around her. I
wished that Mommy could say the same. Every time I passed a police cruiser, my
heart sped to an unhealthy beat.

I didn’t want to stop nor did
I want to spend another eighty bucks on a room, but I didn’t want to arrive in
the middle of the night either. I wanted it to be bright and sunny, so that I could
see what I was getting into. Red and the other bikers from the bar were down
right humble. They would have pulled the devil out of a ditch. I didn’t know
anything about these guys. I was a twenty-one year old single mother. I still
had to be cautious.

I did sleep that night with
Maddie nestled right next to me. I think the emotional exhaustion won. I didn’t
wake until Maddie woke me the next morning flushing the toilet, washing her
hands, and singing her ABC’s out of order. I smiled as she climbed back in bed
beside me.

“Where my daddy go?” she
asked. I smiled. She missed him. It broke my heart.

“Daddy is working,” I lied. I
didn’t know what else to say to get her to understand. She was three, she
didn’t understand any of this. Hell, I didn’t understand any of this. How could
I go from being happy, living at the resort in my own little house with my own
little river beach to this? It was crazy.

We were only four hours from
Horizon trailer park, where we would stay until I could figure out what to do. I
tried to interact with Maddie as much as possible as I drove, anticipating what
was ahead for us. My mind couldn’t stay focused for long.

The trailer park wasn’t what
I was expecting at all. It was clean, well-kept with flowers, swing sets, white
picket fences, and Harley Davidsons galore. I think half the park was occupied
by bikers. I looked at the black numbers on the ends of the trailers looking
for 719.

I pulled to the blacktop big
enough for one car and got out, looking around at my surroundings. I welcomed
the warm sun and 70 degree temperatures.

“I get out too, Mommy,”
Maddie called, wanting out of the restraining car seat that she had ridden in
for hours over the past couple of days.

I lifted her to the ground
and she went right to the tiny little yard where a swing set took up most of
it. I walked up on the porch and moved the birdhouse, locating the key where
Red told me I would find it.

“Hi, you must be Whitley,” a
female voice called. “Red told me you would be arriving, I’m Tank,” she said,
offering her rose tattooed arm. She had every color rose possible going up both
arms. She didn’t look like a Tank, not even for a biker. I bet she didn’t weigh
100 pounds soaking wet.

I smiled and shook her hand.

“I live right next door. Red
tells me that you’re a good friend, any friend of Red’s is a friend of mine. If
you need anything, you let me know,” she offered.

“Thank you very much. I
appreciate that.” I did appreciate it. What would I have done if Red,
practically a stranger to me, hadn’t been there to help me?

Tank bent to Maddie’s level
as she climbed up the four steps to the porch. “You must be Maddie,” she
smiled, shaking her hand as well. “I have a little girl that would love to play
with you,” she explained.

“What her name?” Maddie
wanted to know. I knew what was next. Maddie touched the roses, covering her
arms.

“Her name is Sage, she is
four. How old are you?”

“I free. Why you paint on you
arms? My daddy be mad,” she said, studying the artwork.

“I like roses. My Grandpa
John used to have every kind of rose ever cultivated.”

I smiled at her choice of
words, like Maddie had any idea what cultivated meant.

“What that wose,” she
questioned, pointing to a light pink rose on the back of her hand.

“That’s a Baltimore Belle
rose.”

“Oh…I have a potty,” Maddie
exclaimed, looking up to me as her attention span drifted from Tank’s artwork.
We both laughed. Tank nodded, dismissing herself.

The trailer was actually very
nice. It was clean with nice furnishings, a flat screen TV, and more books than
I had ever seen in one place. Not that I would be reading any of them. They
were all western books by authors I’d never heard of.

“I have a pee,” Maddie
reminded me, holding her crotch.

We found the bathroom and she
made it just in time. She was fascinated by the fish décor in the bathroom. The
shower curtain looked like a 3-D fish aquarium and the walls were painted in aqua
blue with seashells bordering the top.

Maddie and I both walked
around the trailer, checking it out. There were three bedrooms and the master
had an attached bath. It was nothing like Alex’s master bath, but it had its
own shower and a decent sized garden tub.

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It was settled. I was going
to work for Moe, the owner of the little diner just a mile down the road. Tank
was going to watch Maddie for me and refused any payment. I’m not sure why, but
I trusted her. Maybe because of how good she was with Maddie and her own little
girl, Sage. She was constantly doing stuff with her. I almost wished she didn’t
live five feet from me. I couldn’t keep Maddie away from there. Thank God she
had a fenced in yard that allowed Maddie to open the back door and go from my
trailer to hers. I didn’t have to worry about finding a place until Red’s
daughter got spring break from school. I had four months to save enough tips
and find us a place. Red wasn’t charging me one penny to stay in his trailer.
He said he liked having someone in it while he was away. I knew it was only to
make me feel better. He had many friends there, they looked out for him. I was
sure of it.

By the second week, I was
starting to relax, other than I missed my dad like crazy. I wondered what he
thought, where did he think I was? And what did he know? I had only talked to
Regan once since we arrived. It was better that way, I was sure. I didn’t want
Alex finding out that she helped me. I was paid two dollars an hour plus my
tips. I was making between fifty and eighty dollars a day. It would take me
forever to save enough money to be able to afford my own place. I did better
than that in one shift at the resort, but I was surviving and I had Maddie.
That was what mattered.

I loved Tank and her normal
husband Craig. They were the odd ball couple if I’d ever seen one. Craig went
to work in a suit and tie every morning. I laughed several times seeing him
kiss her on their porch before leaving for his office job. It reminded me of
some married man leaving his mistress when he had another family at home. That
wasn’t the case at all. Craig was very much in love with Tank and his daughter.
He still took off on the Harleys every weekend with half the other park, but by
week, he was a businessman.

I was seeing less and less of
Maddie. If I worked a split shift, I could cover lunch and dinner, which made
me more money. Maddie didn’t seem to mind and excitedly showed me whatever it
was Tank had done with them that day. That particular day they had made bird
houses out of milk cartons. Hers was every color paint she had access to, I was
sure. She was so proud of it. She rattled on and on about how Tank had to cut
the hole because she might get cut, how they put grass inside for the birdies,
how they glued Popsicle sticks on to make a roof and last but not least, all
the colors she used to finish it.

“Craig’s going to throw some
burgers on the grill. Come over and eat in a little bit,” Tank offered.

“No, I don’t want to take any
of your family time, but thanks.”

“You’re not taking our family
time. I like hanging out with you. Tell me you couldn’t use a relaxing beer.
Maddie wants to eat a burger, don’t you, Mad?”

“I eat a hotdog,” she
countered.

“I’ll make you a hotdog, sweetie.”

“Fine, let me go get out of
this ugly dress. I’ll be over in a few.”

We sat at the cheap plastic
table and chairs watching Maddie and Sage trying to lure a stray cat to the
fence. They succeeded when Craig gave them a hotdog. The kitty was hungry. I
laughed when the cat nipped Maddie’s fingers and she squealed. I looked down at
the new text message from Regan and froze, reading the one word as my heart stopped.

 
Run……

I didn’t have time to run.
She didn’t give me enough time. Three cop cars were surrounding my trailer
seconds later. I immediately grabbed Maddie.

“Put the child down,” one of
the officers said, cupping the gun on his hip. What the hell? I wasn’t a
murderer. Was he planning on shooting me?

“She’s my daughter,” I tried.

“Put the girl down…NOW!” he
demanded.

Tank took her from me right
before I hit the ground. I looked to Maddie screaming and kicking as a female
officer took her from Tank. She was terrified. She thought they were hurting
me, they were actually. My arms had an instant sharp pain that shot straight
through the middle of my shoulder blades, and the knee in my back as I was
being cuffed felt like it was going to crack my spine.

I didn’t care about the pain.
I cared about seeing where Maddie was, and following her screams as she was
placed in the back seat of a cruiser. I knew my rights were read. I knew I was
being arrested on kidnapping charges, but I had no clue what the guy was
saying.

“Let her go with me. She’s
scared,” I begged, still hearing her cries even after the door was shut. I
watched her being driven away, sitting on the lap of someone she didn’t know.
Why did they have to be so cruel? What would it have hurt to let her stay with
me?

I was taken to the local
police department where I was finger printed, mug shot taken, and shoved into a
holding cell. Nobody would talk to me. They wouldn’t tell me where my daughter
was, or what was going to happen to me.

I was finally taken from my
cell at least an hour later for my one phone call. I only had one shot. Who did
I call? Regan couldn’t help me, my dad couldn’t help me, and the only person that
I knew could help me might not even talk to me.

“I need the number for
Charlotte Westfall.”

“Do you have an address,” the
cold female officer asked with her fingers on the keyboard.

“No, she’s the Governor of
Nebraska.”

The lady sat back and crossed
her arms. She thought I was crazy too.

“I know her,” I pleaded. She
was the only one with any power to go up against Alex. I didn’t know anyone
else. Nobody would believe me.

She took a deep breath and
entered the information. She didn’t care if I wasted my one call being a nut
job. “What’s the address?” she asked.

“South Sioux City.”

“The only number is an 800
number,” she explained. It would probably go to a recording, and I would never
get the chance to talk to her. She would never call me back.

It was a long shot, but I had
to leave my message. Maybe she’d get it, maybe she wouldn’t. I had to try.

I left my erratic message,
stating who I was, only giving my name and not mentioning our relationship. I
wasn’t even sure she’d know me by my name. I’d never met the lady. I had read
about her and followed her through her campaigning. I even voted for her, not
because of who she was, but because I believed in her values. Now if she would
just believe in mine. Please let her call me back.

“Do you want to call someone
else?” The lady asked me, thinking that I was indeed a basket case.

“That would be great,” I
replied.

“Dad?” I said as soon as he
answered. I could hear the quiver in his voice. My tears were instantly
released.

“My God, Whitley. Where are
you? Where is Maddie? I’ve been worried sick about you two.”

“I’m in Florida. I’m in jail,
Dad.”

“I know. Where is Maddie?” He
knew?

“Where’s my daughter?” I
asked the lady.

“She is in the family room
waiting to be picked up by her father.”

“She’s here. Alex is on his
way to get her.”

“Whitley, what on earth were
you thinking. I feel so responsible. I could tell that you weren’t being
yourself over the past few months. You should have told me, honey,” he
exclaimed. Thank God. He knew something was up. I should have told him.

“We could have gotten you
some help. They make medication for this, Whit. You should have come to me.”

“Medication?” I asked. Alex
got to him. He thought I was crazy too.

“Yes, there’s help for mental
illnesses, Whit. You have nothing to be ashamed of. Alex told me everything.”

“Everything?” I wondered what
everything meant. I would ask, just not at that time. I had to move on. He
wasn’t going to help me.

“It’s the governor,” the
police officer said, answering her second line with wide eyes. She didn’t
believe me. She didn’t think she would call any more than I did, let alone that
fast.

“I have to go, Dad. I’ll talk
to you soon.”

“I’ll see you in Lincoln as
soon as you arrive,” he promised.

“Lincoln?”

“Yes, you are going to be
flown there. Alex has already gotten you set up in the best hospital around.
Don’t worry, Whit. It’ll be fine. I love you.”