Madison's Peace

    Eight year old Madison and her father hurried along towards the park.  It was a few days past Christmas, and a light layer of snow was on the ground. More than a dusting, just enough to cover the grass, giving everything a marvelous wintry look without all the hassles of real snow.  Too bad it missed Christmas, thought Steven, Madison's father.  He remembered all the Christmases as a boy, the ones white and the ones hoped for.  The snow, and the brisk air, cold without being freezing, took him back.  Those were better days.

    "Moms going to be there?" Madison asked.  "You're going to see mom again?"

    "Yes." Steven said, gritting his teeth.  He had custody of Madison, but her mother, Jenna, got her every other weekend.  However, he refused to see her, and his lawyer served as a go-between, taking Madison across the city to see her mother.  He hadn't seen her now in better than three years..

    "And Grandpa?" Madison asked.  "Grandpa is really going to be there?"

    "That's what I promised." Steven said, gritting his teeth even more..  "You'll get to see your grandpa, too."  He tried to sound excited about it, for her sake, but couldn't.  If it wasn't for Jenna's father, Steven thought they might have been able to make things work.  Sure, her father had agreed to finance their restaurant, but he had also agreed to stay out of how they ran it.  He hadn't.  Worse, he tended to back Jenna for some of her most irresponsible ideas.  Jenna was a heck of a cook, but had no sense for business.  In her father's mind, though, she could do no wrong.  The courts had granted Jenna visitation,  but he'd disallowed her father to have any contact with Madison.

    He sighed, gritting his teeth again for the upcoming encounter.

    Madison squealed as they came around the corner, and the park came in view.  "We're here!" she said excitedly.  Steven paused as he looked.  It was ironic that Madison should have chosen this place to meet.  This was where he had first met Jenna, long before the restaurant, and everything else.  It wasn't far from his apartment, but he hadn't been down this way in ages.

    Looking over the park, though, it was as beautiful as he had remembered, and the snow decorated things to perfection.  Off in the distance was the elevated railroad viaduct, now rarely used.  Down the middle of the park ran the shallow creek, more of a drainage ditch, and over it was the elegant low concrete arch bridge.  Steven thought back to that day when, out for a morning, he had become distracted and carelessly ran into the woman who would become his wife, his love, and later the bane of his existence.

    Ah, those were good days.  He had loved her, once, which was why their breakup had hurt him so deeply, and why he'd sworn never speak to her again.  If it wasn't for his daughter, he wouldn't be here now.

      "There they are!" Madison said, waving to her mother and starting to run.

    "Careful." Steven said.  If not for his daughter...

    He hesitated before approaching. He'd agreed to this for his daughter's sake, but he wasn't looking forward to it.

    Fortunately, Jenna wasn't looking at him as he walked up; she was kneeling, hugging Madison.  She was as beautiful as she ever had been, but that didn't dim his hatred.

    For the sake of his daughter, Steven approached.  Seeing him, Jenna stood up, and pointed out into the park, towards the bridge.  "Grandpa is over there." she said, and stood up as Madison ran out to him.  Steven watched her, and and avoided looking at his ex-wife as long as he could.  His former father in law was standing out in the park, at this end of the bridge, dark purple corduroy pants, wool jacket, and the same 1930s style hat he'd worn for years.  Madison ran up and reached up to him.  He picked her up as she put her arms around his neck, and spun her around a moment.

    "There you are," he said, embracing her firmly.  "Look at you.  You've gotten so big."

    "I haven't seen you in sooo long," Madison said.  "I wish you didn't have to go away."

    "Yes, well, I'm here now." he replied.  There was so much more to it; after all it was her father who had told him, in no uncertain words, to stay away.

    But wasn't what mattered now.  This day was for his granddaughter.  Looking at her, he was more concerned with how she looked.  She had gotten big, but she didn't look really well.  He knew her condition, of course, but she looked worse than he'd expected.  Alive, eager, yet sick,  Very sick.

    Jenna was watching her daughter with her father.  They seemed so happy together; she cursed her ex husband for keeping them apart.  He could be so vindictive.  He had argued in court that she was irresponsible with money, and gave a selective account of the restaurant to back it up. He'd used used that to argue for custody  She had been able to get visitation, but the courts wouldn't give any consideration to the child's grandparents.  Madison's father had custody, and she had to respect that to keep visitation.  It had been nearly five years since Madison had last seen her grandfather.

    She was trying to ignore her ex-husband; they hadn't spoken directly since the end of their divorce; during the proceedings they try to avoid it; he usually got angry when they did speak.  Still, seeing her daughter - their daughter - so happy to see her grandfather, she felt had to say something.

    "She looks so happy to see him." she commented, trying to sound as offhand as possible.

    Steven just clenched his teeth.  It was bad enough to be here; he really didn't want to talk to her.  At least it was good to see his daughter happy; it had become rare, of late.

    "How much does she know?" Jenna asked.  When she didn't get a  response, she continued, "Did she ask this because of her condition, or only in hope?"  Madison had asked her enough times about her grandfather, an there had been nothing Jenna could say.

    Steven continued to say nothing, and just watched his daughter, grimacing about his hated father-in-law.  He was determined not to respond.  They had exchanged information through lawyers; it was enough that he was here.  He didn't want to talk to her.

    "Our daughter is dying." she said, finally.  "You don't have to like me, but we should talk about her."

    That, indeed, was the unfortunate reason they were here.  Two years ago, Madison had been diagnosed with the disease she had been fighting since.  Two long, painful years for them both.  And now, it had become apparent that there was nothing more they could do.  His Madison was dying.

    And his ex-wife was probably right, they did need to talk about it, as little as he wanted to.  If they could do it without fighting.  "No, she doesn't know." he finally replied.  "I keep telling her she's going to be fine, she just has to keep fighting.  She's asked more than once about her grandfather."

    "You never had to be vindictive about it." she replied.  "You never had to cut him off."

    "And he didn't have to tell me how to run my restaurant." he replied.  "I was tired of his meddling then, and I didn't want him meddling with Madison."

    "Our restaurant." she corrected, "He was only making suggestions."

    "He tried to tell us both how to do our jobs." he replied.

    "He did help us get started," she replied, "You could have been more grateful to him.  And to me, for that matter, I don't think you liked any idea you didn't come up with."

    "You're ideas were always bad ones." he replied.

    "Now that's not fair." she said, "Especially coming from someone who couldn't cook canned beans."

    "Now that's not fair either." he said, angrily.  It would have better to keep quiet.  "I may not be a professional cook, but I can get food on the table.  Madison's never complained about my cooking."

    "They're coming back," Jenna said.  "Let's try not to fight in front of our daughter."

    Steven nodded, and they both smiled and waved to her.  She walked up holding her grandfather's hand.

    "Please don't fight" she begged as she walked up.  They both denied it, but she asked,  "I'm dying; I don't want to see you two fighting."

    Steven and Jenna looked at each other.  "I thought you didn't tell her," she asked.

    "I didn't," he protested, truthfully.  He hadn't, he tried to protect her as much as he could.

    "You didn't have to," she said.  "I'm sick, not stupid.  I could tell when the doctors got real quiet around me."

    Steven got down and hugged her.  "You're going to be fine, sweetheart.  The doctors are doing everything they can.  You're going to be just fine, you just have to keep your spirits up."

    "I am," she said.  "But please don't lie to me.  I know why you let me come here today.    And I don't want my parents fighting to be the last thing I know.  I do remember when you lived together.  I remember you fighting then.  Just once, I'd like to know you can be nice to each other.  I know I don't have that many days left; I want this to be a good one.  Can't you try and get along? Just for today?  Please?"

    Steven grimaced at the thought of actually spending time with his ex wife.  But the look in his daughters eyes - and if he'd tried to keep the truth from her, she already knew.  He wanted his daughter to grow up happy, and if he couldn't do all, he would at least try and keep her happy.

    "You always tell me to apologize when I do something wrong." she continued.  "Now why can't you both apologize, like you tell me to."

    "It's complicated, Madison." Steven said.  If only he could explain to his daughter all the things that had come between him and her mother, but she was so young.

    "You can still apologize." she said.  "Please?"

    He looked in her eyes, pleading with him to do the thing he'd never been able to.  So innocent, so sad.  If he could make her happy, at least for the day...

    He stood up, and turned to his ex-wife.  "I'm sorry, Jenna.  I guess I could have been a bit more tolerant."

    "Yes," she said, for a moment looking to take advantage here; but she too cared for their daughter.  "And I'm sorry, too.  I did love you, you know.  We didn't have to fight."

    Steven was going to say something, but he was still looking at his daughter.  He wasn't going to fight in front of her.  For Madison, he would swallow his pride.

    There was a time he would have done the same for Jenna; remembering that his hatred had once been love.  It brought a tear to his eye.  Once, after all, he had enjoyed Jenna's company.  For his daughter, he would try, at least for the day.

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