A week ago
"Jack, have you seen it?" Jack raised his head and glanced towards his best friend, Robert Evans, that just entered his office.
"I am looking at it." words had a hard time coming off his mouth.
"Dude, it's her. That Maggie, your wife! What the hell?"
"I know!" Jack growled at Robert. "Apparently, her name is not Margaret Colt, and she's a murder victim in a casino in Las Vegas." Jack leaned back in his chair, took a deep breath, and sighed. "What the hell is happening here?" he was asking, but the question was more meant for himself rather than his friend.
"We have to contain this as much as possible. I'll call a PI that I trust, I've worked with him before. Maybe he'll find something that will clear this mess up." Robert offered. "Good thing that nobody actually saw you with her in public in the past month... ha. So listen, if the police come, call me? Don't do anything stupid."
Jack didn't answer. He was looking at the empty space in front of him, trying to collect his thoughts. He registered a clicking sound of the door closing, but he didn't react.
It was early Monday morning, the second week of July, and exactly a week since his newly wedded wife disappeared, leaving him alone with a month-old baby at home. Thank God his old nanny was still alive and ready to help with taking care of the baby, while he was at work that he could not leave unattended while trying to find his runaway wife.
"That's what you get for being stupid!" he cursed at himself out loud, remembering the events that led to this outcome.
Almost a year ago, after another successful deal that he signed with the French aircraft company, he and his best friend found themselves at the popular club celebrating his success. They managed to gather the whole crew from college, and they were enjoying the loud music, lots of alcohol, and all the beautiful women that came that night.
By accident, some girl slipped and almost fell next to him, but he caught her just on time. She looked a little too young to be there, and he remembers teasing her about it, but she showed him her ID just to prove that she was old enough to buy her own drinks. One thing led to another, and he ended up taking her to his place, where they spent the night. The next morning when he woke up, she was gone, so pretty soon, Jack forgot everything about it. It was just another one night stand, one amongst many others that he had before and after that. He was never really a type for relationships, so he never had an actual one with a woman before. He was good at finding those who wanted from him the same that he wanted from them, some good sex and no strings attached.
But when almost nine months later, a girl, a heavily pregnant girl, appeared in front of his villa, claiming that the child she was carrying was his, he had a hard time remembering her. She refreshed his memory, and he let her in where she stayed until the baby boy was born. As soon as that happened, Jack ordered a DNA test to be done, and true to her word, the test showed that he indeed was the father of the newborn.
With the help of his best friend, one of Chicago's finest lawyers, Jack managed to register his marriage with Margaret Colt without going to the City Administration Office. Margaret accepted his proposal without complaints or any requests.
They lived together in his villa for a month like roommates, sleeping in different rooms, not eating their meals together, leading completely separate lives. The only thing they had in common was the baby, and they both seemed completely fine with it.
A couple of times, Jack tried to talk with her, to find out something about her, about her life, about what she was doing and where she was for the most part of her pregnancy before she showed up at his door, but every time she would shut him out refusing to answer. He was planning to enlist the help of his friend to find out more about her if she continued to act like that, but before he had a chance to do anything, she fled. One day he woke up to find her gone, almost all of her things gone. What was left behind her too was a letter in which she begged him not to look for her, to take care of the baby... she said that she was never cut out to be a mother, that she loved the crazy life she'd been living too much and that everything was a mistake, and finally that she's sorry for all the mess she's made.
That was the last thing Jack had heard from her until this morning when he saw her picture in the news. A girl was found dead in the casino in Las Vegas, and what the reporters manage to find out until now was that she went around by many names, some of them were Julia Hendricks, Jennifer Lewis, Natasha Bright. There was no mention of Margaret Colt, and no reporter has connected his name with her for now.
Jack didn't know what to think about all of this. The only thing he knew for sure is that he will do anything he has to protect his child.
After staring at the documents in front of him for the rest of the morning, he realized that he won't be able to do anything while he's like this. He put on his jacket and headed out, stopping in front of his PA's desk on his way out.
"Simone, reschedule all of my meetings of this month for the next. I won't be coming in. Everything that the department directors can handle, direct to them. And if something that absolutely needs my attention comes up, call me on my personal cellphone. For the extra work that I'm putting on your hands, you'll be rewarded accordingly." Jack stated everything that he could think of at that moment.
From the city center where his office building was located, it took him more than half an hour to get to his villa, where his son waited for him. It was a strange thing, a love for the newborn. He doubted that the baby was his until the results came back positive, even though he had that tug in his heart every time he looked at the baby. Baby's eyes had the same depth to them as his own eyes and looking at him, was like he was looking at his reflection in the mirror. And he had this strange effect on the baby... whenever the little one was crying, and Jack came into the room, all the screaming would stop instantly. He was days old when he first smiled at Jack, and that smile... caused him to feel things that he never thought was possible to feel, the feelings that were unknown to him, the emotions that made his heart melt and eyes water.
Without even realizing it, he received a gift that gave him a reason to go back home every day and the urge to spend all of his waking hours with his son. Before this, everything he was doing with his life outside his job gave him no purpose, no meaning. He was living like an empty shell, working, drinking, having his way with every girl that was willing to spend the night with him, but all along he was feeling empty, nothing really felt right. He used to wonder so many times before what it was that he was doing wrong, what was he missing... why did he feel so lonely even when he was not alone and now he had his answer.
A week after Maggie came back to Chicago, her parents organized a modest wedding with only a dozen people present, including themselves and the minister. Maggie was ecstatic for them. How many grown-up women had a chance to attend their parents' wedding… She loved them so much and wanted nothing but happiness for them. A small reception was held in their manor, and the present guests enjoyed the celebration with discreet music, food, drinks, and a lot of laughter. That day, Maggie met one of her uncles and his wife, one of Wade's brothers. He was a nice man, and he was genuinely glad to meet her. His wife seemed decent too. The rest of the family she was yet to meet, and Denis had plans for family dinner so that everyone could gather and get to know what a wonderful daughter he has. Why did he wait for so long? Simply, he didn't want to overwhelm Maggie before she accepted him as her father. And it looked like she did. She would come by his house every so often for dinner, a
"Hi." Jack's voice trembled while he was taking in the sight in front of him.Maggie was standing there in the middle of the kitchen, holding Eric on her hip, supporting him with one arm and mashing the carrots with the other.Maggie raised her gaze from the bowl and looked at him. Their eyes met, and they told what they needed to tell, a story of love and anticipation, need and desire."Hi," Maggie said back quietly.Jack made a few steps towards them, but he didn't get close enough to touch her, afraid that he had finally crossed the line of missing her, and he was hallucinating at full speed. And if that was the case… if he touched her, and she disappeared again… burst like the soap bubble… no, he better not risk it. He needed her here, even as a wraith, she was here…When his eyes slipped from her face, the face he loved so much, he saw his son clinging to Maggie like she was his lifebelt. He didn't even raise his he
It's been a crazy few months in Jack's life since Maggie left. He did his best to not let it affect him much, but he couldn't help it. Her leaving him reflected on every single aspect of his life. It was easy for him to get irritated and to snap at anyone in close vicinity, so much that his subordinates started to avoid him.It didn't help that Eric was much more irritable than ever, he cried more and smiled less. He missed her, it was obvious. Just like Jack did. It was his fault, it was all his fault… if he didn't have that stupid idea that he needed her, that he wanted her… maybe if he had stuck to his original plan and paid her off to sign the divorce papers when he first met her… maybe, just maybe, he and his son wouldn't be brokenhearted now.On the other hand, he got to know love and the feeling of belonging to a family, something his own always busy and overachieving parents failed to give him even when he was a child.Jack tri
It's been a whole month since Maggie left Chicago and returned to her home town. That day, when she took off, she managed to get a ticket for a midnight flight, and she was back home before the sun was up. For a couple of days, she didn't even leave the house except for the short trip to the nearest supermarket to stock up on food and other necessities. She also started ordering in food, something she never did before here in Charleston, but now she had no desire to cook at all.At first, Maggie spent her days crying and missing Jack like crazy, so much that she contemplated with herself to go back to him and beg him to never manipulate her like that again and to promise her to always be like he was for the last 6 months, but she managed to hold herself back and stay where she was.She needed to try, she needed to give herself a chance to live without him, to try to move on and go back to her life… or to get over what he had done and forgive him.Maggie wasn't
"I've been meaning to tell you…" Jack came into the living room to see Maggie sitting in an armchair with papers spread in front of her.As he saw her, Jack broke into a cold sweat. He knew exactly what she was looking at. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He forgot that he left the folder right on the desk when he called her earlier to get the one he needed and sent for. He should have destroyed them long ago, but nooo, he was too stupid for something like that. He enjoyed torturing himself with those…"Tell me what?" her voice was cold like he never heard it before. She was capable of sounding like this?"Everything.""Everything... like why there are dates from July on the divorce forms or those for full custody? From before we even met..." Maggie finally rose her head looked at him."Yes." Jack didn't move from where he was standing, at the entrance to the living room."So, you want to explain how I ended up here, with you, instead of you giving
"You know, when we first met Denis Wade at that Gala, I thought he was scary. But now I think he's actually quite decent." Emma commented while standing in Maggie's new kitchen. Maggie came in to get some refreshments for the guests, and Emma followed.Jack and Maggie moved into their new home a week ago, and on the first following Saturday, they organized a small party to celebrate the event with their closest friends and family. Robert and Emma came with Aurora, and now both babies were sleeping upstairs in Eric's nursery, while their parents were downstairs catching up.Mary came to congratulate them, happy about how things turned out between the two of them, but she almost had a stroke when they told her about everything that happened since the last time she visited.Jack's friends from college and their better halves were invited too. Maggie met them at Evans' couple of months ago, right after she came to Chicago, and she actually liked them. She felt like