Shattered Hearts A MFM Love Story

~ ~ Maddy ~ ~

It was just past six in the evening when me and Riley Jo sat out on the back porch sipping sweet tea and hanging out.

“Any news on your freedom yet?” asked Riley Jo.

She was talking about the annulment of my marriage.

I looked out over yonder. “Lawyer says it will go before the judge by the end of the month and the grounds of forced consent and being unable to consummate will no doubt swing it.”

“And there’s been no trouble from you know who?”

She was talking about Cooper. “Nope. None.”

“And what about Logan and Jackson? You said they were both pretty pissed at what he did.”

It had taken almost an entire week of me using my feminine wiles to keep them both from charging on down to Coopers and laying him out flat. Yeah, some might call it manipulation, but I like to think of it as damage control. Plus, it was fun seducing them. “I talked them ’round.”

“And Casey? Has she mentioned him?”

Casey had been distracted by her new best friend, Whitney, who was Hank’s the Ranch Manager's eldest daughter. They’d hit it off and were pretty much inseparable.

“Nope.” I blew out a slow breath. “I’d say life is pretty damn good.”

And speak of the devil, well, not the actual devil. The screen door opened and out walked Casey.

Riley Jo turned her head and wolf-whistled. “Dayum. Look at you.” Casey was wearing one of Riley Jo’s hand-me-downs. A pretty lemon dress, which looked fantastic on her. Whitney was right behind her, also wearing a pretty outfit.

“Y’all looking good tonight—goin’ anywhere special?” she asked them.

Casey hitched a thumb over her shoulder. “Town over. There is a band playing we want to see.” She lifted her other hand and dangling from her fingers was a set of car keys. “Can I take the truck?” She pouted adorably. “Pu-lease, Maddy...”

“Let us have a good look at you first. Twirl around.” I told her.

Casey’s cheeks went bright red but did as I asked, and I clicked my tongue in approval. “Riley Jo is right. Pretty as a peach, the both of you.”

“Thank you. But can I take the truck?”

I smiled. “Sure. It’s not like Jackson’s gonna be needing it.”

“Thank you, Maddy!” Air blowing me a kiss.

Jackson still wasn’t driving, but even if he was, he wouldn’t be needing it tonight. Him and Logan had headed to the city to stay with one of Jackson’s army buddies tonight before heading to an appointment with Jackson’s doctor first thing in the morning.

I’d wanted to go with them but didn’t want to leave Casey here all by herself, although I knew Jody would have kept an eye on her if I’d asked.

“Don’t wait up!” she called out as she and Whitney were already down the steps.

“Be good!”

“And make sure whatever man shows an interest, it’s no more than a little charm, a little innuendo, a wink and a crooked smile. You hear me?” Riley Jo called after them.

Casey spun around and waved. “Yeah, I heard ya,” flipping back around.

“Oh, to be young again,” my sister sighed.

I turned my head to face her. “We’re not even twenty-five yet!”

She laughed. “I know.” Shrugging. “So tell me. What’s new with you?”

Riley Jo had dropped by unexpectedly because Adam’s family was visiting and they had ‘hijacked’ baby Gracie. His parents loved their granddaughter and spoiled her rotten every time they came over. So Riley Jo was making the most of her free time. Sitting here with her feet up, eating her way through some of Nana’s Em’s homemade butter biscuits, which she’d dropped off yesterday before her and Stella left to visit Stella’s family for a few days.

I reached into the open tin, sat on Riley Jo’s lap, and grabbed another biscuit. “I’ve decided to come off birth control.”

Riley Jo sat up, dropping her feet to the ground. “Yeah?” She was excited, then frowned a little. “But don’t you want to get hitched first?”

I shook my head. “That will happen in its own good time.” Rolling my eyes. “Once they figure out who I’m actually gonna marry.”

I hated that we had to make a choice.

Riley Jo sat back. “I’ve always been a sucker for happy endings,” she sighed. “Y’know, the kind where the hero or heroes.” Winking at me. “Gets the girl, and the villain is defeated and all is well with the couple or throuple in this case riding off into the sunset to have amazing sex and make lots of babies.”

I giggled. “You’re crazy, y’know that, right?”

“Crazy-amazin’ you mean?”

“I guess I can’t argue with that!”

“So, I’m betting they’re both thrilled y’all gonna be having a baby?”

“I haven’t told them yet. But I’m fixin’ to as soon as they get back from Jackson’s appointment.”

Riley Jo nodded. “As soon as Gracie gets to one-year-old, I’m thinking we might try for another.” She grinned. “Hey, we might end up expecting at the same time?”

I shrugged. “You never know.”

“And I’m guessing neither of them cares who the daddy might be?”

“Nah. And I’m quotin’ Jackson’s words here.” Lowering my voice. ”We’re gonna love the shit out of any kid we have regardless of who put it in there!"

Riley Jo laughed. “So... talking about who’s gonna put it in there?” She was grinning like a fool. “Have you been the meat in the Reilly sandwich or, as I like to call it, the Reilly double special?”

Those green eyes of hers gleamed with curiosity.

I rolled my eyes again, knowing exactly what she was referring to. “Ew,” I grouched, but I was smiling and the laugh that bubbled out from my throat was genuine. “I wouldn’t tell you if I did. So you can quit asking me.”

I couldn’t however stop the heat from rising in my cheeks

“Ugh. You’re no fun. Y’know that right?”

I stuck out my tongue.

Riley Jo wiggled her dark eyebrows. “Well, I think this calls for another biscuit.” She picked two up and handed one to me. “Here’s to our future babies and all the fun we’re gonna have making them.” She tapped her biscuit on mine as if it was a toast of some kind.

Sitting back in my chair, munching on my biscuit. I honestly couldn’t wait.

~ ~

It was getting up to ten at night when I decided to turn in for the night. Grabbing my phone I fired off a quick message telling the guys I missed them and goodnight. I got back replies just as quickly. Then leaving the lights on for Casey, I started up the stairs only to freeze halfway when I heard the squeal of tires.

Was that Casey? Back so soon?

I stayed standing on the stairs, listening, and then I heard heavy footsteps on the porch steps and jumped when a hand pounded on the door.

“Maddy! Maddy!”

Was that Whitney?

“Hold your horses.” Making my way toward the door, I opened it to find a panicked Whitney staring back.

She was shaking, and my anxiety hit the ground running. “What’s goin’ on?” I looked past her to where I could see Jackson’s truck with the door wide open and the engine still running.

Whitney panted. “You gotta come.”

“Come where? Where’s Casey?”

“I left her there.”

“Left her where?” I practically screeched. “—In a bar all on her own?”

Whitney shook her head. “Don’t get mad and if I’m wrong ’bout this, then she’s gonna hate me for coming to get you.” She shook her head. “But my gut is telling me something is wrong.”

I was waiting on pins. “Well, spit it out!?”

“C’mon. I’ll tell you on the way there. C’mon.” She didn’t wait. Stepping backwards, she spun around and was already down the steps as I snatched my cardigan from the hook and was shutting the door behind me.

Pulling on my cardigan, Whitney was already climbing into the truck, slamming the door. I walked around it, opened the passenger door and climbed in. Reaching for my belt. “Whitney, you’re scaring me right now. Just tell me already.”

The gears crunched and then she put her foot down on the gas pedal and we practically wheel spun outta there.

“Whitney!” My tone had her side-glancing.

“Okay. I’m gonna tell you.” Inserting a breath. “We got to the bar and was having a good time.”

“Okay,” I nodded for her to go on.

“Then Cooper arrived and his friends too.”

“Cooper. Cooper Stanton?” My eyes went wide and my stomach tumbled. “Is she seeing him? Are they dating?”

She shook her head but kept her eyes on the road. “No. She knew that would upset you.”

Phew. I guess that was something, right?

“Anyway, he came over and told her he had the information she wanted.”

My brow furrowed. “What information?”

Another head shake. “She wouldn’t tell me.”

“Did you leave her with him?” I opened my phone and pulled up Casey’s number and pressed call. “Damn!” It went straight to voicemail.

“Not exactly.”

Now she was confusing me. “What the hell does that mean, Whitney?” My tone sharpened. “You’re not making any sense.”

“He said he would take her to meet someone, and I insisted on tagging along because I don’t trust that man. He didn’t want me to go but when he saw I wouldn’t take no for an answer, he told me and Casey to follow him in the truck.”

“Where to?”

“We didn’t know. We just got in the truck and followed him to...” She flicked her chin up. “We’re here.”

I looked out the windscreen of the car. “What? Here?”

“Yeah,” she turned the car into a familiar driveway. My family’s driveway.

“He took you to my parents’ home? The Lockwoods?”

“Ah-huh, and when we got here, they both went inside.”

“Inside my parents’ home?” I had to repeat everything to make sure I heard her right.

“I sat there waiting and Cooper’s friends sat in their car. But I knew something wasn’t right.”

“And then what happened?”

“I knocked on the front door, but no one answered. So I walked round back” She gulped. “And that’s when I heard all the yelling and screaming.”

“They were yelling and screaming at Casey?”

“I don’t know, but I peeked through the window and your mama was having a hissy fit over something and Casey—well, she looked scared.”

The car pulled up outside the house, and everything looked the same. Normal. But there was no sign of Cooper’s car or his friends.

Getting out of the truck, I leaned in. “You stay here. Okay?”

She attempted a smile, but it wobbled. “I want you to call me if anyone comes back. Cooper or his friends—okay?”

She nodded, and I closed the door and went straight around back to let myself in through the kitchen. I knew Stella wouldn’t be at home tonight as she was away with my nana, staying with family.

Twisting the door handle, it opened as expected.

Stepping inside, it was eerily quiet and thankfully wearing my white pumps my feet hardly made a sound on the wooden flooring.

The house looked the same, not that I was expecting it to look any different. But holy hell, it was hot in here. I slipped free of my cardigan and, walking past a chair, I lay it to rest. Was the air conditioning not working?

I walked out of the kitchen and, about to decide where to look first, a sound stopped me.

A gurgling sound?

No. A spluttering cough?

Whatever it was, the sound came from the library.

My anxiety had my heart sprinting and although I was warm, a shudder passed right over me as I took slow, measured steps. The double doors were wide open and hearing no voices, I peeked around the open doorway partly to see my mama standing before the huge fireplace. She had swathed her body in a dress of pale blue and swept her blonde hair up in a sleek chignon.

Stepping inside. “Mama...” I gasped and my hand flew up to cover my mouth.

In her hand was a gun. A small revolver.

What the hell was she doing with a gun?

Moving my hand down over my chest. “Mama?”

She didn’t acknowledge me.

My gaze swung left, then right. There was no sign of Casey. But then a tiny movement in the corner of my eye snagged my attention.

Feet. Or rather, a foot. It twitched, peeking out from behind the sofa.

Walking tentatively toward it, my steps froze solid when my eyes caught sight of something I would only expect to see in my worst nightmares.

There on the floor, bleeding out, was my daddy. I sucked into a gasp to stop a scream from ejecting.

My heart slammed sideways. “Daddy,” I said, swallowing past the shock of seeing him lying there. And then I was moving fast, dropping to crouch beside him, not caring about the blood as I grasped his hand, which felt so cold in mine.

“Daddy?” A wet rasping sound my daddy made crawled across my skin and I had to blink back tears as I looked into his ash—coloured face. His lips parted and blood gathered in the corners.

With a shaking hand, I lay it over his heart.

A beat. A slow beat.

Forcing myself to look over the rest of him, my stomach bunched in knots. His white cotton shirt was no longer white, and the blood gushed from his guts.

I didn’t know anything about gunshot wounds.

Should I try to stop the bleeding?

No! Stupid. Get help. He needed help.

Yanking my phone from my back jeans pocket, I smeared blood across the screen as I dialled 911.

The operator answered, asking what my emergency was. “It’s my daddy. He’s been shot!” I told them, giving them the address to my parents’ home.

It amazed me my voice remained so calm but none of this felt real. It was almost as if I was having an out-of-body experience.

“Come quick. Please.” I begged them.

We might not have been seeing eye-to-eye lately, but I didn’t want him to die.

They told me help was on its way and I needed to make sure the front door was open so they could get in easily. I told them the back door was open as there was no way I was leaving my daddy’s side—not for a second, just in case...he died.

No. I silenced that thought.

They asked if I was safe and if was there anyone else in the house with me. Pressing the phone tight to my ear, I twisted my head around and up. My mama still hadn’t moved. But now I could clearly see the blue of her eyes and they looked empty. Haunted.

“Ma’am?” the operator prompted. “Are you still with me?”

I nodded, then realised they couldn’t see me. “Yeah, I’m here. I think it’s just me and my mama in the house.”

“Has your mama been injured?”

Shaking my head. “No. But she’s not responding. I think she’s in shock.”

“Okay. Well, first responders are on their way. Do you want me to stay on the line until they get to you?”

“No. Just get here quick.”

They said something else, but I wasn’t listening, ending the call to take hold of my daddy’s hand again. “You gotta fight, Daddy. Help is on its way. Just hold on.”

I shifted my body so I could keep hold of my daddy’s hand and see Mama too. “Mama,” I said, eyes up, gentling my tone. “Mama, talk to me. It’s Maddy.”

And then she seemed to snap right out of it, surprising me with a smile.

Yeah. She smiled at me.

However, that wasn’t the strangest part. She leaned over, stepping closer, with one shoe now sitting in the blood from Daddy’s wound. Her hand smoothed over my hair. “I like what you’ve done with your hair,” she said as if it was the most normal thing in the world to say.

Shaking off the craziness. “Mama, what happened here—to Daddy?” My eyes batted between them.

She double blinked, worry creasing deep lines into her normally smooth features. “Well, I had to fix it?” She cocked her head to the side. “This is all his fault, y’know.”

She stroked down my hair again, not even caring that her husband might just bleed out and die right here in front of her.

“Mama,” I glanced at my daddy. “Mama—what’s his fault?”

She didn’t answer as my eyes lifted to hers. “Mama. Did you shoot Daddy?”

She yanked her hand away. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

My Daddy made a gurgling sound, and I squeezed his hand to let him know I was there. Looking back up. “You’re gonna have to talk about it. The sheriff is on his way. Right now.”

She huffed, her eyebrows knitted over pensive blue eyes. “I’ll fix it.”

“You can’t fix this Mama!”

“Ain’t no point in beatin’ a dead horse...’ course, can’t hurt none either.”

What? She wasn’t making any sense.

“Mama, what happened here tonight?”

Loosening a sigh, her gaze fell to the floor. “Do you have any idea what it takes to keep this family together?” She made a pffing noise. “No, you don’t. None of you do.” She started waving her hand around. The one holding the gun. “The sacrifices I make for y’alls.”

“Mama. Please, put the gun down.”

Pulling her head back, she looked down at the gun in her hand and a look I couldn’t decipher fell across her face and then she dropped it to the ground and started pacing up and down, talking faster than I could keep up with. However, when she said Casey’s name, my head shot up and a chill slid down my spine.

“Mama. What about Casey? Where is she?” I had a dreadful feeling something terrible had happened.

She stopped dead and her hand moved to holding the cross at her neck. She moved it backwards and forwards along its thin gold chain, a nervous habit. Her face was rigid.

“Mama, where’s Casey?”

“She’s gone. I fixed it. Just like I always do.”

“What do you mean? Gone? Why?”

“She had to go. You understand that, right? They can’t know. No one can know.”

“Know what, Mama?”

“He’s gonna fix it for us. That nice boy.”

“What? Who?”

“You were so wrong about him, mistreating him. Leaving him like you did—not giving him a second chance.”

Was she talking about Cooper?

“Mama is Casey with Cooper?”

And then I heard it... sirens in the background and my eyes dropped to my daddy. “Daddy. Help is here. Hold on.”

Someone called out.

“In here. In the library,” I shouted out. Footsteps moved at speed.

“Please move, ma’am.” One EMT instructed me and I let go of my daddy’s hand and pushed up so they could help him.

The next ten minutes passed in a blur as I watched them assess Daddy’s condition, talking to each other in medical jargon and then they were lifting him and taking him out. An EMT approached me and asked if I was alright. I nodded.

Turning around, my mama was with one of the Deputy’s from the Sheriff’s department.

I followed the EMTs outside. “Maddy. You want to ride with your daddy?” Another EMT asked me. I recognised him. Geoff, I think he was called. But I shook my head. I could do nothing more for my daddy right now.

My priority had to be finding Casey.

“No. I’ll meet you there.” My head flicked toward the truck. Whitney was still inside, eyes wide, staring dead ahead.

“I pulled out my phone and rang my sister. She answered almost straight away. “It’s me,” I said

“Yeah, I know it’s you. It—”

Cutting in. “Listen, I don’t have time to talk. Daddy’s been shot.′

“W-what? Shot?”

“They’re taking him to the hospital right now.”

I heard some commotion in the background. “I’ll meet you there,” she said.

“No. I can’t go. I have to find Casey. Something is very wrong.”

“Maddy, what’s goin' on?”

I lowered my voice. “I think Mama shot Daddy, and it’s something to do with Casey and she’s with Cooper and I have a bad feeling, Riley Jo.”

“Okay.” She breathed heavily. “You stay right where you are and I’m coming to you.”

“No!” I insisted. “Someone needs to be there with Daddy. I’ll call you as soon as I find her.”

“Maddy. I don’t like this. That man is dangerous.”

“Please. By the time you get here. I might have already found her. Please, Riley Jo. I need you to go to the hospital.”

“Promise me you won’t do anything stupid, Maddy?”

“I promise.”

Saying my goodbyes, I walked back toward the truck. My phone buzzed, and a smile broke out when I saw it was Casey calling me. “Casey where—”

“Hello, Princess,” a deep voice said.

It was Cooper.

His tone dropped, becoming snide. “I think it’s ’bout time me and you had a little chat—don’t you?”

I swallowed. “Where’s Casey? If you’ve hurt her. I swear—”

He chuckled, and my skin prickled with goosebumps. “I’ll tell you where she is if you make me a promise first, Princess.”

This felt all kinds of wrong. “What? What is it you want?”

“Promise me you’ll come alone and I will try to stop my boys from having some fun with her.”

Oh my god! This was my fault because I’d not been honest with her. If I’d told her exactly how he’d treated me when I lived with him, then she wouldn’t have ever looked twice at him let alone ever spoken to him again.

“Fine. I’ll come alone. But you better make sure nothing happens to her. You listening to me, Cooper?”

“Yea. I’m listening, Princess.”

“Now tell me where are you.”

“Home,” he replied.