Madeline
Chapter Four - I Know The Way It Should Be
Gordo
The next morning I woke up happier than I had in a number of years. I had spent the whole night lost in dreams of love, marriage and the rest of my life with Lizzie and of course the beautiful daughter we already shared, Madeline. I all but skipped from my room upstairs down to the kitchen where I was greeted by the always smiling face of Gabriel, my mother's care giver. Her eyes twinkled brightly at me as she placed my mother's breakfast on a plate and put it in front of her on the breakfast table.
"So, how's the new father this morning!" I smiled happily at her as I grabbed some of the bacon sitting on the stove before answering.
"I haven't felt this great since, well since a long time ago. I have a beautiful daughter who I've fallen in love with and I think I just might be falling harder for her mother all over again. How are you?" I sat myself down next to my mother and kissed her forehead.
"Good morning! Isn't it just great today? Is Miranda back yet?" I grinned at the woman beside me and wondered just how in the world it was that Miranda meant so much to her. I figured it was mostly due to the fact that Miranda was around the most besides Gabriel. Even with me living here I could still be gone for months at a time shooting a movie, but Miranda hardly ever was called away with her job and had basically adopted my mom as her own, placing her in a very special place of her heart.
"Miranda will be back this weekend I believe, and it is a very beautiful day outside. Are you going to work on your flowers today?" My mother loved to be outside in the sun, fussing over her immaculate flower beds that surrounded a good portion of the house on all sides.
"I was just asking her that very question before you bounced in here. I would hate to pass such a nice day up and stay inside." I watched the big smile spread across her face as my mother nodded her head in agreement with Gabriel's words. "Well, I guess I have my answer then. What do you have planned for the day, if I may ask."
"You can always ask, I won't always answer, but you can always ask." I ducked another kitchen towel that sailed though the air playfully. "Actually, I was planning on dropping in on Lizzie, Matt, and Madeline to see if they needed any help unpacking or whatever. Do you need me for anything today?"
"Nothing comes to mind, but I might have you swing by the store again later since you seemed to miss most of the list last night." Her warm smile caused a slight blush to rise to my cheeks.
"Oh, right, well I was a little preoccupied with having my dreams coming true with Lizzie coming home." I hugged my mother as I stood up and repeated the move with Gabriel as I left the kitchen and headed up stairs to begin my day. "Thanks, Gab. I don't know what I'd do without you, but it wouldn't be pretty." Her cheeks reddened under the compliment.
I had just walked into the room that had once been my father's library but had since been converted into my home office when the phone rang. "Hello?"
"David, this is Peter Vangriel. We have a slight problem with some of the film from last weeks shoot. It seems to have been exposed and is completely unusable." I sighed into the phone and closed my eyes, this couldn't be happening today, I had to go see Madeline.
"Well, how much and what scenes? Are we going to be able to easily reshoot it or are we talking a major rework here?" I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Peter was a miracle worker and if any editor could save the film he'd find a way. It was the reason he'd done the work on every single movie I had made to date, the man knew his stuff and was hard to beat.
"No major reworks, but you will have to reshoot the last scene. I wasn't able to restore very much quality to it after I fixed everything. Most of it should be fine other than that, but I knew you'd want to know and come have a look."
"Actually, we have to shoot some of the opening scenes in a week from now so we'll just take care of it all then, if that's okay by you." I knew that would shock my friend and long time colleague, I had never put anything off for another time when it came to my movies. I wanted them fixed the minute something went wrong, but not today. I had something more important to me than the last scene of my latest movie, I had a daughter to experience and a lost love to restart.
"Are. . .are you sure?" I smiled at the expected shock in his voice as I answered.
"Very, I've got some family things happening right now that need my attention." I liked the sound of the word family. "Just do what you can Peter, I know it will be nothing short of amazing, and we'll work with what we've got next week. Thanks." I ended the call there and left the room. I needed to shower and get out of the house before anyone else decided to call and find some reason for me to be kept busy today and away from my daughter.
A half hour later I was sitting in my car on the curb in front of the house they'd given me the address for last night. There were no cars in the drive way and I was about to just go when I saw someone walk across the large window in the front of the house. I stood up and walked to the front door and laughed at myself for feeling nervous. Before I knocked the door was pulled open and Matt was standing there in his boxers and the shirt he'd worn last night. "I wondered if you were gonna get out of your car."
"Oh, well I wasn't sure if anyone was home." I followed him into the house after he waved me in and turned towards the kitchen.
"Lizzie's already left for work, her first day, and Madeline's still asleep, but you're welcome to hang around with me and unpack. We've only got the one car so when Lizzie's gone, I'm stranded unless I walk or take a cab." I chuckled at the sarcastic enthusiasm behind his words as he said 'unpack' as if it were the most fun game in the world.
"Sounds great. Where do we start?" I looked around the room and took in the number of boxes still taped shut and wondered what I'd gotten myself into.
"Well, we can't really do much with most of the boxes until we get some furniture and shelves and crap, but I am really looking forward to getting something over all the windows. I hate being able to see people out of them, cause that means they see me too."
For the next hour Matt and I went through box after box looking for blinds and curtains, but having no luck what so ever. "Matt, I give up. I don't think you have any in these boxes. Let's just go buy some."
"Hey! It's you again!" Both of us looked at the young girl that had just strode into the room wearing an old Washington State t shirt that drug along the ground it was so big on her. "What are you doing at my new house?"
"I'm just trying to help your uncle Matt find covers for the windows." My heart filled with love for her and I felt a small burn in my eyes as I watched her small frame walk over and look out the large window.
"But why? Then we can't see the sun!" I was amazed at how simple the logic was and yet how foreign. I had never been one to allow an easy view inside my world, neither personal nor material, but one little innocent question and I was questioning myself on why that was.
"Careful, Gordo. She'll have you changing your entire life philosophy if you're not careful." I nodded at the knowing glance from Matt. "She's good at asking those very deep and simplistic questions. I know I'm a deeper thinker because of her."
I just watched my daughter for a few more moments as she closed her eyes and spread her arms out as if absorbing the sun rays coming through the window and warming her small body and face.
"She's just amazing. I missed out on way too much of this stuff." Matt nodded his understanding before getting his niece's attention by clearing his throat.
"Mads, you need to find some going out clothes. We have to go buy some things for the house since it appears your mom decided not to pack them or left the box behind when she did." Madeline shuffled her feet across the floor and into her room. "You coming along or do you have something to do?" I looked at Matt and wondered about the mischievous grin on his face.
"My day is cleared. I wanted to spend some time with Madeline so I am definitely going. But why are you grinning like that? Do you know something that I don't?"
"Just one thing, what it's like to go to a store with a curious five year old. You my friend are in for Daddy 101, get ready." He left the room with a laugh resembling an evil villain. I watched him go and decided he was just messing with my head. Madeline couldn't be too bad, she was so quiet. How hard could this possibly be?
A few minutes later and we were in my car driving to the closest store we thought would have what we were looking for. I watched Madeline in my rear view mirror for most of the short trip and thanked whatever fates had decided to have her placed in my life like she should have been from the beginning. I laughed lightly when she returned my stare and waved at me in the reflection, I was happier at that moment than I could ever remember before in my life as I waved back to her and she giggled.
