I am sorry about how long it took me to update this story. I was stuck on where to take this chapter and all that other crap and I just couldn't get it started. Everwood is coming back on Monday night (yippee!) and we will all finally learn what happened to Madison and Ephram's baby. The thought that Everwood would soon be back on kinda prompted me to get my butt in gear and work on this story. I'm hoping that the next chapter won't take so long to get out, but I make no promises. One way to insure that I will work harder to get the next chapter out is to review, review, review. Lol.

I want to say thanks to all of my lovely reviewers for helping to get this story over 100 reviews! You guys rock!

Enough babbling now, here is the next chapter.

Chapter Seven

As much as I was enjoying my time in New York with Troy, I couldn't help but feel guilty about leaving my mother. It had been four days since I ran away to find my father, and I had yet to call her and assure her that I was alright. I had picked the phone up numerous times to call her, but every time I did I was flooded with guilt and shame. I couldn't just call her and tell her that I was fine, no, I had to go home. As much as I enjoyed being with Troy, not to mention kissing him, I knew that it was time to go home. I hadn't gotten what I wanted in New York and it was time to return to my mom, to see if I could reconcile with her.

"I don't want you to go." Troy said as he watched me pack my bags. He sat on the end of the bed, his eyes following every one of my movements.

"I don't want to go," I said, meeting his eyes, "but my mom is probably worried sick and there's nothing left for me here."

"I'm here." Troy stood and took the shirt that I was folding my hands, "Stay with me Sam, I've only just found you, I can't lose you now." Tears welled in my eyes and I hugged Troy tightly.

"This isn't forever." I whispered, "I'll be back. I promise."


Mom met me at the airport. She rushed towards me as soon as I passed security, and enveloped me in a backbreaking hug. I hugged her back, the tears that I had been holding in flooding out of my eyes as we stood there holding each other. Finally, we pulled apart.

"Don't you ever do that to me again young lady." Mom cried, "You scared me to death when you left and then I never heard from you. I thought you were dead."

"I'm sorry mom." I replied, my eyes dropping to the floor. "But this was something that I had to do. I had to go see my father for myself."

"And?" I knew she didn't really want to hear about my father, I knew she wanted nothing to do with him and the life that she had once had with him. Yet, at the same time, I knew she was dying to hear what news I had of him.

"He was a jerk Mom," I said. I'd never been able to lie to mom before, and now was not an exception. I bit my lip, keeping back the tears that were now filling my eyes, "You were smart not to have contact with him, and I…and I should have listened to you and never gone to see him in the first place."

She pulled me tightly against her, holding me as I cried out my frustration over the past few days.


Two days I'd been home. Mom tried to act as if I'd never even left, but there was a silence between us, one that was uncomfortable and reminded us of my running away. We danced around each other, neither of us saying anything that would make the other upset. We were like strangers, neither of us knowing what to say or do, both of us wanting to bridge that gap that was now between us, but neither of us knowing how.

I was sitting on the back porch, lounging on a beach chair, soaking in the warm rays of sunlight and reading a book. Mom was out at work, and wouldn't be home for another couple of hours. The back door was open so that I could hear the phone if it rang, Mom had yet to invest in a cordless. The doorbell rang, startling me slightly. I wasn't expecting anybody, seeing as how all my friends were away on vacation, and I was pretty certain that we didn't have any packages coming in.

Getting off the lounge chair, I made my way inside the house and towards the door. I opened it and took a step back, all ability to speak leaving me instantly.

"Hello Samantha."


We sat in silence, the two of us, facing each other. My father sat on the couch and I sat in a chair across from him. Neither of us knew what to say to the other. We had sat there for nearly ten minutes, neither of us saying anything or even attempting conversation. I was struck dumb by the fact that he had come here. Was he perhaps looking to make things right between us, or was he only here to yell at Mom about the fact that she never told him about me?

"So…" I said uncomfortably. He looked up at me expectantly. My fingers twisted together as I tried to figure out something to say.

"Manhattan was pretty nice." I finished lamely, grimacing at how retarded I sounded.

He smiled weakly.

"It's not bad." He replied. We fell back into silence. I never had been one to like the quiet, I needed noise and chaos. But there we sat, the most uncomfortable silence ever recorded in history between us.

"You have a nice house." He said quickly, glancing around the living room.

"Thanks." I said, unsure of where to go from there. "Would…would you like a tour?" I asked, anything to get us moving and make my nerves settle even a little bit.

"Su…"

"Sam, I'm home." Mom called from the entrance way, cutting off his answer. She walked into the living room and stopped dead in her tracks, her face deathly pale as her eyes landed on my father.

"Madison." He stood, wiping his palms on his pants nervously.

"Wh…what are you doing here?" She asked, her voice low and nervous. Her eyes moved around the room, unable to rest on the man in front of her.

"I don't really know." He gave a nervous chuckle. Mom shifted, her arms wrapping tightly around her in the defensive way I knew so well. She only did that when she was feeling helpless and vulnerable. She bit her lip and looked at me where I sat behind my father. I shrugged, silently telling her that I didn't know his reason for being at our house either.

"You shouldn't be here." She whispered, her eyes beginning to water.

"I know," Ephram ducked his head and shoved his hands in his pockets, "but I had to know Madison, why did you keep Samantha a secret from me?" Mom straightened up to her full height.

"Sam," she said, lifting her chin defiantly, "go to your room. Your father and I need to talk." She said father as if it were a vile word. I stood and walked past them, neither one seeming to notice me as I turned the corner that led to the stairs. I didn't go up to my room, instead, I sat on the steps and waited.

"Why Madison?" He asked. He sounded so hurt. "Why did you keep my daughter from me?" I could hear Mom breathing in deeply. Five slow breathes, just like my Yoga teacher taught.

"I wanted to tell you," she started, pausing, trying to find the right words. "But I couldn't."

"Why not? I would have helped you. I would have been part of Samantha's life." He kept calling me Samantha, both of us knew we didn't know each other well enough yet to use anything other than formal names.

Mom started pacing, I could hear her footsteps on the carpet. She paced a lot when she was worried or anxious. I remember she had nearly worn a hole in the carpet when I didn't come home until six in the morning the night of my senior prom.

"Why don't you ask your father that question." She bit out.

"What are you talking about Madison?" I could tell Ephram was getting fed up with Mom's cryptic answers. He wanted her to tell him the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I half expected Mom to pull a Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men and yell "You can't handle the truth!" That definitely would have made this whole thing quite comical.

Mom's pacing stopped and she drew in a deep breath.

"When I found out that I was pregnant, I went to your dad." She said, "He told me that I wasn't to tell you about Sam."

"No, dad wouldn't do that." I could practically hear him shaking his head.

"I have the letter telling me that he would pay for everything Sam needed if I didn't tell you!" Mom cried. She hates when people don't believe her. It was deathly quiet in the living room and I strained to hear even the smallest sound.

"You were doing well Ephram," Mom broke the silence. Her voice sounded waterlogged, as if she were struggling against tears. "You and Amy had just gotten back together and you were gonna go to Julliard for their summer program, and it just didn't seem like the time to tell you. I didn't take the money, if that's what you wanted to know. I was going to tell you about Sam, but I began to see that it wasn't a good idea. Your dad was right, you didn't need to know."

"What the hell!" His voice shook the walls. "I had every right to know that I fathered a child. I don't care if you didn't take the money, you should have told me. Samantha is my daughter as much as yours, I should have been the one to choose whether or not I wanted to be part of her life. Not you, and definitely not my father!"

I stood and quickly ran up the stairs. I didn't want to hear anymore of this. I didn't want to hear Mom crying quietly, and I didn't want to hear Ephram's angry, labored breathing as he fought to control his rage. It was just too much for me.


It was kinda short, but the next chapter should be longer. I hope that this chapter was worth the wait and I hope that y'all will review and tell me what you thought.

krazypirategurl: Yes, if you read chapter6 carefully, you'll see that Ephram mentions his mother as Julia's namesake.

Clause for the Cause: I too think that stories set in the here and now are better than future fics. But this is a story that was running inmy head for a while and I just had to write. If you're interested in stories that take place in the present, I am thinking of starting one about Bright and Hannah that takes place during the current season.

shaterika: Your suggestions are good, but they're not something that would fit into where I want to take this story. Troy will return in a later chapter, and he and Ephram will must likely have words, but it'll be about something completely different from what Ephram did to Samantha. Still, thank you for the suggestions, I always like when people give me suggestions and I hope that you if you come up with more that you will share them with me.

Nadia Mack, freak4wb, IMINLOVEWITHABOYNAMEDPACEY, sportygal71188, MissLaughALot, courio, auggy1984, OTHlover04, kursk, and PeanutButterRocks: Thank you all for reading and reviewing this story. Reviews keep me writing and I hope you all will continue.

A special thank you to everyone who told me Ephram's mother's name. I corrected that mistake and I have all of you to thank for pointing it out to me.