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Chapter Fifteen
Stella was pacing round the doctor's office, trying to gather her thoughts and figure out her emotions. Her baby girl is having a baby. Suddenly, all of Madeline's behaviour started to make sense. She felt betrayed and hurt that Madeline didn't tell her.
"Can I go now?" Stella asked.
The doctor gestured towards the door.
"Of course, but please, remember, she's still in quite a fragile state right now. The last thing she needs is a lecture."
Stella was no longer paying attention; she had already left the office, slamming the door behind her. She marched up towards Madeline's room but she stopped just short of the door. Madeline was fast asleep and Mac was sitting on a bench across from the room.
"How long has she been asleep?" She snapped.
"Is something wrong?" Mac asked, getting up out of his seat.
"You're damn right something is wrong!"
Mac looked at Stella. He wasn't sure how Stella was going to handle the news about the bruises. Mac put his arm round Stella's shoulder, gripping tight so she couldn't shrug him off.
"Stella, Madeline told me about the bruises. She told me what really happened."
"Oh I get it! She'll tell everyone else what's going on, but she won't tell me anything!" Stella shouted.
She tried to push Mac off of her but he wouldn't let go. He steered her back towards the bench. Stella dropped down onto the bench and hit her head against the wall. She stared up at the ceiling. She wanted to charge into Madeline's room and scream and yell, but she knew that would achieve nothing. It would be like fighting fire with fire.
"I'm sorry Mac." She said. She rested her head on his shoulder.
"It's okay. You wanna tell me what that was about?"
"I will, but first tell me about the bruises."
"It was the boyfriend. She said they had an argument, as she turned to leave; he grabbed her and pushed her up against the wall. That was the first and only time it had ever happened. She didn't want to tell you because she didn't want you to worry." Mac said, rested his hand on top of Stella's.
"Oh my God, I can't believe she held that in this whole time. Did she say anything else?" Stella sighed.
"She kept saying 'I should've told her.' She started crying, telling me that she couldn't tell me what was wrong, that it wasn't fair to you, she should have told you first. You know what that's about?"
Stella wiped a tear from her cheek. She felt so guilty that Madeline had been carrying around this huge burden, it just wasn't fair. She thought about if it would be any different if she hadn't given Madeline away. Mac studied Stella's expression. She had the same look that he had seen on Madeline 20 minutes ago, a look of worry and concern. Stella stayed silent; it didn't even sound like she was breathing.
"Stella?" Mac said eventually, but Stella cut him off.
"Madeline's pregnant." She eventually managed.
Mac didn't know what to say. He just sat there and stared at the floor.
"How could she be so stupid Mac? She's only 18, she's still a kid." Stella said. Her voice slightly rose.
"She's the same age you were." Mac replied quietly.
He really didn't want to upset her, but it was the truth. Madeline needed support, not judgement.
"Yeah, don't you think I realise that Mac? Look how well that all turned out for me. What am I going to do?" She sounded exhausted.
"You know what you're going to do Stella. You're going to be there for her, no matter what she decides to do. She needs her mother to support her. You know exactly what that little girl is going through right now. You can help her." Mac wrapped his arm round Stella, who looked like she was going to cry.
"Everything's going to be okay, isn't it?" Stella asked through her tears. "The worst part is that I want to scream and shout at her for this, but I can't. There is nothing I can say to her, because that was me 18 years ago."
Stella looked up into Madeline's room. It looked like she was starting to wake up.
"You want me to go with you?" He asked, sensing Stella was about to get up.
"No, thank you, but no. I think this is one I have to do on my own. Don't go too far though; you know how our little talks usually turn out." Stella smiled and kissed Mac on the cheek.
"I'll go get a couple of coffees. I'll be back in 15 minutes. Good luck!" Mac stood up and hugged Stella, before walking off down the hall.
Stella took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She stood quietly by the door, before finally gathering up enough courage to go into the room. Stella sat down on the chair next to Madeline's bed and watched as her daughter started to wake up. Madeline's eyes flickered and squinted a few times, and then she was wide awake.
"Have you been watching me sleep?" Madeline asked, turning her head towards Stella.
"I just got here. How are you feeling?" Stella replied. She stretched out her arm and stroked Madeline's cheek.
"I'm tired. Mum, what's going to happen to me?" Madeline looked scared, her eyes were tearful.
Stella had to think carefully about how she worded this. She wanted to hear everything from Madeline, about the baby and about the bruises.
"Well, they're going to keep you here over night and in the morning they're going to run some tests, just to make sure you're okay. Other than that, you're going to be absolutely fine."
Tears started rolling down Madeline's face. Stella got up off the chair and lay down on the bed next to Madeline. She put her arm around her and pulled her in closer.
"Everything's going to be okay, sweetie. I'm not going to leave you." Stella kissed the top of Madeline's head.
"I need to tell you something, but I don't want you to get mad at me. Promise you won't?" Madeline pleaded.
Stella's heart skipped a beat. Which bombshell was Madeline about to drop?
"I promise."
"I haven't got a plane ticket for tomorrow. I didn't book one." Madeline wiped her eyes, but to no avail. The tears were still falling.
"What? Why not?" Stella asked. She was both shocked and relieved. Madeline can stay longer.
"I thought that if I booked one then I'd have to stay till that day, if I didn't book one then I could leave whenever. I didn't know what was going to happen, so I just prepared for the worst. Can you call and tell my mum?"
Stella wiped some of the tears off of Madeline's face.
"Of course, I'm going to call her later on. It's too early now. Is that what's been bothering you so much?" Stella asked, knowing full well that it wasn't.
"Have you spoken to Mr Taylor yet?" Madeline asked, looking up at her mother. She had a look of worry in her eyes.
"I did, he said you wanted to talk to me about something. Is that right?"
"Yeah, but again, you can't get mad at me. Okay?"
"I promise. Whatever you tell me from here on in, I will not get mad." It took a lot for Stella to actually promise that, considering what she already knew.
"Jack pushed me up against a wall. That's how I got the bruises. I was scared; I didn't know how to tell you." Madeline cried some more.
Stella took the box of tissues from the bedside cabinet and dropped them on her lap. She handed one to Madeline.
"Madeline, I need you to know that you can tell me anything, okay? I'm always going to be here for you, no matter what happens."
Stella wanted to grab Madeline, hold onto her tight and never let go. Madeline twisted her body so she was facing Stella. She looked up into Stella's eyes.
"You know don't you?" Madeline whispered. Her lip trembled.
A lump formed in Stella's throat. Tears began forming in her eyes but she knew she had to hold it together, for Madeline's sake.
"Yeah, I do."
Madeline's whole body started shaking with the force of crying. Stella couldn't hold it in anymore, tears started to fall.
"I'm so, so sorry mum."
"It's okay. Everything is going to be okay." Stella soothed.
"What am I going to do?" Madeline said weakly.
"Don't worry about it now, okay. Tomorrow, when you're out of here, we can go home and talk this whole thing out. I promise you, everything will work out."
Mac walked round the corner towards Madeline's room. He saw the two of them lying asleep together on Madeline's bed and smiled. 'This is how it should be.' He thought to himself. He walked over to the bench and sat down, facing Madeline's room. They both looked so peaceful lying there. Mac finished his coffee and got up. He went over to the nurse's station and grabbed a pen and some paper. Quickly he wrote Stella a note and left it on the bedside cabinet in Madeline's room.
He left the hospital, leaving Stella and Madeline fast asleep.