If Only..(Part 1 And Part 2 Included)(Under Edit)

Chapter 42 - The New Normal

Madeline: You are skeptical about this relationship?
Jackson moved his head in denial: I love you, nothing can change that. But, my life ain't easy. We have our life on line, every fucking hour. It is unpredictable. Even the people we expect to stay with us forever and protect till the last breath, leave us without a warning.

He turned his gaze back to the ceiling as Madeline kept her eyes fixed on him.

Jackson: We lost Emma.

Madeline: Emma?

Jackson: Jeff's wife. Sarah's mother.

Madeline(disbelief): Sarah's mother? She dead?

Jackson: Long back. Yeah. She was used as a bait, to drag Jereff down from his position. We couldn't save her. Apparently, those fuckards were too coward to fight man to man. Emma, was the daughter of the American Mafia Leader. This marriage created an alliance between us, but it diluted. You know, after that incident, Jereff wasn't himself, anymore. He changed, for good. He feared his position is going to risk all of us. He doubted his own potential.

Madeline: And he decided to step down?

Jackson: Hmm. He thought that was best to keep her daughter safe. She was not even an year old, when a merciless gangster was left alone to raise a baby girl into a strong woman. Devastated and clueless. Sarah (chuckles) she is a sweetheart, you know?

Madeline: She is. Wow! (sad) I am sorry..!I never thought, he would have gone through such a dark phase.

Jackson: I don't want to loose you.

Madeline looked up at Jackson with a puzzled look. Jackson turned his face towards her, with a visible concern painted over his face.

Madeline: Hey, I am not going anywhere, okay? I survived, Corvett.

Jackson: Don't ever utter his name. I repeat, never, ever, utter his name, in front of me. *sigh*I want to tell you something and you need to remember this, forever. if you ever feel that something is not right, and you fail to reach me, don't wait. Just do, what you feel would be right at that moment. Run, or kill him. Don't worry about me. I will always find a way back to you. Okay?

Madeline(playfully nodding her head): Agreed!

Jackson(took a brief moment): Maddie!

Madeline: Hmm?

Jackson: Marry me.

Madeline(casting a bored look on her face): Just like that.

Jackson: I don't have any better way to say it.

Madeline(in a playful tone): Nope, that doesn't work.

Jackson: How does it work?

Madeline: You know, a romantic ambience, you on the knees, I'll gasp at the sudden surprise. Just like they do it in the movies.

Jackson: Wow! I never knew you liked that?

Madeline: I am still an aspiring women.

Jackson laughs at her response, rolls to face her and places a moist kiss on her forehead. She closed her eyes and fell asleep to the warmth of his kiss, in no time. Jackson seized his smile and kept studying the peacefulness in her sleep like a blank slate.

Maybe, she never slept this peacefully in a long time, now.

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As, she rolled towards her right in her sleep, her stretched hand accidently pushed the glass of water, off the bed table and the clinking sound jerked her out of the sleep. She squeezed her eyes, as she realized that the sun has already crossed the horizon, and now peeping through her curtains. She stretched her neck to take a look at the floor. Broken pieces of broken glass and water were spilled everywhere. She slapped her face and rolled within her sheet to face the ceiling with an annoyed look. She turned towards Jackson's side, stretched her arm but, all she could feel was the empty cold sheet. Her eyes opened wide and her annoyance turned into confusion. He wasn't there. She shot up from the bed at once, and scanned through her room, but she couldn't find him, anywhere. She jumped out of the bed and rushed towards the bathroom. It was empty. She parted a part of her messed up hair to the right and ran to grab her phone, to check if she had received any calls or messages. There wasn't any either.