Madeline woke up the next morning on cloud nine; she felt like she was floating on air as she walked to the kitchen to prepare her morning coffee. Madeline sat down with her cup of French vanilla coffee and concentrated on her morning paper.
"How was your evening darling?" Penelope asked making Madeline jump.
"Mother you scared me," She said holding her heaving chest.
"I'm sorry dear," Penelope said as she ran her fingers through her curly brown hair.
"I love that dress on you," Madeline said referring to the blue and white polka dotted sundress.
"Thank you," Penelope said as she smoothed out the front of her dress. "How was your evening." She asked again, and Madeline smiled.
"Absolutely wonderful, it didn't end how I had hoped, but he kissed me." She blushed.
"Oh," Penelope said raising her perfectly arched eyebrow, the surprise evident on her face.
"Don't look so surprised mother I told you he still loves me."
"I'm sorry Madeline, but I just didn't think that Nick was that way. I just don't want to see you hurt again."
"Nick would never hurt me." She said defensively before turning her attention back to her paper.
He loves me
"He loves me." She said aloud looking back up to her mother, but she was gone.
She never wants to hear the truth.
That Monday when Madeline walked into the office her receptionist couldn't help but notice the good mood she was in.
"How was your weekend Regan?" Madeline asked as she handed her a cup of coffee.
"It-it was great." She stammered as she looked down at the cup.
"Four sugars and three creams right?"
"Yes, how did you know how I liked my coffee?"
"The guy at the counter helped me out." She confessed.
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it." She said with a smile. Regan watched Madeline walk into her office and tried to figure out what was going on with her boss who usually ignored her unless she needed something.
I hope I'm not getting fired. Regan thought as she took her seat at her desk.
"Do you know if Nick is in yet?" Madeline asked sticking her head through the crack of the door.
"Not yet, Tammie said he wouldn't be in until after lunch."
"Okay." She said with a shrug before closing the door.
****
I think I like this one the best Mariah." Nick said as he examined fireplace in the living room.
"This house has been waiting for you. It has plenty of space for when you and your wife decide to start a family."
"We definitely need the space, and we have twins," Nick said still admiring the fireplace.
"Oh I didn't know you had children," Mariah said, and Nick could see the confusion on her face, and he pulled out a picture of Gaby and the twins from his wallet and handed it to her.
"That's my family, the woman who was with me the last time was a friend who came along to give me a woman's point of view."
"Oh." Mariah said as she looked down at the picture and smiled "You have a beautiful family,"
"Thank you."
"I think your wife will love it."
"I think so too, I want my wife to see it, but I want to put in my offer."
"Not a problem just let me know when you want to see the house again, and I will set everything up," Mariah said handing the picture back to him.
Nick knew that he would have his work cut out for him to get Gaby to Chicago. He would first have to convince her to leave the twins at home and he knew it wouldn't be easy. Nick hadn't spoken to Gaby since he left and every time he called he would get the answering machine. Nick figured that he would have to resort to the tactics he used when they were kids, and he would use all of the 21st century amenities available to him.
****
"You are such a cutie pie." Gaby cooed as she changed Victoria's diaper making her laugh, her green eyes shining with delight. Gaby placed Victoria into her bouncer next to Elijah as her phone rang. Gaby picked up her phone and saw that it was Nick calling and she let the call go to voicemail, she wasn't ready to talk to him just yet. After the call ended her phone beeped and it was a text message from Nick which said to call him, Gaby rolled her eyes and placed her phone onto the coffee table and turned her attention back to the twins. Victoria was pulling on the rattle on Elijah's bouncer while Elijah watched her. It wasn't until recently that the twins seemed to notice each other and began interacting with each other. Usually it was Victoria bothering her brother Gaby could tell that she was going to be a handful.
The house phone rang, and Gaby ran to the kitchen to answer it when she saw that it was Nick calling her. The answering machine picked up, and Nick left a message.
Gaby pick up the phone I know your home, stop ignoring me. Gaby rolled her eyes and pressed the delete button before walking back to the living room. The minute she sat back down her phone beeped rapidly, Nick had sent her a text message marked urgent, Gaby was quickly losing her patience with him. Gaby shut her phone off and decided to go over the chapters she had written before sending them to Rhonda when the house phone rang again. Gaby snatched up the phone and pressed the talk button.
"What Nick!"
"Damn I wouldn't want to be Nick right now; you sound like you're out for blood," Lauryn said.
"I'm sorry Lauryn; Nick has been phone stalking me. What's up?"
"I just wanted to know if you were going to be home around 3, I want you to try my maple pancake cupcake."
"Yeah I'll be home; the twins should be down for a nap by then so I'll make a pot of coffee."
"The coconut crème kind?"
"Yes, I'll make the coconut crème kind," Gaby said with a laugh.
"Okay honey I'll see you later, the lunch rush is coming in."
After ending the call with Lauryn, Gaby prepared lunch for the twins and set them up on the kitchen table so she could feed them both at the same time. After lunch and a wardrobe change for the twins, Gaby played with them for a while until Elijah grabbed a hold to a chunk of Gaby's hair and pulled on it. It took her a few minutes to work the strands out of his hands and then he moved on to her glasses knocking them off of her face with a laugh.
"Okay you need a time out mister." Gaby said putting Elijah into his swing. "Beating up mommy is not funny." She huffed as she put her hair up in a quick bun and picked up her glasses from the floor before picking up a fussy Victoria up. The doorbell rang and Gaby went to the door carrying Victoria. When she opened the door she was greeted by a deliveryman with a bouquet of purple tulips and a smile.
"Good afternoon ma'am are you Mrs. Gabrielle Gregorio?" the man asked.
"Yes, I am."
"These are for you, can you please sign here." The man said pointing to the line marked with an x. the delivery man help the clipboard while Gaby signed her name and while Victoria stared at the man intently.
"You're daughter is adorable."
"Thank you." Gaby said as she handed the man his pen back and Gaby wrapped her free arm around the vase and thanked the man before closing the door. Gaby placed the bouquet on the sofa table in the foyer, pushing the day's mail out of the way before going back into the living room to find Elijah dozing off. She loved how Elijah could put himself to sleep unlike Victoria who needed to be held in order to go to sleep. Gaby had been putting off sleep training the twins fearing that she would lose her mind from the constant crying; it was something that she needed Nick to be a part of.
When three o'clock came along Gaby was still rocking Victoria to sleep, Gaby knew better than to try and put Victoria in her crib because she would wake up in a matter of seconds. Gaby held her for another twenty minutes before she was confident that Victoria wouldn't wake up and laid her down in her crib just as Lauryn rang to doorbell.
"Hi sweetie, where are those adorable little munchkins," Lauryn asked as soon as Gaby opened the door.
"Asleep, I just put Victoria down," Gaby said taking the box of cupcakes from Lauryn and inhaled deeply.
"I smell chocolate."
"There are a few s'more cupcakes in there too."
"You spoil me," Gaby said putting her arm around her cousin as they walked into the kitchen.
"You can think me by giving me a nice cup of coconut crème coffee," Lauryn said as she took a seat at the kitchen table.
"I can do better than that and give you a whole bag," Gaby said giving her a bag of the special coffee beans.
"You....are....awesome," Lauryn said in-between sniffing the coffee beans, and Gaby laughed. Gaby prepared their cups of coffee while Lauryn took the cupcake she wanted Gaby to try out.
"Try this."
"Are those bacon bits?" Gaby said inspecting the cupcake.
"Yeah,"
"Interesting," Gaby said before taking a bite, and it was just like eating a pancake with maple bacon.
"Oh my goodness, this is amazing," Gaby said taking another bite.
"How did you get it so light." She mumbled as she devoured the rest of the cupcake.
"You like it?"
"Yes! Its little cupcake filled with pancake joy. How did you do this?"
"It took a lot of work; I compared over fifty recipes, and each one was different from the last so finally, I decided to make the batter like grandma used to make."
"I loved that woman's pancakes; she could cook a boot and make it taste good," Gaby said as she reminisced about the food her paternal grandmother used to make.
"That she could," Lauryn said with a smile.
"I wish she were here; I miss her," Gaby said.
"I miss her too; she's the reason why I opened the bakery. She gave me the recipe for the sugar daddy." Lauryn said as she sipped her coffee.
"The very first cupcake you sold, I love that cupcake."
"She would have been so excited about the twins."
"Yes she would have, she wouldn't have liked how they came about, but she would have been excited either way," Gaby said picking up another cupcake and peeled the liner back.
"So what's going on with you and Nick?" Lauryn asked.
"It's nothing really; it's just a rough patch," Gaby said, and Lauryn rolled her eyes.
"Yeah okay, let's try that again." Lauryn said taking another sip from her cup "What's going on with you and Nick?" she asked again and Gaby sighed before telling Lauryn everything that had happened.
"You seriously slapped him?"
"Yeah, I didn't mean to, but he just made me so mad, and he wouldn't listen, I lost it."
"I know what you mean I slapped Randy once and then I ended up handcuffed to the bed post for four hours, and then he told Nana, needless to say, that experience was not fun at all," Lauryn said, and Gaby shook her head at her crazy cousin.
"It's about time somebody tamed your crazy behind because you used to fly off the handle real quick."
"I know it's a learning experience," Lauryn said with a shrug.
"You're telling me." Gaby chuckled.
"Well, Ms. Gaby it sounds like to me that you need to remind your husband who he's married to. Just give him a gentle reminder that you're the one with his last name, not his job or that devil's imp."
"And how am I supposed to do that?"
"I don't know that's your man, when I have to remind mine it usually involves a pair of handcuffs, a brownie, and a rubber glove." Lauryn said with a shrug before biting into a s'more cupcake. Gaby stared at her cousin with her mouth gapped open.
"I don't even want to know what you do to that poor man," Gaby said shaking her head as she tried not to imagine the possibilities and Lauryn smiled sweetly at her.
"Well that's my thing, you have to find yours, and with Nick, all you have to do is drop a few tears, and he'll just melt."
"I just never imagined things would get this rough," Gaby said as she played with the cupcake liner.
"No one ever does. We tend to romanticize marriage into this big fairytale, but it's not always roses and happy endings. Marriage is hard work."
"That's the truth." Gaby mumbled
"There have been times when I wanted to call it quits but I love Randy too much and I know he loves me. He would take a bullet for me without hesitation and I know Nick would do the same for you. You just have to remember that its only temporary, the only way your situation becomes permanent is if you make it permanent."
Lauryn's words stayed with Gaby even after she left, Gaby knew that she owed it to herself, to her children and to Nick to try and make their marriage work. Gaby fingered the soft petals of one of the tulips from her bouquet as she stared at the sentiment card that came with it. On the card were three simple words "I love you"...love- that one word that could make a person so happy and could turn around and break their heart. Gaby picked up the phone and dialed Nick's number.
"Gaby?" he answered on the second ring.
"Hi, Nick." She said softly, and Nick let out a sigh of relief.
"Hi Gaby, I am so glad you called."
"I didn't have a choice with you phone stalking me," Gaby said with a snort.
"I couldn't poke you physically, so I had to do it electronically...did you get the flowers?"
"Yes, they're beautiful."
"And the card?"
"Yes," Gaby said, and there was an awkward pause before Gaby spoke again. "Did you mean it?"
"Mean what ?"
"What you said on the card."
"Of course I do Gaby, you know that."
"Honestly I don't, I thought I did, but it just hasn't felt like it lately."
"I know baby, and I'm sorry about that, I want to make it up to you."
"How?"
"Well for starters I found a house, it's a beautiful three-story home, and it has stained windows which you love. I know you will love it, I want you to come see it."
"What about the twins?"
"I talked to mom and dad, and they agreed to watch them for us while you come and see the house."
"Man Nick did you have to ask your parents."
"Gaby I'm trying to make things right between us, I need you to meet me halfway," Nick said with a sigh.
"Okay fine."
Nick told Gaby that his parents would be up by the end of the week and that he would book her flight for that Monday. Gaby could tell that he was excited to see her, and Gaby was glad that she was going to take the trip. She was ready to put all of the negative energy behind them.
*****
Nick walked into the office with a little extra pep in his step. He couldn't wait to see Gaby he only wished that he didn't have a whole week to wait for her arrival. Nick knew that she was uneasy about leaving the twins and he hoped that she wouldn't change her mind during the week. He made a mental note to talk to Paige so she could make sure that Gaby didn't change her mind.
"Afternoon Tammie,"
"Good afternoon Nick, I didn't think you would make it in today," Tammie said as she handed him a few message slips.
"I'm not staying long; you can take off if you want," Nick said, and Tammie looked at him with surprise.
"Seriously?"
"Yes I'll probably be here for an hour, two the max I can manage."
"Oh cool thanks, Nick, I'll just finish this document, and I'll go."
"Don't work too hard kiddo."
"Oh and before I forget the wicked witch of the West has been looking for you," Tammie said rolling her eyes.
"Thanks." Nick said before walking into his office. Nick enjoyed having his young receptionist around, her work ethic was impeccable and he loved her sarcastic humor. Madeline called him crazy for hiring a twenty-four year old temp but Nick knew better, he only hoped that by her being in the office it would help provide ammunition for her to achieve her dream of becoming an architect. Nick answered a few emails and made a few phone calls before going over some documents he needed for his meeting tomorrow with the LaRue group. Before leaving Nick stopped by Madeline's office and knocked on her door.
"Come in," she called out. Nick walked into the office to find her nose deep in a stack of papers.
"Late night tonight?" Nick asked as he took a seat across from her desk.
"It looks like it," Madeline said flicking her hair out of her face.
"I see you played hooky today."
"Just for a little while, my real estate agent found this house, and she wanted me to see it before any offers were put down."
"Oh really? How is it?"
"It's beautiful I know Gaby will love it."
"I hope so." She said with a forced grin.
"She's coming next week so that I can show her the house. I'm giving Peter the lead for the Pearson Complex; it's pretty straight forward I don't need to be at that meeting next week."
"I don't know you seem to have the Midas touch," Madeline said trying to his her displeasure with the news she just received.
"Well then I hope some of my Midas touch can rub off on Peter, plus Stewart will be here as well, and he can definitely close a deal," Nick said as he stood up.
"See you tomorrow."
"Night Nick," Madeline said as he left.
*****
Nick checked his watch and it read 3:35, he had watched people exit the plane for what seemed like hours but still no Gaby. He had waited for this moment anxiously all week and finally it was here. All through out his meeting that afternoon Gaby was all he could think about. Finally the flight attendants began to exit and Nick assumed that Gaby had struck up a conversation with one of the flight attendants like she always did, but when the pilot came out Nick began to get worried. Nick called Gaby's cell phone; the phone rang twice before going to voicemail. Nick called his parents at the house but the answering machine picked up.
Where the hell is everybody? He thought as he dialed Gaby's number again only for it to go straight to voicemail. Trying to stay optimistic Nick check baggage claim to see if Gaby was there and that maybe he had missed her coming out of the gate. Nick sat in baggage claim for over two hours, he kept calling and texting Gaby but she never answered.
A mixture of emotions hit Nick at what seemed to be all at once, he was angry that Gaby didn't have the courage enough to call and tell him that she wasn't coming, and he was hurt because he thought that she had wanted to make things work as badly as he did. If Gabrielle couldn't put in the effort to get on a plane to come and see him then she didn't deserve him. Nick left the airport feeling like an idiot in search of a place to drown out his humiliation.