Becoming Maddie (The Casterhouse series Book 1) (26 page)

Chapter 21

Maddie smiled as she put the last plate on the table. She looked around it to make sure everything was in place. It wasn’t a fancy night tonight or anything like that but she wanted to make sure her friends, her new hand-picked family, had a good time.

Sarah was coming over with her husband John. He was back for 2 weeks before he shipped out again. Maddie had offered to change the dinner party to another night so that the family could have more time together but Sarah told her not to.

“Yeah, John is only here for two weeks but we have to live as normal a life as we can while he is here.” Sarah said. “It wouldn’t do to mix up the kid’s routines every time he came home. So we will be there on Saturday night and we will love it!”

Maddie’s friend had then lent in to whisper in her ear.

“Plus I really want him to meet a friend of mine. She’s my sister really.”

Sarah had pulled back from Maddie’s ear, her and Maddie had then just started at each other for a while blinking as they tried not cry.

“I can’t wait to meet my sister’s husband.” Maddie mumbled back then hugged her friend close for a long time.

So Sarah and John were coming. Maddie had also invited Fiona and Eddie, who said they would be there gladly.

Then Maddie stuck her neck out a little bit by inviting Richard from work. She had been back at work for a week now. Her ribs no longer hurt and the bruises on her face had gone. It was almost like it never happened. If you don’t take into account that Maddie was only beginning to feel comfortable in her flat by herself again, and ignore the occasional bad dream.

Richard had been surprised that she had invited him and Maddie understood why so didn’t take offence. What surprised her though was how quickly he accepted and asked if he could bring his wife along.

First of Maddie didn’t even know that Richard was married. She instantly felt bad that she had never tried to find out about the man she worked alongside but there was nothing she could do about it now. Aiden was slowly teaching her that you can’t do anything about the past, all you can do is make different choices in the present to make the future better. That was the main reason for the dinner party. To make different choices.

Second she decided that she needed to get to know Richard better. Maybe his wife would be really nice and then she could become a good friend like Sarah was. Already Maddie’s world was getting bigger and she loved it.

Aiden had said that he would like to invite somebody as well. Maddie had not been surprised. Aiden was a very social person, he loved to talk to people and worked hard to make people feel at ease around him. So all she had asked was how many. He said 3. It was an odd number but Maddie would work round it somehow.

Looking down at the table she was pleased at how it looked. Before Aiden had left for work he had help Maddie push the sofa closer to the fire place and move her table so that it could be opened out in the main room. She didn’t have enough chairs so had borrowed some from Sarah that meant they now had 11 chairs round her table. That worked out as two couples on each side of the table, a couple on one end and the last person on the other end. It would be a bit of a tight fit but Maddie tried to look at as cosy rather than cramped.

Originally she had be puzzling over where people were going to sit at the table but in the end decided people can sit where they want, Maddie wasn’t a big fan of spitting couples up at a table if they didn’t want to be. She would be sitting next to Aiden and that was where she was comfortable so why make other people break up if that made them less comfortable.

The last 2 weeks had been the best 2 weeks in her life. Maddie couldn’t remember ever laughing as much, or as hard as she had. Aiden made it safe to be in whatever mood she wanted to be in. Maddie liked to think that she made it safe for him to do the same.

Somehow over the days, more and more of Aiden’s stuff appeared in her flat, till last Friday afternoon she went to put a wash on and she found there was just as many of his clothes as hers that needed washing. Something inside Maddie had burned with pleasure. Who knew that dirty clothes would make her smile?

That night as he walked in the door she ran from her bedroom to meet him at the door. Without even thinking about it, she jumped on him and wrapped her legs round Aiden’s waist and her arms around his shoulders. He took a step back but didn’t drop her. Instead he wrapped an arm round her back and another cupped her ass, half to keep her up and half because he enjoyed cupping her ass.

“This is a welcome home I could get use to!” Aiden laughed and kissed her nose.

Maddie had laughed with him and tucked her face into his neck. This was a big thing she was about to ask. It was really fast but she knew that she was right with him, that they belonged together, so why take things so slow. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t still nervous at asking him.

“Make this your home.” She mumbled into Aiden’s neck.

Aiden tensed around her then slowly lowered her to the ground. Maddie didn’t let go of his shoulder but did let her head fall back so she could look up at him. Aiden let his hands slide up her arms, over her shoulder, up her neck and stopped when they cupped both of her cheeks.

Maddie started to worry. What if she had gone too fast? He had said that he would take it at her pace but maybe this was still too much for him. They had only known each other a few weeks.

It didn’t matter to her. Maddie wanted him to move in so if he wanted to wait she would do that because it would happen. She had no doubt of that whatsoever.

“I thought this was my home already.” Aiden said back to her, looking straight into her eyes. “If you mean make it official, sure.”

Feeling her eyes well up, she quickly reached up and punched him in the arm. Using one hand, Aiden let go of her face and rubbed his arm.

“What was that for?” He moaned jokingly.

Maddie crossed her arms in front of her in a mock huff.

“Why didn’t you tell me then?” She snapped trying not to smile at him. “Then I wouldn’t have been so nervous asking.”

Laughing out loud with his deep rich tone that Maddie loved, Aiden wrapped his arms around her again and started to walk her back to the sofa.

“Sorry, Ruby.” He said in between the kisses he was showering on her face. “I thought you knew.”

Fighting to hold onto her mock anger Maddie kept her arms crossed but still tilted her head back so he had more access to her face so he could keep kissing her.

“Seems to me it’s just another case of you making decisions without telling me.” Maddie replied.

Aiden stopped the kissed to laugh again. Then he moved his head closer to hers so that their foreheads were touching and wrapped his arms totally around her so that he was giving her a big bear hug.

“Your right. I’m sorry.” He said filling Maddie with the vision of his sexy soft smile and his caramel eyes that were getting darker by the second. “How can I make it up to you?”

Maddie loved it when he got playful with her. When he joked about with her and made the big stuff so easy to deal with. Never before had she asked someone to live with her, Maddie hopped she never would again, but it was so laid back that Aiden had already thought he lived there. That was the future that Maddie wanted.

Finally letting the big goofy smile that she was holding on to out, Maddie leaned forward and kissed him. There was lots of lips and a delicious, teasing taste of tongue.

“I am sure you will come up with a satisfactory way.” Maddie answered with a cheeky grin on her face.

Aiden gasped with fake shock before pushing her so that she fell back onto the sofa. Maddie laughed out loud and squealed as he landed on top of her and started tickling her. As these things always did, they turned from giggles to caress and kisses.

“I’ll show you satisfactory you cheeky monster.” Aiden joked before kissing her with so much passion it took Maddie’s laugh away.

In its place was the now familiar, but never old, burning need to be skin to skin with him. To have him touch her in just that right places, to find the things that make him groan and both of them to reach that ultimate goal.

Yeah, Maddie thought as she walked back into the kitchen to check on the food for tonight, the last few weeks had been ‘
Satisfactory
’.

Stirring the large pot that held the home made stilton soup, Maddie wondered where Aiden was. She thought he would be here before the other guests arrived. Maybe something had come up at work.

Aiden had been putting in a lot of hours the last couple of weeks. That wasn’t to say they didn’t have time to cuddle up on the sofa and watch films or go out for a drink or meal at night. Not to mention all the fun activities that they got up to late into the night. That didn’t stop him from getting up first thing in the morning and kissing her ‘bye’ as he headed out the door before she was out of bed. Even on the mornings when she had to get up to go to work. If Maddie didn’t know better she would think that he was up to something that he wasn’t telling her. But she knew he wasn’t. Not because he wasn’t telling her but because she didn’t think there could possibly be anything that he could be doing.

Maddie had no doubt that if something came up that was difficult or bad that Aiden would try to keep it from her. She didn’t even mind because she knew that if he thought that she really needed to know about it, Aiden would tell her. It was his way of looking after her and having had no one do that for her before she was loving it now.

Really Maddie was loving a lot of stuff.

Bending down she checked on how the roast chicken was doing. It was Aiden’s favourite. Apparently his mum use to make it for him on his birthdays and he hadn’t had it since she passed away. Maddie was hoping that she had made the right choice in making it for him now and didn’t end up stirring up difficult memories for him. The whole dinner party was because they were celebrating moving in together and starting Maddie’s life fear free. Okay only a couple of the people knew about the last bit but they all knew about the first reason. 

Aiden had gone out and bought her a replacement for everything that had been stolen. It had caused their first row in fact. Even that, Aiden had made safe. She was allowed to get angry and show her emotions without fear of retribution or physically abuse. This meant that when he got angry back she was never afraid. He said that they lived together now so his money was hers besides they needed the things and she didn’t have a lot of money coming in whereas he did, (plus a huge amount of savings). He also said that he was the man and he would look after his woman. Unfortunately Maddie realised that he was sort of right. Well the first two points anyway. She only let him off with the third because that was his way of giving back to her.

The best thing about fighting was it ended in incredible make-up sex that he started by kissing her to shut her up. Maddie hadn’t minded that so much in the end.

Besides she loved her new TV and kitchen equipment. It was top of the line and worked liked magic. So the roast chicken was also to kind-of thank him for that.

As Maddie stood up to stir the soup again there was a knock at the door. Moving towards the door she looked down at Marvin who was sitting under the table being grumpy.

“Will you smile already?” Maddie muttered at him on the way to the door. “I said I was sorry about moving your cushion but it was in the way and I will put it back tomorrow.”

Marvin huffed and laid down glaring at the door. Maddie knew even though he looked relaxed he was actually fully focused on the door. He was not fully recovered yet. Maybe he was physically but definitely not mentally but he was on the right track just like her. Maddie and her husky would be back to normal one day. Or better than normal.

Looking away from her dog she smiled as she opened the door to find Sarah and John on the other side.

“Hi guys.” Maddie smiled, opening the door further so that they could walk in.

As Sarah came in first and John followed with his hand on her back, Maddie took in her friend’s husband. He was the same height as Sarah. Maybe a tiny bit taller. His blonde hair was in a sharp buzz cut and he had a good couple of day’s stubble on his face. He wore a pair of blue corduroy trousers with a white shirt that he had buttoned up bar 2 at the top. Maddie could see the chain that hung round his neck that she was pretty sure were dogs tags. He was very muscly, a lot more than Aiden. It was clear he worked hard to have them and probably in his job he used them often. Maddie didn’t really want to think of that.

What else Maddie noticed was the way his hand lingered on his wife’s back when she turned to look at Maddie. The way John’s face was titled down to his wife like he was trying to memorise the smile on her face. The love that he felt for her was shining strong from his eyes. Maddie was happy Sarah had that.

As for Sarah, well it was just clear that she loved her husband and was more than happy to have him home.

“Maddie you look wonderful.” Sarah gushed. “This place looks wonderful, you must have worked hard.”

Maddie looked around her, and now Aiden’s home, and took in the set table, the lit candles and the music playing softly in the background. It had been a lot of work today but looking around she knew it was totally worth it. Their home looked good. It looked welcoming.