THE CHOICE

THIRTEEN

CONNOR MATTHEW THOMPSON HAD BEEN, what some had called, a "miracle baby".

After three failed pregnancies, Jack and Madison were elated when she carried the fourth child beyond the 24-week mark-something she'd never been able to do before. The doctors couldn't explain why she had miscarried so many times, nor could they explain why this pregnancy was different. And while Jack and Madison had been worried that baby number four (which they'd already decided would be named either Connor or Gabriel) might end up like the three angel babies before him, the doctor seemed confident that Madison would carry the child to term.

And she did.

On January 13th, a cold and blustery morning, Connor made his grand entrance into the world. Jack had never seen anything more beautiful. As he held Connor that evening while Madison rested, Jack looked down at his son and promised that he'd always be there for him, he'd never let work get in the way of them spending time with each other (a promise he'd not been able keep all the time), and told Connor he'd never let anything bad ever happen to him.

"Daddy loves you," Jack would always tell him.

Jack's father had split when he was only eight years old and Jack felt compelled to make sure Connor never knew what it was like to not have a daddy's love. Even as Connor grew into a toddler, Jack never failed to tell him, "Daddy loves you". In recent months, Connor had started responding with, "Love you too, Daddy" in his adorable and impeded babyish tones. It melted Jack's heart every time he heard those words from his son's mouth.

"HEY!" Tim screamed, jolting Jack back to reality. "Are we gonna' be here all night, or what?"

"Shoot me, Jack," he heard Madison say again. "For God's sakes, I don't even know why this is a question!"

A mother's love is unmatchable and unspeakable. Even in the face of death, her own survivalist instinct plays slave to her motherly nature and gives her the strength to beg for her own death.

Jack looked at Madison, who was now wild-eyed with passion, nearly begging Jack to end her life, if it meant saving their son.

Their son...

Jack glanced down at Connor, still attached like a leech to his mother's leg and sucking his thumb. Finally, he stole a glimpse of Tim, no more than two feet to his left with his handgun still pointed at Jack's chest.

Jack's eyes met Madison's. "I'm sorry, baby, but I have to choose you."

Tears filled her eyes and spilled onto her face. She nodded that she understood, even agreed with his decision, and accepted her fate.

Jack reached down and pulled Connor away from Madison. He didn't want the child getting in the line of fire. He pushed Connor behind him, trying to spare him the gruesome spectacle of seeing his mother's head being blown off at the neck.

Tim watched as Jack lifted the pistol and aimed it at Madison, surprised that the guy actually had the cojones to make a choice.

Seconds turned into eternities as Jack raised the pistol into the air, kept the gun out at arm's length, and destined for the fatal target, right between Madison's eyes.

"I'll always love you," Jack told her.

Madison merely nodded with a smile. Her fear and trepidation consumed her to the point that she couldn't force a single word past her lips.

Jack thumbed the hammer back, aimed carefully, and swallowed hard. He inched the trigger back so slowly and painfully that he feared it might never go off. But, finally, the trigger slipped back far enough that the resistance gave way and a clap of thunderous death exploded in the room.

Connor screamed and covered his ears, running away and hiding behind the recliner on the other side of the room.

Madison fell to the floor with a sickening thud.

Jack saw everything in slow motion again and suddenly turned to Tim and threw every bit of his weight on top of the man. Somehow, Jack managed to not only throw his shoulder into Tim's chest, knocking him down, but also pushed Tim's right hand away-the one holding the handgun. The two scrambled to the floor in a sluggish struggle, as time continued to pass by in skipping frames of cinematic slow-motion.

Tim screamed and cursed, trying to fight Jack's body off him. He tried to get his right arm free so he could rid himself of this jerkoff once and for all. As soon as he saw the opportunity, Tim swung a southpaw slugger to Jack's face, knocking him over. Now his arm was free. Within seconds, he would be on top of Jack with his gun down the bastard's throat, firing off as many rounds as it took to make sure he was good and dead.

Jack hit the floor and Tim nearly catapulted to his feet and immediately came down on top of Jack. They each struggled to gain control of the situation. And though Jack was on his back, he managed to thrust his pistol upward, landing it in the soft flesh under Tim's chin, and without a second's hesitation, fired a single round.

The top of Tim's head popped like a balloon. Blood and brain matter erupted through the exit wound like the volcano in a Science fair project. But in the same moment that Jack rejoiced, he noticed a flare of fiery agony in his chest.

Tim fell on top of Jack with dead weight, the force of his fall coming down on Jack's new bullet wound being almost too painful to bear. Jack cried out in agony and tried to push Tim off.

Madison jumped over and grabbed Tim by the shirt and hauled him off her husband. Jack smiled at her. He never once intended to shoot her or Connor. But he knew that from where Tim stood, at his side, the angle of the pistol would look like he was aiming straight at Madison's head, when actually he was aiming two-to-three inches to the right of her. That's why he had to get Connor out of the way.

Of course, Madison didn't know this. When the pistol went off, she fell to the floor, not noticing until a few seconds later that she wasn't hit. She looked up to see Tim and Jack struggling on the floor, shielding her eyes when Jack's pistol fired and Tim's head burst. The next thing Madison knew, she was on her feet, pulling their dead attacker off her husband.

Her heart sank to see a single gunshot wound in Jack's chest. Tim Hullander had gotten his revenge despite everything that had happened. Jack's breathing was short and beginning to stutter. From the size of the purple blotch on the front of Jack's shirt, and the expanding burgundy puddle seeping out from underneath him, Madison knew the bullet had gone all the way through. Jack wouldn't last much longer.

"Connor!" she called out to her son.

The toddler was guarded at first. All the loud bangs and ruckus had scared him something awful. But once he saw his mother from around the recliner and noticed that the bad man wasn't standing next to her, he bounded toward Madison with a smile.

One last time, Jack looked up at Connor. "Daddy loves you."

Connor grinned. "Love you too, Daddy."

Jack looked at Madison and gathered enough strength to lift his hand to touch her face one more time. She took his hand and nestled it into her cheek. .

"Say hi to my dad for me, when you get there."

Jack smiled and his arm went limp in her hand.

Madison fell on his chest in unbelievable torment and grief. Jack had kept his promise to both of them-to Connor, a promise that he'd never let anyone hurt him, and to his wife, a promise to love her until death do us part.

Jack had played Tim's game.

He had made The Choice.

And he had chosen himself.