Raising Madison (The third book in the 'The girl in the attic trilogy')

(3) Raising Madison

Raising Madison

Chapter 3

The week passed by quickly and soon it was time for me to start my job. I was excited about the new it and the opportunities it will give me but I was really worried about sending Madie to day care. It will be the first time that she is left by complete strangers and I have no idea how she is going to react.

When I woke up in the morning I took a shower, got dressed making sure I look presentable and then made my way to Madie’s room. She was still sleeping and I felt a bit bad for having to wake her but I had to feed her before I took her to day care. She complained a bit as I woke her but it didn’t take her long before she was smiling happily.

I fed her some cereal and then we headed out. She looked a bit confused when I handed her over to her teacher and my heart broke as a tear escaped her eye. I really didn’t want to do this but I had no choice so I kissed her goodbye and made my way to work.

It felt weird working at such a big company with so many people but I was determined to make a success of it. I have to for Madie’s sake so I listened, concentrated and worked hard. The day took forever to go by though and by the time I could go home I was missing Madie terribly. I had phoned the day care centre three times during the day just to make sure she was ok, at least the teachers were understanding.

As soon as I was in my car I drove to the day care centre and picked Madie up. Her eyes lit up when she saw me and she literally ran to me, jumping in my arms. I have never been so glad to see anybody in my life. I can’t even describe how nervous I was to leave her this morning.

I spent the entire night with her, trying to make up for leaving her alone the whole day. She seemed fine though and I was happy for that fact.

At around eight she fell asleep and I myself finished up and got into bed. I was tired and really needed some sleep. Surprisingly I fell asleep quickly and had no dreams whatsoever, it was great and I felt refreshed and ready to go in the morning

Madie didn’t cry when I dropped her off at day care which made me feel a little bit better about leaving her there and work went ok. The problem came in on my way to picking Madie up. There was a huge traffic jam and I was stuck. There was no way I was going to be able to get to Madie before closing time so I phoned Brooklyn and asked her if she could pick her up and take her home and look after her until I could get there. She agreed happily and I quickly gave her the address before phoning them and telling Madie’s teacher that Brooklyn would be fetching her.

It took me an hour to get home and by that time I was a nervous wreck. 

“How is she?” I asked as I stormed into the house.

Brooklyn looked up from where she was sitting on the floor with Katie and gave me a smile before answering.

“She’s fine. I’ve already given her supper which she ate greedily and now where playing,” she said as she pushed herself to her feet. Madie was getting up too and as soon as she turned around and saw me her eye lit up and she ran to me. I gave her a huge hug and then walked over to Brooklyn.

“Thanks for picking her up on such short notice,” I said, truly thankful.

“No problem, that’s why you hired me for,” she replied, still sounding happy. I admired her for that but I guess it’s easier being happy when you haven’t lost the one person you loved most in the world.

“We are moving to a new apartment tomorrow, some of our stuff is already there but I still need to move some things tomorrow after work. Could you maybe come by and help me look after Madie while I do this?” I asked, feeling a bit more at ease now that I saw that Madie is really ok with Brooklyn.

“Sure, what time should I be here?” she questioned, sounding excited.

“Around six should be fine, by then I should have been able to feed Madie and have everything ready,” I replied, hoping I won’t get stuck in traffic again.

“Ok, I’ll see you then,” she said as she picked up her bag and started making her way out of the house. I walked her to the door and then watched her leave. She really seems like a nice girl and I am so grateful that I found her to help me with Madie, especially now since we are going to be moving.

Once she was gone I quickly gave Madie her bath and then we played while waiting for my parents to come home. They only arrived at around eight so we just ordered pizza. Madie started fussing while we waited so I put her to bed and then headed downstairs just in time as the pizza arrived. We spoke a bit as we ate and then we headed to bed. It was a long day after all and I had no doubt that tomorrow was going to be even worse with moving and all.