That Would Be Enough

21

As Madeline grew up, she was aware that her father was in prison. He was released when she was seven; a second grader. She was aware of the stigma surrounding having a parent in prison. She didn't tell anybody. She just let them assume Lin was her real dad.

Jason had honored Kate's wishes that he not contact Madeline. He sent her a birthday card each year, but that was it. Madeline felt uneasy about the whole situation. Her father had kidnapped her and kept her from her mother from almost an entire year. She'd had anxiety and trust issues for years. Now that she was thirteen and in middle school, she was becoming acutely aware of his absence. Maddie was starting to wonder if she wanted contact with him again. She was sure her mother didn't want her to.

"Madeline, I'm not going to tell you again," Lin said from the kitchen. "Go clean your room."

"Okay!!" she said with attitude as she thumbed through her phone on the couch.

"Lose the attitude," he told her and she rolled her eyes. Lately, she had been butting heads with both Lin and her mother. He and Kate had long since married, so he was technically her stepfather. Maddie could barely remember a time when he wasn't in her life. It was starting to get to her, however; he wasn't her real dad. What right did he have to order her around?

Maddie reluctantly stood up and tucked her phone into her back pocket and stumbled off to her room. She had never been a neat person and didn't see the point in keeping her room clean. She knew where everything was so what was the big deal? It was her space.

She passed Rio in the hallway. He was nine now and was like a copy of his father. He loved theatre and singing and dancing, and was constantly socializing. Rio and Lin were pretty close, but Maddie wasn't terribly close to her brother.

Madeline closed her bedroom door and connected her phone to the bluetooth speakers. She turned the music up loud and began the laborious task of picking up her room. Her mother liked to remind her that if she just picked things up as she went, it wouldn't be such a big task on the weekend.

It was Saturday, so Maddie was looking forward to hanging out with her friends. Most of the time, they ended up hanging out at a coffee shop nearby, sipping sugary drinks and annoying the other patrons. She took a break from cleaning to text with a couple of her best friends about their plans for the evening. Maddie was called to dinner a few minutes later. She set her phone out on the table picked up her fork.

"Put the phone away, please," her mother reminded her. Maddie sighed and tucked it into her back pocket. The rule was no electronics at the table.

"So what's everyone's plans for the evening?" Lin asked.

"I'm going to a movie with Jake," Rio said as he dug into his dinner. The boy was like a garbage disposal. He ate anything and everything, and lots of it.

"Maddie?"

"Hanging out at the coffee shop," she said.

Lin nodded. "Mom and I are going to a little get together in Lower Manhattan. We'll be back late. Curfew for both of you is ten."

"How come Rio gets the same curfew as me?" Maddie complained. "I'm four years older than him."

Rio stuck his tongue out at his sister and she threw a piece of broccoli at him.

"Enough, children," Kate admonished her children. Sometimes she wondered if her children had a normal sibling rivalry. It could get intense at times. "Maddie, your curfew is perfectly fair."

"But he's only nine," she pointed out. "Why does he get to stay out so late?"

"He's with an adult," she reminded her daughter. Maddie rolled her eyes.