The End Of Walden's War

V

I looked into his eyes, a look of complete shock on my face. He just stared back at me like what he had said was not completely preposterous. He was completely serious and I could not believe him.

I freed my arm from his grip, my eyes not leaving his as he stared and waited for my response.

"I will never have a child with you." I spat at him, my voice laced with anger as I started to walk away. "You can never make me pick between the family I have and the family I will never want." I turned to face him again, "Don't tell me you've forgotten Finnegan. Our entire marriage is false, the only reason I'm here is to stop you from hurting someone I care about."

"This is as real as it can be for the both of us, It's done now, there's nothing you can do to stop anything that has happened."

"This will never be real to me." I shouted at him, forgetting about any possibility someone could hear our quarrel, so far no one had realised our marriage was only one of convenience.

"That's why I want a child Maddie." He responded, taking ahold of my shoulders. "I know you would love your child unconditionally, whether you love me or not. If I take you to your family I want a child in return."

"This is the most incredulous thing I've ever heard." I sighed.

"But you agree to it?"

"No! For Christ's sake Finnegan. I'm not having a child with someone I'm not in love with!" I stepped back from him again, my anger getting the best of me as I raised my voice at my husband.

From the corner of my eye I saw Loretta standing by the door, Frank by her side. The two of them looked at us in disbelief but I had no idea how long they had been there, or what they had heard. Had Finnegan noticed them?

"Love," I interrupted him mid-sentence as I raised my hand, showing him my palm, to stop him.

"We will talk about this later Finnegan." I spat out before walking away from him and up the stairs of our home.

I could not believe the audacity he had to even dream of proposing such a ridiculous idea. Our marinate was fake, everything about us was fake. Why did he have to suggest something so, so real?

My heart pounded in my chest as I walked to the room I shared with Finnegan and I sat myself in the edge or the bed, thoughts racing as I tried to come to some sort of conclusion as to why he would think that would be a good idea in the first place.

I bit my fingernails as the thoughts continued to race around my head. I had nothing against having a child, in fact I very much wanted to be a mother. But did I want the father of my child to be Finnegan Walden? A criminal, a gangster but, a kind man.

No.

Finnegan and I would never be a family and could never create one. It was impossible.

It may be what my mother wanted, it may be what his family expected but I would not put myself through that, I could not put myself through that.

But maybe I had overreacted, it may have been simpler to just refuse without causing a scene. I may have ruined everything, Frank and Loretta heard me.

He jus have explained everything to them, told them about everything being completely fabricated. Will they hate me? Will they fight my family again?

What have I done?

"Maddie?"

I heard a knock at my door followed by the soft voice of Loretta, my dear friend Loretta. She didn't sound angry or disappointed, she sounded concerned.

I raised firm the bed and walked to the door, opening it enough for her to let herself in before I closed it behind her.

She looked at me with an expressionless face before wrapping her arms around me, saying no words. I accepted the hug, hers were better than the comforting embraces I received from my sister.

After a few minutes of her holding me tight she finally released me, looking into my eyes, searching for something.

"Maddie, whatever the two of you are going through you can fight through it. Your love got through during those awful fights between our families. One argument will not break you."

So she hasn't heard me admit the truth and Finnegan had said nothing.

"Don't day you don't love him, you know you do."

"Loretta I-"

"Madeleine." She interrupted with a stern tone of voice. "In the past year I have heard you complain about Finnegan countless times, but never once have I heard you argue with him like that. This bond you two have is.." she stopped for a second as she thought of a word to describe how she saw our completely fictitious relationship "the dream that I have."

I chuckled as I heard her speak. "Loretta, when you marry you must show a Finn and I the ways of a truly aspirational relationship, try and be better than us." I rested my hand on her shoulders to pull her close to me again for another embrace.

"You are the best thing that has come out of me living here Loretta, and know, if I was to have a child you would be godmother. I'd trust my child with no one else:" I felt her grip around me tighten slightly, hopefully from joy of hearing those words. And that alone helped me make my decision.

A/N

I am the absolute worst, I'm so sorry. I've been at school for two weeks and I'm struggling to find time to do anything. I promise you my spare time is going to be dedicated towards writing this book. I genuinely love this book and I want to continue on and make it great. It will take time by I'm going to start aiming for an update a week rather than annually.

Thanks to those who have voted and commented on the story so far, you're motivating me to go on.

Hit up my Twitter @machine_washed I may never tweet but it will make me feel loved.