Fantasy Life made Normal

Chapter 37

Madelyn woke to her husband's tattooed arm across her stomach. She rolled over to look at his face. He looked so peaceful. She edged her way out from under his arm and walked out of the room. She checked on both boys before making her way down the stairs. She felt as though she was moving on autopilot. She opened the front door and started out it. Tattooed arms grabbed her around the middle and pulled her back into the house. The door closes in front of her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Marshall demanded.

She snapped out of her daze and looked at him. He looked concerned. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms tighter around her middle.

"Jesus Madelyn, you scared the hell outta me," he said.
"I scare myself right now," she whispered.
"Come on, lets go back to bed."
"Marshall, he is going to come for me. I can feel it."
"And when he does, we will handle it."
"How?"
"By any means necessary."

She pulled away from him a bit and pressed her lips to his. He could feel the tension radiating off of her. She sighed against him. He had to go to the studio today but he didn't want her to know that right now. He was not trying to set off her anxiety. He could hear his phone going off up in their bedroom. He looked at her.

"I gotta get that," he said.
"Ok," she whispered.

They walked up the stairs together. He picked up his phone. Paul had called him. He called him back.

"What up?" he asked after it connected.
"We need to go thru these backgrounds but not here. I don't want you in this building until we have talked." Paul said.
"All right."
"I am on my way over right now. Y'all up and decent."
"Yeah."
"Good. See you soon."

Marshall hung up. He looked at Madelyn. She had sat down on the bed. He wondered just how bad this was going to get. Christmas wasn't far away and he didn't want it on her mind for Malakai's first Christmas. He stared at her for a minute. The gate buzzer rang. He went to deal with it. Malakai was up and yelling. Madelyn went to get him.

"Sup?" Marshall asked security.
"Some dude here claiming to be here to see Mads," Ryan said.
"Who is he?"
"Won't give us a name."
"Be there in a minute. Paul is on his way so watch for him."
"Gotcha."

Marshall went to find Madelyn. She was in the kitchen with Kai.

"What's up with the gate?" she asked.
"Don't know. Some dude that won't give his name," he said.
"Marshall, don't go down there."
"Mads, I have to. Ain't nothing gonna happen to me. I got security down there and they are all armed. It will be fine babe."

She shook her head. He sighed heavily and kissed her. Malakai shrieked in his high chair. Tears were already rolling down Madelyn's face. Every worst case scenario was running thru her head.

"Baby, stop, you are scaring the baby," he said, wiping her tears.
"Marshall, please," she begged.
"Madelyn Nicole Mathers, have some faith please."
"I do but he is not gonna stop if it's him."
"Let me go see who it is."

She relented finally just nodding as silent tears rolled down her face. He gently wiped them away and kissed her lips. He walked out the door and down the driveway. She watched from the doorway as he got farther and farther away. Malakai was in her arms.

He walked to the gate. The man on the other side of it looked like he had expected. The man had tattoos, obviously gang related, and this aura of no bullshit about him. Marshall sighed.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, not really feeling intimidated like the guy obviously wanted him to.
"I want to talk to Madelyn," the guy demanded.
"My wife is busy. You can either talk to me or you can leave."
"You think you are tough? You ain't shit."

Marshall rolled his eyes. He wasn't about to get into a pissing match with this dude.

"You Corey?" he asked.
"Nah, names Eric," the guy replied.

Marshall nodded to Ryan who dialed up the house.

"Babe, you know an Eric?" he asked when Madelyn picked up.
"Yeah, what's he want?" she asked, not sounding happy that he was there.
"Dunno, he refuses to tell me. Who is he?"
"Part of the gang Corey ran with."

Marshall nodded even though she couldn't see him.

"All right. Be back up soon. Paul is pulling up now." he said.
"All right," she replied.

Marshall turned his attention back to Eric.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"Look man, I ain't running with that shit no more. Corey ain't part of us no more. He lost it all when we found out what he did to Madelyn. She was like a sister to me. I just wanted her to know we are out looking for him. We know he has been threatening her. He is pissed that she is living a good life while his is shit even though he did it to himself," Eric replied.
"You got any proof to any of this?"
"Honestly no. But I can bring by our tech dude, Sam. She was even closer to him. He was practically raised by her aunt with her."
"All right. You do that and I will talk to her."
"Ok cool."

Marshall walked away from the gate. He entered his house to find Madelyn in the living room with Paul. Maverick was up now as well. He was realizing just how much shit his wife had really lived thru. He knew about her past and the life she had lived. He didn't care about any of it. He loved her regardless of her past. She didn't judge him for any of the shit he had done.

"Babe," she said.
"Hey," he replied.
"What did he want?"
"To tell you Corey ain't with them no more. He wants to bring Sam by to prove it,"
"Sam?"
"That's what he said."
"Marshall, Sam is dead. Corey killed him 8 years ago."

Marshall sighed. He pulled up the picture on the camera they had by the gate. She looked at it and started to shake.

"What is it babe?" he asked.
"That ain't Eric. That's Corey," she said.
"Seriously?"

Madelyn nodded. Marshall sent the picture back to the gate.

"That's the guy. He comes back, I want him arrested." Marshall said.
"Of course," Ryan agreed.

Paul and Marshall went over every employee's file. They found a suspicious one in the form of a woman. She was a new hire and from what they could see on cameras, she was taking things from his office. She had xeroxed a copy of the photo in Marshall's office. He shook his head. He knew what picture it was. It was the one of him and Mads at the hospital with both of their boys.

"Marshall," she said.
"What babe?" he asked.
"Do you think he is using her and beating on her like he did me?"
"Honestly, most likely."

Madelyn nodded. She stared at the still image from the security camera. He pulled her into his lap.

"I love you. Nothing is going to happen to you or to me." he said.
"You sure?" she asked.

He nodded. It wasn't going to happen because he wouldn't let it.