Claire jabbed Maddy’s forehead with her finger, wincing loudly. "Can you tone it down? It’s not a big deal."
"IT’S NOT A BIG DEAL!" Maddy bellowed, in a deep voice that seemed to have come from the depths of her chest. "Of course it’s a big deal. This is ’Apollo playboy changes girlfriends like underpants Ashford’ we are talking about!! The douche that ruined our first prom with his stupid prank. He ruined our dress! Have you forgotten?"
"My dress," Claire muttered, tilting her head slightly.
Maddy shot Claire a stern glare that shocked her. It made Claire wonder where sweet, silly Maddy had vanished to.
"I picked out that dress for you," Maddy reminded her. "I was wearing a similar one. We were supposed to be the best dressed best friends that night. Frances designed those dresses. She was not pleased with what happened to yours."
Frances was Mrs. Sanders and Maddy’s mother. She was one of those mothers who insisted her children call her by her name. Not mom, mommy or mother. Just Frances.
The first time Claire visited the Sanders mansion she nearly dropped her milk when Maddy raced through the foyer shouting, "Frances! Frances! The new puppy threw up in the koi pond!"
Later, Claire had asked Maddy why she called her mother by her name.
Maddy had blinked cutely and replied, "because her name is Frances."
The explanation did not answer Claire’s questions. Years later, Claire still didn’t approve of the whole thing. To her, a mother was a mother, not a coworker. So, she firmly stuck to addressing the woman as Mrs. Sanders, despite her insistence that Claire also address her as Frances.
"Are you even listening to me?" Maddy shook Claire like a tree branch heavy with ripe mangoes, as though answers might fall out of her. "Our life is going to change Claire."
"My life," Claire muttered.
Maddy responded with that glare again.
Claire sighed and gave up. "Fine, our life is going to change. But I would like to believe that it is going to change for the better. Alden and Heimi were not nice parents to me. Alden resented that I was better at business than he was and Heimi resented that I was welcomed in rich circles more than she was.
Their sons lived in fear of me taking over the company someday, so they resented me as well. As long as I was around, none of them could breathe easily. People like that..." She stopped for a moment and sighed, "I think they would have harmed me sooner or later."
Hardly had she finished when Maddy came in for another hug.
"How could they be so cruel to us?" She wailed pitifully, fresh, hot, tears spilling fast from her eyes.
Claire groaned. She looked at her grandfather for help but he just shrugged in response. Once again, Claire was stuck comforting Maddy, as though she were the one the bad Danes had plotted against.
"We gave them everything." Maddy sobbed. "Now we are poor, pregnant for a douche and infected with poor fashion sense. This unbearable orange makes me want to throw myself into the sea. How could this happen to us Claire? We worked so hard for nothing."
Claire rolled her eyes. "I worked so hard. You were flying on a private jet, traveling the world and stuffing your stomach as if the world was ending."
"You refused to come with me." Maddy snapped. "I haven’t forgiven you for that. And I am owed an apology for being forced to hug a carrot."
Donovan couldn’t hold in his laughter anymore. It spilled out like water coming in unstoppable waves. He couldn’t make sense of this young woman. When he was called to Graves supermarket to pick up Claire’s friend, he was expecting someone like her.
And at first, it seemed like that. Until Claire arrived, and all his assumptions were broken.
Claire pushed Maddy away slowly. She put her hands on Maddy’s shoulders and said slowly but seriously. "Stay put. I am going to get my things from the boat, then we are going home. I am hungry Maddy. This reunion can wait."
Maddy nodded.
But when Claire took two steps, Maddy attempted to follow her. Claire looked back, growling and widening her eyes. Maddy pouted, but she stopped. Somehow, she managed to look like an abandoned puppy which led to people on the dock giving Claire looks of judgement. Not that Claire cared.
Claire returned to the boat and retrieved the oysters, which she had put in two coolers. The pearls and shells were in a bucket that was tightly sealed. She didn’t plan to move the gold plated toilet and safe at the moment.
They left the dock, moving to Claire’s car.
"I call it!" Maddy screamed, grinning victoriously at Donovan as she rushed to claim her spot in the passenger seat.
Donovan turned to Claire, confusion in his eyes. "Does she always do that?"
"Unfortunately," Claire sighed.
"I can’t wait for your grandmother to meet her." Donovan laughed.
The air in the car on the ride back to Claire’s house could not have been any more different from the air at the docks. Maddy’s tears had all dried up, replaced with a mildly irritating cheerfulness.
The radio was on, and Maddy was singing along to every song that played. It would have been ignorable if she was singing along to ordinary music, but this was a children’s program.
Maddy was singing enthusiastically. "The wheels on the bus go round and round!"
Claire gripped the steering wheel. "Maddy, are you thirsty? Why don’t you take a break?"
"The wheels on this bus don’t take a break Claire, so why should I?" She asked, smiling so beautifully. "We are going to have a baby. We must learn this. When the baby comes, I will sing to it every day."
"Oh no," Claire whispered.
The song changed and Maddy cheered.
"If you are happy and you know it clap your hands!"
Maddy obediently clapped.
Claire groaned. Truly, to deal with Madeline Sanders, one needed the patience of a saint and the heart of Jesus.
Thirty seconds later, Maddy was mooing along to Old MacDonald so passionately that a passing farmer gave her a thumbs-up. By the time they reached the road leading to her house, Claire had developed a minor headache while Maddy sat proudly smiling.
"Best concert ever," Maddy announced.
"It was public radio." A grumpy Claire said with a frown.
Maddy nodded enthusiastically. "Exactly."
Donovan laughed again, over and over. His ever-serious granddaughter had met her match. If you asked him, Claire’s nemesis was not Apollo, it was Madeline Sanders.