Madeline arose around 11 the next morning, which was very early by her standards and waited patiently for Chase to call for nearly twenty minutes before deciding that she couldn’t just sit around all day and wait on him. He was the one supposed to be sorry, not her. And after all, she was very busy and had a lot of things she had been planning to do. It was Friday and therefore she had a standing appointment with her manicurist, for touch ups to her nails and a repolishing of her pedicure. There was no reason she couldn’t march straight to his office and demand an apology for being so mean to her over the phone. After all, how was she supposed to know when he was in a meeting? He could have just waited to call her back. Madeline chewed lightly on the edge of one French manicured fingertip and frowned. She knew he was going to be busy, but if she didn’t check in on him every once in a while, how was she supposed to know he was still alright? It didn’t matter. He was very mean to her over something so stupid and she was going to march straight down to his office and make him very sorry for hurting her feelings. Of course, it wasn’t as if he had really hurt her, she just didn’t want him to think that he could get by with something like that. She was sure his colleagues had been laughing at her, and she just couldn’t stand for anyone to make fun of her in anyway. She would get even for his stupidity.

After all, she had seen him walk into the same hotel with Antoinette – of course she had called to check on him. He had no business seeing that double-crossing woman. Not that Madeline could tell him that. He would get all huffy about how she had been spying on him, and there was no reason for her to distrust him, and blah and blah, and blah. But, Madeline knew better. She knew that given the chance he would run straight back to Antoinette and be wrapped around her ugly little finger all over again. Madeline would almost bet that her nails weren’t even manicured. She was such a heathen, traipsing all over Miami and the world in all those nasty countries, doing God only knows what. She wasn’t sane, that was for sure. No sane woman with her money got their hands dirty with all those dirty children. They sent a nice check to someone else who could do it for them. And then they went out with a group of girlfriends to have a martini and celebrate. That’s what philanthropy nowadays was all about. They didn’t have to really worry about anything going on, she could just cluck sadly over whatever even happened and frown and shake her head at the injustice when asked, but then she got on with her life. But what did Antoinette do? She went and protested this thing or that thing – things she had no business getting involved in. Why couldn’t she just leave well enough alone?

Madeline thought she was ungrateful: spoiled and ungrateful to boot. She knew for a fact that Ms. Duke had given her every advantage. She had even taken Madeline along so that Antoinette wouldn’t be alone. They went shopping, and had their nails done, and their hair and makeup fixed, and on some weekends, Antoinette’s mom had flown them all over the country for pageants and beauty shows. Antoinette’s mother had set them up to be stars, and she didn’t use any of it. The ungrateful bitch had pouted and complained about having homework and other things to do. Madeline had homework to do too, but that hadn’t stopped her from ignoring it for glamour. She had still graduated too. But no, Antoinette always had to be better – she couldn’t have the greatness of her family – she had to be intelligent and a rebel. She was always trying to change the world. Couldn’t she just enjoy this one? If she would have Madeline wouldn’t have to be marrying rich now. She could have been famous for her beauty and posture – maybe even Miss America, instead of conniving her way into being a Senator’s wife to someone with really no spine in love with someone else. She rolled her eyes.

Madeline flipped her bleached blonde hair over her shoulder and strode over to her bathroom to stare at her reflection in the mirror. She bit on her lips a little and pouted them in the mirror. She leaned over the vanity to look at little closer and crinkled her nose, turning side to side to check every pore before scrubbing with some expensive all-natural French facial soap and slathering on a moisturizer. Finally, she decided on her shades and applied her make-up, step by step from the bottom using mineral powders and shadows with crushed diamonds. She finished her routine with a wave of her mascara wand and her best eyelash flutter in the mirror. Next she turned to her hair, flipping this part one way and pinning another part over another way, with the dark streaks under it all running through the ultra-light waves. Madeline had just put up her brushes as her chihuahua ran into her feet, yipping in excitement. She picked up the little dog and padded her satin slippers back into the bedroom of her apartment.

“Hewwo wittle baby. How was your walkie?” She set the dog on her coverlet and threw open the door to her closet, pulling several articles out. The maid who had brought the dog in peeked her head into the open bedroom to check on it. She was about to disappear again when Madeline turned and saw her.

“Rosetta, which of these tops looks better?” Madeline held up two similar tunic tops and waited for a response. The woman, who was used to these outbursts, looked at her blankly for a moment. “I keep forgetting that you don’t know anything about fashion. Thank you for walking Jasmine, I’ll see you tomorrow at the same time.” Madeline turned back to her clothes and the woman quickly escaped. Madeline sighed and pulled the pink top off the hanger, replacing the deeper the red one. She slipped her top on with a pair of fitted tailored slacks and some high heel Manolo Blahnik boots. She paused to pull out clothes for her little living accessory afterwards that matched her top. She finished the dog’s outfit with a rhinestone collar to match her earrings. Madeline sighed that she had to dress the little dog on her own. It was so hard to find good help these days. If you found one that could speak English, they didn’t know anything else. But she couldn’t let that distract her from her mission. She had to meet with Chase today, regardless of if he was at work or not – and he better not be since it was a Friday and he had promised her a date. She gritted her teeth and practically seethed. Shaking the wrinkle forming thoughts out of her head, she gathered Jasmine into a little carrier purse and slipped on the rest of her accessories, topping her outfit off with the large engagement ring she had picked out for Chase to give her. She gave a spritz of her perfume to the air and walked her and the carrier through it as she shut the door behind her.

After hailing the first cab she saw to take her the few blocks to the Seagram’s building, Madeline stared up toward the 35th floor with a grimace. She absolutely hated great heights and Chase had huge windows lining one said of his office that he usually kept wide open most of the day. Nevertheless, she steeled her spine and marched right through the front doors heading up the enclosed elevator. There was nothing fancy or really nice about the building and she often begged Chase to move his building somewhere more aesthetic and fashionable. Not that it really mattered, she supposed with him becoming a Senator soon. She smiled at the thought. She could finally rub elbows with some really powerful women who would respect her as a woman.

The doors dinged open and she clicked across the tiled floor, heading straight for his door, ignoring the secretary at the desk. Well, not completely ignoring her. She paused long enough to assess what she was wearing. The business attire was not tailored and the drab browns of her pants with the cream top just made her look like a sunburned snail. Madeline rolled her eyes – that girl would never amount to anything. She disregarded the protests of the ignorant thing and marched right up to Chase’s door, hoping to seem angry and hurt. She rapped her knuckles against the door once, lightly. Pausing for an answer, she was surprised to see the girl return to her desk and not try to make her stop. She supposed the twit had finally gotten the hint to leave her alone.

She knocked again, this time harder and hurting her knuckles a little. Still she waited for his response, patiently tapping the edge of her boot against the tiled floor. She glowered at the girl to check if she had called him or anything to spite her, but she had calmly returned to her work, a satisfied smile on her lips. Madeline knocked one last time, her bag swinging against the door and Jasmine giving out a small yip. Then it came to her – the stupid girl wasn’t stopping her, and she looked like a fool standing there knocking because Chase wasn’t there at all. She gave the stupid bitch a death glare and stormed back across the room. She didn’t care if his secretary always knew where he was. She wouldn’t get the pleasure of holding this over Madeline Wainwright’s head. It was probably Antoinette Duke’s fault anyway. She would pay. Chase would pay. They all would pay.

Chase felt like he had walked into the lion’s den as the door swung open and he stepped into the Ralston suite. Bridgette, Toni’s younger half-sister swung open the door and ushered him in with a squeal. He smiled and looked her over. At last count, she would have been about twenty one, but having her own way and being around some of the airheads in the world of fashion had kept her young and excitable -- but not completely annoying.

“Hello Brig, how are you this afternoon?” She jumped up and hugged him like a little kid. “I’m here to see your Dad, is he here?” Chase decided that he wasn’t lying. He just wasn’t telling her the whole truth. He had come to see Thomas, but he was hoping to glean more information out of Toni at the same time.

“Daddy! Chase is here to talk to you!” Bridgette grinned sheepishly as her wail echoed off the walls and furniture. “Chase you simply must look at the designs for my new line before you leave. I think Madeline would adore some of them. I think she bought a dress from me today, but I’m not sure it was her. My assistant said she thought it was and that she signed her name Madeline, but. . .” Bridgette noticed that her step-mother and father were looking at her strangely. She blinked a couple of times before crinkling her forehead in thought. Chase realized that she didn’t know he was the father of her sister’s baby and quickly assessed that only Mr. and Mrs. Ralston did.

“Actually, Bridgette, Madeline did buy a dress from you, and I need to pick it up before I leave, but right now, I have some business to discuss with your dad. I can look at your images before I take off later though. Remind me. Don’t let me leave without looking over them.” Chase smiled down in a brotherly way and patted her on the shoulder. She had distractedly lead him straight to the loveseat next to Antoinette. She smiled briefly and graciously patted the open space beside her.
He lowered himself slowly and greeted her mother with several platitudes. She smiled and held out her hand for a brief kiss. Chase was accustomed to her usual greeting and now did so without even thinking about it.

“Chase,” Mrs. Ralston began, her facial expressions light, but her tone highly meaningful. “How is your darling fiancée?” Chase knew that Mrs. Ralston had always had a soft spot for Madeline – especially since Madeline was almost everything she wanted in a daughter, but the aging beauty knew that Antoinette now carried Chase’s first child, and so in a matter of minutes, she had become a protective lioness. With the grace of the deadly feline, she set down her tea cup, waiting for Antoinette to pour her another glass. With a light jump, Toni leaned forward to pick up the tea kettle, and Chase could tell it was not only an appeasement to her mother, but also a way to keep her hands busy and remain calm under the close scrutiny of the formidable matron. She even, remembered to add just a teaspoon of milk and a single cube of sugar before handing the delicate china back to her mother. Chase admired the strength she was showing, when, by the slight tremor of her fingers, he could tell that Toni wanted to fall apart, or at the very least, run. She offered him a cup, but with a shake of his head, he declined. Tepid, lukewarm tea was the last thing he wanted to be drinking. She smiled anyway, and asked him if there was anything she could get him from the kitchen while waiting for her step-father.

“Just water, please.” He tried to give her a reassuring smile, but couldn’t tell if she was please to have an excuse to move, or aggravated that he had actually asked for something.

“Chase, dear,” Analise Ralston’s voice came out sticky sweet, and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He turned his head from following Toni’s figure across the room back to his not so gracious, and now more than ever, scary looking hostess. She set her cup and saucer down with a definite click. Even though she had aged rather gracefully, Chase could still see the age lines beginning to show at the corners of her eyes. She stared at him unabashedly for a few moments. “what are your plans for my daughter? Surely you can not expect her to raise this child on her own, especially in a city like Miami.” Gone was the elegant hostess and in her place was the ferocious she-wolf protecting her cub. The only thing Toni’s mother was missing, was the snarling teeth, but her glare more than made up for any elongated canines she might have sported.

“Mrs. Ralston, if it’s marriage you’re seeking, please disabuse yourself of that notion. We both know that Toni wouldn’t have me even if I was available. Her and I have gone down that path before and while it was not unpleasant on my part, your daughter seems to feel very much otherwise.” Chase calmly leaned back against the cushions, but did not relax. He could see her gearing up to try a different tact, the ire rising at his audacity. “Furthermore, ma’am, while I intend to support your daughter in anything she may need or want for this child, it is entirely up to her where she wishes to raise it and with whom. I do not mean to step on your motherly toes, but we were consenting adults from the start, and will continue to be afterwards. I will not force myself in her way.” Chase felt that he had made his point and smiled up at Toni as she returned to the love seat, a simple glass of water with ice and a sliver of lemon gripped ferociously in her fingers. Chase could see her knuckles turning white, and knew she had deliberately stayed out of sight. He grasped the glass over her fingers, sure to keep his hand underneath the crystal, lest he startle her into dropping it. She was brimming with anger, but Chase knew she wouldn’t face her mother, as it was unladylike for her to have been eavesdropping in the first place. Feeling he had handled the interrogation quite calmly and without doing anything that might have harmed his fragile relationship with the mother of his unborn child, Chase was quite happy to see Mr. Ralston enter the room from the adjourning bed room.

He stood to grasp the older man’s hand and watched the look of adoration that passed over the two women in the room’s faces. Thomas was a well liked man of business and it was clear that his second wife adored him. Toni spoke highly of him as well, and Chase had always felt like family around the warm gentleman. That wasn’t to say that this meeting was going to go very smoothly, since a new baby complicated things to an extreme degree, but Toni had not mentioned any words of displeasure from her father. In fact, the man in question seemed to glow with the idea of grandchildren – whether his step-daughter was married or not seemed to play little part in his excitement – as long as said step-daughter remained happy. The unspoken sentiment rang loud and clear in Chase’s head as he was briefly looked over and conditionally deemed acceptable. With Antoinette still sitting on the couch, half seething in anger, half smiling absentmindedly, it was easy to tell that there was a war going on inside her head. As her step-father lead him to a dining room table for their business, Chase only hoped it was one war with her that he didn’t immediately lose to stronger forces. All Chase had to do now was keep her happy and she wouldn’t cut off ties and he wouldn’t lose the bid he was hoping to receive for the Senate in the coming fall.

“Come sit over here with me, Chase and let the ladies discuss their own stuff.” Thomas Rowling was aging nearly as gracefully as his wife. His hair had grayed evenly, leaving him a light salt sprinkling through his dark brown hair, his blue eyes standing out against the sun-tanned tone of his skin. He had started on a farm of his uncle’s and had since bought out his uncle’s farm, and most of the land in the county, turning them from massive acres with no purpose to high yielding crop rotations. Chase knew that Antoinette had helped her stepfather found his company and production and then, when some of the practices had become over used and damaging to the local environment, she had staged a protest until he allowed her to help straighten the whole thing out. It hadn’t been the first protest Toni had been involved in, and if Chase knew anything about Antoinette, it wouldn’t be the last.

“How is business, Mr. Ralston?” Chase sat down in one of the hard backed chairs, his glass of water still in his hand as he searched for a coaster as to not offend Mrs. Ralston. He set the glass down and waited for Thomas to continue.
“Business, Chase, is about to get better. I’m not going to mince words here, you know me better than that. I’ve talked it over with Toni, and she has agreed, so I would like to sponsor your upcoming run for the Senate seat opening next fall. In light of recent events, I considered retracting, but I think personal feelings aside, you would be the right man for the position.” Chase breathed a mental sigh of relief. Without Thomas Ralston’s support, there was no point in announcing his candidacy at all.

“Thank you, sir. I would hate to lose your faith, and I plan to take full responsibility in this matter and support your daughter in any way she will allow.” Thomas Ralston let out a laugh.

“I never doubted you, Chase. It’s her I worry about. You will have one hell of a job on your hands the further along she gets. We both know that my Toni is a wild child. I have a feeling that that support won’t be much if she has her say, so you’ll have to force it on her whenever possible.” Chase laughed as well, knowing that Thomas knew Antoinette even better than her own mother. She was stubborn and strong willed, and she definitely would not make being a father easy.

Antoinette sighed as the glossy elevator doors slid closed behind her, separating her from Chase and from every fought emotion he stirred up. She wasn’t sure how she would be able to deal with him as often as he seemed to expect. She pulled a shallow breath past her parched lips, and blew it out, followed by her tongue to moisten the edges. It didn’t seem to help. Her lips and tongue still felt as dry as they had when she had noticed Chase in the lobby. Her glass of water in the lounge was just as much to keep her fingers busy as it had been to moisten the desert her mouth had become with a single non-sexual glance. She made a fist and banged it lightly against the wall supporting her.

“I can’t believe I did something so stupid.” Toni sighed again as she leaned her head against the back mirrored wall of the chamber, the movement of the little room as it went upward slow and constant to the highest floors. The problem was, that she wasn’t talking about the pregnancy at all, but rather having him at her appointments. Part of her welcomed a baby in her life. It would bring change and responsibility and love. But when it came to Chase, it was as if in one moment she had a fuse lit under her and she couldn’t stand to be near him for more than a few moments – everything he did infuriated her in its smug and condescending manner. Then, the next moment, she was falling apart at the seams and all he had to do was smile. It made her weak and angry at the same time and she wasn’t at all sure how she should react to him. She knew that this wasn’t just her hormones from her unborn child making her crazy. They had been like this for years and years. At times, it seemed like he wanted more from her – more from their relationship – and it felt like more than she knew how to give to him. But she knew he was engaged – to someone she knew, nonetheless -- to someone who used to be her friend. Madeline was still almost exactly as she had been in high school: selfish, proud, and outwardly vapid. No one knew better than Antoinette how Madeline used her hair, or rather its color and all the stereotypes that came along with it, to get her way and twist others into doing exactly what she wanted. And now that she had Chase, she wouldn’t give him up without a major throw down, even if she didn’t care about him as a person. Not that Toni wanted him, or rather wanted him back for that matter. Once upon a time she had imagined what life would be like as a bride, as the future Mrs. Chase Brighton, but that dream had evaporated when Toni had decided to rally against polite society and protection for the rich and instead protest for the masses. College graduation had sent her to almost every little village in the Northern Hemisphere of Europe, Asia, India, and Africa and a good number of them lower than the equator as well. She had dined on crickets in South East China and ridden elephants and camels in the Tunisian Republic. She had always loved history and now she got to see all the wonderful hidden places of the world while bringing healthy gifts and new means of production for themselves.

The sliding metal cage dinged and an elderly couple boarded the elevator headed for a higher floor. Antoinette smiled and moved aside, pausing briefly to ask them for a floor number she could push for them. The woman answered, smiling and glancing to Toni’s belly. She gave a small laugh looked at her husband. Toni could see the love shining in her eyes, as her husband patted her withered hand and they shared a small memory, Toni supposed was about their own children. The elevator dinged again and Toni held the door as they shuffled off, still smiling at each other like star-struck teenagers. She sighed as the doors slid close again, not for the first time wondering if it were possible for everyone to find a love like theirs.

Finally, the doors buzzed at her stop and she stepped off the car, her heels muffled in the carpet runners as she tread down the hallway to her mother’s favorite suite. She lifted her hand to knock and almost rapped her youngest sister, Kaitlyn on the head, who had been about to swing open the door and march downstairs. Kaitlyn’s smile grew as she noticed the expansion of Antoinette’s shirt around her midsection and she grabbed her sister by the fingers and drug her into the suite.

“So it’s true! I almost didn’t believe him!” Kaitlyn didn’t let go of Antoinette’s pinky until she had pulled her across the room and seated her on the plush upholstered love seat. The fabric covering the cushions was a hideous flowered pattern, but completely seemed to match the out-of-date décor of the room. Her sister let out an obnoxious squeal and threw her arms around Antoinette’s shoulders, hugging her and bouncing up and down on the cushion. The sound was piercing, but it must have been some sort of ‘young adult’ call, because her step-sister, Bridgette, peeked her head out of the bathroom and came running to see what the commotion was all about. When Antoinette was feeling generous, she likened the two of them to linnet birds, chirping away noisily and happily in their own little cages. When she was feeling not so generous, they were meerkats – popping their heads out from everywhere and unable to keep still for more than a few seconds before leaping off to somewhere else. She smiled as Bridgette came running out of the bathroom, t-shirt in hand and wrapped in a towel, her dark, wet hair sticking to her shoulders and flying freely behind her. Bridgette was the mastermind of the two, cunning and fearless, while Kaity was a little shyer, but she never hesitated if Bridgette wanted something. Both of them crowded Toni, rubbing her tummy and being generally nosy.

“Daddy didn’t tell us who it was for.” Bridgette spoke in an exaggerated whisper, popping her head up for noise from their parent’s part of the suite. She looked again at Kaity and Toni and then glanced again at her parent’s bedroom. “Don’t worry. Mom doesn’t know yet. Daddy said we weren’t to say a word until you could talk to her. It was really hard though!” She hugged Toni again and then flounced back into the bathroom, before turning and running back out for her shirt with a sheepish grin on her face.

Kaitlyn waited until her sister had pushed the door closed again and smiled, settling onto the sofa, it had been some months since she had seen her sister, and she didn’t want to overburden her. “Toni, seriously, are you okay? I mean, is everything going to be okay?”

Antoinette couldn’t help but smile. She was supposed to be the big sister assuring her siblings that everything would be right in the world and no matter what happened, it would work out in the end. “Of course, Katy-bug. My biggest problem right now, it which one of you will be the god-mother. This baby’s going to need a nanny after all.” She patted her sister’s hand, and leaned back, closing her eyes for a moment.

“Baby, is it?” Antoinette’s mother’s voice rung in her ears as she felt her mother’s nails on the back of her scalp. She startled, the carpet having helped to muffle her mother’s stockinged feet.

“Hello, mother.” Antoinette stood to greet her mother as she had been trained.

“Please don’t start that, Antoinette. Your father has informed me of your situation and your current plans, and while I am not happy about it, I too can be magnanimous and accept the fact that I will be a grandmother. Besides, it’s not like you just had your come-out. I will just have to accept that you are a grown woman and capable of taking care of yourself. Now, the one thing your father,” This last part was said with some disbelief and incredulity, “would not tell me, is who the luck father of the baby is. Whoever he is, darling, I’m sure we can come to terms with him being around.” She paused to judge Toni’s reaction. “You do know who the father is, don’t you?” Her mother had paced the small expanse of carpeted floor for effect during her speech and now stopped to take a seat in a wingback chair opposite her. Her step-father, silent all this time appeared now with a small tea service and a fine china glass to calm Analise Duke Ralston’s nerves.

“Well, mother,” Toni took a deep breath. She wasn’t enjoying this little meeting anymore than the one Toni had with her mother when she had informed her that she was opening her own quilt and knit business for yarns and fabrics in Miami and moving out of Charleston.

“Spit it out, Antoinette. I know you, it can not be all that bad.” Her mother took a sip of her tea and smiled smugly over the cup. She had never called Antoinette by her nickname as far back as Toni could remember.

“Mother.” Antoinette looked at her mother sternly, but relaxed a few degrees. “The father is not bad at all. In fact he’s. . .” Antoinette was about to explain to her mother, that the old woman’s dreams had come true, when a knock sounded and her exuberant younger sister bounded to the door.

“Daddy! Chase is here to talk to you!” Bridgette’s voice echoed in the small area and Antoinette grimaced, but not only from the sound. She dropped her head into her hands and made a small noise. Her mother looked at her quizzically and waited for Thomas to go to the door and lead their guest in. She briefly wondered if Chase was actually here to see her, or if he was here to speak with her step-father about his support in the next Senate election.

“The father, my dearest mother, . . .” Toni smiled at her mother, over her own tea cup. “Is here.” Antoinette relished the look of astonishment, horror, and elation that passed over her mother’s face. It wasn’t every day that Toni got to shock Analise and she wasn’t going to give up her chance today.



Word count: 1,769 words
Total Word Count: words ( words less than day 9 goal)
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Days Left: 21 days

Chase sighed as he stared at his cell phone receiver and wondered how long it would take to get Madeline off the phone this time. On the way to his meeting, it had taken almost the whole way to the restaurant to get her to stop talking. That was nearly 20 minutes of trying to convince her that he really was busy and trying to meet with a client. Sometimes she seemed to think that he could stop at anytime and drop everything he was doing to take care of her. Her needs always superseded his business, especially, he supposed, when she thought he might have forgotten about her in the last hour or if she thought he could buy her something. He paced a few steps back and forth, waiting for her to lull in her diatribe for a moment to get a word in edgewise. She was talking about some dress or shoes, or some frivolous item he supposed she had purchased while she was out shopping today. She went out shopping almost everyday and bought shoes and dresses, so why he should be worried about the pieces she had purchased today, he wasn’t sure. Then, she mentioned something about the St. Regis Hotel and he paused, worried she might march through the front doors. Chase relaxed, realizing that he hadn’t done anything wrong. He had come to the St. Regis to meet with Toni’s dad, and before he left, he intended to. Toni marched past him, clearly tired of waiting for him to hang up his cell phone and his eyes followed her to the brightly lit lounge.
“No, Madeline. I am not at my office. I am meeting with Mr. Ralston and then if it’s not too late, I’m going to head back to my office to finish some paperwork before heading home for the night. Now, what did you need at the St. Regis Hotel? I can pick it up for you on the way home.” Chase could almost see Madeline’s pout over the phone. She humphed and complained that he hadn’t been listening at all to her, which was right, but Chase denied it anyway.
“Sweetheart, I was listening, I’m just a bit preoccupied with my meetings today. I’ll pick up your dress from the designer and we can catch a late dinner at Magu. Okay?” She let out an unladylike sound from the other end of the device and complained that she wanted something more American, and better suited for her new outfit. Chase rolled his eyes, not for the first time during the conversation.
“Madeline, I don’t have time to take you for a full night on the town tonight. I still have a lot of work to do. I’ll take you out this weekend. We’ll go to that little restaurant you like, and then we can go to the ballet.” He could picture her weighing the options of pushing for his attention tonight and possibly losing a full date in a couple of days. Finally, she submitted and allowed him to hang up the phone. He breathed a deep sigh that he had gotten off so easily. He simply had to pick up a dress that should be at the desk for her before he left and he would see her tomorrow. He would have the whole evening to relax after his meeting with Antoinette – and then her step-father.
Chase turned and headed for the lounge, he could see Antoinette’s auburn hair peaking from above the lacquered finish of one of the booths and he stopped at the bar to order a shot of Jager and then an Amber Bock beer. He quickly downed the shot and left the glass on the counter, preferring to pick up a paper coaster and his beer only before heading to the table. Toni was twirling a lemon wedge around with her straw in a condensed glass of ice water. He watched her as she lifted one manicured finger to trace a line of droplets down the side of the smooth clear glass, wiping the tip of her finger on the napkin folded under the full liquid. He didn’t say a word as he slipped into the booth opposite her, and settled the coaster and drink on the aged wooden surface. He bit the inside of his lips, and then puckered them, studying her forehead and as much of her down turned face he could see. She seemed to be afraid to look at him. He gave a little cough, hoping she would look up and it wouldn’t startle her too much. She finally glanced up, catching his eye for a moment before looking down again.
“Chase, I . . . uh . . .” She nibbled fascinatedly for a second on her bottom lip and Chase found that he couldn’t take his eyes away. He couldn’t help it, his lips turned upward into a smile, and he was unable to bit back a little laugh as he dipped his head to try to get her to look up again.
“Could it be, that Miss So Sure doesn’t know where to begin. That my little debate queen has nothing to say?” Chase hated to rile her up, but it was the only way he knew to break her out of her seeming self-loathing slump. She looked up at him and narrowed her eyes. “Ah, there she is.” He gave another short laugh as he took a small sip of his beer.
“Forget it, Brighton. You already know, so there’s nothing to talk about.” Toni made to get out of the booth, but he leaned forward and grabbed her arm, effectively cutting off her escape. “Let me go. I have nothing to say to you.”
“Come now, Toni. Don’t run away. We can be civilized about this. Am I to assume that I am the father? I haven’t heard any new Miami gossip lately, but from what I gleaned from your sister, you have been rather busy to be club hopping in the sunshine state.” Toni jerked her arm out of his grip and settled herself back onto the cushions.
“Yes,” she sighed the word, taking a sit of her water. “I am pregnant – as best I can figure, and my doctor, who is busy planning tests and ultrasounds, is about 4 months. They are recommending cystic fibrosis testing since I don’t know anything about my father’s side of the family and I could be a carrier. I suppose they are going to recommend you get tested as well. I’m not sure what other testing he has planned, but that’s the last thing he told me.” Chase flinched slightly at the thought of blood being drawn from his person. “Don’t worry, you won’t have to give blood, squeamish. The father can be tested by a mouth swab – just a little rough brush from the inside of your cheek like biology class.” She seemed cockily pleased about his aversion to needles. It wasn’t as if they scared him, he just didn’t care for the sight of the blood being leaked out of his veins.
“That sounds fine. I’d be more than happy to stop into the doctor, or hospital, or whatever and have the test done.” He could see her visibly relax and wondered if she thought he would fight her for anything. “From your expression, you were expecting a fight.” Her lips twisted thoughtfully, and not for the first time, he admired how different she was from Madeline. Madeline would have come in guns blazing, demanding money for something or other. Then again, Madeline wouldn’t have been pregnant in the first place since she wasn’t very good with children and was deathly afraid that having one would ruin her figure, and after that, all her fun. She could pretend, but it was more than obvious. He knew, on the other hand, that Antoinette had helped to raise her younger sisters. She glowed now from the pregnancy and would make an outstanding mother. He paused for a moment to wonder what a family with her would be like.
“Not a fight, but something more, I guess. Did you want to come with me to the next appointment? Or would you prefer to be at a distance? There, but not.” She took another sip of her water, waiting for his reaction and he couldn’t believe she had asked him at all, rather than telling him to back off. His astonishment much have shown on his face, because she smiled sheepishly and turned her head.
“Actually, I would love to be there. Your. . .our child deserves to know both parents.” He smiled again and lifted her fingers into his palm. “We both know our own parents had a little difficulty with that, but we turned out okay. There is no reason that any child we have wouldn’t turn out even a slight bit better.” He smiled and rubbed the back of her palm with his thumb. Just as he thought she might be more relaxed, the ridiculous tone Madeline had programmed into his phone for herself broke the light mood with its glaring obnoxiousness. Toni pulled back her hand and cocked one manicured eyebrow.
He could see her start to close herself off from him, but from her reaction, he should be able to break down some of the walls again. Chase sighed and answered his phone, watching Toni leave the bar to head up to her mother’s room. He wondered if she would pull herself completely away from him and they would be starting from square one all because of a stupid phone call from Madeline or if they would be able to move forward like the responsible adults they were talking about. Madeline’s nasal voice buzzed in his ear, and he made a few non-committal grunts and let her ramble for a few seconds before cutting her off cleanly.
“Madeline, I was in a meeting and I still have another planned for tonight. I can not take you to the ballet. Now, I can call you when I am finished with my last meeting and we can discuss plans for later, or I can call you tomorrow. Either way, I have to go and I don’t want you calling back and interrupting my meetings.” Chase felt slightly bad about being so harsh with her, but enough was enough. Maybe she would get the hint this time. Either way, he now had to beard the dragon in its lair and face Antoinette’s mother and step-father upstairs.








Word count: 1,758 words
Total Word Count: words ( words less than day 8 goal)
Words Left:
Days Left: 22 days

“Oh yes ,” she lied, splaying her fingers above her bosom with a sigh, amazed at how easily the words poured out of her cinnamon painted lips, “I’m thoroughly addicted to torrid love affairs, you know, because I always fall in love with men that are soon to be wed, and just before the wedding he tells her that it’s over because he loves me and we can run off and live happily ever after.” Antoinette closed her fingers around her thin silver chain, twirling the locket with her thumb. She fluttered her eyelashes and smiled, even if she wasn’t sure if she liked the purr of her voice. It appeared to roll well off her tongue, even if she was being facetious, but sounded strangely fitting coming out of her mouth. Chase watched as she forced herself to focus her attention back on her companion instead of the imaginary future, unconsciously curling her lips into a sneer.

“Yea, well, that’s bullshit. That’s not how it happens here, even if this place acts like Middle England. You soon as well get over it, cause the world doesn’t give a damn.” Antoinette Marie Duke smiled cynically; raising the dark plain shot glass poised in her fingertips in a silent salute before swallowing the amber contents in a quick gulp. He watched as she flinched, the liquid scorching its way down her throat, and he knew it was settling the little flutter of nerves. If she was anything like him, she had butterflies banging against the walls of her stomach that arose the moment he had lit up the door way to her favorite hole-in-the-wall hide out. That felt better coming from her: contemptuous and mocking were a much better fit. As usual, she hid within her mocking approach rather than appear vulnerable. She would refuse to show any sign of weak to Chase Brighton now that she had groveled once before. He watched as she looked around the dimly lit bar for something, anything to look at instead of him. But he knew that not even the twisting swirls of the mahogany bar counter could hold her attention against his nearness. He felt it too, there was no way she couldn’t feel the attraction they had always shared, regardless of what she wanted.

“You know, not much will ever be accomplished if you always keep that attitude about it.” Calmly, surely, Chase took a sip of the foamy gold mixture in front of him. He tried not to make a face as the lukewarm beverage – if you could call it that as it was hardly refreshing – slithered around his mouth and down his throat like the tongue of an over-zealous hooker. It wasn’t his usual drink, but the stale beer would suffice until he could get out of this dive bar and back to the 35th story office he had left to meet with her. Toni cocked her head to the side and stared at him through cracked eyes, her arms crossing over her growing bosoms. He wondered how much longer she would be able to wear the same tops. Slowly her tongue slipped out to rub over her dry lips as she weighed her word choice carefully, her upper lip nearly curling back into the sneer Chase could feel forming. He had to tamp down the reaction to just kiss it off her lips.

“What attitude? You can’t believe that just hoping my issue will disappear will make it pull some kind of David Copperfield shit and poof it’s gone just like that. Just snap your tan manicured fingers and it’s not a problem anymore.” She ran her tongue across her teeth and pulled her lips apart with a loud smack. “Your money won’t buy your way out of this one Chase, it doesn’t matter who you pay off. They still know. They always know.”

“Don’t condescend me, Toni. You were the one that decided to barge into my office and demand that we talk. I didn’t make you fall in love with me, nor did I lead you to believe we would have any kind of future.” As much as he wanted to, he knew she wouldn’t want to fit neatly into his little world, and getting rid of Madeline had proved harder than he had expected.“You know I have to marry a debutante. I’m going to be a politician, that’s how this works. You know that.” The lie stung, but he kept his face passive. Senator-to-Be Chase Anthony Brighton set his beer mug on the lacquered wooden table and motioned for the waitress. She nodded in response and turned to ring up his tab.

Uncrossing one arm to toy with the lemon in her water glass with the tip of her straw, Toni watched the girl from the corner of her eye and told Chase told himself that she wasn’t jealous of the girl’s attention to him. After all, his honey blonde hair seemed to attracted more bar flies than he knew what to do with. The poor girl had been staring at him since he made his way through the door. She probably couldn’t help herself, and he wasn’t sure why. Toni probably saw her as just one more notch on the end of his bedpost before the day was over. Chase watched the waitress glare at Toni as if she wanted to hurt her for even looking at him, and Toni glare back as if she couldn’t believe the stupid chit had the audacity to think she wanted anything to do with him.

Chase smiled at Antoinette’s attention to the waitress. Her gold-green eyes darkened for a minute before her ire was turned back toward him. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe that Antoinette was a debutante, or at least that her mother had attempted to make her one, but she believed in marriage for love and he saw political gain. She was an activist, not a quiet society woman. She had proved that by boycotting her own family’s main factory and raising enough money until they revamped their entire factory into a cleaner, greener, and he had to admit, ultimately more efficient affair. Not to mention her own green company in Miami that sponsored more charities than Chase had known existed.

“Toni, be reasonable here.” Chase took the full brunt of her attention, glaring him in the face.

“Don’t you, Toni me. . .” Antoinette sputtered. “You’re right; you didn’t make me fall in love with you. I don’t love you. This is NOT about me. I don’t want you to call off anything to elope with me you arrogant bastard. I don’t even care who you marry or what your job is. The fact is, you know I’m about to have your child.” Chase opened his mouth to correct her assumptions. But, he could watch the ire rising in her body. He wouldn’t dare suggest it wasn’t his child. “No, shut UP! You know it’s yours. I had testing for CF done, remember? Drawn blood from you, me, and sticking needles into my tummy too? They had to make sure my child was okay. You could commit suicide tomorrow for all I care about your sorry ass. I just want a trust fund set up for this baby because I can’t live on my salary alone and care for an infant, she’ll need a part time nanny. So, either you pay up. . .”
Chase frowned at her over the top sarcasm. He remembered the testing all too well, and was just glad they had all been negative. “I won’t just give you money.” He handed the waitress a ten dollar bill in the same motion that he cut Antoinette off, startling the poor girl for a moment, but she retreated quickly when she realized she wasn’t his target. He could see Toni watching her scurry away, longing and wondered if she wished she could do the same so easily. “How do I know you won’t have an abortion and keep the money for yourself?” The devil’s advocate in Chase sprang to life before he could stop it. After all that testing, he didn’t have that to fear.

Flames leapt to life in her eyes as she swung her head to face his accusations head on. “AN ABORTION?! Who the hell do you think you’re dealing with? Do you not realize just how far along I am? Do you not see the freaking baby belly I’m beginning to sport here? Or did you always look at me as fat?” Toni narrowed her eyes at Chase and glared with every ounce of anger she could muster. When she spoke again, she had pulled control of her voice and the barest cold whisper flowed out of her clinched teeth. “I was about to say, in the baby’s name. I don’t want your money for myself, because if it was just me by myself, I would have walked out of your life completely a long time ago, so get over yourself, jerk. There was a reason I hadn’t called for three weeks since you found out. I wouldn’t have called at all if I hadn’t needed you to take that stupid blood test.” Toni looked away again, and he could see her wishing she wouldn’t have called him this time. Chase could see the thoughts and regrets twirling around her pretty head. About now, she would be sure she could have figured out some way to continue her work and take care of the baby as well, but her mother would have convinced her that Chase should pay for her special nanny. Chase had spoken with her step-father, and knew Mrs. Ralston was pressing hard on Toni. He also knew Toni had a soft spot for her benevolent nanny, who was aging, but she had been Toni’s most favored guardian and tutor and she would be perfect for raising the next generation of the their family.

“I’m sorry.” Chase mumbled, not so sure why he had said that. He reasoned that it could have been a legitimate accusation, but in truth he just wanted to see her reaction to the thought, although he should have been happy with an option where he didn’t pay for a child. He wasn’t sure why he had apologized either, but he suspected it was a moot point. She had reacted how some part of him hoped and actually expected she would, but he didn’t know why he cared. He had already decided that she would never marry him. “I know that we both know women like that. I just got carried away. Please forgive me.”

“Oh bite me. That’s the politician talking again. You don’t need to soothe things over with me about that.” She moved her hand through the air as if to soothe out the tension in it. It didn’t seem to be helping in the least, so she returned her hand to her lap, twirling an errant curl between her fingers when it slipped over her shoulder. Somehow they would have to get along for the sake of the child. Thomas had informed Chase that her mother insisted that she mend fences with the young senator-to-be now that her step-father had decided to support his campaign, and Chase couldn’t think of a reason they couldn’t be amiable . Now was as good a time as any to start.

“Look, I’ll set up the account, just give me a couple of days to get everything in order and get rid of my name.” Chase flinched at the look of hatred that passed through Antoinette’s eyes. Not perceptively of course, she couldn’t know that he was affected by her in any way, just as she blinked to hide her own response, but couldn’t cover it as quickly as he knew she wished to. “Toni, you of all people know that if the press got a hold of this, they’d have a field day. We know all about ‘they,’ and ‘they’ know all about us. Remember? I don’t care if they know it’s my child, I just don’t want them looking into what money is going where.” Chase also didn’t want her knowing how much would be put at her disposal until it was too late for her to return it. It would also allow her to keep her independence in the eyes of her own enemies. He leaned his elbows on the table and rested his chin in his locked fingers, throwing her earlier words back at her.

“Fine, do what you must. I plan to disappear until after the baby’s born anyway.” Chase frowned. Leaving hadn’t been part of the original plans, but he supposed her mother had been driving her so crazy lately with her ideas about ‘Antoinette and Chase together’ that Toni decided that she would have to escape in one way or another. Since her youngest sister, Bridget would be too busy to be around, vacation would seem like the best option. “I think an island vacation is just the thing I need to escape reporters for a while.” Antoinette sighed and sipped the glass of water that had lain virtually untouched next to her upside down shot glass. “Have you had any problems with the press now that Daddy’s going to sponsor your run? I know you didn’t want it to give the wrong idea, but I think he’s right in saying it will show that there isn’t any hard feelings between our families.”

“You do that. As a matter of fact, stop by the office tomorrow and I’ll give you the keys to the villa on Kythria It’s quiet and I can reach you, or you me, should anything happen. Your father has been most gracious in this campaign and I would hate to leave you renting some place.” Chase smiled as his memory supplied snippets of the week they had spent on the beaches near the villa. If he had to go back and pinpoint a date, he guessed the baby had been conceived sometime during those lazy summer weeks, but exactly when would be harder to trace. It didn’t matter. She was going to have a baby. His baby. That alone should have scared him out of his wits, but remarkably, he thought Toni would be beautiful with a full rounded baby tummy. She wasn’t one of those blond stick figures, but her rounded curves easily supported her growing bump and the glowing skin that accompanied it. He closed his eyes and pictured her as she had been that week. It had only been barely five full months since then, but his fingers still itched for the warmth of her skin. It was easy for Chase’s imagination to supply an overflowing stomach underneath her cotton summer dress. He pushed the smile away with a tight grimace. Those times were over and while pleasurable, he had no reason to think of revisiting them. He had returned to get married as his station demanded and Antoinette had made it clear that she would not be that woman.

“The villa? Are we talking about the same villa that this whole mess started at? Chase, I can’t go there.” She didn’t mention anything about not wanting to stir up old feelings and memories. “I’m just going to head to the summer home on Tahiti. My sister should be in Europe until May, so my parents will spend the winter in Los Angeles. Kaitlin’s show is supposed to be in January, so she and Bridgette will spend the months until then tweaking the line and organizing the shows in Paris before the tour.” Toni sipped her water again, but he could see her glance again at the shot glass, clearly well aware of her need to stop social drinking, if not for her health, then for the baby’s. Her cigarette pack lay on the end of the table and he could see her mentally curse. Her smoking would have to stop for the baby’s sake as well, but her cigarettes were a bit harder to put down than the tequila or bourbon bottle, Chase knew that from experience. From the number in the pack, he could tell that she had cut back dramatically to only a few a week, but hadn’t been able to go cold turkey. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to spend any great amount of time in the villa.”




Word count: 2,735 words
Total Word Count: 12,917 words (419 words less than day 8 goal)
Words Left: 37,083
Days Left: 22 days

Toni smiled at the doorman as she slipped into the front door of the St. Regis Hotel. Her heels clicked against the expensive tile floor as she waved farewell and headed for the front desk. She needed to speak with her father before she headed up the elevator and into her mother’s domain. She reached the counter and requested use of their phone to call a guest’s room. The receptionist smiled and politely refused, stating that the phone was for guest use only. Toni smiled back, but unfortunately for the young girl, it was not a nice look.

“My name, darling, is Antoinette Duke. Please ring room 329 and tell Mr. Ralston, and only Mr. Ralston, that is step-daughter is in the lobby wishing to speak with him. My mother will only stay in room 329 and I don’t think you would prefer to lose her business over something as trivial as the use of the phone.” Toni hated to have to throw her name around in this hotel, but this girl was obviously new. The attendant helping other customers on the other side of the counter looked up and smiled, rushing over to greet her, completely ignorant of her request to his co-worker.

“Toni, how are you, dear? We haven’t seen you in ages! Are you waiting for your family?” He smiled and started to pick up the receiver, the number etched in his memory.

“Actually, Charles, I was hoping to speak with Daddy for a few minutes in private before going up. Can you ring him for me?” He nodded, the phone already ringing. She smiled calmly at the senior attendant and waited for him to get off the phone. She didn’t bother to look back at the woman next to him. The young receptionist smiled in embarrassment and backed away from the station to attend, or pretend to attend, to another issue. Charles laid the receiver in the cradle and smiled warmly.

“He’ll be down in a few minutes, Ms. Duke. He requests that you meet him in the bar with a drink.” He laughed gently. “I’m guessing if you want to meet with him in private, he’ll need it.” Charles waved her off as he returned to his duties. Antoinette smiled warmly at him and with a little wave, turned toward the bar. Her step-father only ever drank one drink: Seagrams Seven and Seven-Up, Toni could only hope they still served both drinks here. She walked up to the barkeep and ordered his drink, debating one for herself, and reluctantly deciding against it as she requested a glass of lemon water and carried them over to a corner booth. Charles had been correct she thought as she watched the elevator bank – her step-father made it down in record time. He slid into the booth next to her and took a long swallow of his drink, savoring the liquid. Refreshed, he turned to her and asked what was wrong. Since, he could not see her stomach below the table level in the booth, Toni skated briefly around her problem before diving into her predicament. There was no question of paternity or what she would do with the child in her mind, she just wanted her ‘daddy’s support before facing the she-dragon of her mother. She knew she could count on his support no matter what happened, but she refused to surprise him and put him on the spot in front of her mother and sisters. Thomas Ralston had taken Toni in as one of his own when he had married her mother. She had become as close to him as his own son, who was a few years Toni’s senior. Thomas Jr. had no problem treating her as a sister, either. As if by fate, Toni had been more like her step-father in coloring and disposition than she had ever been like her mother. She had only seen her real father once or twice, and then she was not introduced. It was her mother’s expression that had given away the woman’s once affection turned to scorn and Toni had avoided pressing the issue. But, then her mother had met Thomas Ralston at a beauty pageant in Dallas that she had dragged Antoinette and Madeline into, and that as they say, had been the end of it. Thomas was everything her mother had been looking for, and while Toni had not won the pageant, more by choice than anything else, she now had something more important to her to keep her involved. Thomas was rich, newly divorced, and able to completely dote on Analise anyway she wanted. Thomas wanted a full family and a faithful wife, and Analise wanted nothing more than to be adored. She would be faithful to the end to anyone who treated her like a princess and bought her jewelry. Love had come later, but it had come and so had Toni’s half-sister Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn was a bare year younger than Thomas’s daughter, Bridgette, as Thomas’s divorce had been spurred by his pregnant wife’s unfaithful personality. He had no trouble keeping the tiny girl and thrusting her into the care of a new mother and a loving older sister. Antoinette had been nearly 8 at the time, and Thomas Junior, more often called Tommy or T.J. to his friends, had been in his 14th year. Antoinette had never had a real family before T.J. and she had dogged his every step until Bridgette and Kaitlyn had come along. From that point until the time she had left for college on the west coast, she had been her sisters’ greatest care taker, providing every minute she could to the young woman who had been Antoinette’s nanny throughout the years. Her mother had spent enough time with the girls to shape them and mold them in the way she had wished for Antoinette, sending them to debutante classes and encouraging the girls to spend extra time keeping their skin perfect and their bodies lean and gorgeous. Bridgette had flourished, now as a fashion designer for a very prestigious up and coming line of dresses using her younger sister as top model and inspiration for every show.

Toni came back to the present from her thoughts as her father had finished soaking in her story and posed a quick question to her, trying to understand how his daughter was feeling.

“Toni,” he smiled. She returned the smile, thankful that her step-father called her Toni rather than Antoinette, as her mother always did. “I was going to sponsor Mr. Brighton as a bid for Senate in South Carolina this coming year. If you don’t feel comfortable spending that much time with him, due to your situation, I can find someone else to support him and leave our name out of it.”

Toni reached over and hugged Thomas Ralston. “Not at all, Daddy.” She leaned back in her seat and patted his hand. He had aged rather gracefully over the years and was still a very handsome man. She considered her mother unduly luck to have found such a wonderful man. “I think Chase would make a wonderful Senator and he has some great plans for his positions. Also, regardless of my personal situation with him, he deserves your support. I think our family supporting his bid would show that there are no hard feelings between him and I and that we can be civilized modern adults.” Thomas lifted one salt and pepper eyebrow and grinned.

“I am very proud of you, daughter.” Thomas pulled Toni to her feet and began to lead her out of the booth toward the rest of the hotel. “You have become a very lovely and responsible young woman and I think you’ll make a fine mother. I for one, can not wait to be a grandfather.” He reached over to push the elevator button. “Now, let’s go tell your mother.” He had just a little laugh to his voice. The elevator doors dinged open and Thomas led his step-daughter into the small area. As the doors began to close, Toni heard her name from across the lobby, followed by a string of curses as a ringtone echoed in the gilded room. She looked up to see Chase beginning to cross the tiled floor, his cell phone in his hand, still playing the obnoxious tune. Her step-father looked down at her stricken face and frowned.

“Toni.” It wasn’t a nice tone. “You didn’t tell him.” The statement was not a question as he leaned forward and stopped the doors. “Go talk to him first, Toni. You can inform your mother after.” Thomas shooed his step-daughter out of the elevator and back into the lobby and let the door close behind her, effectively cutting off her exit and making her talk to the man in question. She bit her bottom lip and weighed her options for a moment as he frown and debated for a few minutes with the person over the phone. Finally, she walked right past him and back into the bar, not hesitating this time to order a strong shot of Maker’s Mark whiskey and another glass of lemon water sit down at the table in the back. Toni braced herself as she slammed the shot back and placed the glass on the table, using the burn of the shot to fortify her nerves a little. She waited for a few more minutes, sure he would be a while with the unwanted phone call, but that call gave her a few minutes to calm her nerves. She wasn’t sure why she felt so nervous all of a sudden. It wasn’t as if he was a stranger, or worse, a one-night-stand she was meeting up with again. This was Chase. The same Chase she had grown up with, swinging from trees and jumping in lakes. They would just have to act like adults and talk this over calmly. He sauntered into the bar a few minutes later, a frown marring his model-friendly features. Toni was absolutely sure this conversation was not going to go well, and she wondered why she had the sudden urge to run.



Word count: 1,693 words
Total Word Count: 10,182 words
Words Left: 41,511 words (1,487 words less than day 7 goal)
Days Left: 23 days