A Beauteous Flower Ch. 13

"Oh, no!"

Madison sagged, awash in failure. She was so vile that she couldn't even lure Daniel's cat to her with a handful of food. Gandalf didn't trust her and all she had done to Gandalf was put him in the closet. How much worse was what she did to Daniel? How would she get her heartbroken husband to give her a second chance if his cat wouldn't give her a second chance? Whether she liked it or not, it was time to face the facts. Madison's marriage to Daniel was over. He would divorce her and there was nothing she could do about it. Madison sobbed and pressed her forehead down on the cold floor in defeat.

"Oh, God," she wept miserably.

Just then Madison sensed a small, skittish presence very near to her.

"Mrrrrrp."

Slowly Madison opened her eyes. Gandalf stood not a foot from her hand and warily sniffed his nose out in her direction. Madison blood roared in her ears, but she forced herself to lie very still. She barely dared to breathe. Any sudden movement might blow it. A mistake here and any hopes she had with Gandalf, and by extension Daniel, would be gone in a furry gray flash.

Gandalf cautiously observed her prone form for a minute and then took a step closer. Again, he stopped and checked to make sure that Madison didn't lunge and attempt to capture him. Then, seemingly satisfied that Madison meant him no harm, Gandalf edged close enough to put his head down and sniff the treats in her hand.

"Good, Gandalf." Madison whispered to the wary cat. "I'll be good to you, I promise."

Gandalf twisted his head at her a few times and then gently licked one of the treats up out of her hand. His tongue was rough on her skin and the sensation caused tingles to run up her arm. Gandalf eyed her warily again and then lapped up another treat. Before long he had eaten all the treats and sat regally in front of Madison to lick his chops for crumbs. Madison decided to take a chance and held up her hand to Gandalf.

To her relief, Gandalf didn't run. Instead, he looked at her hand for a moment and then extended his neck and sniffed her fingers. Madison thought he might want more treats but didn't dare to stand up to go get them. She was this close to a breakthrough with Gandalf, and she didn't want to scare him away. Gandalf continued to sniff her fingers critically.

"I'll be good from now on, Gandalf. Just give me a chance."

Gandalf sniffed a little longer.

"I promise!"

Gandalf left off Madison's fingers and looked around the room. Encouraged by the lack of tension in Gandalf's pose, Madison stretched out her hand a bit closer. She could almost touch his dark gray fur, but she held back. The next move belonged to Gandalf. She had wronged him when she stuffed him in that closet. She owed him the next move.

"Please!" shivered Madison.

Gandalf stood up and Madison suppressed an urge to grab at him. Her heart throbbed in agony. It seemed he would leave just when she thought that she was so close. Her vision blurred so badly with beaten tears she almost didn't see what happened next. Miraculously Gandalf raised his tail and rubbed his face against Madison's outstretched fingers. Madison nearly screamed in relief as Gandalf turned and brushed the gray fur on his right side against her fingers.

"Mrrrrrp!" said Gandalf and began to purr.

"Oh!"

Gandalf turned again and sniffed Madison's fingers. As he did that Madison managed to lightly stroke Gandalf's furry cheek and chin. He seemed to enjoy it.

"Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp!"

Encouraged, Madison scratched Gandalf's ears and Gandalf's purr deepened. When she stopped, Gandalf rubbed her fingers with his face, first one side and then the other.

"Oh, Gandalf!" Madison whispered to him gratefully. "You don't know how much this means to me!"

Gandalf looked at her and Madison smoothly and slowly pushed herself into a seated position to get off the frozen floor. Gandalf regarded her and then gingerly stepped into her lap while he purred and nuzzled at her hand. Gradually his head bunts at her hand got more insistent and Madison took that as her cue that she could pet Gandalf a little more firmly. Madison felt herself relax. That in turn made Gandalf more relaxed and before she knew it, Gandalf sat happily in Madison's lap with his eyes closed as she gently scratched between his ears. Madison felt a surge of gratitude and some of her anxiety about the situation with Daniel ebbed.

"Thank you, Gandalf."

"Mrrrrrwow!"

"Yeah, buddy. Thank you for being here for me. I promise from now on you and I will be friends."

"Rrrrrrrrwow!"

Madison listened to Gandalf's purr, relieved to have his furry warmth with her on a cold night. For the first time in a long while, a few joyful tears rolled down her cheeks and Gandalf must have noticed because he turned his face to Madison, sniffed her nose and licked up some of the tears. Madison giggled a little.

"Mmmrrrrrrrrow."

"Oh, Gandalf. You're special. You're just what I needed, and I didn't know it until right now."

Gandalf gave Madison a noser and she nearly shouted for joy.

"Rrrrrwow."

Madison slowly put her arms around Gandalf and gathered him to her, a little spot of warmth against the lonely cold. Gandalf purred happily and winked his eyes at her.

"Thank God not everyone in Daniel's life hates me!"

"Mrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

Gandalf gave Madison another noser and Madison took that to be Gandalf's agreement that things would be different between them from now on.

"Me too, Gandalf," Madison sighed into Gandalf's fur. "Me too!"

For the rest of the evening, Gandalf still got nervous around Madison when she stood up, but if she sat down, he would come and sit with her. Gandalf's calm, quiet presence reminded her of Daniel and Gandalf turned out to be a good companion. He patiently listened to her talk about Daniel and her goal to win him back and Gandalf didn't judge her or berate her. He just sat quietly and purred and let her prattle on while she stroked his fur. For her part, Madison was glad to have someone listen to her. She even entertained a few thoughts that maybe she might be a cat person after all.

The clock tick-tocked on through the evening and Daniel didn't return. At about ten o'clock, Madison began to worry, but she couldn't even text Daniel because he had blocked her number. Absently Madison tapped her teeth as she tried to decide her next move. What could she offer to Daniel that would grab his attention so that he might let his guard down around her enough for her to apologize and try to make things better? Again, nothing came to Madison's mind. Was there anything she could give him besides her body? She ruefully recalled how badly that had backfired.

"Mmrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

"Good kitty, Gandalf."

Then suddenly with a flick of Gandalf's whiskers, inspiration struck.

"Wait. Gandalf? Maybe...."

Madison grabbed up her phone and Googled the word "Gandalf". Gandalf was a wizard in the story of the Lord of the Rings. Well, she already knew that. What else was there? Gandalf also appeared in J.R.R. Tolkin's book, "The Hobbit" and later in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which formed the basis for the Lord of the Rings movies by Peter Jackson.

Madison put her phone down. A book? Gandalf was from a book?

"Prrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrp."

It was a story! Daniel liked stories! He read books and magazines by the bushel. Maybe she could give him a book he liked? But then she paused. She didn't really know what kind of books he liked, and she knew he already had a copy of that book. What was it again? The Hobbit?

"Think, Madison! Think!"

Wait. What was it Daniel said to the boy at the resort?

"Is that really the story you want to tell your readers?"

Suddenly Madison knew what to do.

"Gandalf," she gushed as she kissed his fluffy gray head. "You're a genius."

Gently she extricated herself from her seat beneath Gandalf and ran up the stairs to her room. There she started up her laptop and tapped the desk impatiently while it booted up. She hoped she had some kind of word processing program on it. She had never needed it before, but if her plan was to work, then she needed it now. Yes! Microsoft Word! She was in business. Now she could tell Daniel the story she wanted him to read, and maybe Daniel would understand and let her apologize to him.

She'd never written anything before. How should she start? "Once upon a time?" Too cheesy. Besides this wasn't a fairy tale. She knew just the story she had to tell Daniel. Wanted to tell him. For the first time she understood why Daniel would sometimes suddenly get up from whatever else he was doing and disappear into the cabin. When the story asked to be told, he simply had to tell it. He was an author. That very thing had just happened to Madison as well and she finally understood.

Her fingers shook as she reached for the keyboard.

"Here goes nothing."

She got stuck on the first few lines, but then the story began to flow, and Madison let it take her along. Before she knew it, she had filled several pages. It was only a first draft, but that was OK. She just needed Daniel to read it, so she could ask him for his feedback, just like the boy at the resort.

Still this confession filled her with fear. What if Daniel didn't like it or thought she was cruel? She felt ashamed and uncertain, but she knew she couldn't stop now. It was the story about her that would explain her behavior to Daniel. It was the story she wanted to tell him and, come what may, she was going to tell him. In her mind it was the only hope her marriage had.

This had to work, because if it didn't, Madison was fresh out of ideas.