Starting Over Pt. 03 Ch. 01

He was not really paying much attention to the games when his phone rang. He looked at it and saw that it was Maggie. He had not had much time with her lately and was doubting that she and he might ever come together. He answered, "Hey, Maggie, good to hear from you." John came suddenly alert and sat up in his chair as he heard Maddie's voice.

"Mr. Jackson? Please help. My daddy and mommy are fighting."

John could hear the sniffling. This was not good. "I'll be right there, sweetie. I am going to hang up now and come right there."

"Okay." She hung up.

John waved to Mary and threw some bills from his pocket on the bar. He raced to his car, speed-dialing Capt. Smithson on the way.

"Jeff, it's John. Just got a call from Maddie saying that her mother and father were fighting. Not sure how bad. May need help."

"Roger. I'm was heading to a buddy's house so I'm in my car. What's the address?"

John provided that quickly.

"Okay, I can be there in 5 minutes. You?"

"Be there in 10."

"Roger, will wait outside."

John raced there and arrived in about 8 minutes. Jeff was sitting outside and as John got out a black and white showed up. John started to race up the stairs to the house, but Jeff stopped him.

"Wait!" When John stopped, Jeff caught up with the uniformed officers right behind him and held John to the side. "We need to go first. You stay outside until we call you in."

Jeff rapped on the door sharply. "Police! Open the door!" There was no answer and then he repeated the order.

Finally, the door slowly opened and Maggie's husband Tom stood there. He looked angry and red-faced. He was sweating.

Jeff was standing directly in front of the door with the two uniformed officers on either side and just behind him. "May we come in?"

"No!" Tom's eyes were darting amongst all three.

Jeff remained calm. "Sir, we received a call from this residence and it reported that there was fighting and our presence was requested. I am going to have to insist that you stand back and let us in. We are going to come in." This time it was not a request.

Tom finally stood back and Jeff and the two officers immediately entered. Things happened quickly after that.

One of the officers stopped and stood in front of Tom. He asked Tom to hold up his hands and did a quick frisk of him. He eventually cuffed him and led him out the door and past John.

Jeff and the other officer went in and looked around. The place had some broken pieces of bric-a-brac and some furniture had apparently been moved around. They went through to the kitchen and found Maggie cowering under the kitchen table that had been pushed up against the wall. She was holding a large carving knife.

"Ma'am, we're the police. Can you please come out and drop the knife?"

Maggie slowly crawled out and placed the knife on the table. She had been roughed up a little and it looked like she might have bruises on her face. They asked how she was, but she just collapsed into a chair and started sobbing. That only lasted about 15 seconds when she suddenly sat up straight and looked around.

"Maddie!? Maddie!?"

Maddie cam running in and leaped into her mother's arms. They hugged and cried.

Jeff went out and got John and asked him to come in. John took in the scene as he moved through the house into the kitchen. It was apparent that there had been a struggle. He cringed at what Maggie and Maddie had been through. He moved over to them and Maggie finally saw him.

"John!" She stood up, still clutching Maddie and hugged him. John hugged them both while the police did their thing.

John moved the three of them into the living room and they all sat on the couch. The police had taken Tom away and were taking some photographs. A policewoman who was trained to deal with these situations showed up. Things were finally calming down.

The police went over the incident with Maggie and after about an hour and a request for her to go to the hospital to document her wounds, the police left. They asked her to come down and sign her statement some time tomorrow before they left.

Maggie asked John to take Maddie to his apartment while the ambulance took her to the hospital to be checked out. He did.

Finally, at about 2am, there was a knock at John's door. He let Maggie in and she went to where Maddie was sleeping and told John she'd see him in the morning. The adrenalin had worn off and she appeared to be exhausted. He watched as she stripped down to her bra and panties and got into bed with Maddie. He went to bed.

It was about 10am when John rolled into the kitchen. There was no sign of the two ladies who had slept in the other apartment. He started cooking some eggs and bacon and the smell must have awakened them as a few minutes later they came in.

They seemed a little subdued, so John kept his talking to a minimum and just asked about how they wanted their eggs and what they wanted to drink.

When breakfast was finished, John started cleaning up and Maggie told Maddie to go pick up her stuff so that they could go home. John watched Maddie disappear and then Maggie came over and put her arms around him.

"John, I want to clear something up." She looked at him.

"Okay." John wasn't sure he wanted to hear this.

"When I moved into my house, I got a lot of advice from my friends about making my own way, dating, and trying to be independent. You understand, right?"

"Sure. Everyone wants to be independent and be able to make their own decisions."

"Well, I have decided to make a decision as an independent woman." She grinned at him.

John was hoping she was being coy and smiled back. "Okay."

Maggie faced him, put her arms around his neck and looked up as she spoke, "I want you in my life. I don't know what is going on in your life right now, but if you want to see me, I'd love to have you in my life. Well, our life. I think I was wrong before when I pushed you away and said that I didn't want to date you. I was trying to be independent, but that means that I am free to chose to be with you, if I want, right?"

"Sure." John was smiling now, and extremely happy.

"I was listening to too many other voices, and not my own. Do you want to be in our lives?"

"Absolutely. I really want nothing more."

"You think you can quit seeing my cousin, Juliet, now?" Fortunately, for John she was smiling.

John wrapped his arms more tightly around Maggie. "Well, I suppose I could be persuaded to do that."

Maggie laid her head on his shoulder. "Good. I really do want to be with you."

John slid his hands down over Maggie's ass and squeezed. He gave her a sly grin. "Mmmm. That sounds good to me. I can't wait to get my hands on this world class ass."

Maggie chuckled. "I can't wait either."

Maddie came back in at that moment. "Hey! Mom, are you and Mr. Jackson kissing?"

Maggie laughed and turned toward Maddie. "Not yet, honey, but I plan on doing that a lot."

Maddie smiled. "Can I come over here more now?"

"Yes, dear. You can come over here a lot. I want to be here a lot, too." Maggie turned and looked back up at John. "At least for now we will be living separately. Right, John?"

John stared at Maggie for a couple of seconds, amazed that she broached that subject. "Yes, for now."

Maggie untangled herself from John and went to Maddie. They gathered their things and left. Maggie kissed John good-bye and Maddie wanted one, too. John smiled and gave her one and they left.

John walked over and sat down on his couch. He smiled and leaned back to look at the ceiling. Was it finally happening? Was Maggie finally coming around? He had felt strongly about her very quickly and felt like a yoyo with the way their relationship had gone. But now things were looking up. They were back to dating and maybe more. And the way she looked at him and the things she said made him think that they would finally be together. Thank god.

The end .