CHAPTER 30

In the three weeks they had been married, Chadwick was becoming more and more confused about the lady he married.  After the first week he expected Madison to demand he take her back to her father’s home, but every evening when he came home, she was enthusiastically waiting for him with a cheerful smile.  She seemed to adore their cottage.  Every night she animatedly related to him about her day, what she and Buttons got up to in the garden, or how she and Beth rearranged the furniture either in the sitting room or their bed chamber.  It irked him immensely that she never once questioned him about his day, where he went to each day, or what he did.

The ever resourceful groom, Buttons had built a picturesque water pond on the side of the cottage, attracting birds and frogs.  The property now had an abundance of poultry and livestock.  There were fowls, ducks and rabbits running around.  Chadwick had introduced sheep, pigs and goats.  Occasionally he brought home fresh trout or salmon, Madison did not know where it came from.  She assumed he bought it at the market.  It did not matter where it came from, she delighted in the delicacy, he seldom treated her to.

‘Darling oh good, you are home early’ Madison exclaimed, as she hugged Chadwick the second he waltzed through the door.  She had heard his carriage coming to a sharp halt outside. ‘I have a surprise for you.’

‘Good afternoon my wife,’ he laughed.  ‘What is this surprise?’  Chadwick had sped home.  He had been impatient to take her for a drive.

‘Close your eyes,’ she murmured, taking his hand and opening his palm.  Obediently Chadwick closed his eyes and was startled when he felt the very familiar texture of four gold coins being placed in the palm of his hand.

‘What is this?’ He looked at her ominously.  She knew her husband’s stubborn pride.  Had he not demonstrated that to her when he had arrogantly rejected her father’s dowry?  Cautiously she began to explain.

‘We have been selling eggs and our own fresh produce in the market,’ she smiled tentatively.  Beth even baked biscuits and pastries so we could sell them.  This is from the profit we have made,’ she could not contain her happiness.

‘It is yours,’ he shoved it back into her hand.  ‘Use it on yourself.  Buy yourself gowns---slippers.’  He did not even have the grace to look her in the eye.  In the three weeks they had been married, he had not once bought her a ribbon for her hair, let alone a dress, neither had she asked him for a single thing he painfully reminded himself.

‘I thought perhaps we could build a wash room at the back of the cottage, attached to our bed chamber,’ she studied the coins he had dumped back into her hand as if it had burned a hole in his palm.  When Madison dared to lift her eyes up to Chadwick’s he saw the threatening moisture pooling in her eyes.

He swallowed furiously at the saliva forming a lump in his throat.  That was another lack, his wife had silently endured.  In her father’s home, she had a wash room in her own chamber.  Here in this cottage, Buttons performed the ritual morning and night.  He carried the bath from outside, filled it with hot water for when she and Chadwick took their baths and removed it when they were done.  Instead of being appreciative or a little compassionate, the sinister beast in Chadwick reared its ugly head again, fuelled by his incapacity to deal with his wife’s threatening tears.  It was the first time, he had seen them.

‘I am acutely aware you were spoilt with every conceivable luxury in your father’s house,’ Chadwick ranted, ‘but you are married to me now.  Do not expect to be mollycoddled,’ he growled harshly. 

Madison’s eyes widened.  She was not making any demands on his financial resources.  Surely the gold coins were more than sufficient.  She was even certain there would be change left over.  Last week she had enquired with Buttons on the material that would be required to build the bath.  When she, Beth and Buttons had gone into the market, Madison had mentally calculated the prices of all the material that was required.  She was more than happy that the four gold coins she had been safely keeping was more than sufficient. 

She and Buttons had already done so much from their profits.  Every room had been white when she moved in.  She and Buttons had painted every room in a different colour that Madison had specifically chosen.  The sitting room was now an attractive leaf green.  Their bed chamber was a natural earth brown to blend with the mahogany furniture Chadwick had installed there before her arrival.  Madison had been delighted at the bright sunflower yellow paint that she found and duly painted the kitchen in the gorgeous yellow, giving it an attractive alluring glow especially at night.  

“‘Mollycoddle?”’ she repeated in astonishment.  ‘But this---,’ she directed her gaze to the precious coins in her hand, ‘is more than sufficient.  We can build it with this money,’ the deflated look on her face, made him pull her into his arms and assure her all was well, but he was not done castigating Madison.

‘If you are not content with what I have provided you with my lady,’ he waved aimlessly around the cottage, perhaps I should take you back to your father.  Clearly I am not good enough for you,’ he spat viciously.

Madison was speechless.  What on earth was wrong with him?  Most evenings he came home happy and in a good mood.  He would take her eagerly into his arms and kiss her until she was breathless.  On one or two occasions he had carried her into the bed chamber and did with her what they normally looked forward to after supper. 

If he had had a bad day doing whatever he had been doing, surely it was unfair to take it out on her.  How could he be so harsh?  Madison flung the coins on the floor and rushed into their chamber.  She slammed the door and threw herself on the bed, and sobbed her sorry heart out. 

How could he threaten to take her back to her father?  She did not want to go back to her father.  She loved him too much.  She was not prepared to lose him over a stupid wash room.  She managed so far. She could manage for the rest of her life.  At least she was thankful for the cottage and sweet Buttons who heated water for her and Chadwick each day.  Her husband was mostly a loving man.  if she asked for anything he ranted like a wild boar.  Madison must just remember in the future never to ask for a single thing, then she would not have to risk his wrath.  She could put up with Chadwick’s arrogance.  It was tolerable compared to the emptiness she would endure without him.  She had been there.  She knew the loneliness.  She would never go there, ever again.  It was just too much of pain.  Now that she knew and looked forward to the passion and love he freely gave her each night, she would never give him up.  Never.  She would put up with his self-importance.  It was surely a small price to pay. 

The door opened rather slowly.  She did not need to look up.  She knew those footsteps only too well.  Madison brushed her eyes furiously.  He must not see her crying.  He probably did not want a weak, frail wife that crumbled every time he raised his voice.  But Madison was most surprised at what happened next.  She felt the heavy weight of a knee sink into the mattress.  The familiar musk scent of her husband engulfed her sense of smell. Madison was lifted and turned on her back.  Her eyes fluttered opened and she stared into the most tender eyes.  His thumb gently trailed over her eyes.  His head lowered, his lips brushed hers affectionately. 

‘I am sorry,’ his husky voice pleaded passionately. 

Madison gazed into the dark smouldering eyes.  Her hands flew around his neck, she pulled him lower.  Her lips captured his in an aggressive display of possession.    This was her husband.  He was never getting rid of her.  He was hers and she aimed to keep him.  F.

‘I won’t go,’ she sobbed against his throat.  ‘I won’t.’  Chadwick lifted his head to look into her troubled eyes.

‘You won’t go where?’ he asked.