“Oh, my God! Jesse!” I said, my head spinning.
“We’ve got to find her, Maisey. If we can get her to a doctor, we can get her help. It’s her heart, Maisey. There’ve been so many breakthroughs since Nina died! I’ve spent a damn fortune on research and development of treatment and a cure. Everybody thought Nina had asthma too… We didn’t know what was wrong until it was too late, but now there’s help for these kids. There’s help for Maddy.”
“I can’t think about this right now… I just can’t. Turn right here,” I murmured with a huge lump in my throat. We got to the park and I told Grady to pull over so I could jump out. Jesse and I ran around the park calling her name and looking for her. I could see he was in pain as he moved faster than he had any business moving at this point in his therapy, but I wasn’t about to stop him. We had to find her… It was getting dark and it was taking all my strength not to break down completely.
“Think, Maisey. There’s gotta be somewhere else Maddy would go. Someone she trusts? A favorite place?”
“Oh! Of course!” I cried, grabbing Jesse’s hand and running back to his car. “Eddie! I bet she went to see Eddie!”
39
JESSE
“He’s not answering,” Maisey said, her voice quivering in fear as she hung up her phone. I glanced over at her as Grady raced through the neighborhood towards Eddie’s house. I reached over and grabbed her hand, squeezing it.
“We’ll find her,” I said.
“Maybe I should call the police?” she asked.
“How far are we from Eddie’s?”
“About two minutes,” she replied.
“If she isn’t there, we’ll call the police,” I said. “Don’t worry.”
Her eyes were frantically searching every corner and alley we passed. “She’s everything to me.”
“I know, Maisey. Stay calm. She’s upset, that’s all.”
“She’s never done this before…” her voice trailed off.
“What did you tell her?” I asked. “About me? About her father?”
“I didn’t really have to say much. She never asked a lot of questions. I just told her you weren’t in our lives, that it was just the two of us. It’s always been like that, she didn’t know any different.”
“I see,” I replied, biting my tongue. I was angry, that much was undeniable. But I would deal with my anger later because right now none of that mattered, and I knew it. The past was the past. I had to deal with what was in front of me right now and nothing more. Once we found Maddy, we’d come to terms with everything else one thing at a time. Miraculously, my anger was being overshadowed by worry and love.
“Jesse, I’m so sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing at the time,” Maisey said, her voice full of sorrow and regret.
“We were just kids, Maisey. We both were. You should have come to me, we would have figured things out together. You didn’t have to do it alone.”
“I told myself it was the right thing to do, it was the only way,” she said, shaking her head. I took a minute to watch the tears streaming down her beautiful face. “I was so wrong. I fucked everything up.”
“Maisey, stop it. We’ll figure this out,” I squeezed her hand harder. “We’re together now. That’s all that matters. The past is in the fucking past.Right now, we just need to focus on finding Maddy and getting her to the best doctors in Colorado. I know all the leading specialists.”
“I never even thought of it being genetic, Jesse,” she said. “You’re so healthy… So strong…”
“Don’t blame yourself, Maisey. You did what you thought was right at the time. That’s the best any of us can do.”
“You’re amazing,” she said, looking over at me.
“So are you, babe,” I replied. “You’ve been strong for so long. Let me be the strong one now, okay?”
She nodded, the tears flowing faster now, as she squeezed my hand back.
Two minutes later, we pulled up in front of a pink bungalow with purple trim, surrounded by elaborate and meticulous gardens on each side, and a huge rainbow flag hanging by the front porch. Grady parked in front of it, and Maisey jumped out, running up the curved walkway and ringing the bell. I followed behind her, my heart racing as we waited.
“Eddie!” Maisey pounded on the front door and after a few seconds, a very large, very made-up man in a gold sequined floor-length gown answered the door.
“She’s here! She’s here, calm down!” he said, his voice high and feminine as he flung open the door, gesturing for us to come in. “She’s upset and she’s in my back den, but she’s calming down now. Best to let her be for a bit. I was just getting ready for work,” he said, as we walked in past him. His gaze raked over me like I was a pork chop on a platter, and I cringed when he licked his lips. “Who are you, pretty boy?”