She cradled her growing belly and winced as she left the Houston, Texas mansion on a rainy night. The house had pledged to cherish and protect her. Her husband’s last words sounded cold to her:
“Throw it away.” That baby is a lot of effort. “I want to be free.”
She came back with two kids instead of one seven years later. And she had a well-thought-out plan to make the man who injured her feel every bit of the pain he created.
Fall of 2018. There is a gate around the River Oaks community. A cold wind blew through the big entry hall of a beautiful house. Madison Cole sat silently on the edge of a leather couch, her hands protectively on her stomach, where two lives were growing, weak and strong. She never thought she would be terrified about becoming pregnant, certainly not because of her husband.
Ethan, the man she had once trusted with everything, was not the same. Since he got successful and powerful in the software world, he had become distant, arrogant, and emotionally cruel. He hasn’t been home in a while. When he did talk, he didn’t say much.
He put down his whiskey one night at dinner and said in a cold voice:
“Stop the pregnancy.” I can’t be tied down right now. There’s too much on the line.
Madison looked at him in disbelief.
People stated that Natalie, the daughter of a famous Texas senator, was searching for unmarried men who were good with money and had political potential. Ethan had never hidden his ambition to do well.
“You’re nuts, Ethan.” That’s your child!
He didn’t move at all. “It’s in my way.” If you do, don’t expect me to retain it.
That night, Madison made a choice.
She put together a little bag, hid the ultrasound photo of her twin sons, grabbed a few things she needed, and slipped away into the night. No idea. No place to go. Just a tremendous desire to protect her unborn children.
She drove west till the gas tank was practically empty. Los Angeles was crazy and never-ending, but it did give people some space. She found a little studio apartment in East Hollywood there. Yolanda, an older woman, heard her story and allowed her stay there for free for a few months.
Madison worked all the time, selling used clothes online, waiting tables at night, and performing random tasks around the house. She wouldn’t stop, even though she was quite pregnant.
The day she went into labor, she fell at a laundromat. Yolanda rushed her to the ER soon away. A few hours later, Madison had two healthy baby boys. She named them Caleb and Micah, which are both strong and promising names. She wouldn’t let the future get away from her.
The next couple years were hard.
She worked two shifts. She studied while she was sleeping. In the end, she accomplished a wellness and cosmetology program. Over time, she got better at what she did, became more interested in it, and felt more sure of herself.
When Caleb and Micah were five years old, she launched her own spa in Westwood called “Madison’s Touch.” Her intelligence, hard work, and modest grace quickly made her name known.
“Mom, do we have a father?” One night, Micah asked.
Madison just smiled. “We did.” But he chose a different path in life. And what now? “All we need is us.”
It was a damp morning, same like the night she left when the twins were seven, and Madison stood in front of her mirror. The fearful, hurt woman was gone. A mother stood in her position, sturdy, polished, and unshaken.
She unlocked her phone, searched for flights to Houston, and murmured quietly,
“It’s time.”
George Bush Intercontinental is the name of the airport. Breeze in October. Caleb and Micah were on each side of her, their suits clean and their eyes wide open. “Mom, why are we here?” one of them asked.
“To show you where I came from,” she said.
But she had been getting ready to come back for over a year.
Madison had learned everything there was to know about Ethan from public records and private detectives. He was Natalie’s husband. Their son was six years old. Ethan was now the Vice President of the company that Natalie’s father ran that invested money. At first, it looked like it would work. There were classes for moms and their babies to get to know one other.
What goes on behind closed doors, though? His life was going apart.
Natalie was in control. She was in charge of his money, his work choices, and even his social media. Every affair was prevented before it could even begin. Ethan, who used to be very driven, was like a statue in a glass house.
Madison sent Caleb and Micah to the same private school as Ethan’s son. She rented a high-rise condo in The Woodlands and opened a second spa called “Essence by Madison” just a few minutes from Ethan’s office.
She never called him.
She didn’t need to say anything about her accomplishments.
Two weeks later, Ethan came to a nice hotel in the midst of the city to be a company sponsor at a health and beauty conference.
When he came to the ballroom, he froze in his tracks.
Madison got up on stage to give the main speech regarding new spa technologies.
She didn’t look at him once.
For the rest of the day, Ethan couldn’t focus. He found her business card in the gift bag for the event that night and wrote her a text.
She agreed to meet.
In Houston’s downtown area is Café Louie. Ethan sat uncomfortably with a cup of coffee that was going cold.
When she walked in, the room altered.
“Madison,” he replied in a gentle voice. “You look great.”
She sat down. “I didn’t come back to make you happy.”
“I need to find out what happened.” “What about the baby?”
“Two boys.” Caleb and Micah. They’re doing quite well.
“Why now?”
“To show my sons the face of the man who left them before they were born.” And to make sure you know what it’s like to be thrown aside.
After that, things became strange.
A large wellness company discontinued its collaboration with Ethan’s business and instead secured a deal with Madison’s spa. Sensitive internal memos were posted online. One of Ethan’s sponsored goods had a licensing problem that swiftly circulated to wellness communities.
Madison was the one who told on them. Her tracks were perfect.
In the interim, she became a local success story by giving talks at events for single moms, receiving media attention, and building a new empire.
Natalie payed attentive.
She found out that Micah and Caleb were in the same grade as her child. And curiously, they looked like Ethan.
Things fell apart rapidly.
At a charity gala, Natalie publicly confronted Ethan. Her father fired him from his position at the company the next week. The people who were going to pay for it backed out. Friends broke up with each other.
Ethan sent Madison another message on a rainy day.
They got together again.
“Was this… revenge?” he asked.
Madison shook her head.
“No.” Revenge is all about anger. This talk is about being clear. I wanted you to feel what I felt that night, when there was a storm and I had two lives inside me and no one to talk to.
There were two birth certificates on the table.
Father’s name: not filled out.
“My boys don’t need a father. They need a future. And I am enough.
She stood up and left without looking back.
One lovely morning in Houston, Caleb and Micah rode their bikes through the park. Madison sat on a seat, holding a cup of coffee and looking serene.
She didn’t build her life out of anger; she built it with a goal in mind.
She didn’t gain her strength from what she left behind.
It was in what she became.