Fanfiction #20 I Wish You Would

I Wish You Would

(I Wish You Were Mine)

Chapter 1

It’d only been a few weeks since Jackson Burke proposed to Madison Carrington.  But already, he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that told him this was all wrong.

Oddly enough, Jackson realized it because of Madison’s younger sister, Mollie.  Madison had basically raised Mollie in the years between their mom’s death and now.  But it was clear to him that Maddie resented her sister. 

She treated Mollie with cold disregard a good eighty percent of the time.  The rest of the time, she was only being nice to get something out of her.  While Mollie was a trooper, Jackson could tell it weighed on her.

And then there was the way Madison began to treat his parents… at first, she’d been perfect, doting daughter-in-law material, but then, as soon as the ring was on her finger, she began to be less considerate.  He pretended not to notice… figured that perhaps it was just a bad day… but soon, most days were bad days, and he got to thinking that maybe this was who Maddie really was. 

Unfortunately, he loved her.  So, he found himself talking to Jerry, his coach- one day after practice… it felt weird, but he honestly felt like this was too personal to share even with his folks… because it was Madison he was concerned about.

After Jackson finished telling Jerry the story, and mentioned that he wasn’t sure if it was just cold feet, or if this was really a sign that he should get out while he could.

Jerry looked a little uncomfortable, but he took a seat on one of the benches in the locker room.

“If she’d done all this before you asked her, would you still have asked?”

“Probably not.”

Jerry nodded.  “I thought so.” And he clapped a hand on Jackson’s back.  “Son, I don’t think it’s cold feet.  It sounds like you really shouldn’t marry her…”

Later on, he arrived at his parents’ house for dinner, and he was pleasantly surprised to see Mollie there.

When she saw him, her face lit up.  “Hi, Jackson.  Your dad invited me over to teach me how to play chess.”

“I’m glad to see he’s found someone to teach.” He went over to her and kissed the top of her head. That was his normal greeting for her. He’d done it so many times at this point, but somehow, this time, her face flushed as if she were embarrassed.

“I’m sorry.  Should I not have done that?”

Mollie didn’t seem to know how to answer that. “I don’t deserve it…” she said in a small voice.

He was confused now.  “Sure you do.  It’s my normal greeting.  It hasn’t changed.”

Mollie sighed, sadly.  “I just found something out, and you’re going to hate me for telling you.  But I can’t lie… and I don’t want to keep secrets from you.  I also don’t want you to make a mistake…”

“What are you talking about, Molls?”

“Which room was yours?” she asked, indicating that this was something he might not want his folks to hear.

“It’s right up here…” he gently took her hand and led her up to his old room. Still decorated with posters and old little league trophies.

Once inside, he shut the door and locked it, sitting her on the bed, and sitting in the desk chair, rolling it over by the bed.

“What is it, Mollie?  What’s got you so upset?”

“I just found out that Maddie is seeing someone behind your back… I’m sorry that was blunt.  But is there really a nice way to break someone’s heart?”

His heart sank for a second.  “Do you know who?”

“His name might be Chad? All I know is he’s a tool.  But she apparently thinks he has something to offer her… I mean, he’s pretty rich… his parents own like every supermarket in a fifty-mile-radius. And he’s a model… But still, I think she’s making a huge mistake.”

“Why’s that?”

“You’re just- so great.  I finally felt like I was going to have a family… and she has to go and screw it up… I mean, I know this isn’t about me… but I think she’s wrong… if I had someone who loved me, I wouldn’t step out on them.  Doesn’t commitment mean anything?”

“It should.  You know, Mollie… even though I’m not thrilled about this news, as you can imagine… I guess it doesn’t surprise me.  And honestly, a thought had entered my mind that perhaps Maddie and I weren’t meant to be together.  Think of how much differently she treats my parents since the engagement…”

Mollie nodded, solemnly. “Yeah.  I noticed.” Fire blazed in her blue eyes. “It makes me so angry because your mom and dad are amazing… I’d kill to have a surrogate family like your folks.”

And that was the moment he knew that he’d been about to marry the wrong Carrington sister. 

So he didn’t say something or do something he’d regret, Jackson simply kissed the top of her head as he tended to do with her, and he said, “I’m glad you told me. I know it was hard for you, but I appreciate your honesty. You saved me from royally fucking things up.”

She smiled for the first time in a while, “Do you kiss your mother with that mouth, Burke?”

Jackson could feel the genuine smile touching his eyes.  He loved it when she got sassy.  He hadn’t noticed it so much upon his first handful of meetings with Mollie, but a lot of that was because he’d been focusing on her sister… which technically was what he’d been supposed to do… but now he was filled with regret that he hadn’t seen how funny and sweet the younger Carrington sister was.

Thinking all this was as far as he’d let himself go at present, since he was technically still with Madison.  But as the night wore on and Mollie stayed for dinner at his parents’ house, Jackson was amazed at how normal it all was- having Mollie there.

It felt natural and right. 

And that made up his mind.  Jackson had to break things off with Madison as soon as possible.  So, he waited until he knew Mollie was in college classes at Texas University for the day, and called Madison for what she thought was a date.

She seemed positively flabbergasted when he broke things off with her.

“I don’t understand why you’re doing this.”

“Because I have to.  I feel like I don’t know you at all… like you became a different person once the ring was on your finger.  And I am afraid that the Madison I loved was just a mirage.  I can’t marry a mirage.  And I don’t want to.”

“Is this because of Chad or the other guys?”

He hadn’t known about the other guys, but it didn’t matter.  He was done with her.

It only stung for a few seconds before he forced it to pass.  “In part, but mostly, it’s because I don’t want to regret my marriage and if you’re a completely different person than I thought and you can’t even stay faithful when we’re only dating or engaged, then I know I can’t trust you to be faithful when we’re married.  So, I can’t.  I’m done, Maddie.   Have a nice life.”

And he turned on his heel and walked back to his truck, driving off, ending back at his place, a Houston mansion which he’d technically bought before he could really afford it… but that was his one really bad money mistake…

Jackson had a feeling that if he’d ignored his gut and married Madison Carrington, he would have been in for a world of hurt.  He’d be paying out alimony like nobody’s business.

But now, that was over and Madison was out of his life.

He slept easier that night.  But as the weeks passed, Jackson began to feel something creeping in.  He didn’t doubt the decision he’d made.  He found he didn’t miss Madison as much as he thought, which was probably due to the fact that he’d felt for a while a bit disconnected from her. Because of that, it was easier to let her go.

What was creeping into his mind during the day and into his nightly dreams was Mollie. When about a month and a half had gone by since the break up and Jackson felt confident that Madison was moved to the back of his brain, he decided to see how Mollie would feel about starting something with him.  It took him a while- even after having the initial dreams- to make up his mind to ask her.  After all, he was seven years older than her.  She was still in college.  But the thought of her was so pervasive that he couldn’t resist.  Now, he just had to get up the courage to make a move on her.

Chapter 2

Mollie had just finished up with a study group at school when her phone buzzed that Jackson was texting her.  She wondered why.  After all, he’d broken things off with Madison… what would they have to talk about?  But in her heart of hearts, Mollie was happy he’d gotten in touch.  She already missed him more than she had the right to.