To Have and to Hold Read online

  Madison and Dad took seats near the entrance to the gate, waiting for their seat numbers to be called.

  “Dad?” Madison asked meekly.

  “What is it, hon?” Dad said, struggling to balance his luggage in a neat pile on the floor next to him.

  “Are you nervous?” Madison asked.

  “About flying?” Dad replied. “Nah.”

  “No, no, that isn’t what I mean,” Madison said. “I mean, are you nervous about getting married?”

  “’Course,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “Because I’m nervous about you getting married,” Madison admitted.

  Dad paused. “Everything will be fine, Maddie,” he said, trying to reassure her.

  “Tell that to all the butterflies in my stomach,” Madison said.

  Dad laughed. “I’m sorry that you’re nervous,” Dad said. “What can I do to make it better?”

  Madison sighed. That was really all she needed—or wanted—to hear. She wanted to know for sure that Dad cared and hadn’t forgotten her. She wanted to know that he would be there for her—especially if she was feeling crummy.

  The boarding attendant called their seat numbers, and Madison followed Dad into the plane. It was only half full, so even though they technically had only two seats in a three-seat row, they were able to spread out. Madison sat next to the window. That way, she could turn slightly, blocking Dad’s view of what she was up to. She could read her plane letter and work on the collage some more.

  As soon as the plane took off, Madison uncrumpled the blue-and-yellow envelope from her BFFs.

  Hello, Maddie!

  This is an attempt to write you the best and hopefully the longest plane letter in the history of plane letters—EVER. You better be on the plane when reading this or else! Fiona and I are soooo sad that you have to go away in the middle of the summer to someplace so far away but we know you will have a wicked good time. Okay it’s Fiona’s turn to write now.

  Hello Maddie!!!!!! Have you ever gotten a letter from two people at once? Isn’t this cool? We miss you already so you have to write to us like every single day when you are in Texas, okay? Sorry my writing is so small. Can you read it? I hope so. Where are you sitting on the plane? What did you wear? I bet you look awesome like you always do.

  Wait I have a question 4 you: is Drew going out with that girl we met at the party? We promise to keep an eye on them while you are away because we know you secretly like him ha ha ha ha J/K.

  I didn’t say that. That was totally Aimee’s idea! I know u don’t like Drew and it isn’t fair to make fun of him either. Sometimes Aim can be such a meanie. LOL. Anyway, I haven’t been on a plane in so long. It must be so cool to be flying. Just how long is the trip to Texas? What else did you pack? I know you will look good in my sundress. You have to write and tell us AS SOON AS YOU GET THERE and go to parties.

  Okay, sorry sorry sorry about that Drew comment b4—I just think it is so weird that ANYONE would date him I guess. Meanwhile, did I tell you that Ben called me up? He did, I guess he wanted to ask me to a movie or something but he had to do something with his parents instead. Lame-o. I am so bummed out. I know I was embarrassed about liking him b4 but I’m not anymore. What do you think? You have to write and tell me, okay? I miss you already, Maddie. I wish the wedding wasn’t so far away. BTW: Will there be dancing at the wedding? What dancing do they do at hoedowns?

  Aimee asks the most random things, doncha think? OK since you are on a plane, we both made this list of other questions that you have to fill in about the trip—and then you can see if the answers come true after the weekend is over. Have you ever done that before? I did a going to camp letter once and put into it that I wanted to win a soccer medal and I wanted to meet a boy and I did BOTH. So I think this letter is kind of like a good luck charm. You have to write answers like what you HOPE will happen.

  1. What will you see when you get off the plane?

  2. Who will you meet at the party in Texas? (Like hot guys!!!!)

  3. What will you wear to the wedding (including how you will fix your hair)?

  4. How many e-mails will you send to Aimee and Fiona? (And this answer must be at least five. One for every day you are away. OK?)

  Wait a minute Maddie, are you going to see Stephanie’s nephew at the party? What is his name again? Craig? Chris? I can’t remember!!!! Completely forgot to ask you about him. I know you were supposed to meet him a couple of times before. I wonder if he’s cute. Have you ever seen a picture? You didn’t say anything to us so we were wondering. I really wish I were going to the wedding too not just because it would be fun to go to Texas but so I could meet Craig and any other boys at a real wedding. Aren’t people there all mushy all the time? I’ve never been to a wedding so I have no clue but I hope so for your sake. Oh I cannot wait to hear all about it!!!

  The most important thing to remember Maddie is that WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH and WE MISS YOU SO MUCH and you shouldn’t ever stress out because we are here for you 1000 percent. We will be right here the whole time you are gone. I hope that makes you feel better. Does it make you feel better? IT BETTER!!!!!!!!

  I know Fiona said this already but you have to write to us the very minute you get off the plane. You can E us from Texas right? We will try to get online and maybe we can have a chat on TweenBlurt.com or something too. I know Fiona will be home a lot while her Dad gets better (yeah) so we’ll both write back a lot. And Blossom will keep an eye on Phinnie while u are gone. Maybe he can even sleep over our house one night as long as my brothers don’t torture him. HA HA J/K Bye for now! Love, Aim

  P.S. Don’t forget to send us a copy of the stuff you make on the wedding college. If we get any ideas for you we’ll send them. I know it will kick butt. LYAS! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo Fiona

  The flight was supposed to be four hours long, but it took five. Madison consumed three bags of mini pretzels, two root beers (she couldn’t believe they had her favorite drink on the plane!), and a rubbery turkey sandwich with a wilted salad. They showed a movie that she’d never seen, but the headset on her armrest didn’t work. She moved into the center seat of the row to watch, while Dad snoozed. He said he hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in a week.

  While Dad slept, Madison had another opportunity to work on her collage. She had already clipped out magazine pictures of happy faces and flowers. And she had glued a blue cord all around the edge of the page. Madison fiddled with more paper to finish it up. It was harder without scissors (which were absolutely not allowed on the plane for security reasons), but Madison discovered that she actually liked the torn edges even better than neat ones.

  Best of all, Dad didn’t wake up once.

  Once the plane landed, Dad grew fidgety—and more than a little grumpy, which was unusual for him. Madison had never seen him like that before. What had happened to Dad, who usually cracked jokes in stressful situations?

  It was also two hours earlier in Texas than it was in Far Hills. Madison reset her watch to match the clocks in the Houston airport.

  Dad hurried them into the terminal. They followed the signs for the baggage-claim area. Madison couldn’t wait to get the luggage and go. Stephanie would be meeting them on the lower level.

  Standing at the top of the escalator looking down, Madison saw her future stepmother waving frantically.

  “Hello, y’all!” Stephanie called out with a drawl Madison had never heard her use before. The old Texas had crept back into her voice.

  Dad’s face broke into a wide grin.

  “Are you ever a sight for sore eyes!” Dad called out, giving Stephanie a warm hug. He turned back to Madison. “What a flight we had!”

  Stephanie leaned over and planted a kiss on Madison’s cheek. “You look stellar, as usual,” she said. “Everyone’s dying to meet you.”

  “Me, too,” Madison said. And the truth was, now that they’d arrived in Texas, Madison did feel excited about being there, about being in a wedding, and about going to a real, live hoedown
. She could feel the hot, Texas air coming through the doors every time someone walked in or out—and she liked it.

  “Our bags are on the third carousel,” Dad said, pointing. They walked over and waited about ten minutes before it even started to move. Madison stared as each bag was unloaded onto the conveyor belt. She watched suitcases go around … and around … and around …

  “There’s my attaché case!” Dad cried. “And my other garment bag. Great!”

  Madison kept watching for her suitcase, but she didn’t see it.

  Slowly, the other people on their flight retrieved their pieces of luggage, so that, one by one, the bags disappeared from the carousel.

  Madison’s bag still had not arrived. She got a lump in her throat.

  “Dad!” Madison cried. “Where is it?”

  Stephanie rubbed her back. “Let’s go ask someone,” she suggested, pointing to the customer-service window.

  They walked over and, after speaking with an attendant, arranged to put a trace on the missing suitcase.

  Madison dropped her head in her hands. “Oh, Dad. This is a nightmare,” she said. “Everything is in that suitcase. Everything.”

  “You’ll be okay, honey,” Dad said. “We’ll get it back. I promise.”

  More promises, Madison thought. More promises she knew Dad had no control over.

  “Maddie, I wouldn’t worry. I know it’s a real drag now, but usually, they find the case right away,” Stephanie said. “And the airline will have it delivered out to the ranch. No problemo.”

  Madison wasn’t encouraged. “What about my clothes? What about my dress for the wedding? It took me all week to pack.”

  She wanted to cry.

  “Let’s see what happens,” Stephanie said, trying to calm Madison. “We will call later—and we can always drive back tomorrow and check into it.”

  “We can?” Madison was happy to have any encouragement.

  Stephanie reassured her. “This is some crazy weekend, huh?”

  Madison chuckled softly. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Hilarious.”

  They walked through a set of sliding doors and out into the Texas sun.

  “Whooeee!” Stephanie exclaimed. “Hot enough for you?”

  Dad wiped his brow. “I’ll be changing out of these clothes as soon as we get to the hotel.”

  Madison’s stomach did a flip-flop. She didn’t have any clothes to change into. She wondered what else was in store for the rest of the wedding weekend.

  The drive from the Houston airport to Stephanie’s hometown of Bellville took an hour. Madison rode in the backseat as they cruised through the towns of Katy and Sealy. Madison gazed at the scenery as it rolled past. She was hermetically sealed inside the air-conditioned car, so she didn’t feel the heat that went along with the scenery.

  “You’re in cowboy country now,” Stephanie announced as they closed in on Bellville.

  Madison didn’t see any cowboys riding horses or wearing big hats. At first, Bellville seemed like other towns Madison had visited, in other states: lots of trucks, strip malls, and houses scattered along the road.

  Where were all the megaranches?

  “We’ll stop at the hotel first,” Dad said to Madison.

  They pulled up in front of the Bellville Villas. A parking attendant helped them their remove their bags from the car, and then the three of them headed inside to check in.

  The hotel lobby was drenched in sunlight. It had an atrium roof and plants hanging everywhere. Mexican blankets, pillows, and tapestries covered big leather couches and chairs around the room. The air inside was warm, but giant ceiling fans kept the room cool. Madison gazed through the lobby to the sliding-glass doors in back that led out to a terra-cotta-tiled pool. It was like a hotel Madison had seen once on television.

  Dad rented a room for Madison to stay in all by herself, adjoining his room. After claiming his reservation, he smilingly handed Madison the key card to her room, number 304.

  “Here you go, big girl,” Dad said.

  Madison cringed. “Dad, do you have to call me that?”

  Dad and Stephanie explained to the hotel receptionist about Madison’s missing luggage. There were no “we found it” messages from the airport—yet. The hotel promised, however, that, as soon as the bag came in, it would be sent up to the room immediately.

  Madison sighed. She realized that she would have to stay in her sticky traveling clothes until the bag arrived. That meant having dinner that night in the same outfit she’d scrunched and wrinkled up throughout the flight to Texas. Her pants also had some weird stain on them, probably from the cranberry juice she’d drunk on the plane.

  “Maddie, you look fine,” Stephanie tried to reassure her.

  Madison didn’t believe her.

  “Are we going up to the room for a little while?” Madison asked.

  Stephanie nodded. “I know your dad wants to wash up, and we have a few phone calls to make….”

  Moments later, they were inside the elevator on the way up to the third floor. The hallways were decorated with pictures of cowboys and desert framed in gold leaf, and the red wallpaper felt like straw. The hall was dead quiet. Madison got to her room first and poked the key card into the door.

  “Whoa!” she cried, rushing into the room and throwing her orange bag onto one of the double beds. She had a T.V. cabinet, a sofa, and even a minifridge!

  “This is very nice,” Dad said aloud, squeezing Stephanie’s hand as the two of them stood in the doorway of Madison’s room. He pulled his fiancée closer. “No, this is perfect,” he said, kissing her on the lips.

  Madison looked away. “Um … I have to p—p—p—pee,” she stuttered.

  “Well, we’re going next door to our room,” Dad said. “Why don’t you hang out for a little bit before we head over to the Wolfe ranch for supper? I’ll come knock on the door in about an hour, okay?”

  Madison nodded. “Okay, Dad,” she said, ducking into the bathroom.

  Through the bathroom door, she could hear Dad and Stephanie kiss one more time before they left Madison’s room.

  Alone at last! Madison said to herself, emerging from the bathroom as soon as her dad and Stephanie had gone. She surveyed her very own space, hardly able to believe that Dad had rented her a room of her own. But course he had! Dad was getting married that weekend. Bunking with him was out of the question. Duh. And Uncle Rick and Aunt Violet wouldn’t be arriving for a day or two—and were only staying for one night, so she couldn’t stay with them.

  Madison had to admit that she really did feel like a big girl. She sat down on her bed and bounced a few times, clicking the remote control to see what was on Texas T.V. after four o’clock. Flicking past talk shows, game shows, and local news, Madison turned the tube back off again.

  Why watch T.V. when she could e-mail Aimee and Fiona? Madison had promised to do it as soon as the plane landed. That was now.

  It took a while to figure out how to dial up a local connection and go online to TweenBlurt.com, but Madison figured it out, and soon enough she was sitting inside the website chat room looking for her BFFs.

  Aimee wasn’t online. But Fiona was.

  : IMY!!!

  : you rock for writing right away IMY2!!

  : Texas is hotter than hot

  : I wanna talk 2 u I had a terrible day

  : oh no what is it

  : Egg canceled on me

  : No way what happened

  : he asked me 2 the movies and then he bailed

  : y?

  : he said his Mom had some family dinner and he had to help out but I don’t believe him

  : Oh Fiona :>(

  : what if he wants 2 break up w/me

  : relax that’s not going to happen

  : meanwhile Chet knows Egg canceled and so he’s been teasing me all day long--ANNOYING

  : what did ur parent
s say?

  : they don’t know and im not telling

  : I think u should blow it off and I bet Egg calls u tomorrow

  : u think so?

  : Fiona it will be ok

  : but I have a bad feeling

  Madison told Fiona at least four more times that Egg would call to reschedule their date. She wished she could just skip over to Fiona’s house to offer advice instead of having to help her BFF via e-mail. Long-distance wasn’t the same.

  Madison glanced up at the digital readout on the phone. It said 4:52. Dad would be knocking in ten minutes. She quickly signed off with Fiona and went in to her e-mailbox to type a long overdue note to Bigwheels.

  From: MadFinn

  To: Bigwheels

  Subject: We’re Heeeeere

  Date: Thurs 18 July 4:54 PM

  How r u? Time is going by fast. But we got here in one piece.

  Unfortunately the airline lost my luggage. Can u believe that? My whole life is in my dumb suitcase--and I’m stuck in the same icky clothes until it arrives. You’re as superstitious as me, right? So what kind of a bad sign is THIS? (:--

  So far Texas is sweaty (at least I am) but it’s pretty 2. I keep seeing the coolest wildflowers along the road, way dif from my mom’s garden @ home. But I will probably draw a few of them onto my collage present so it looks like I included Texas.

  This town we’re in is called Bellville and Stephanie told me there are more than 170 cemeteries here. Is that a lot? Right across the street from the hotel there is also this old jail that’s so cool looking like in a western movie or something. Dad says they have a real gallows like a place where people could be hanged but I guess only one guy ever died there back in 1901. Still creepy, huh? I wonder if the hotel is haunted? As if I wasn’t worrying enough about this weekend, now I’m thinking about ghosts.

  Tonite we’re going to have a quiet (I hope) dinner with Stephanie’s family on their ranch and then tomorrow is a free day. I think. Stephanie said something about it being a “girl” day but what does THAT mean?