Page 12 of Maddy's Justice

“You think?” Connie sarcastically asked.

“That reminds me,” Marc quietly said speaking to himself.

He picked up his phone and scrolled through the few calls he had received. Nothing from Maddy.

He placed the phone on the table and asked, “Okay, so what is my role in this case, and why didn’t Barry take it?”

“Your job will be to grind these women into the floor when you take their depositions,” Connie said.

“And I’m too busy,” Barry replied.

“What if they’re really good looking and I don’t want to grind them into the floor?”

“At heart, every man is a sexist pig,” Connie said. “Here,” she continued writing on a slip of paper and handing it to Barry. “The case file number. Bill your time.”

A couple of hours later, Marc heard a familiar commotion in the office common area. It was the arrival of his love, Maddy Rivers. His reaction was both happy and concerned.

She made her way around the office––for Maddy everything just naturally stopped when she came through the door––chatting with the staff. Marc waited with a touch of trepidation. He continued working on the document he was writing for a case. Suddenly, he felt her presence in the door.

“You’re not still mad, are you?” Marc asked.

“Of course not. Besides, if women stayed mad at their men every time they did something stupid, the population would have died out thousands of years ago.”

“Good point,” Marc replied.

Maddy Rivers was an ex-cop from Chicago. Several years ago, she had foolishly posed for Playboy. The grief she received drove her off the force. She moved to Minneapolis, got a private investigator’s license, and set up for herself. Maddy met Marc when a mutual friend recommended her to him for a case he had. A solid friendship followed then a deep love. It took Maddy being shot to scare Marc into admitting it. They have been together ever since.

“What?” she asked as she stood in the open doorway while he stared at her.

“You’re beautiful, intelligent, warm, fun, and I love you,” Marc sincerely said.

“Wow, someone’s looking to get lucky tonight,” she said.

Marc stood up and said, “Come in and close the door, please.”

She did as he asked. As he came around the desk he said, “Please, sit down.”

Maddy, a puzzled look on her face, sat down in a client chair. When he reached her, Marc got down on one knee. Still unsure of what he was doing, she simply sat silently waiting.

“Okay,” he said as he exhaled. “Here goes.” Marc took both of her hands, looked into her eyes then it finally dawned on her what he was up to.

“Madeline Elizabeth Rivers, will you marry me?”

Almost too stunned to speak, she sat for almost five seconds before fully realizing that he was serious. “Um, yeah, I mean, um, sure. No wait. Yes! Yes! Of course!”

Two minutes later, after the shock, passion and laughter subsided, Maddy rushed out into the common area.

“He asked!” she yelled thrusting her hands into the air. “He really asked!”

“So, what did you say?” Connie asked.

“I said I’d think about it,” Maddy joked. “Of course, I said yes.”

When the ruckus died down and everyone congratulated them both, Maddy, tears in her eyes, almost jumped on him.

“Want to go shop for an engagement ring?” Marc asked.

“I got a client who owns a couple of pawn shops…” Chris Grafton, the office corporate lawyer started to say.

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