Page 47 of Mad Love

“Invincible?” I ask.

“Yes. Nothing can get you down, and when something does, you pick yourself right up knowing that person would be there. Until they’re not anymore. Then it’s nothing but a gnawing ache and going through the grieving process. Anger. Denial. Bargaining. Acceptance.”

“Did you go through all the stages?”

I remember the authorities going over with me these stages, afraid I would sympathize with my kidnapper. Or worry I’d get stuck in a stage and never get to accepting what happened to me. How could anyone accept two weeks of torture and pain at the hands of another human being?

“It took me two years, but yeah, I did.”

Two years to get over a breakup?

“You must’ve loved her very much.”

“I do. I did.”

Do. Did. Why do I have the feeling he still loves her?

“It doesn’t seem like you got closure. Maybe you should find her and speak with her. I don’t know much about love, but two years is a long time to get over someone.”

“Are you, as my wife, encouraging me to find my ex and make amends?”

“If it’ll give you closure and peace, yes.”

“What if feelings come back?”

“I personally don’t think your feelings for her died.”

“That doesn’t bother you?”

“Why should it?” It does. Oh, God, the idea of Maddox with this woman somehow rips my heart to pieces. “A person should be happy and at peace.”

“Will you be happy and at peace when I put your kidnapper out of his misery?”

“No. I would be saddened by the act of violence. Violence begets violence.”

“Did you not think of taking his life for putting you in the ground with a corpse, Blaise?”

I squeeze my eyes shut, hating yet respecting Maddox for daring to speak of my kidnapping when I’ve asked him not to.

“I didn’t. I thought of my family and how sad they would be not knowing where I was.”

I open my eyes, and shifting onto my back, I stare up at the night sky through the skylight in the ceiling with my gloved hands clasped over my chest.

“He hurt me. Did horrible things to my body. Said things to me no one should have the right to say to another. I hated him, but I never once thought of hurting him back or taking his life. My father would never condone it no matter how deserving my kidnapper was.”

Yet, my father cut open a woman’s belly and snatched a baby from the womb. Isn’t he as much of a monster as my kidnapper?

“You should find her and speak with her, Maddox. Kindness and forgiveness begets kindness and forgiveness.”

“Are you saying I was unkind and am in need of forgiveness?”

“She hurt you. It’s you who needs to do the forgiving. Be kind and forgive her.”

“How are you so certain she hurt me? That she was the one who broke it off?”

“I don’t know you that well, but like my cousins and my men, you have a good heart. The good ones get their hearts broken the most.”

“Will you break my heart, Blaise?”

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