Chapter 2.20 - Too Little, Too Late

This is post 4 of 4 posted on May 3, 2019.

“How does it feel to be an adult?” Dylan shuddered a little. “I can't believe I'm saying those words.”

Jade turned and smiled softly at her father, noting the age lines that creased his face. When had that happened?

“It's a little surreal, to be honest. I've wanted to be done with school for so long, but now that I am… I have no clue what to do next.”

Dylan sighed. “I'm going to ask you something, and I want you to answer honestly.”

Jade nodded, confused. “Okay, shoot.”

“Did I do a good job? Raising you? When this all started… I didn't know anything about fatherhood. Sometimes I think I still don't know anything about fatherhood. I love you and your brothers, I have from the moment I saw you, but I know that doesn't mean that I'm a good father. I know I work too much, I think I've probably given you too much freedom… but in the end, do you think I did a good job?”

Tears were welling up in Jade's eyes. “Dad…” she said in a choked voice, “maybe you weren't always right there, but you did everything right when you were. We never wanted for anything. I promise, you did a great job.”

He smiled and hugged her, remembering a time when he could scoop her up in his arms. It seemed like yesterday, but his Little Gem was all grown up now, and it was time to let her go. “I'll miss you, baby girl.”

Jade smiled. “I'll miss you too.”

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In another part of the house, there was a little less harmony.

“You should get up, Beck. It's our graduation party!”

“It's your graduation party. I didn't finish high school, remember?”

“And whose fault is that?” Madeline moved a little closer to the bed. “You could have gone back to school weeks ago, but you've been too busy wallowing.”

“I am not wallowing!” Beckett took a deep breath, trying to calm down. Eventually, he continued in a normal tone of voice. “I'm grieving and in pain, and everyone tiptoes around me like I'm made of glass. I've lost everything, Madeline. Do you blame me for not wanting to go back to school and have it rubbed in my face that I’ve become useless?”

“Yeah, well, you're not the only one who has a right to be upset! I built my future around you, Beck. When you got hurt, I gave up everything to stay by your side. And now you don't even care about me enough to come to one party. You don't even have to leave the house!”

“Not everything is about you, Madeline!” Beckett inhaled sharply as soon as the words burst out of his mouth.

She just stared at him. “I can’t believe that you’d say that.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I just… I need some space. I’ll be outside, at the party, if you need me. If you don’t… well, I can only put up with so much. The pity party was bad enough, but now you’re lashing out at me! You’re lucky I’m still with you.”

She swept out, leaving Beckett upset, confused, and in pain. He took a deep breath. He had a feeling he was going to need to do some serious thinking about his life.

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“Marc! You came!” Jade was ecstatic. She had barely seen her friend since the final issue of the school newspaper was published last week. “I thought you had a job interview today.”

Marc scratched his head. “Yeah, well… plans change.” He glanced around, seeming, Jade noticed for the first time, slightly nervous. “Where’s Ted?”

“He has fireman training or whatever they call it.” She frowned at him. “Are you okay? You seem a little bit… off.”

“I… um… I have to tell you something.”

“Okay.” When he didn’t immediately start talking, her frown intensified. “Marc, what’s going on?”

“I’m leaving town.”

Jade blinked. Blinked again. “You’re what?”

“I’m leaving. I got a scholarship to Sims University, and I’m going to go and get a Communication degree.”

“So you’ll be gone for four years?” Four years was a long time, but it wasn’t forever.

“Maybe longer. I… I don’t know if I’m coming back.”

No matter how she tried, Jade couldn’t process that sentence. “Why wouldn’t you be coming back?”

Marc made direct eye contact as he spoke again. “What do I have to come back for?”

“You have your family. You have me and Eve.”

“Jade… my parents are moving. Now that I’m out of the house, they’re leaving to travel the world. Eve’s going to college too, so we’ll keep in touch.”

“What about me?”

“That’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about.” He took a deep breath and looked Jade straight in the eye. “I’m in love with you.”

If Jade had been shocked by Marc’s first confession, you could have knocked her over with a feather after this one. “I… I don’t know how to respond to that.”

“You don’t have to say anything. I know you don’t feel the same way, that’s not why I’m telling you. I just want you to understand why I’m leaving. I’ve spent years trying to get over you, and it’s never worked. I think I’m over you, and then I turn around and you’re right there, laughing at my jokes and being sarcastic, reminding me why I love you. I’m leaving so that I finally have some space. So that I can maybe get the chance to fall in love with someone else.”

Jade nodded. “I understand,” she whispered.

“I… I think I should go.”

She nodded again. As he turned to go, her view of him was blurred by a haze of tears. Once he was gone, she sat on the edge of the porch and sobbed, mourning the loss of a friend… and maybe something more.

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Madeline was angry. She was a little bit sad, but mostly she was angry. For four years now, she had done everything for Beckett. Everything. Yes, she had a selfish motive (the better off he was, the better off she, as his girlfriend, was), but still. She went to (almost) all of his soccer games. She played nice with everyone to bolster his (and her own) popularity. She stayed on student council so that she could advocate for the soccer team’s (and her) interests. She’d stayed with him through his injury even as she saw all of her dreams of life as a coddled trophy wife die! And he couldn’t even be bothered to come to one little party for her. How dare he!

“Penny for your thoughts?”

Madeline looked up just as Alaric flipped a bright copper penny at her. She smiled, softening her stance a bit. “Just… Beckett doesn’t seem to appreciate how much I do for him. How much I’ve suffered along with him since his injury.”

“He takes you for granted.”

“Exactly! It’s like he doesn’t even realize how selfish he’s being. Today we argued because he didn’t want to come to the party. I mean, doesn’t he understand how bad it’ll look if I show up alone? It’s in his house! If he doesn’t come, it looks like he wants nothing to do with me, and I look like a lying hypocrite.”

“He’s only thinking about himself. He hasn’t stopped to think about how his actions reflect on you, or on the rest of us, for that matter.” Alaric shook his head slowly. “Beckett just doesn’t look at the bigger picture.”

Madeline nodded emphatically. “Exactly! You get it.” She paused. “You always get it.”

This wasn’t the first time they’d had a conversation like this. He always spoke as though he understood her innermost thoughts and secrets, and she was starting to think that he really might. She always felt comforted after he spoke to her. As though he’d looked into her soul and said it was valuable.

“We understand each other, don’t we?”

Afterwards, she wasn’t sure what had gotten into her. Whether it was her anger at Beckett or the warmth in Alaric’s dark eyes, the results were the same. When she pulled back, that warmth had ignited into an intense flame.

“Madeline, you have to choose. Me or Beckett. You can’t have both.”

He stalked away, leaving her a dazed mess. Her eyes drifted up, and she realized she was standing in the exact same place where Beckett had first asked her out. A bitter smile formed on her face as she reflected on that unpleasant irony.

After a moment of contemplation, she made to follow Alaric back into the house. However, she barely made it in the back door before-

“Madeline!”

“Beck? But… you didn’t want to come…”

“Madeline, I’m so sorry. You were right. I’ve been wallowing. I’ve been grieving for what I lost without sparing any thought for what I still have. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking in these last few hours, and I figured something out. I may not know where I’ll live, what I’ll do for a living, or what my passion is anymore, but I know that I still have one thing I can’t live without.”

“Madeline Milne… will you marry me?”

Author's Note: YES! We are finally done with Generation 2! And on a cliffhanger, no less! I hope you can forgive me for not posting for a month. I think this is probably about a month's worth of content, and I churned it all out in a week, believe it or not. I'd apologize for the photo-bombing horses, but I actually thought they were funny.

You've probably noticed that there is no heir poll up here. That's because I created a Wordpress account just to put up polls for this legacy! The Generation 2 Heir Poll can be found right here, and along with it is a poll asking where you think the legacy should move next. You have two weeks to vote, so get going!