Madison sat in her now cold car in front of the Haywood estate. She lost track of how long she had been sitting there in the mid afternoon glow but if she had her choice she would have continued to sit there all day. But it wasn't her choice. This meeting had been set up and against her will she was forced to be.

Of course, she supposed she could have stayed in her car all day but what good would that does her? If she wasn't at the meeting then the blackmailing would continue and she would still live in fear that her secret with Brandon would be discovered.

No, she had to go into that house.

She lifted down the sun visor to look in the mirror. If she was going to face that she believed she would then she was going to look like she ruled the world. She dabbed on a thin layer of red lipstick and gave her hair a little fluffing. She grabbed hold of her handbag and then with her head held high she exited the car and marched towards the house.

Without even knocking she entered and headed straight towards the kitchen. The confidence she held was nearly dripping off of her. She found Rebecca right where she expected to by the kettle making tea. If there was one place you can expect Rebecca to be it was making tea – especially with a guest coming.

"There you are Madison" Rebecca said looking up from the kettle when she heard the young woman's heels. "We started to get worried that you weren't going to come".

"I wouldn't miss this for the world" Madison forced out in a strong voice. Even through she felt as small as a bumblebee she need to hold on to whatever strength she had. She refused to let anyone see that she actually felt like crawling under a rock to hide – no she would show him with her head held high. She would show them that a bumblebee might be small but it sure can sting.

"Good" Rebecca handed her a tray with several different cookies and desserts on it "take this to the dinning room. I'll follow with the tea".

Madison did as she asked even through she was a little confused "we are serving him cookies and tea?" she asked the older woman who followed behind her.

"We find that it's easier to get our way when we butter somebody up" Rebecca answered setting her tray down and quickly bussing her with setting the table.

"And it's a great distraction" John said from behind as he sauntered into the room "the moment they bite into that deliciously distracting cookie we hit them with the hard stuff". He lifted a brief case onto the table; with his sharply pressed suit he looked as though he was ready for business "we have everything under control Madison. So don't you worry"?

"What is going to happen here exactly?" she asked nervously looking around the table.

"Well I don't like to pussy foot around anything – especially nothing like this" John said taking a seat at the head of the table "so we get right down to it. Demand that it stops. He'll give his demands and then we will counter with ours."

"It cant be that easy," Madison said sitting down on one side of the table.

"It wont is. But that's the basics of it. There is bound to be yelling and arguments, but we will get where we want to" John ensures her just in time for the doorbell to ring.

"I'll get it dear" Rebecca said in an overly cheerful voice. A pleasant but wicked smile was plastered on her lips as she sauntered towards the door.

Madison took several deep breaths but she couldn't relax. Her ears were on high alert. She heard the door opening and Rebecca's greeting. But she couldn't make out the deep male's answer. She listened to the footsteps down the hallway. The silence as even chatterbox Rebecca didn't say anything.

"Madison" the deep voice nearly hissed out when he entered the room. With just a whisper of her name Madison would have looked up to lock eyes with the all too familiar pair. It's the same eyes she see's whenever she looks at her son. With his dark chocolate hair that was cut short to his head in nearly an army style not much had changed. He was still tall and bulky. His jaw still tightly set with maybe just a few wrinkles on his square face. His style didn't change much with age either. Old jeans that were ripped around the edges, a solid color shirt and a checkered long sleeve shirt that had seen better days. He was nothing like Brandon with his strong jaw, welcoming face and shaggy hair. Not to mention Brandon's clean, well put together style.

"Alexander" Madison managed to get out. It might have taken all her strength but she got it out.

"Oh so formal. What ever happened to calling me Alex?" the man across from her smirked "or better yet, babe?"

"Those names vanished when you vanished from my life" Madison snapped back. Her hands rested firmly on the tabletop but the more she spoke they began to shake nervously.

"Oh I must be mistaken then" he had the nerve to chuckle "if I remember correctly you were the one who walked out on me taking my child – or should I say children – with you".

"Maybe if you hadn't cheated on me then I wouldn't have to walk out on you" Madison forced out in a strong voice.

"Maybe if you gave me what I desired then I wouldn't have had to find it else where" Alexander replied.

"What?" Madison gasped, "What didn't I give you? Certainly I gave you sex! If you remember you have three children. I know that you might not wish to acknowledge that but you do".

"Ah yes" Alex leaned over the table nearly towering over her "you gave me sex. But that was all. There was never any passion or excitement to it anymore". A smirk rested firmly on his lips "with you it felt more like a chore then anything else".

Madison gasped. She wasn't expecting that to hurt as much as it did. But it stung. It felt like a knife was being jabbed into her chest.

"Now that is enough" Jonathan said in a strong, clear authoritative voice. He had yet to stand but somehow having him remain firmly seated at the head of the table gave him more power. "Take a seat Mr. Morgan and we can get this meeting started".

Rebecca came around the table to sit beside Madison, her hand resting soothingly on Madison's knee. And Alex took the seat across from them.

"This isn't really a meeting" Alex said, "I hope you understand that".

"No, it appears I don't" John said, "if this isn't a meeting then what may I ask is it?"

"You writing me a check. That is all" Alex leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. "That was the deal. If you want me to keep my mouth shut then I'm going to need some hush money".

"Actually those are your demands. In no way is that a deal or an agreement" John clipped his brief case open and pulled out some files. "You see here we have documentation that attests to the fact that for the past seven years you neglected to pay child support for your three children. Now $500 a month times three kids is $1,500 a month in total so that'll be $18,000 a year. But mind you this has been for seven years so in total that's $126,000. But keep in mind that babies are more expensive so how about we round that that $130,000 for child support that you owe Madison after all these years". Jonathan slid the files across the table to Alex with all the numbers broken down and the reasons for the amount.

"However we can't forget the cost of having a baby. The pregnancy and birth costs a lot too," Rebecca adds in a clear voice. She takes the papers her husband hands her and starts to read off of it "you see monthly vitamins cost $20, or otherwise $180. That doesn't seem too much now does it? Add in monthly doctor visits for a total of $315. For glucose that's another $100 and screening for genetic conditions is another $7,000. Birthing classes is another $200. So before the babies are born that's a total of $7,715".

"The delivery itself costs $8,000" John adds to the list "and that's as long as there wasn't any complications".

"In total that's $15,715" Rebecca says.

"Which according to my calculations" Jonathan said leaning in towards Alex "that's a full total of $145,715 just for giving birth and caring for the children you helped to create". 

"Of course there is always the matter of Madison here having to leave her home to find a new place to live" Rebecca adds "and not to mention the fact that she was a stay home mom expecting you to support her. Considering you were common law marriage then there would be the discussion of supporting her".

"And that's not even discussing the need for emotional support and how raising her children alone after finding out you cheated on her can truly take a toll on a person" Jonathan slid even more documents across the table to Alexander.

"Now wait here just one minute" Alex slapped his hand down on the paper "she was the one who left me. I would gladly have stayed if it were up to me. But she up and left one day without even so much as telling me where she was going".

"However it seems as though you knew exactly where she was when it was convenient for you," John said sternly.

"Look here buddy I am not the bad guy" Alex said, "She left me. I didn't get to see my kids. What about my emotional distress? What about me feeling depressed and abandoned?"

"You seem to have found comfort in another woman in so little time" Rebecca pointed out "which might we add you choose not to support either. Little Caleb and Kennedy receive no child support from you and worst yet you seemed to have done the exact same thing you did to Madison here. You got her pregnant, cheated and then left without any word".

"Kennedy is not part of this discussion," Alexander hissed.

"But you see the thing is here I could contact a very reliable lawyer on her behalf and then not only would you owe Madison money but you would owe Kennedy that money too" John said.

"Then I would want joint custody," Alex argues trying to get John to back down.

"Oh but you see you wouldn't do that" Rebecca said with a wave of her hand as if she was dismissing it "your track record speaks for yourself. Walking out on two woman and four children. Who knows how many others? And you never paid child support and never tried to get in contact with them. No judge in their right mind would approve of joint custody".

"You will not convince me to back down on this" Alex said "is that clear? I want my money. If I don't get it then I'm going to tell Brandon all about those lies Madison and you two have been telling him".

"And we wouldn't put it past you to do just that" Jonathan said, "So we are going to pay you, it was half a million I believe wasn't it?"

"My price went up," Alexander hissed out through his clenched jaw.

"Actually no it didn't" Rebecca smiled.

"We had a verbal agreement, and that I'm afraid is a bidding contract – even if you want to argue that. Which means if you choose to break it at this point then breach of contract and we can sue you" John added.

"Its called renegotiations" Alex countered.

"Yes I do believe we need to renegotiate some things," John said sternly. Madison was truly speechless. She had never in her wildest dreams thought that the Haywood's could handle this with so much power. Of course she had once been on the receiving end of these negotiations and she had to say it was hard to fight against the Haywood 's. they seemed to always find ways to make it seem as though these negotiations are actually your idea.

"First" John continued, "Is that we will meet your demands of half a mil, however there are a few deductibles to take into consideration. That money you owe both Ms. Sweeney and Ms. Carter will be deducted from this initial cost. Which we have graciously rounded to $300,000 – but be aware this cost could be a lot greater. So that leaves you with a total of $200,000".

"Now wait a minute-" Alex started

"But there is no waiting with this. You made it well known if we hadn't paid you by today that you would tell Brandon" Rebecca said.

"You can question these terms of course" John said "and we will grant you the half a mil but know that we will see you in court after this"

Rebecca continued for him "which means you'll be paying for a lawyer and you'll still need to pay Madison all that child support, plus the continue need of child support for the next ten years."

"To be blunt you're saving money this way" John said, "If I was you I would certainly taking this deal".

Madison watched as Alex clenched his jaw. His hand that was resting on the table now twisted into a tight fist. She knew from experience that he was far from happy with these results. She always knew he tended to throw a temper tantrum when he didn't get what he wanted. She was on the wrong side of his anger often enough to know what to expect.

She was proud though of how strong the Haywood's were handling the situation. For months now she had been terrified of how to address the Haywood's regarding this blackmail. She was expecting them to demand she find a way to pay him, or accuse her to be in a breach of her own contract.

But here they were having her back in this tough situation. She considered her own family and parents. When she had gone to them with her biggest problem they had tossed her away as if she was yesterday's trash instead of their daughter. But here the Haywood family was opening their door and arms to her.

"You did this" Alex glared at Madison from across the table. "If it wasn't you none of this would have happened. If you were intelligent enough you would have kept your damn mouth shut and paid me yourself then we wouldn't be sitting here having this useless discussion".

"No Alexander" Madison found her voice for the first time "I didn't start this Alexander. You did. You were the one that tracked me down and messaged me demanding money when it was continent for you. The kids and I were doing fine without having you in our lives. We were struggling yes, but we were happy. But the moment we weren't struggling, the moment we had something that we could offer you now you came in demanding something. For seven years I was struggling to keep the children and myself afloat, and I never saw you stepping up then to lend a hand. You never cared – not unless it was in your best interest. If I needed something you were suddenly very busy or couldn't be there for whatever reason. You always had one excuse or another. No time, no money, whatever it was you always had something to say".

"That was never the case Madison".

"It wasn't? Really Alex? The amount of birthdays you missed or school plays you didn't attend because of one excuse or the next. You were never there when your family needed you the most".

"But you weren't there for me either" Alex said sternly.

"Are you serious? Just because I didn't have sex with you anytime you wanted, or because I actually wanted to spend time with my kids instead of at countless parties with you?" Madison asked stunned "I gave you everything Alex. I moved out of my parents house when I got pregnant so that we could raise our baby together".

"No Madison, you did that because you wanted to have the baby. Did you ever stop to wonder if I wanted to have a baby at all? No you didn't. You never even asked you just assumed I did" Alex argued. "But I still opened my door to my girlfriend of only a couple a months. And despite what you thought I did stick with you. Yes I cheated but I had stayed with you for seven years. I gave you a roof over your head and allowed you to stay home to raise the baby. I wasn't entirely heartless".

"Yeah only to have you turn up after seven years demanding money from me" Madison answered. "You came out of the blue. Not a care in the world for any of your kids only to ask for money. Don't you care at all that Noah has grown into a young man? You've never even met Emma and Ella".

"I never wanted children" Alex said, "To me they are a burden. I am happy that you enjoy motherhood but I have no interest in fatherhood.  I am sorry that you expected differently then me".

"That doesn't justify you wanting money," Madison argued.

"No it doesn't. But you never asked why I wanted it now did you" Alex said simply. He glanced towards Jonathan "I expect the money to be wired into my account by this evening". Without waiting for an answer Alex stood.

"Of course" John stood with him and held his hand out. But Alexander didn't take it. He instead shot a final glare at Madison.

"By tonight" Alexander said sternly. He turned on his heels and stormed away from the room and left the house slamming the door behind him.

Madison heaved out a sigh that she didn't know she holding. It felt as though a weight had been off her chest. A relief fell over her as she rested her head on her hands.

"It's alright dear" Rebecca reached forward and rubbed Madison's back. "It's all over now'.

"But it doesn't feel over" Madison whispered. Although the major weight was gone she couldn't fight the feeling as though there was something more to come. As if this was only the calm before the storm.

Thank you all for your dedicated reading. A Ready-Made Family has officially made the Wattys 2018 long list. Thank you all so much.