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There would be a wedding, and Felicia would become his bride, his wife, his partner for the rest of his life. He would be intimate with her at least enough to have children with her, but beyond that, he had no physical or emotional interest in her at all. It was going to be a long and lonely life, but he was willing to do it for the betterment of his estate and the generations of Madison’s to come after him. He was willing to do it for his father, though it came at a steep price.

He would make himself forget what it was like to be with a woman he wanted, with a woman who dominated his every thought, who made him ne