Chapter 12: Love is greater...
Cars flashed by across the roads. Father drove away fast. This time, no going back. He pulled up at the station, locked the car doors, walked inside.
A train whistle screamed. People jumbled around him. Shoppers, tourists. Lovers.
He moved towards the desk.
*****
Mother pounded her pillow, lying on her bed. Her family was in pieces. it was her fault. Father was gone, Ron had left. She stopped pounding, and buried her face into the feather pillow, and cried.
A hand smoothed her hair. And a voice. “I only ever wanted for you to be happy.”
Mother sat up fast, wiping her eyes with her sleves. “Angie? What..."
Angela fluttered back a pace. "Please, don't get excited, I...I never wanted to hurt you. All my life I have tried to secure your happiness.” Her face softened. “I thought it was best.”
Mother grimised, and turned away. “You did this?”
“I did some.”
Mother balled her fists, her eyes bitter, then she smiled, softly, and flopped face down on the duvet. “When will you understand it, Angie. You cannot
make me happy by taking away the things that make me smile.”
*****
The train pulled out of the station, and Father felt an emptiness he had never felt before. He had been right. He couldn’t live without her. He was dying inside. Through the station, out beyond past the metallic fences surrounding the tracks. he had thought she would come. But she would not come. Not any more.
*****
Viq and Vibs watched Mother on the porch swing as she pushed back and forth, her feet brushing the woodwork. “She misses Father,” Vibs said quietly.
Viq nodded. “I miss him,” he said.
“Me too.”
Viq’s eyes widened. “We gotta get him back!”
“No.”
They turned, Vic was in the doorway. “Dad has gone. They made that decision. Only Mum can change that now.”
*****
Adam, and Izzy sat at either end of the table. Between them, Anne, Tabby, and Kelly nibbled food off their forks. A slight steam lifted off the meatloaf. Adam heard the door open and close. “Come in, Christy,” he called.
“Adam!” She walked into the kitchen. “I need your help. Again.”
Adam glanced at Izzy, and she nodded. They walked into the study. Christy lifted a certain book of the bookshelf, and it swivelled slowly around.
"Where is he..."
*****
Bo Moppet gazed down at the garden below. He remembered it differently, there were less flowers. And Christy had been there. She’d been trying to dribble a football down the lawn, but was failing badly. Bo had wanted to offer to help her, but hadn’t dared.
Christy had slammed the ball against the ground and it had bounced over the fence. Bo had rushed down, picked up the ball, and handed it back. She had mumbled thanks, and then run inside, embarrassed.
“I will have to leave,” Father said to himself. “I cannot stay here. Too many memories.”
He felt her before he saw her, and then she was there behind him. She spoke quietly. “What do you remember?”
“I remember you and me,” Father answered, quietly, simply, afraid to turn and break the spell.
“Us. I remember,” Christy said. “I remeber us beside the sea.” Her feet moved over the plush carpet, making no sound. “There was a bench." She stopped. "And a man. He told me he loved me. he said that..." He voice caught, and she closed her eyes. "Said he wanted to marry me.”
Father spun around slowly, caught in the moment. her eyes closed as if dareing not to look and see his answer. Her hands held limply in front of her. Her touched her fingers, took her hands in his, lifted them to his face. “I remember that man,” Father said. “He had a ring.”
Christy nodded. She opened her eyes. "He did.”
“He still has it.” And as if by a miracle, the ring appeared in his hand, the sun glancing off it. And he was slipping it over her finger. “Christy Cole, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” her answer was sure, she looked into his blue eyes, and said the words with confidence. “Yes, I will marry you Beauregard Parker Moppet. I will marry you forever.”
To be finished!