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“I’m sorry, we have had a lot going on. Ella’s dad isn’t doing so well.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Congratulations on the engagement,” she responded coldly.
“Thanks, Mom. We are going to shoot for getting married this weekend.”
“That’s fast. Honey, are you sure?” she responded with a sense of worry in her voice.
“I’ve never been surer.”
I left Ella and Meredith to spend time with Tommy while I figured out the wedding arrangements. I called a wedding coordinator, and she would take care of everything.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
ELLA
Sitting here with my dad, I realized any moment could be our last moment together. All I could think about was when I was younger. I would always be on his lap while he watched TV, or I’d watch him as we worked on cars. My dad always made time for me. I just wanted to sit next to him on the couch and hold his hand. I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could.
A couple of hours later, Kevin and Charlotte showed up. Kevin couldn’t hold himself together. As soon as he saw Dad, he started crying. I felt bad for him. He had never been that close to Dad, but losing him changed everything. It was obvious that he was hurting. I gave him a big hug and whispered in his ear, “We will get through this together.”
I grabbed his hand and brought him to sit on the couch next to us. We both knew what was coming. It sucked to know there was nothing we could do to stop it. We all sat by Dad, listening to him laugh at the TV while Charlotte and Alexander talked about the wedding arrangements. She was going to handle it so I could focus on my dad. She was an amazing friend.
Throughout the entire week, I didn’t go to work. I figured I would rather take the risk of being fired than not be there for my father when he passed. I didn’t care. He was more importantto me right now. Alexander agreed. I could find another job if I needed to, but my boss was nice about it, given the situation.
The coordinator booked us a venue, and Charlotte had been working with her to get everything set up. We were getting married tomorrow. We had already gotten all the dresses and tuxes. I was hoping he made it one more day so he could walk me down the aisle. I’d been dreaming about my wedding since I was a little girl. I dreamed of my daddy walking me down the aisle, giving me away to my future husband. I couldn’t imagine having that taken away from me.
Day after day, he was getting worse. For the last couple of days, he hadn’t wanted to get out of bed much. We still tried to get him out to stretch and do a little bit of walking. He needed to keep up his strength. The morning of the wedding, he was pale and not looking so good. He didn’t care though; he still wanted to go.
“I am not going to miss the chance of giving away my little girl and seeing her get married. I don’t care if I need someone to help me walk her down the aisle. I’m doing it,” he said to Kevin.
Kevin wanted him to stay in bed. He didn’t want him to exert himself. Alexander bought him a wheelchair, so he could use that until he needed to stand.
We headed to the venue to get ready. We had a lot of people coming today: Alexander’s real family, his foster parents, some of his friends, and colleagues. I had most of my immediate family coming too. It was going to be a good day. I was excited to marry Alexander. I’d always dreamed of what my wedding would be like, and it matched my visions. Charlotte did a wonderful job helping the coordinator fix up the venue. I couldn’t ever thank her enough. She had been my rock through all this.
After getting my dress on and my hair pinned up, I was ready to say ‘I do’ to the man of my dreams. I didn’t know what I didto become this lucky. I would never undervalue him. He was a treasure piece. I had a big smile on my face when I heard the “Wedding March” start playing. That was my cue. I opened the door with Charlotte behind me and headed out to the ceremony. My dad met me at the door and interlocked his arm with mine. No matter what happened, I was glad he was here, in this moment, to share this with me. I knew he felt the same from the ear-to-ear smile he was wearing.
“Darling, this will be one of the best moments of my life.”
I didn’t want to cry. I had just done my makeup. I promised myself I wouldn’t cry. Why’d he say that? The waterworks started as we were walking down the aisle. Alexander didn’t take his eyes off me. I knew I had made the best decision.
We didn’t take a honeymoon because of my dad’s condition, but I was glad we didn’t. Within a couple of days, he couldn’t even get out of bed. He couldn’t keep anything down, and it was clear that he was really struggling. On his last day, he asked us to take care and look out for each other once he was gone. He was worried that my mom would wither away. Kevin agreed to move in with her to keep her company. We didn’t want to say goodbye, but we knew that it wasn’t going to be long after he started making those final comments. The next morning, we found him. He had passed in his sleep. It was a very hard day for all of us. None of us talked much for days after. There was nothing like losing a loved one too soon. I was just glad that we had time to say goodbye. I was glad that I got to have him walk me down the aisle before he passed.
From that moment on, Kevin, my mom, and I kept in touch every day. We made sure that we helped each other through the pain. We needed each other. No matter what had happened in the past, my mom needed me. I would be there for her.
Epilogue
ALEXANDER
I was asked a lot when I was younger where I would see myself at around forty years old, and I always said married and happy. Turned out, I was right. The day I ran into Ella set my life in motion. Everything fell into place after that. It was funny how that worked. When you weren’t looking for love, you found it. I was so grateful she agreed to go out on that date with me, or where would we be now? We wouldn’t be happily married, that was for sure.
To say that our life turned out just as we expected was an understatement. I grew very close to my dad, Jack. He even met my parents, and they got along too. We spent holidays together, and there was never any bickering. I’d grown closer to my siblings.
About a year after we got married, Ella found out she was pregnant. Of course, we were both overjoyed. We had talked about having kids, but we were both working so hard, we hadn’t planned to yet. Our little girl made her big surprise debut. We named her Kaylin. We finally had a real reason to have that playground in the backyard. She came out with beautiful green eyes. From that moment on, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Iwanted to hold her, kiss her, pinch her cheeks, and protect her. She had me wrapped around her cute little finger.
Ella turned out to be a wonderful mother, just as I’d envisioned. She never complained and just took care of whatever needed to be done. She made sure that Kaylin got everything she needed and that she was changed and ready for me when I got home. She knew that as soon as I took my shower until I went to bed, I’d have Kaylin in my arms.
About two years later, the same week Ella got promoted to Chief Editor of ACE Publishing, we found out that Ella was pregnant again, this time with a boy. She didn’t want to stop working after the baby came, so I decided to hand off the reins to Shawn and stay at home with the kids. I was privileged enough to be a stay-at-home father without having to worry about how much money we had in the bank. I had been smart and made sure that we had plenty of money for our family to live comfortably for many decades to come. When he made his appearance, we named him Kayden. Ella enjoyed her career as Chief Editor, and I enjoyed being a stay-at-home dad. I got to spend all my time with the kids.
Shawn and Charlotte ended up getting married a year ago, after dating for three years. I never would have thought that he would settle down, but he finally found someone who was as driven and picky as him. They came over every Friday night for dinner and to play with the kids. They were expecting their first child soon.
I never would have thought I would end up this lucky, but then I knocked over a girl on my morning run, and it changed everything. Our lives are now perfect. What more could we ask for?
