Don't Burn Out (Currently Editing)

Sixty Eight

(PLEASE READ THE AUTHORS NOTE)

POV Tiffany

Today will be one of the best in my life, my wedding. The day most young girls dream of. This morning I woke to breakfast in bed from girls with my little one, Chantelle.

At the crack of dawn the girls started plucking, pulling, dusting my my body. To say they were excited was understatement. I can't really blame them, I had been hopping in place like a drunken rabbit all day.

Today I'd walk myself down the isle. My mother died just three days after Chantelle's birth.

The monitor beats at a snails pace. I watch from her side with Chantelle bundled against my heart. Zayn hovers from behind me, he is waiting for me to lose it like I did last year.

I hold my daughter against my chest with one arm, the other holds my mother's fragile hand.

"T-Tiffany," she wheezes.

"Yes Mama."

"I'm going to die today."

I look down at my daughter's sleeping face, sighing. I know. I had been preparing myself for it the day Eleanor and Nadia brought her to our pack. "I know."

"May I hold my granddaughter?"

"Of course."

She sits up a little bit. I hand Chantelle over. Mother lies Elle over her bosom and cups her little body.

"She has your eyes." She looks towards Zayn.

"Yes she does ma'am." His fingers brush my shoulders, give them a little squeeze.

"She's beautiful. Chantelle Maali Aazeen Kennedy Malik."

The sickly woman, my mother, pats my daughter's soft curls then hands her back to me.

The room silent. The even the quietest of church mice would sound like a elephant going through a china shop.

What do you tell your dying mother?

Goodbye?

I'm sorry for being a dreadful daughter?

I love you?

What?

"Tiffany, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. John 14:27."

"I know. I just don't want to lose you again. I just got you back, Mama. I just got my Chantelle. She'll never know either sets of her grandparents. She'll never met her auntie, the girl she was named after."

Mother shakes her head, but retains her elegant grin. "Tsk, tsk, tsk Tiffany what have I taught you? All you do is think about the negative. Think about who Chantelle dose have. She already has two wonderful parents, and already that's much more than what most children have. Then Zayn's three beautiful sisters as aunts. If we're not counting blood, she has six uncles, and eight aunts. She already has an entire pack that loves her plus two others, and so do you Tiffany."

"But Mother it isn't-"

"You see that man behind you? He loves you and the child you hold against your heart something fierce." Zayn rubs my shoulders and lightly flicks his fingers over our daughters head. "She's loves you are too. Blood isn't a factor sometimes people hate their own blood." Her voice grows fainter. There is much more time in between each beep.