"Mommy, what was Daddy like?" Little 5 year old Astrella Matthews look up at her mother, her dark brown eyes shining with curiosity that she inherited from her father, her blonde curls falling just past her shoulder as they bounced slightly when she so much as moved her head. She reached up and stroked her mothers cheek, trailing her thumb across in repeated, comforting motions. She wasn't an oblivious girl, she noticed how her mother's eyes always fell with hurt at the mention of her father. "Please tell me something this time. Please." She pleaded - whenever she asked about her dad, her mother would give some random answer about her looks and fall a little quiet. It was annoying but she knew it was hard for her mom to talk about and never bugged her about it for a long time after. But she had to know now. She had to know who her daddy was.
Kassidy Matthew's bright blue eyes fell like a angel crashing down onto earth as they darted down towards her lap. She knew it was bad, that she never gave her daughter a better answer but it was...difficult. There was no actual known word to describe the pain she felt, so she settled with difficult. "Well...he had dark brown eyes, like yours, but he wore blue contacts. And he had brown hair but he dyed it blonde sometimes. And he had the same curvy jaw as yours and the same smile." She smiled delicatley, thinking about it, and opened her mouth to say something about the softness of her hand when her daughter interrupted her.
"You say that every time! I know what he looks like, you even showed me a picture. But tell me more! What was he like. Was he a good man? Why did you love him? Where did you guys meet? Please tell me." Astrella pleaded and Kassidy smiled slightly. How was she supposed to sum up her daughters father, her husband in one, lightly descripted paragraph? She laughed dryly at the thought before swinging her daughter into her arms and heading up the stairs of her house. "Well, I have something of his. It's yours, actually. He wanted me to give it to you when you were old enough but your a very responsible little girl. I think now is a good time. You can see some other things too. " She mumbled softly as she walked into her bedroom - she was a little more quiet since the death of her husband, but not shy. Just...quiet. A little more thoughtful, a little less of a smile.
She set her daughter down on her bed and walked over to her closet, pulling open the doors and reaching up her arm to the top shelf, pulling down a normal sized box with the writing 'VINCENT' on it. She kicked the door shut, staring at the name as she walked back over to the bed."Was that his name, mommy?" Astrella asked, staring now at the name herself. "Was Vincent my daddy?"
"Is. He'll always be you're daddy, sweetheart, just as he will always be my love." Kassidy smiled, a firm smile, a sure smile. Vincent was her first love, her true love, and always her love. No person, no matter how glamorous or charming, would ever change that. He opened up the box and pulled out a little necklace, a heart shaped and golden necklace. "This is mine. You're daddy gave it to me when he found out I was pregnant with you. He said that he'd never love anyone as much as me and you. I hate to brag, but he never did. He never broke his word." She smiled softly, clutching the necklace in her hand before dropping it back into the box and pulled out a tiny pair of earings and gasped delicatley, holding them up with a grin. "He gave this to me when we broke out of the Asyu-scary place. He said he'd been keeping them, waiting for the right moment to give them. He couldn't of picked a better moment, I lost a earing while we escaped." The earings sparkled lightly and she stared at them for a little while as well before putting them back in the box.
"Did he gives you lots of pretty things?" Astrella questioned, peering into the box and staring at the pieces of jewllery that held up some of the space. She didn't dare touch them though, with the way her mother was holding them she was quite afraid they would break at her very touch - but she was enjoying to look on them. They seemed to hold special meaning for her mother.
"Yes. He gave me lots of things, he didn't seem to understand that I was thrilled just to have him. But each little gift came with a romantic speech that I adored. I was never one with the words or the nice gestures - I always stuttered and blushed if I looked into his eyes." She wrinkled her nose before laughing again, laughing more then she had in a little while. "But he seemed to like that, even though I hated it." She mumbled before pulling out a little box, and it was still wrapped. It hadn't been opened, not ever. "This one was for you. The night he died, he gave this to me and told me not to peek. That it was for our little girl." Kassidy handed her daughter the wrapped box before she started to shuffle through the other items in the 'Vincent' box, looking at old letters and pictures and gifts and smiling at each memory each individual item contained.
"Mommy!" Astrella cried after a few minutes and Kassidy flickered back to life, realizing that she had already went ahead and unwrapped the gift and was looking inside. She pulled out a heart necklace - except this one was split in half. Inside, was a little note and Kassidy picked it up, reading it since her daughter couldn't reach many words yet.
'One half belongs to my beloved wife, and the other belongs to my darling daughter. Together, they make my heart complete, forever and always. -Vincent Gray Matthews.'
Kassidy laughed and looked up at the ceiling, hiding the crystal tears that were forming in her eyes. "Always the romantic, that boy." She muttered softly, flicking her wrist and wiping away the tears before looking back down and unclasping both the necklaces, placing one around her neck and the other around her daughters.She was about to say something when Astrella threw her arms around Kassidy's neck. "I love you, mommy. And I love daddy, too." She kissed her mother's earlobe.
Kassidy paused for a moment, before letting out a soft and wide grin. "I love you, too. And Daddy does too." She was siletn for a moment, locked in the hug before she got up, swinging her daughter with her. "Come on, The Suite Life is on. Full steam ahead!" She made the sounds of a train before racing out of the room with her daughter, who was laughing, their necklaces swinging against their necks and only one person on their mind.
