Children of a Whiskey Lullaby

Chapter 18

       "Ryan this better be good!" Kristen yelled as she walked into the living room where they all stood. She saw Mark and immediately gasped, "Mark..." was all she could manage to say.
"Kristen I'm sorry I didn't try harder to find you. When you guys weren't at the house 9 years ago I thought the worst. Why didn't you tell me you were moving with the kids?" He looked at Kristen but she wouldn't look up from the floor. "Kristen talk to me please?" Mark begged.
She didn't speak, but turned on her heel and headed straight for the kitchen. They all followed her into the kitchen when they heard water beginning to run. "It's not... I'm just... It's all just a dream." Kristen mumbled to herself as she scrubbed some dishes in the sink.
"Mom... you okay?" Rachel inched closer to her mother and finally placed her hand on her shoulder. Kristen went slack and stood there, mid scrub on a plate. She began to cry and Rachel sweet as ever pet her hair and whispered to her mother. The two stood there for what felt like forever until Rachel reached her hand out to Mark and they traded places. "Everybody out!" Rachel whisper-yelled at Olivia, Ryan, and Lea.
"Okay Sis quit with the shoving." Ryan chuckled at his sister as she gave him an apologetic look.
"Why'd you call her so soon?" Rachel lowered to sit on the floor and looked at her lap as though it would answer her instead of Ryan. She raised her knees up and cried into her knees. Her breath hitched and you could see the shivers running down her spine. "She left us just yesterday and you called her back here even though your the reason she left!" Her voice cracked on every word.
"Do you not think mom deserved to know our dad, her husband, is alive and didn't die on the front lines of war? Do you not remember how much she cried over him?" Ryan lowered himself to the floor next to Rachel and she lifted he teary face to look at his. "She deserved to know he's not dead." Rachel nodded her head as Lea crawled into her lap and the three of them sat there until Rachel and Lea ended up falling asleep. 
Ryan put both girls on his lap and hooked his arm under Rachel's knee as Rachel held Lea and slowly pushed against the wall till he was standing. "You never cease to amaze me Ryan. That's what I love about you and there's nothing that could tear us apart." Olivia gave him a peck on the cheek and followed him upstairs.
"Okay I think they're both down for the night. What do you say we go to town and get a bite to eat?" Ryan held his arm out and Olivia gladly took it as they walked to her motorcycle out front. "You can drive."
"Funny I was about to say I'll drive." They hopped on the bike and sped off towards the city. When the stopped they weren't at a restaurant but and old church building. "Come on its just in here." She waltzed through the front door and Ryan soon followed. "You ready."
"Ready for what exactly?"
"I had a week while you were up at your Mom's and I got to thinking... I don't care if we have this big old celebrity wedding like my siblings did. In all reality I just wanted something simple. So while you were gone I made a phone call to an old friend of mine..."
"Olivia, this must be Ryan." An older man in a white suit and black tie came up the small isle to greet them.
"He sure is. You got everything Pastor King?" He lifted up a small, worn book and stood at the podium.
"What about all that planning with your sisters didn't you buy all that stuff?"
"We hadn't bought any of the stuff we had been planning on and we already had the rings. I just want to spend the rest of my life with you, Lea, and our crazy band family. What do you say?"
"Say yes dude!" Carlos shouted from the back, as Lisa elbowed his side, with everyone else including his parents.
"Yes! A hundred million times yes!" They kissed as the back of the room erupted in cheer.
"Then I now pronounce you husband and wife!" Pastor King exclaimed joyfully.
"I've got one last thing for you I finished that song I was talking about, help me out guys!"

(Start music)
🎶Sometimes I hate every single stupid word you say
Sometimes I wanna slap you in your whole face
There's no one quite like you
You push all my buttons down
I know life would suck without you

At the same time, I wanna hug you
I wanna wrap my hands around your neck
You're an asshole but I love you
And you make me so mad I ask myself
Why I'm still here, or where could I go
You're the only love I've ever known
But I hate you, I really hate you,
So much, I think it must be

True love, true love
It must be true love
Nothing else can break my heart like
True love, true love,
It must be true love
No one else can break my heart like you

Just once try to wrap your little brain around my feelings
Just once please try not to be so mean
Repeat after me now R-O-M-A-N-C-E-E-E
Come on I'll say it slowly (Romance)
You can do it baby

At the same time, I wanna hug you
I wanna wrap my hands around your neck
You're an asshole but I love you
And you make me so mad I ask myself
Why I'm still here, or where could I go
You're the only love I've ever known
But I hate you, I really hate you,
So much, I think it must be

True love, true love
It must be true love
Nothing else can break my heart like
True love, true love,
It must be true love
And no one else can break my heart like you

(I love you, I think it must be love, I love you)

Why do you rub me up the wrong way?
Why do you say the things that you say?
Sometimes I wonder how we ever came to be
But without you I'm incomplete

I think it must be
True love, true love
It must be true love
Nothing else can break my heart like
True love, true love,
It must be true love
And no one else can break my heart like you (like you)
No one else can break my heart like you (like you)
No one else can break my heart like you🎶