Music ✔️

Chapter 39

~Donovan~

3 years later

"Alright, kiddo, this will be exactly how we practiced it okay?" I ask her, her eyes shining with excitement.

She smiles as widely as she can with an eager nod in response.

I smile back at her, admiring how much she looks like her mother. "Okay, then. Go give Mama the box."

I watch her run (as fast as a 3-year old could without falling on their face) across the old park grass to where Milly is sitting at a park bench a few feet away with Emily and Ashley. Tyler's pretending to be on a phone call for me a bit farther from them while he hides a bouquet from Milly.

I start to make my way over to the table because it is clear that Drew got distracted. When I get there, she's giving her aunts a detailed description of what she had for breakfast this morning (fluffy pancakes smothered in maple syrup with orange juice in her favorite purple cup). She turns to me and smiles brightly again.

"Hi," she says. "Did you hear about breakfast?"

"Drew," I say, giving her a look and nodding towards Milly.

"Oh! Ha." She turns to her mom with the same enchanting smile and hands her the box. "Here. Mama, Daddy would like to ask you something."

"Thank you," Milly says, taking the blue velvet in her hands and giving me a questioning look as Emily turns on the stereo she brought, playing Can't Help Falling In Love.

I just sit down next to her on the bench and watch Emily and Ashley pick up the bouquets of roses that they hid under the picnic table and hand them to her. Tyler does the same, but instead of walking like I told him to, he does a one-handed cartwheel like I told him not to do. She's laughing now as she shifts all of the flowers into one arm, giving one of the bundles to our daughter.

"What's all this,?" she asks, never ceasing to amaze me with that goofy grin.

"Open it," I reply, gesturing towards the little box in her hands.

She does and her smile drops. The ring I spent months looking for sparkles in the sun. The flowers hit the ground without a sound. She looks back up at me with tears in her eyes.

"Are you messing with me?" she asks, making it my turn to laugh.

"No. It's real. This is real. C... Can I ask you something?"

She nods and I can tell she's trying not to cry.

"Would you mind... Marrying me? You don't have to, if you don't want to, but I would really like it if you said yes. I think we could be relationship goals."

She rolls her eyes and dabs under them with the sleeve of my sweater that she's wearing. "Yeah."

"Really?"

"Yes, you idiot," she says, nodding.

We're both smiling and teary-eyed as I slip the ring on her left ring finger and kiss her as our friends cheer and Drew makes retching noises.

Fuck yeah.

~6 years later~

I'm sat in the long car with my father, my brother, Milly's brother-in-law, and our daughter. I can't believe this day has finally come. We're all in our best suits (and dress), just for her. She deserves the best and she'll receive it as long as I'm around. I've never been this anxious. This is really happening.

I feel a hand on my knee and I look up to see Tyler attached to it.

"You okay? You spaced out a while ago," he says, eyes full of worry.

I shake my head. "No, but I'll figure it out."

He sits back in his seat, giving my leg two quick pats before resting his head against the leather seat. Drew's grip on my hand grows tighter as we reach our destination at the church and the driver slows down in front of the building, dropping us off on the sidewalk. I leave Drew for a few minutes with my dad to run across the street and throw up behind a bench. It's really fucking happening.

"Hankie?" Michael offers from behind me.

I turn around, thanking him, and cleaning myself up with the dainty, silk cloth.

"It'll be okay," he reassures me. "It always ends up okay."

"How can you be sure?" I question, feeling like it truly won't end up okay. How could it?

"Because you have so many people here to help and you have that beautiful baby girl that you have to be a good father to regardless of what happens. Come on, we have to get inside and Drew isn't enjoying being with your dad for so long."

I reluctantly follow him back to where I'm supposed to be, taking my girl's hand in mine. The only girl I have left.

We're informed to get into two lines, immediate family first, and so on. Drew and I get into the second row of people, behind Madison and Michael. I figured that Maddy should be first, considering the fact that she's the closest to her sister.

We enter the building, my heart starting to race. We're handed our pamphlets by the staff, her beautiful face on the cover.

"Are you ready to see mommy?" I whisper to my daughter. She doesn't look at me, though. Just shakes her head 'no'. "Me neither."

We continue walking down the stairs and down the aisle, each step I take getting heavier and heavier. Drew and I wait at the end of the pews, trying not to watch my sister-in-law and her husband break down over her. I don't think I can handle any more of this torture.

The man that told Drew and I to wait by the first row of seats, gestured for us to come forward. My hands started to shake immediately, but I kept going. One foot in front of the other to her casket. I caught a glimpse of her and I could've passed out. I picked up Drew before she got a chance to look and rested a hand on the back of her head, keeping it on my shoulder. Nobody should have to see their mother like that.

She didn't look real. She looked like a doll. Plastic and fake. Her eyes were closed, but I knew she wasn't sleeping. I tried to tell myself that to cope, but it didn't stick. My bride of only 3 years just lays there peacefully, not knowing that she's breaking every heart in here. My Milly, an angel from the beginning to the end.

We take our seats in the reserved spot next to Madison and Michael. I sit silently and keep Drew out of view of the front of the room as my anxiety spikes, a man approaching the microphone in the center of the room, tapping it twice to check if it was working. I look around and see that everyone has sat down, holding back tears.

It's time for the service to begin and I'm not ready. Nobody ever is.
_

Thank you to everyone who read this and especially to those who stayed to read it, if any. My baby is complete.

Also, sorry.