Promise from the heart

Chapter 41

"Charlie!"

Charlie woke up to Ariel shaking him. "Oh, thank heavens," she sighed and enveloped him in the tight embrace. "We thought we lost you. When I came back from work, Julian ran to me and told me you wouldn't wake up." She leaned forward and brushed her fingers through his curls gently. He closed his eyes and relaxed completely.

"I told him to go back to bed and that I'd stay with you."

Charlie nodded thoughtfully. "I had a dream," he said and chewed his lip. "Or something."

She pulled him to her and sat down more comfortably on the bed. "Was it a vision?" she asked.

"Don't you only get those when you are awake?"

"When it comes to abilities, there isn't really a 'always' or 'never'. Everybody is different." She brushed away the few curls that was stuck to his clammy forehead. "Seems like someone might have taken the chance to show you something while you were asleep."

Charlie hummed and then sat up quickly as he remembered his promise to Jade. "Could you hand me my guitar?"

"Charlie, it's late."

"It's important." He said and looked her dead in the eye.

"Okay."

Ariel wrapped her wraparound sweater a little tighter and leaned back against the wall as Charlie sat on the edge and started to play...

Charlie leaned back and started playing. Ariel felt that she recognised the tune, but she couldn't place it, so she just relaxed, closed her eyes and marvelled at how talented her nephew really was.

But when he started singing, her eyes snapped open and they instantly filled with tears.

Don't go changing to try and please me
You never let me down before
Don't imagine you're too familiar
And I don't see you anymore

I wouldn't leave you in times of trouble
We never could have come this far
I took the good times; I'll take the bad times
I'll take you just the way you are

Don't go trying some new fashion
Don't change the color of your hair
You always have my unspoken passion
Although I might not seem to care

I don't want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are

Ariel's memories transported her to another time, to when she was sixteen. She and Agatha had been cooking with her father, and they'd both had a really bad day. They had been teased in school again for being weird and neither of them felt like doing much. But their father, Jade, hadn't let them mope around.

He had put on the record player and danced with them. Agatha was still grumpy, but Ariel had taken his hands and couldn't help but smile. She looked up at her tall father and felt one of his warm, large hands hold hers and the others rested on her back. He treated her so gently and he actually could dance. He twirled her around and even dipped her as he sang along. She rested her head on his chest as they danced and listened to him sing.

I wouldn't leave you in times of trouble
We never could have come this far
I took the good times; I'll take the bad times
I'll take you just the way you are

His voice was undeniably beautiful and so was he. Both Ariel and Agatha could see auras, feel what others felt, feel what they were thinking and how true they were. Their father was true, and good and kind. He was good all the way through, and he never failed to make them feel loved and safe and beautiful.

Finally Agatha gave in and the three of them danced and he twirled them both. By the end of the song, it was mostly the three of them moving back and forth while holding on tight to each other as their father sang to them.

I need to know that you will always be

The same old someone that I knew

What will it take till you believe in me

The way that I believe in you?

I said I love you and that's forever

And this I promise from the heart

I could not love you any better

I love you just the way you are

Dancing together like that became their thing. Whenever they had a bad day, they put on that day and they sang together. When Jade said goodnight to them or when he dropped them off at school, he always sang that one sentence "I love you just the way you are" before he kissed their temples.

Ariel and her sister never had to wonder if their father loved them or not, nor did they ever feel like they were missing out because they didn't have a mother. Ariel always figured that they didn't have a mother because their father already loved them so much. Asking for more than all that he gave them would just be greedy.

But then came The Day...

A few weeks before their seventeenth birthday, they were going away on a school trip. On the evening before the trip, they all cooked and danced together, and they sang that song to each other. The morning after they hugged and kissed and exchanged "I love you"s and before they left, their father had sat them down. She could still remember what he had said.

"I know that you girls know that I love you. And I want you to know that when we dance together and when I sing that song to you both, it isn't just because I love to spend time with you two like that. Though trust me, I do." He grinned cheekily. 

"It's because that I mean and I feel every part of that song. You two are absolutely perfect to me, and there isn't a single thing I would change about you two. And I want you to know, especially now that you're going away on a trip like this, that you shouldn't ever let anyone make you feel like you aren't good enough, or like you have to change or alter yourself to be with them, to suit them or to be accepted by them. 

"I'm telling you here and now, that if your friends or future partners do not love you unconditionally, they're not worth your time. You two deserve nothing less than to be treasured and cared for with the utmost love and respect. You hear me? I don't care how much you care about or fancy the other person. Don't you, either of you, ever make yourself small for anyone. Don't ever give anyone the permission to hurt you.

And I know you are teenagers and that you want to have a good time, but while I trust you two, I don't have an inch of trust for those twats you go to school with. So for your old man's sake, please be careful, okay? And call me. I don't care when, I'll pick up. And if something happens and you want to come home, I'll pick you up. Anytime, anywhere. Okay?"

Both she and Agatha had never loved their father more than in that moment. Not that they had ever doubted his love for them, but that speech was something they'd never forget.

As he dropped them off at school, where they were all going to meet, he had kissed them both on the cheek, as usual, and told them, "I love you just the way you are."