Lily was here.
Lily was here.
Lily was here.
Lil
"Lily! Is that what you have been doing for the last 2 hours! Writing 'Lily was here'?"
"Yes, daddy. I`ve been practicing!"
Mark sighed. Finally able to walk around the loft without throwing up-today was a good day. He went to work (only for four hours though, as Sarah insisted), did laundry, helped Ted pack up his things and began to cook the fam feast. He had sent Lily to her room in order to finish reading her school book, but no she was at her desk. Writing 'Lily was here' on 50 sheets of paper.
"Lily, sweetie, I though you would finish your school book."
"That`s boring! I like writing better!"
Just like her mother.
"Sweetie, I know you love writing, but you have to finish your book. So here`s the deal-finish your book tonight and tomorrow when you`re at school I`ll buy that pink paper you want, ok?"
"The Pink paper!"
"Yes. Pink paper AND the pink pencils."
Lil`s eyes went wide in amazement and wonder. Bet she was thinking of her name all over those papers.
"Deal, daddy!"
"Good choice, Lily flower. Kisses for Daddy?"
She pecked up my mouth, then ran to her bed, picking up the book.
"I love you Lil."
"I love you too, Daddy. I`m glad you`re much better now."
"I see you got Lil to read her book."
"I did. Had to bargain and say I`ll buy those pink notebooks, but hey it worked!"
Scooting off to his room, I pulled out my scrapbook. The first 20 pages were pictures of Bohemians, the loft and my "friends"-or my old friends. The next pages…were hard to look at.
Page 21….Bethany Lucy belle "Beth" Jonas.
The wonderful girl I meet a year after "they" left. We dated for 4 months before we knew we loved each other. Planned a wedding (invited "them") and had our lives planned. Life just hated me..because the day before our wedding Beth was killed by a robber. Died of 5 stab wounds.
I traced over the pictures of her and I, wishing she lived. She was sweet, kind, loving..everything I wanted in a partner. But she was gone.
Leading to page 24….Jennifer Angelica May "Jen" Franklin.
We meet a year after Beth died. It started as a date and ended in a wonderful 7 month engagement. I loved her, and she loved me. We moved into our new apartment together, and what did Life do? Three months after the birth of Roger and Lily, a homeless person shoot her in the head at point break just over the $100 she had in her wallet.
Leaving me with three month twins, a heartbreak and loss. I moved back into the "Ranch" as Sarah, Jay, Liz, Kyle and Sammie called it. A month later, when the funeral was about to take place, her parents got a judge to "divorce" us. She was buried with her maiden name and in a family plot. No mention of her husband or her children.
Page 31….Patricia Maryanne Jo "Patti" Stern.
She was my last sweetheart. She herself was a divorcee' of a late husband-who died in a boating accident. She had a daughter named Amber,6, and a little son named Benny, 3. We meet with mutual friends, then slowly worked our way into another engagement. We waited two years before we planned our wedding. It was going to be beautiful, elegant..everything we wanted. We found a charming house close to the "Ranch" and in the same district, we found the charming dog. We had our life planned-but not for the unexpected.
Because as usual, Life hated me. Patti was taken, along her with children Amber and Benny, a late September due to a drunk driver a year after our marriage. Her parents "divorced" me, and buried her again with her maiden name. Patricia Maryanne Jo Stern, Amber Jo Stern, Benny Martin Stern. I was alone (again).
But I couldn`t let them get me down. I had two amazing kids and a ton of people who loved and cared for me.
Then why did I feel so empty?
Why was I so empty still?
"Daddy! Dinner is readddddddddddddy!"
"Coming Lil-flower!" I yelled back, putting the book back in my drawer.
"I Love you all." I whispered, before I left to eat.