The Edge of the Rain by Patrick Councilor
Danielle's parents helped her out of the car and across the carport.
"Take it slow. Go at your pace," her mother instructed.
Danielle still had her bandages on. When they opened the door, a vase of carnations on the dining room table caught her eye. All the other vases and flower were gone. There was a card. "Who sent flowers?" she asked.
Her father knew darn well who they were from, but he played innocent. No reason to get on his daughter's bad side when he didn't have to. He went over and picked up the pink envelope and went over to hand it to her.
"No, you open it Dad. I just want to know who they are from, that's all. Nothing more."
He took a deep breath before opening it. "They're from David."
"I don't want to read it. Send them back." She started to cry and she ran to her room. She collapsed on her bed and grabbed her pillow to cry into. How dare he send more flowers after she had asked him not to. How dare him. She cried uncontrollably.
Her parents came into her room to try to console her, but she wasn't having it. They gave up and retreated to leave her crying in her room.
Danielle cried herself to sleep. She must have been asleep for a few hours when she woke up with dried tears on her face. She rolled over and wrenched in pain. Darn the cast on her arm. She sat up. There had been a big mirror on the back of her dresser and it wasn't the same. It had taken her off guard. It was a painting of a country side and not a great one at that, but it was evident that someone had spent hours on it.
"Daddy! Daddy!"
Her father came running in.
"What is the meaning of this?" She pointed to her mirror.
"David was here. He painted over all of the mirrors."
"What!?" She was outraged. She got up and ran into the bathroom where this mirror was painted as a field of daisies. She ran into her parent's bathroom and the large wall mirror was a beach scene with seagulls.
"Why would he do this? How inconsiderate!"
"Baby, he did it for you. He knew you were sensitive about your appearance."
"What if I wanted to look at myself? Did he ever think of that?"
"He thought of everything. Can't you see that? He was thinking of you. He put all of the hand mirrors in that drawer if you wanted to use one. This is paint. I can scrape it off if you want. The boy went to a lot of trouble."
"Nobody asked him to." She ran back to her room and retreated back to her bed to use her cry pillow again.
Her father slowly walked into her room and gently sat upon her bed. "Baby girl, I love you so very much. You know I think you're so beautiful that no accident can stop that. This accident may have taken some of your looks away, but don't let it take your life away."
"If he comes around, you tell him to leave me alone."
He held out the card that came with the flowers. "I think that you should at least read this last card."
"No."
"Do it for me." He held it out.
She sat up and tried to dry her tears with her good arm before she took the card. The front of the card had daisies by the beach. It was obviously his inspiration for the paintings he did over the mirrors.
"Danielle, I miss you so." Her tears hit the card as she read it aloud. "My father says that unconditional love means that you need to step back when your heart tells you to do everything but. So here I am stepping back. It may be the most difficult thing I have ever done, but know that I am just a phone call away. If you didn't want me to love you, you shouldn't have loved me so much. (Sorry, I've been listening to a lot of country music lately)." She let out a half sigh / half laugh. "I will always hold onto the time we shared. Love, David."
She let the card drop to the comforter on her bed. She held onto her father and cried.
"I think you need that boy in your life."
"No Daddy, I can't. I won't. Ever."
"I hear ya baby girl. And I'm here for you."
"I'm tired. I need some sleep."
He looked at her. He had no idea how she could go from actively crying to going to sleep, that is, unless she planned to cry herself to sleep. "Alright. We'll wake you for dinner." He kissed her bandaged head.
"I love you Daddy."
"I love you too Sugar Bear."
When he closed the door behind him. Danielle went to her dresser and got her cell phone. She brought it over to her bed. She was still crying, but trembling now as she brought up David's number. She so loved and missed him, but she couldn't let her father know it. She'd never hear the end of it. And she just couldn't take that. She deleted his number, letting the phone drop to the bed spread. She just refused to put David through what she was going through. She took up her pillow. She hugged it tightly and she cried.