June twenty-first, Father's Day, came with a much lighter mood than the rest of the month had been spent in. Rapunzel got out of bed bright and early to make a breakfast of French toast, eggs, and iced tea for Eugene's first Father's Day. Instead of going to church, they were planning on spending the day finding Eugene's parents' gravestones, which were supposedly located an hour north. In addition to that, they were heading to Charles' gravestone, since it was Father's Day.
Rapunzel sang quietly to Missy, who was settled in the floral sling and peering up at her mother as she cooked. The eggs sizzled on the skillet, and Rapunzel bustled around the kitchen. She had bounced back quickly after they'd finished cleaning her father's place up. She still missed him sorely, of course, but knew that moping around never helped anything. She had no other reason to be sad - she had a loving husband a beautiful baby girl, and a very understanding chameleon that still felt a little bent out of shape over Missy's arrival. Dad was probably in a better place now; at least she hoped so.
Eugene was barely able to drag himself out of bed. It had been a late night going over Rapunzel's editing notes and he was not a morning person. He wondered how on earth he'd ever married such an early bird - the girl he now paused to watch as she sang softly and hurried around the kitchen with her usual energy. A smile spread across his face as he realized this - seeing her so devastated over her father's death had nearly torn his heart to shreds.
He wandered over and slipped his arms around her from behind, planting a few kisses in her hair and then resting his head on her shoulder, grinning down at Missy. The baby beamed up at him and waved her arms towards him.
"I'm happy to see you're in a good mood," he said in her ear, making her shudder away and grin, tilting her head back so she could see him. He stole a quick kiss and then slipped the sling off of her. "I'm stealing this baby. Okay?"
She laughed. "Okay. I'll share if I have to. Breakfast should be ready soon."
"You're amazing," he winked, setting the sling over the back of his chair and cradling Missy as he sat. "Hi, baby girl! You're in a sunshiny mood too, aren't you!"
Rapunzel grinned as she listened to Missy's babbling and cooing, in response to Eugene's animated speech. She brushed her hair out of her face as she dished the food out and set it on the table, waving at Missy as she hurried past to get silverware and the still-lukewarm iced tea.
The little cemetery that held Eugene's parents was run-down. Apparently, the groundskeeper didn't do his job very well, since there was a tangle of overgrown weeds and crooked stones. When they finally found Eugene's parents, he sighed with mild dismay at the weeds wrapping around their stones. Rapunzel shifted Missy to one arm and knelt in front of the stones, silently tugging at the weeds. Eugene did as well, and pretty soon the weeds were cleared away and replaced with the small bouquet of flowers they'd picked up for each grave. He knelt quietly in the dirt, grass staining his jeans, and stared at the stones as he wondered what his parents would have been like. Certainly, if he had never been orphaned, he never would have known half of the hardships he'd known, but he also would never have been homeless; his path may have never intertwined with the girl beside him. He certainly couldn't feel sad for his poor unfortunate little self. But he could feel disappointment over never knowing his parents, if they were good people. Twenty-three and twenty-seven was way too young for anyone to die, too.
They retraced their steps after they left cemetery number one and headed two hours south-west for cemetery number two - the one that held Rapunzel's father. A quiet, pattering rain had settled in, so Rapunzel headed in herself - much as Eugene hated to let her do, but someone had to stay in the car with Missy. She found the shiny gravestone quickly. At least this cemetery kept things much neater than the other. She set the final small bouquet on the gravestone and looked at the fresh mound of dirt still piled around; not yet settled. She gave a sad smile as she patted the gravestone, noticing a small patch of grass sprouting and beginning to grow in the dirt. Even in the face of death and sadness, she decided, life still went on; thrived, grew beautiful.