Chapter Thirty-Six: Memories, New & Old

"Donnie? What the Hell am I gonna say to Zee?" I said to my best friend. "I mean, what do you say to a girl who's just lost her father? Umm… sorry, your dad's dead. Bad luck!"

"Well personally, I wouldn't take that approach," he joked.

And then he placed a hand on each of my shoulders and told me seriously, "Listen you'll be fine. No one knows what to say at times like these, you've just got to go with what comes naturally."

"Easy for you to say, you've been through this before," I muttered, and I caught him grimacing at my comment then.

"Ok, listen," he said, catching my attention once more. "What was the one thing that everyone kept saying to you when your parents died, that you hated?"

And I started to think about it, and he smiled reassuringly at me.

"Miss that out when you talk to her, an talk to her like you wish people had talked to you – say the stuff you wish people had said to you, and treat her how you wished you'd been treated," he told me.

Then he squeezed my shoulders again, and gave me a small smile, "You'll be fine."

And I nodded, giving him the same slight smile back in return, and briefly clutched his hand in thanks, before I turned and walked out of the room.

Donnie was right of course. I did know what to say – well I didn't know, per se, but I seemed to find the words that I could deem… 'appropriate' afterwards, and that was all that mattered really.

x

A few week's later and we'd settled into a nice little routine. Eloi now stayed with us too, following our Nana's death a short while after Matthew's (we really weren't having the best of times then), but we made for a great random family – it was ours and we loved it. But I often felt there was something, someone, missing.

The Saturday Eloi and I took Zee for an ice cream was one of the funniest early memories I hold of our time together at the start.

Five-year-old Zoe bit her bottom lip again, considering all of her options. She had to of course, there were simply so many of them to choose from, she had to be sure she picked the right one – obviously.

There was triple fudge ripple, orange sherbet, lime sherbet, lemon sherbet, rocky road, Neapolitan, peanut butter cup, and the list went on and on – and these were only the ones Eloi had read out to her, they didn't include all the ones she just had to make up her mind about based solely on appearance, which as everyone knew, could often be deceiving.

The girl behind the counter was waiting impatiently for our order, but Zoe just couldn't decide. She simply didn't know what she'd like; it wasn't really her fault though, I mean, they shouldn't have given her such a choice.

Zoe told the girl this of course, and she'd just raised an eyebrow at the child, while Eloi burst out laughing, and I had to fight to keep the smile off my face.

"Come on kid," she said after a while. "I don't have all day, you know."

I resisted the urge to glance around the shop and reply, 'Oh really?' at that, and instead opted for simply watching on in amusement with my little brother as Zoe put the girl in her place – a hilarious moment in itself, when you actually saw it.

Zoe looked at her then and glared at her through narrowed eyes, "I'm still deciding. And now you've interrupted my thought process, I'm jus' gonna have to start all over again."

The girl rolled her eyes and began tapping her finger impatiently on the counter, while Eloi watched the youngster with a look of immense pride emanating from every fibre of his being, and I simply smiled at her attitude – she reminded me of me as a child. No wonder we'd always gotten on so well. God, I was such a bad influence on kids!

After a couple more minutes of careful examination of each of the coloured tubs behind the glass, which Zoe inspected each in turn by walking up and down repeatedly in front of them – deliberately slowly just to further annoy the girl waiting – she finally made her mind up.

"Vanilla with red sauce," she told the girl innocently, glancing down at the white substance and then up at the bottle of raspberry topping sitting on the counter above her.

The girl gave her a 'you've gotta be kidding me' look, before shooting one at me too, and then said, "It took you ten minutes to decide on vanilla?"

Zoe smirked at her, and replied quite matter-of-factly, "I don't like to rush into things."

And, Oh Dear God, I'd created a mini-me!

x

"Is that really true, Mummy?" Zee asked me while I finished washing up the dishes. " 'Cos Wendy Richardson said – "

"How many times have I told you not to repeat what that wretched girl says?" I cut her off before she could say anymore, "That girl is a pathological liar."

"Does she even know what 'pathological' means?" Danny asked then as he watched us from the doorway.

"It means caused by or… evi-den-cing a mentally disturbed condition. In this case, it refers to a person who can't help but lie about everything and anything they say," she responded matter-of-factly, as we walked out of the kitchen together and into the living room.

"Have you been letting' her read the dictionary again?" Donnie called over

"You let her read the diction'ry?" Danny said then with a raised eyebrow.

I just shrugged, "I can't help it, she gets bored."

And Danny just rolled his eyes at me, though I knew he secretly loved this sort of stuff. It was random, and you'd never get it anywhere else – which is what we all loved.

x

He cupped my face, his thumb position right by my ear as he traced circles in my skin, as he kissed me.

"I wanna show you how I feel, alright?" he said, when he pulled away.

"Ok… " I said, not really sure where he was going with this.

He smiled at me, and nodded and I let him lead me up the last few steps, through the door and out onto the roof of our apartment building.

"I love you Cind, I just don't know how to say it," he said then, as he guided me along one of the small paths and over to a seat that was covered in cushions and a large blanket.

I grinned back at him, looking round at all he had done. There were fairy lights draped all along the edging, and hanging from the various walls and wooden posts and fences. It was beautiful, and the perfect setting to watch the night sky, and look out and admire the New York skyline that surrounded us.

"This is enough," I reassured him then, as I turned back round to face him. "This is enough, Danny."

But he shook his head, surprising me, and I gave him a questioning look.

And that was when I realised he had bent down on one knee.

"Cindy MacIntrye, will ya marry me?" he asked me then.

I nodded my head over and over, as a smile spread widely across my features, "Yes!"

He straightened himself up then, and lifted me up, as I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he kissed me, as our smiles joined.

And then I heard Jet's 'Are You Gonna Be My Girl' playing through the stereo over to the side of us, and I let out a laugh.

"You do realize how ridiculously cheesy that is?" I said to him then.

He smirked, "Yeah, but you love it."

I grinned, "I do."

And our lips met once more.

"Can't believe you actually went down on one knee," I said to him, as we sat together on the seat he'd prepared, wrapped up in the blankets, and Danny's strong arms enveloping me tightly, as I leaned back against him.

"Well… didn't get you your ring, so figured I might as well do somethin' right," he answered, and I smiled.

"But you are gettin' me one… right?" I said then, after a moment, watching him carefully.

"Yeah, course," he replied, "… next week sometime, maybe – when I get a day off."

"But I want my ring!" I whined, knowing how it'd both annoy him, and make him laugh.

"Cind, the ring's not what's important… As long as we love each other we can make anything work," he told me, in a funny voice, and doing it completely on purpose.

"You are so full of bollocks," I told him, and he laughed, as I snuggled back down against him.

x

"Danny?" I asked after a while of silence.

He just smiled, tilting his head t look at me, "Yes, Cind?"

"Can we get married here?" I said, and gave him a smile.

"Right here? On this bench?" he replied jokingly.

"Yeah, I'm feelin' quite lazy," I joked back. "And s'not like it's really that important an event or anything. I'm sure my t-shirt and shorts are quite appropriate attire."

His face turned curious then as he lifted the covers a little and looked underneath at my body seated next to him, "That's my t-shirt and shorts you got on… darling."

"Well, once we're married what's yours'll be mine, so it's all relative," I replied casually, with a grin.

And he just laughed.

x

Eloi asked me if it was true, "Did Danny really ask you to marry him, Cind?" as soon as we stepped back into the apartment together – greeted by three expectant faces. I grinned back at him and showed them my ring – the plastic toy one Danny stole, sorry borrowed, out of Zee's dressing up box.

She wasn't too impressed by it, until I reassured her this wasn't the actual one I'd be wearing for the rest of my life, this was just a 'stand-in', while Danny special-ordered my real ring from Tiffany's.

Some things were just too much fun not to do, as I watched Danny's face blanch at this statement, and Eloi's crack up in laughter.

But then Donnie muttered something about how he was ever supposed to find a girl who would stand him now that I was taken – pretty completely this time. And I just grinned at him, while he draped an arm round my shoulders and pulled me into him.

Some things would never change.


TBC…

Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think – means a lot!
Steph
xxx