Chapter 35

It's been a week since Ella and Jason's wedding. Brandon had still not come back and it almost worried Shane.

"If something happened to him, someone would have called me by now…if they found a body somewhere." he thought, smiling to himself.

Besides, he missed having the place all too himself. He got to clean the place a little. He didn't have to listen to Brandon whine all the time. He liked having the peace and quiet he was having right now – the peace that had allowed him to finally finish off reading Mitchie's journal.

Shane had not talked to Mitchie since the wedding and he missed her already. He couldn't help but think about their brief encounter at Jason and Ella's wedding.

He read about Sasha's second and third birthday – both full of cute and equally funny incidents. He learned about Mitchie going back to schoo only to return home after two weeks because she couldn't handle being away from Sasha for too long. He found out that Sasha started toilet training when she was almost two and felt proud that she wet herself only twice. He felt like he was with Sasha on her first day of preschool because Mitchie filled him in on every detail – that Sasha could recite the alphabet and count to twenty already; that she had banana muffins and orange juice in her lunchbox and that she didn't cry on her first day of school, but Mitchie did. Mitchie filled him in on her other days at school – her first fight with one of the boys in her class; good grades. He loved reading about his daughter. It gave him an insight of the person she used to be and the person she is now. And, of course, Mitchie never fails to tell him how much she misses him and that she loves him so much. He just wished Mitchie included pictures.

Now Shane was down to two entries. Just when he was about to start reading again, the phone rang...

"Brandon! You *sshole! Where the hell have you been?!" Shane yelled, after hearing Brandon's voice on the other line.

"None of your business!" Brandon retorted. "As if you were even worried about me."

"I was…" Shane said calmly. "…a little." he added guiltily.

"Talked to Mitchie lately?" Brandon asked, curiously.

"Not since the wedding."

"What?!" Brandon asked surprised. "Why didn't you talk to her after that?!"

"I was going to finish reading, just like we talked about, remember?"

"Oh yeah…" Brandon said, calmly. "Sorry."

"So when do you intend to come back?" Shane asked.

Brandon snickered. "Don't worry about that, Shane. Be thankful I'm giving you time to fix things with Mitchie." he said before hanging up.

Shane,

I'm sorry if I haven't been writing as much as I used to. There's just so much to do with Sasha in school and Nell expanding her business. She's sort of put everything in my hands - which is a lot. And I'm really pressured, but I'm grateful she trusts me.

Everyone's almost done with college now, including you! Are you excited? The rest of the gang are. Caitlyn called me a few days ago telling me about their 'festivities.' She and Nate attended four parties in a week and along with that they're preparing for graduation. Wow! Ella on the other hand, hasn't filled me up on hers yet. Caitlyn said she's probably too drunk to keep in touch. It's a miracle she even pulled through college! I wonder how you're spending your pre-graduation days. Hopefully, not too crazy, like those I see on TV…where some people even die. It's scary.

Anyway, Got to go!

-Mitchie


Now that Sasha was back in school after the winter holidays and after Ella's wedding, Mitchie finally found time for herself and was glad the things were back to normal – walking Sasha to school in the morning, walking off to work, then picking Sasha up from school, go to her parents place for lunch, homework, home. Yes, things were back to normal. But not since her workplace was closed down three days ago for refurbishments. She stayed in bed all day, thinking about Shane…and Donny. It was torture. She couldn't wait to go back to work tomorrow. She decided to do something else to keep her mind of them – revamp her own apartment. She knew it was inappropriate since it wasn't entirely hers and she was leaving it in a few months anyway…right after she marries Donny. Mitchie winced as she thought about it.

"Renovating the apartment wasn't such a good idea, after all." she thought to herself. So she had two other options left – read or watch TV. A far cry from giving her place an overhaul but it was the best she could do. Just when she was about to switch the TV on, her cell phone rang.

"Donny!" she said, shocked, when she heard his voice on the other line.

"Is something wrong?" Donny asked.

"No…"she trailed off. "I just wasn't expecting your call. That's all." she added.

"Yeah…I'm sorry about that."

"No…it's fine, really." Mitchie said, feeling uncomfortable. "How are you?" she finally asked.

"Good!" Donny said happily. "Did you get the present I sent you?"

"Present?" Mitchie asked, totally lost.

"Yeah. I sent last week. You should have gotten it by now."

Mitchie thought silently for a moment.

"Right." she finally said. "Yeah, I remember it came about a week ago. I wonder where mom put it." she said, standing up, heading for the closet.

"You haven't opened it yet?" Donny asked.

"Nope…" Mitchie replied. "Mom found it and she brought it in. I think it came the morning of Ella' wedding. Sorry, I forgot about it. There was too much going on…" she explained.

"It's all right." Donny said, considerately.

"Found it." she said, looking at a big cream-cream colored rectangular box. "Pretty big, huh?" she said, as she struggled to pick it up with the phone lodged between her right ear and shoulder. She placed it on the dining table and lifted the lid off. Donny could hear her ruffling through parchment paper. Then he heard her gasp.

"You like it?" he asked.

Mitchie stared at the box, agape. In it was a wedding gown, neatly folded and kept, gleaming with its sheer beauty and elegance.

"Uhhhh…it's a wedding dress." she finally said, sounding neutral.

"Yeah. You like it? I saw it while I was walking along downtown New York one time and I just pictured you in it." Donny said.

"It's beautiful." Mitchie said in a shocked voice. "But…you didn't have to get me this."

"I know but then I know how it's always the bride fussing over the wedding. I don't want you getting stressed out with ours just like Ella did." Donny said, sounding flirty.

"Uhhhh…Thanks?"

"If you don't like it you could always send it back and get another one. But…"

"No, it's fine." Mitchie said, cutting him off. "It's good."

"Okay." Donny said. Mitchie could actually see him smiling. "Don't you worry about a thing." he added.

"Okay…I won't." Mitchie said, forcing a smile, trying to make her voice stop from nervously shaking.

"I love you."

"I…" Mitchie trailed off. "…have to go." she added quickly before hanging up.

She quickly covered the box and called Caitlyn.

"He sent me a wedding dress!" she shrieked over the receiver.

"Woah! Calm down! What?!" Caitlyn said, caught off guard.

"Donny!" Mitchie said. "He sent me a freaking…wedding…dress!"

Shane had finally reached the end of Mitchie's journal - the last page beckoning for him to read it. But he just stared at it, biting at his nails, wondering what it said. He hesitated on reading it but one's got to do what one's got to do, so he turned the page…

Shane,

Again, I'm so sorry for not writing that much…God! I feel so silly saying that. I mean, you don't even get to read these. Somehow, it seems like I'm writing them for me. It makes me feel better when I'm so down. And most of all, it makes me feel like I'm still connected to you…But right now, I'm just too busy. I promise when everything settles down I'm going to write you something longer.

-Mitchie

"That's it?!" Shane whispered to himself, turning the paper backward to check if there was something there. "That was it?!"

He turned back to a few pages, turned the book upside down and inside out.

"That's the last entry?!" Shane asked. "Where's the promised longer one?" It was so unbelievable. He'd been reading entries written in a span of three years. He was so excited to get to the last of them to see where this all finally ends. He was disappointed and sad with the last one. He expected a really long and detailed one. After all, it was the last one. He didn't really expect Mitchie to make things up with him or anything. But she might as well have told him that their relationship was over in this one. Really over. But she didn't. Shane tried to think what all this was supposed to mean. And then it hit him – he'll never know unless he talks to Mitchie.

Mitchie opened Donny's present again. "Why is he doing this?" she thought to herself. She didn't like how fast things were happening. She touched the intricate beadwork on the bodice of the dress. It was beautiful, all right. But it didn't make her feel good. Not at all. She carefully covered it then carried it to her room. She didn't want to see it around. She shoved it underneath her bed. It hit another box. "Mitchie – the box lady." Mitchie thought to herself, smiling. Mitchie pulled out the other box and pushed the wedding dress further underneath. Mitchie sneezed then stood up with the other box in her hands. It was the box she hid from Sasha many years ago - The one with pictures and other memories of Shane. Mitchie opened it and the first thing she saw was a picture her and Shane. "Senior prom." She whispered, smiling. Mitchie looked through the other contents of the box. More pictures. A few love notes. She read them and the words sent shivers down her spine. It all seemed just like yesterday. Then she saw a piece of crumpled paper. She opened it.

Shane,

"Shane?" Mitchie asked herself, confused.

I'm sorry I haven't written for a long time. I'm sorry that's all I've been saying. But now I can't find any more excuses. I can't lie anymore, Shane. The truth is, I met someone – Donny. I met him a few months ago and we've been going out for quite awhile now. Yes, I have feelings for him but I'm not sure if I love him that much. He's not you. But he's a good man. He makes me happy. And I know he loves me. I never really asked for something like this to happen but it did. I think I'm being given the chance to finally move on. I love you so much and maybe I still will until the day I die but I know things will never be the same again. Things like us.

I just pray that you've moved on and

And that's where it ended. That's where Mitchie stopped writing and just crumpled the note into a tiny ball. She couldn't give that to Shane. She couldn't even finish writing it. Mitchie realized then and there that she could never ever get over Shane. She tried finishing things off with him but it didn't worked. Now it was time to fix things with Donny. She loved him. But Shane was her first love. And she knew she will never love Donny as much as she loved Shane. Now her heart was speaking clearly. It made Mitchie feel anxious but good at the same time. Yes, she was going to fix things once and for all. She wasn't thinking of anyone else. Not even Sasha. She was finally going to 'follow her heart.'