Unbelievable but true. I did it! I wrote the final chapter.
So, if anyone is still somehow interested:
I am sorry. I had so much to do, no ideas and later on, I totally forgot a about it.
After one and a half year I wrote this chapter in about an hour, so if it´s nonsense don´t hate me.
English is still not my native language and since I finished school over two years ago, there may be huge mistakes in this text. I am sorry if there are.
Last but not least many thanks for the reviews ofCBurns1995, Mochi Schnauzer, Kitten008; Emmavics for the last chapter. Your reviews made me finish it.
Maybe you could leave reviews . I would enjoy them so much.
Disclaimer: I do not own Cheaper by the dozen
There are two songs played during this chapter.
Frank Sinatra – Fly me to the moon
Henry Mancini/ Johnny Mercer – Moon River (sung by Audrey Hepburn)
I do not own them either.
Wedding Night
(Nora)
The fireflies danced around the garden lights under the huge tent, while Henrys Band played Frank Sinatras Fly me to the Moon. In the middle of the tent Lorraine and Will were having their first dance as a married couple.
And Lorraine was happy. I can tell you. She had a wonderful smile on her face and for this moment everything was perfect. It was her day, her evening, her dance.
She looked beautiful in her white wedding dress, simple, but graceful and Wills eyes would shine every time he turned around to me, as if they both were the happiest people on earth and below. I could not do anything else but put on a smile myself because, everything that happened didn´t count.
Not here, not yet. Tomorrow perhaps, and yes, I did not wish for anything more than going up that dancing floor, too, side by side not with Bud, not with Henry, not even Dad, but with Charlie.
But for the first time since the fateful day the car hid him, my heart would accept that he wasn´t here to see his little sister being the happiest girl in the world. Because life goes on. It always does, no matter what happens, somewhere always someone would get married, and somewhere else someone would die. It´s not up to me to decide, not even to question, because even if I did, it would not change a thing.
Suddenly someone lay a hand on my shoulder and I flinched for a moment, turned around and saw Bud offering me a hand. Without being noticed by me, Mom and Dad had gone on stage and joint the brand new married couple.
I took Buds hand and followed him to the dance floor and before I even could noticed another song was started, and Dad went over to Lorraine and took his little girl for a dance.
Time rushed while all danced, more and more people joining us, filling up the stage, dancing in simple whole.
I caught a blurred picture of Sarah dancing with two boys at a time, and Jessica and Kim making some party on their own. And everytime I would turn into the right direction, I would see a smiling silhouette of some stranger.
With every moment that we past the stranger, I got more and more confused, because it seemed more and more like Charlie. The whirly, dark hair, the way he was standing at the tents door. My heart beat faster then anything I ever knew.
This couldn´t be, I knew it, but nevertheless I suddenly fought myself free, escaped the crowed and stumbled into the direction I thought I had seen him. I almost fell out of the tents entrance into the dark night, my breath being flat and fast.
But there was nothing.
"Nora?"
A humbled voice let me turn around and I suddenly stood face to face with Jake, who looked pretty much uncomfortable, but there was something else in his eyes, a look I needed some time for to figure out what it meant. He was worried. He was worried about me.
"Are you alright?"
I studied him for a while, arms crossed over his chest, like Charlie had done it a thousand time, the dark, curly hair falling in his face, like Charlies, and the charm fell of it all. I hadn´t seen Charlie. I had seen Jake, standing a little bit off-road, because the huge crowed was still a bit too much for his traumatized mind.
For a moment I could not say a word, but then I suddenly grabbed his hand and said:
"Yes. I´m good. But you know, I would be much more better, if you would give me just one dance."
His mouth dropped open in protest, but I did not let him. I just took him with me, on the dance floor.
The band was playing Moon River as I held on to him.
Charlie was gone, but Jake was still there. Just like Lorraine, and Henry, and Sarah and Mark.
And Jessica, Kim, Mike, Nigel and Kyle. And Mum and Dad. They were still there. And I wouldn´t let them go.
The End
_
There it is, the final chapter. When I started this story, I first planned an epilogue, but I think the end is good as it is, isn´t it? Yes it´s pretty cheesy, but the story was so hard, it deserved an ending like this.
Many thanks to everyone.
