Chapter 2

"A Father's Anxiety"

In the days following the announcement of his daughter's engagement, Mr. Operatski could only wonder whether or not this union was better for his daughter. The idea of moving to the royal palace, the idea of his daughter joining the royal family of Mouseland, it was a lot for him to bear.

One morning, he had heard a knock on the door and opened it to reveal Miss Lilly on the other side.

"Ah, Lilly, thank you for coming," he said, letting her into his house. "I could use your company."

"Of course, Ivor, darlink. You know, it's too bad you couldn't come to Yuri's wedding."

"How is he?"

"He and Olga are settling down nicely, they have a house near the sea. It would be good for them to raise a family there."

Leading Miss Lilly into his study, Mr. Operatski once again felt the sudden pain in his chest, but he brushed it off as nothing.

"Um, Ivor, darlink," Miss Lilly remarked. "Is something wrong with your chest?"

"My chest?" Mr. Operatski remarked back, trying to hide the fact that something was wrong with him. "Why would ask me that? There's nothing wrong with my chest."

But Miss Lilly was no one to be lied to.

"Ivor, I can see you are feeling pains in your chest, darlink. Do you think Ivanka's wedding to Reginald is a lot for you to take in?"

Mr. Operatski sat down at his desk and looked out towards the ocean. He was a mouse of standards, very high standards as evident from when he yelled at us frequently during Cinderella and the Ugly Whiskers.

"Lilly, I'm happy for my daughter," he said, looking back at Miss Lilly. "It's just that…well, it's hard to see your only living child grow farther…farther and farther away from you."

Miss Lilly couldn't help but notice several pictures on Mr. Operatski's desk of him when he was younger.

"But, think of what you will be getting, Ivor. You'll be getting a son-in-law."

"Reginald is nothing like Ivan, Lilly!" Mr. Operatski cried. "I just think he will be forgotten once Reginald comes into my family."

Mr. Operatski then took the picture of him and his pregnant wife and clutched it to his chest, his faint heart beating on the picture.

"Ivor, darlink," Miss Lilly said, walking over to him. "Sometimes its hard to let go to the past. Ivana and Ivan would not want you to be upset. They would want you to be happy that your beautiful daughter is getting a royal husband."

Mr. Operatski then looked to another picture of his wife, but it wasn't just any picture. It was a picture of her without any hair.

"And what if she ends up in a bad marriage?" Mr. Operatski asked. "You know that some husbands are not perfect for their wives. What if she…?'

But Mr. Operatski couldn't finish his sentence and put the picture down hard on the desk with a loud thud.

"Maybe you need to see Ivanka at the royal palace and tell her how you feel," Miss Lilly suggested.

"No, I don't want her to get any ideas that I am trying to split her and Reginald apart, Lilly!" Mr. Operatski cried, sharply looking at Miss Lilly. "This is my burden to bear, not hers."

"If you don't tell her how you feel, then it will be her burden as well. Just like when Ivana died."

"I had to hide it, Lilly, you know that! I had to honor her dying wish that I would direct a ballet with mouselings in it. Even though she put everything at risk, Angelina persuaded me to stay and it was because of her that Ivana's wish was granted."

A small tear came down Mr. Operatski's face and he buried his face in his paws.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Lilly. It's just that…I wish everything that happened didn't happen. I lost my wife to cancer, my son at birth and now, I might be losing my daughter to marriage! What else can I do?"

"Perhaps it might be best if you spend some time with Ivanka before the wedding," Miss Lilly suggested. "It might do you some good and the wedding isn't for a few weeks."

Suddenly, Mr. Operatski clutched his chest again and a look of concern befell on Miss Lilly's face.

"Sorry, Lilly," he gasped. "Beastly heart's at it again."

"Perhaps you should come with me to Chipping Cheddar, Ivor," Miss Lilly suggested. "I think you should have Dr. Tuttle look at your heart. Besides, Angelina and Alice will be fitted for their bridesmaid dresses and Henry will be a ring bearer. They would all like to see you again."

Now, Mr. Operatski had some reservations about seeing Henry again. After all, it was Henry that Mr. Operatski took all his anger out on when he directed Cinderella. But it wasn't because he hated Henry and all mouselings in general.

"Henry," he sighed, releasing his grip on his chest. "The mouseling who Ivan could have been had he not died at childbirth, Lilly. If he never spoke of Father Christmas, then neither would that beetle, Lilly. You know that."

"But, you relented, Ivor. You became Father Christmas to atone for your actions to Henry and especially, yourself. After all, you ultimately became Dacovia's premiere Father Christmas in recent years."

Miss Lilly picked up another picture on Mr. Operatski's desk that showed him a picture of him as Father Christmas to a small group of Dacovian mouseling orphans.

"And think of when you become a grandfather, you will become Father Christmas to them."

Mr. Operatski said nothing and proceeded to walk out of his study.

"If only it were that simple, Lilly. If only it were that simple."

Letting out several coughs, Mr. Operatski strolled out of the study leaving Miss Lilly to wonder if he would ever come to peace with his past tragedies.

Still, there was the matter of Mr. Operatski's heart that needed attention and other wedding preparations that needed to be attended to.

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