Bird Song (56 page)

Something stirred inside of me, something that I didn’t know had been lying dormant and undiscovered that love hadn’t touched yet.
 
“You’re truly amazing,” I whispered.

“Why?
 
Because I’m a stubborn angel who took too long to realize something that you already knew?”

I laughed, the sound burying into his chest.
 
“No, because you’ve made me see something that I didn’t know I wanted.”

“And what is that?”

I shook my head and kept my secret to myself.
 
“I’m not telling you.”

Robert groaned as he came up against the mental block that he had helped me to master.
 
“I’m beginning to think that all of those moments where you claimed you didn’t know you were hiding your thoughts were just ruses.”

I continued to laugh as he prodded me to tell him what I had learned, but I remained steadfast.
 
“You’re not learning anything from me until I’m ready,” I vowed, and giggled when he shifted his body quickly, flipping me over onto my back, his torso pressed up against mine.

“I can make you tell me, you know,” Robert teased.

“I look forward to it,” I said with a sly smile.

Slowly, he lowered his mouth onto mine, our lips molding to each other’s.
 
The simple contact was enough to turn my heartbeat into its own little drum machine and the pace of my breathing matched its speed as Robert began to push against my mouth, nudging my lips open with gentle persuasion.
 
I heard myself moan and reached my arms up to try and keep him from pulling away before I could taste-

“Grace?”
 
A knocking at my door caught my attention and I groaned in disappointment.
  
Robert was gone.

“Yes?” I answered, not bothering to hide my annoyance at the disturbance and what it had cost me.

“Did I wake you from a good dream?”
 
It was Janice, her voice sounding amused.

“Better,” I mumbled and, with a grunt of disapproval, climbed back out of bed.
 
I opened the door to see Janice standing in front of me, a long, white bag hanging across her arm.
 
“What’s up, Janice?”

She saw the direction of my gaze and smiled.
 
She pulled the bag off her arm and handed it to me.
 
“I thought that we could talk, and that I could also give you your dress.”

I took the garment bag and walked over to my closet, slowly opening it up, hoping that Robert wasn’t standing in there—hiding.
 
With a sigh of relief, I saw that he wasn’t, and hung the bag up next to the other one that held the tattered remains of the only other dress I owned.

“You can look at it if you want,” Janice insisted, sitting down on my bed.
 
“I admit that I was kind of paranoid that you’d see the dress and then not want to wear it if I showed it to you too early.
 
But since it’s so close to the wedding, I thought that if you didn’t want to wear it, you deserved to have at least some time to find yourself something different to wear.”

I shook my head and smiled at her as I sat down next to her.
 
“I’ll wear it.”

“Even if it has ruffles?”

I eyed her, my mouth turned down in distaste.
 
“You didn’t buy a dress with ruffles, did you?”

She laughed and shook her head.
 
“No.
 
Trust me to at least know what you like and don’t like, Grace.”

“Whew,” I said with a rush.
 
“I was worried for a second.”

Janice suddenly sobered up and I did so as well in response.
 
“I wanted to ask you something, Grace.
 
I didn’t do it when I should have, and I know that I’ll regret it if I never do, so you’re going to have to humor me while I do this, okay?”

Confused, I nodded.
 
“Okay…”

Looking into my eyes, Janice reached for my hand and held them in her lap.
 
She smiled at me nervously, and I returned a smile of encouragement, something that, surprisingly, came very naturally.

“Grace, I wanted to ask you for permission to marry your father.
 
He’s been all yours for such a long time, so I know that the idea of sharing him might be something that you’re not quite willing to accept, but I do love him…immensely, and I promise to keep on loving him for as long as these old bones of mine allow.”

I looked at her with surprise.
 
“Janice, I wasn’t expecting this.
 
Wow.
 
Usually you hear about the groom asking the bride’s family for permission, not the bride asking the child.”

Janice laughed.
 
“Well, these aren’t usual circumstances.”

I joined her in laughing as I replied, “No, you’re right.
 
These aren’t the usual set of circumstances.
 
Not here, anyway, but yes, you have my permission to marry my dad.”

Janice’s arms went around my shoulders in an initially awkward embrace that grew more sure as my own went around her.
 
“You’re something special, Grace.
 
Your dad always said that about you, and he’s right.
 
You’re one incredible young lady.”

“I try,” I said jokingly as we separated.

She smiled and patted my leg.
 
“I wanted to also talk to you about my role in this family, Grace.
 
I wanted to make sure you understood that I’m not looking to replace your mother, or even become your step-mom.
 
You’re eighteen now, and far too old to be gaining a new mother.
 
But I would like to know that when your father and I do get married, that you’ll consider me your friend.”

This was something new, something I hadn’t expected, and it made me feel incredibly grateful that she was the one that my father had finally chosen to move on with.
 
“Janice, that really means a lot to me.
 
And I know that you’re not trying to replace my mom, but it still feels good to hear you say it.”

Janice’s smile was sincere.
 
“I know your mother was an incredible woman, and I know that I can never take the place of her in your father’s heart—I don’t want to.
 
I’m just glad that he’s made a place for me inn there; I can only hope that you’ll allow a little in there for me as well, because I do care a great deal for you.

“I know that you might not be able to believe this, but when I was your age, both of my parents remarried.
 
My mother married this really wonderful man, Gregory, who loved my mother.
 
He never tried to take the place of my dad and always made it clear that his role was as the spare-father, instead of the step-father.
 
My sister and I grew to love him very much, almost as much as we loved our father

But when our dad re-married, his new wife Iris was a different story.
 
My sister Katie and I used to call ourselves the Cinder-twins because of how she treated the two of us.

“She assumed that we’d automatically take a liking to her; obviously she forgot what it was like to be a teenager.
 
When we didn’t give her what she expected, she did her best to turn our father against us.”
 
Janice looked at my face and began laughing.
 
“Oh goodness, that does sound overly dramatic, doesn’t it?”

I nodded my head, my eyes wide with speculation.

“I’m sorry, Grace.
 
Unfortunately, it’s the God’s honest truth.
 
Iris told my father that my sister was pregnant when she started to gain weight, and my father forced her to take a pregnancy test to prove that she wasn’t.
 
It was very humiliating for Katie, but it didn’t matter as long as Iris was adamant that Katie had done something she shouldn’t have.

“Thankfully, I was old enough to leave home.
 
Katie only saw our father on weekends, and soon she, too was old enough to leave.
 
We never spoke to our father again after that.
 
We had Gregory, our spare-father.
 
He was more than enough for us, we learned, and it was because he allowed us to welcome him in, rather than forcing us to accept him whether we liked it or not.
 
I promised myself that that was how it was going to be with you.”

“You were actually considering calling off the wedding if I said that I didn’t approve?” I asked Janice incredulously.

“Yes.
 
You deserve a happy home just as much as anyone does, Grace, and I don’t want to bring Matthew into a home where his mother and his sister don’t get along.
 
He deserves happiness, too,” Janice insisted.

“And what about Dad?”

She took a deep breath and sighed, nodding her head in understanding.
 
“That would have been hard.
 
But our first priority is to our children.
 
His to you, mine to Matthew.”

I shook my head at her answer.
 
“Matthew is his son, too—I might as well just change my name to Erica if I made Dad choose between him and me.
 
I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have to think about it, huh?”

Janice laughed and nodded her head once more.
 
“Very.
 
I’m glad that we had this talk, Grace.
 
You’re definitely a very special young lady, and I’m going to be very proud to know that Matthew has you for his big sister.”

“Me, too,” I replied.
 
“I’m glad that you’re going to be my spare-mom, and not my step-mom.”

I saw the gloss of tears start to form over Janice’s eyes before she stood up quickly, her hands dabbing at their corners.
 
“Well, I’ll leave you to take a look at the dress and get—oh dear.”

She turned to look at me and I saw a nervous smile cross her face.
 
“I forgot to ask you one more thing.”

“What?” I asked, concerned, my eyes flicking down to her belly.

“Oh no, it’s not time yet,” she laughed.

A huge sigh of relief left my lungs as I joined her laughter.
 
She grabbed my hand and, when her laughter died down just long enough for her to form a coherent sentence, began to speak.
 
“Grace, I wanted to know if you’d like to be my maid of honor.”

My eyes grew wide with surprise.
 
“Me?
 
But what about your sister?
 
Or-or-or your co-workers?” I asked nervously—I didn’t know what a maid-of-honor did—how was I going to be a decent maid-of-honor for a pregnant woman?

“Katie is walking me down the aisle, so in essence, she’s taking over the role of my father since Gregory passed away several years ago, and my mother a year after that, and I just think that you’d be perfect for this role, Grace.”

My cheeks pinked up at the thought of taking on such an important job for someone whom I once hated, but I nodded my agreement just the same.
 
“Yes, I’ll do it.”

Janice grinned from ear to ear and hugged me once more, her torso twisted to the side so that she wouldn’t smash her belly between us.
 
“That makes me the happiest bride in Heath, Grace.”

“I’m glad,” I said, smiling uncomfortably.
 
She saw that and asked me what was wrong.
 
“But…I don’t know what a maid-of-honor does,” I admitted, embarrassed.

“You just show up,” Janice insisted and hugged me once more before leaving.

I made a mental note to Google the responsibilities of the maid-of-honor later, and then glanced over at the closet, dreading what lay behind the door.
 
“Two dresses,” I muttered to myself.
 
“I now own two dresses.”

***

Janice had a final dress fitting after dinner, which confused Dad and I to no end, so for the first time in months, Dad and I were alone in the house.
 
He took a shower early and proceeded to sit down and watch the news while I cleaned up in the kitchen.

“Hey Grace, when you’re done in there, could you come over here and sit down with me?” Dad called out from his chair.

“Sure.”

I finished putting the dishes away and turned the light off.
 
I walked over to the sofa and plopped down, looking at Dad’s wearied face and wondering what it was that he had to discuss with me.
 
I didn’t have to wait long.

“Grace, I know that Janice spoke to you this morning, but I wanted to talk to you about what my marrying Janice means,” Dad said as he pressed mute on the television’s remote control.

I sat up and leaned forward, my hands clasped together and resting between my knees.
 
“Dad, I know what it means:
 
you’re going to be happy, you’re getting back the life that you lost when Mom died.”

Dad shook his head, leaning forward and taking a hold of my hands.
 
“Grace, you seem to think that marrying Janice is somehow giving me a whole new life.
 
That’s not the case.
 
Since the moment I met your mother, I swore that my path in life was set.
 
 
I knew it deep down to my bones.