A Wedding & A Witch

Chapter 33 A Wedding & a Witch

 Photo by pixabay.com

Melanie and Ryan had been dating for a year. It was a year filled with laughter, love, and normal adventures. No demon had tried to attack, nothing battled them, and even the birdcage was quiet. It was a bliss-filled life. They struggled with how they could get Lucious around to accepting Ryan as her boyfriend. It was a normal complication for a blended family happily moving into the future; Lucious liked Ryan, but tolerating him taking his mom’s attention away was another thing. Melanie suggested that her two favorite men spend some time alone. Ryan spent a lot of his free time taking Lucious out. Lucious had just turned five and wanted to learn to play baseball. Ryan was not sports inclined, but he would try. Lucious and Ryan walked to the baseball field a few blocks away. Ryan had gone and bought a bat for Lucious, a few baseballs, a glove for each of them, and he was determined to win Lucious over. Lucious and Ryan pitched and tried to hit the ball for over an hour. Ryan pitched, Lucious swung, and no balls were hit. Lucious said, “I give up” dropped the bat and started walking him. Ryan had no choice but to grab everything and run after him to keep up. They walked a block and Lucious sat on the stoop stairs of his grandma’s brownstone. He did not want to go up and see her, but he wanted to talk. Lucious asked Ryan to sit with him and he did. Lucious was five, but he had seen some serious things. He was born after his dad was dead, he lost his great-grandma and he witnessed evil, had died, and on and on and on.

Lucious said to Ryan, “What do you want with my mom?”

 Ryan was taken aback but realized after a moment Lucious meant marriage. 

Ryan said, “I love your mom very much.” 

Lucious came back with “So do I!”          

Ryan could see Lucious was not going to accept just anything from Ryan. Lucious said, “Do you want me or mommy more?” 

Ryan responded with “I want your mommy and you in my life equally.”

Lucious thought about it for a moment and said, “Ok, but I am not marrying you.”

Ryan stifled a laugh and Lucious started giggling and then Ryan followed suit.

Lucious asked him how he planned on asking her to marry him. Ryan had a plan but did not want to tell Lucious it all for fear he would spoil it, but he had an inkling of a feeling that perhaps Lucious wanted to be in on the proposal.

Right on cue, Lucious said, “Mom loves the gardens downtown by the Coffee Bean shop, it is very pretty, and it makes her weep sometimes.”

 Ryan said, “Ok buddy I will take her there to propose.”

 Lucious said he could get her there without him and they set up when and where. The next day they were all going out to lunch and Lucious was supposed to suggest the gardens and Ryan would say he could not because of work and when Melanie and Lucious arrived, Melanie would be surprised seeing Ryan and Lucious would give her flowers that Ryan brought, and the flowers would have a diamond ring on a bow in it. Melanie would see the sparkle and Ryan would hit his knee to ask for her hand in marriage, after asking Lucious first for his mother’s hand in marriage. They had it all planned out and Ryan thought letting Lucious help would earn him some good points. He had assured him he was not replacing his dad whom his mom loved very much, but that he just wanted to be there fulltime to watch him grow up and he would help in any way he could. Lucious did not know much about relationships, but ever since his mom and Ryan had been dating, his mom had been so happy. She danced around the apartment and sang frequently. She even resumed guitar lessons with a new teacher and played Lucious songs like twinkle twinkle while Lucious sang along and danced. Happiness had finally settled on Melanie and her family and she could not be happier. 

The next day everyone met to eat, Ryan bowed out, Lucious got his mom to the gardens as promised and by the end of the day, Melanie was sporting a gorgeous new diamond and she and Ryan were engaged. They all walked across town to the brownstone where Melanie’s mom lived and waited for her to get home from wherever she was so they could tell her the news in person. They wanted Melanie’s mom to go out and celebrate with them. When she arrived an hour later they had almost given up. She looked sullen till she saw them all on her stoop. She placed a large fake smile on her face and looked at them all so happy. Melanie jumped up and hugged her and they all yelled: “WE ARE ENGAGED!!!!” And Melanie’s mom knew her daughter was well taken care of now. She knew now was not the time to tell her about her diagnoses. She would go out and celebrate like nothing was long. She was just given a death sentence but tried to keep it off her face. Lucious grabbed his grandma’s hand and skipped off to their favorite café with them to celebrate their new engagement, they were so happy together, and for that she was ecstatic. They all ordered chocolate milk to cheers with. They were going to celebrate instead of dealing with death, darkness, and evil. For now, there would only be happiness. 

At the café they all toasted love and family. They showed everyone Melanie’s new ring. They, as far as an observer saw, were a happy family. Melanie’s mother knew better. She knew she had been diagnosed with lung cancer. When the doctor asked if she was a smoker and she replied no he had a look of puzzlement on his face, she said, “Well I used to be” and she left it at that. All those tinctures being mixed for so many decades had caused her to get lung cancer, but she could not tell him that. She would tell Melanie, alone, and at another time. She would let her daughter digest her new engagement. Revel in the thrill of finding love; Melanie needed this time to herself. Her mother would battle cancer alone for now. She had been feeling tired and couldn’t catch her breath for a long time, she should have known to go to the doctor early. Now she had non-small cell lung cancers and at the start, if she went in she could possibly live another five years with treatment, but she ignores it, ignored all the signs. Melanie had lost her grandmother and soon would be losing her mother.

After the excitement tapered down Melanie and her mother went to brunch one Sunday morning. Melanie always loved spending time alone with her mother. She sensed her mother needed to talk. They got to the restaurant and were seated in a semi-private booth.  They had ordered water and tea and then Melanie’s mom blurted out, “I HAVE CANCER & ONLY THREE MONTHS TO LIVE, give or take.” Melanie sat stunned. Melanie’s mom continued on with the details and Melanie heard none of it, cancer! She was stunned and her mother stopped talking and took Melanie’s hand in hers, “Honey, are you ok? Talk to me.” Melanie blinked and said, “What?” Melanie’s mother explained it all again. The years of coughing she hid, the exhaustion she felt, cancer had been invading her body for years and she just ignored it due to other bigger things requiring her time and dedication. She felt she did not have time for chemo and radiation and that she would live her life as her body saw fit. Melanie and her mother just sat in silence for a long time and both cried quiet sobs. 

Melanie stood at the end of their meal if you could call it that neither ate. They each had their leftovers in hand. They stood out front ready to go their separate ways. Melanie’s mom had just moved to town, she had bought that huge brownstone outright, she planned on doing so much with her mom, and then Melanie’s heart dropped: the wedding! Her mother would not be there, they needed to move up the wedding. She had to have her mother present when she got married. She turned to walk away from her mom and back to her own home, but she turned and hugged her mother so tightly she could barely breathe. She said, “I love you mom, call me when you get home so I know you are ok.” Melanie’s mom nodded ok.  Melanie again turned to go, she made it a little farther this time and turned to see her mother round the corner and she was gone. Melanie cried out the whole way home. She was coming up to her place when she saw Ryan sitting outside. She decided to not wipe her eyes; she would show him all the hurt she was feeling. He saw her and just ran to her side and held her. He did not ask questions. He did not say it would be ok. He just held her. When she stopped he walked with her up to her place and they plopped right inside the door onto the floor. Melanie could not stand any longer. She got out CANCER between sobs, then mother between more. Ryan understood. He just sat leaning against the door caressing her hand. Melanie thought “No wonder mom wanted Penelope to watch Lucious. She knew I would come undone and do not want him to witness it.” Melanie was so thankful for friends.

One week later Ryan, Melanie, Melanie’s mother, Penelope, & Lucious were at city hall. Ryan had agreed to the change of everything and moving the date up once Melanie told him all of what was going on. Ryan & Melanie were getting married. Melanie’s mom was there. She walked Melanie down the little aisle and held her hand until Ryan required it to slip a ring onto it. Ryan had been so supportive, but he went above being wonderful and hired a professional photographer for the wedding. City hall agreed under the circumstances. The photographer took photos of the wedding and outside on the steps all gathered for more photos. Ryan surprised everyone with a limo and whisked them away. No one except Ryan knew where they were going. He had rented a barn for an impromptu wedding reception. A friend he knew owned it and agreed to let Ryan use it. When the limo pulled up to the barn Alice popped out all smiles. She had been hard at work with the other witches getting the barn ready, food ready, a makeshift dance floor and tables with beautiful wildflowers foraged from around the woods surrounding the barn. Melanie was stunned! Ryan had pulled off all of these surprises without her knowing anything. She truly loved him. Lucious saw his mother’s smile and hugged Ryan and said: “Thank you for making my mom so happy.” He skipped away with grandma to see the barn. The photographer was there to capture it all.

 A month later Melanie’s mom was buried. It was sudden. She was told she had a few months, but cancer advanced full force and started shutting down her organs. Melanie went into the wood to forage flowers for her mother’s funeral. She was lost in thought and then lost in location. She felt a sudden shudder of a chill. She gathered flowers in the woods and then wondered how to get out of here. She sat with the flowers on her lap, she thought of home, or her mother, of all she lost. She cried for all who had died before her mother, she cried for her deceased fiancé, she cried for all the pain she held inside. Ryan and she had only been married a month before, but Melanie knew she was pregnant. She wept when her mother said she had cancer. She cried when she died, but this weeping was so deep. The pain she felt was bottomless. Then a nudge from inside her belly. She knew again she should not be feeling the baby so early, but she did. She sat and talked to her child in the woods. She told stories of her mother from when Melanie was young and was coming into her powers, how she was afraid, but now with Ryan and Lucious, she was no longer afraid. Melanie knew she would be eating gingerbread cookies again soon, the cravings would start, she found her way out, went to the cemetery and they lowered her mother into the ground. Melanie placed her wildflowers on her mother's coffin and they lowered it into the ground. Melanie said “Dust to dust” and Ryan held her tightly. He was now the only thing holding her up. When they would get home, she would tell them that she is pregnant. He was so happy when the baby name popped out of the birdcage, she could just imagine how enthusiastic he would be at this news. Baby Edyln was on her way! 

Oh things are heating up!!

Enjoy, we have only a few more chapters to go!!

xo

Debbie