Hang Me Up To Dry

-Sixteen Years and Two Months Later-

--Rianne--

“Mom, I want my belly button pierced,” Effie said to me when she got home from school.

“Give me one good reason.”

“It looks cool!”

“Why don’t you want a nice nose piercing? A belly button ring just screams ‘Whore’.”

“Mom…” She looked at me. “Can I get one or not?”

“Wait until you’re eighteen.”

“But that’s a whole year!”

“We’ll go right after you graduate, is that good enough for you?”

“Ugh. I guess.”

She stormed out of my room and I went back to taking a nap. She was melancholy and tried to make herself feel better by suggesting normal rebellious things. I looked at the empty space beside me and it saddened me. John was gone and I didn’t know what to do.

“Mom…” JC groaned and crawled in bed with me. “Jamie keeps following me around like a lost puppy.”

“She likes you, kid. Maybe you should talk to her and get a move on…” I nudged him and raised my eyebrows.

“I’m thirteen, Mom. I don’t want a girlfriend. I wish Dad was still here so I could talk to him about this.”

“Yeah, me too.” I didn’t look at JC. “But we can’t have everything we want. So you’ll just have to suck it up and talk to me.”

He looked at me in wonderment. “Mom, how did you and Dad get together?”

“Well, I was driving to Arizona to go to school and my car broke down and he helped me out. About a year later, your sister was born.”

“Disgusting.”

“No, it was very beautiful.”

“I meant Effie was disgusting.”

I messed with his hair. “Hey, show her some love once in a while. I know you do.”

“Yeah, I love Effie as much as I love Ellie,” he rolled his eyes and got off the bed.

I walked into the kitchen of the rather large two story house and Sam was sitting there.

“When the hell did you get here?”

“About twenty seconds ago. How you holding up?”

“Terribly. I’ve cried every single day.”

“That’s understandable. How are the kids doing?”

“Effie’s trying to rebel against me, JC’s focusing on girls at school and Ellie is trying to make me think it doesn’t bother her.” I wanted to change the subject. “How’s Garrett and your kids doing?”

“Garrett’s just as beautiful as ever. Jamie and Jackson caught us in the act about a month ago.”

“Oh my God,” I laughed. “What did they do?”

“They’re not stupid, they knew what we were doing. They just calmly, and my calmly I mean insanely, screamed and ran into their rooms and wouldn’t come out for the rest of the night.”

“JC told me that Jamie’s been following him around.”

“She loves him!” She exclaimed. “She will not shut up about your son!”

“That’s adorable. Maybe one day we’ll be in-laws.”

“Does that mean I have to hate you?”

“Of course. Then we wouldn’t be in-laws.” She nodded then we heard the door suddenly shut.

“Who’s that?” She asked.

John walked in the kitchen then and enveloped me in a comforting hug. “I came as soon as I could. How are you?” He looked into my eyes then kissed my forehead.

“Depressed,” I said and he hugged me again.

“How did your dad die?” He asked me. “Was it emphysema?” I nodded and then I kissed him. I couldn’t stand his lips just being there begging to be kissed.

-Flashback-

--John--

I went to Eric’s house after aimlessly driving around Tempe for half an hour and he groggily opened his door.

“Dude, what the hell are you doing?”

I threw my bag inside and pushed my way inside. “Is it cool if I stay here for a while?”

“Did you and Ri get in a fight or something?”

“No, I uh… I left.”

He seemed to wake right up. “You left? Why the hell would you go and do something like that?!”

“I needed to warm up my feet.”

“Go sit by the fucking heater right now and go back to her!”

“Eric, I’m scared I’m going to fuck up and do something wrong.”

“You’re fucking up and doing something wrong right now. What could you possibly do wrong?”

“I don’t know. Anything. Everything.”

“Since when have you been the doubtful person? You used to be fearless. You still are. Are you just going to give up on her and Effie right now?”

“I’m not giving up…”

“Let me guess, you didn’t talk to her.” I looked at him guiltily. “If you didn’t let her know how you were feeling and just walked out, then yes, you’re giving up.” He paused and sat next to me on the couch. “Do you remember that summer when we were like thirteen and you almost got bit by that rattlesnake and you were terrified of snakes?” I nodded. “Then one tried to bite Ross the next summer and you took your pocket knife and cut its head off?”

“Where is this going?”

“You’re afraid of getting married. Being tied to someone eternally. Sure, you have no problem sitting around playing boyfriend, but when the time comes to where you actually have to grow up and settle down, you’re afraid. Just like you were afraid of that snake. But you faced your fears and practically stared death in the face to save Ross’s life. Now it’s time to face your fears again and get married to your woman.”

“What if I mess up everything?”

He shrugged. “Don’t go into this with ‘what ifs’. Go into it like a badass. She loves you, John. Now you better go back before she wakes up and finds you’re not there.”

My eyes became wide. “Or the letter.”

“You wrote a letter?! Fuck, John! What are you still doing here, go!”

I went back to the apartment, ripped up the letter then burned it outside in the parking lot. How stupid could I have been? I almost threw away the one important thing that’s ever happened to me.

I woke her up when I got in bed by kissing her shoulder. “What is it?” She said sleepily.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” She fell back asleep but I stayed up almost the remainder of the night to cherish what I had lying next to me.

****

I’d been standing there by myself for quite some time as quiet chatter was spread across the room. Suddenly an orchestral, slower version of Into Your Arms started playing and Sam and Eric walked down the aisle together followed by Ross. Then the music changed and Rianne appeared at the end of the aisle with her dad. I think I started softly crying. Her eyes were fixed on mine as she floated towards me then I held her hands for the last time she would be Rianne Martin.

“John, do you take Rianne to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” I said, smiling thankfully as a tear came down my cheek then she wiped it.

“And do you, Rianne –”

“I do,” she said hastily as there was laughter in the audience. “To all of the above.”

“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may –” I pulled her to me and started kissing her. “Continue kissing the bride.”

“I love you,” I whispered to her.

“I love you more.”

“Impossible.”

-Present Moment-

“Daddy!” Ellie came running in the kitchen hugging me while I was still holding Rianne then JC and Effie ran in to join in the hug.

-Four Years Later-

“Are you ready to do this?” Rianne asked me as I paced around the room.

“No, but I guess I’ll get there.”

“Well I’m going to go sit down. I’ll see you in a little while.” She left the room as I continued to worry out of my mind.

“Dad?” I heard Effie say as she poked her head around the corner. She was twenty one and looked almost exactly like Rianne. “Don’t worry, Dad. If you and mom have taught me anything it’s that love conquers all.”

She walked inside the room and took my breath away. “You look so beautiful, Effie. You look so much like your mother.”

“I thought I was your spitting image,” she smiled.

“You are. Just not when you’re dressed like that.”

She hugged me. “I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, kid.”

“You ready?” She asked then squeezed my hand. I had no choice but to go with her.

“Bryan’s a lucky man,” I said before we reached the front of the aisle. Then I turned her over to the new man in her life.

I sat next to Rianne and she looked at me with her beautiful green eyes and I kissed her. I mouthed “I love you” to her and she kissed me again. Effie was right. Love conquers all.

The end.