The meeting of Colton’s parents went great. They even apologized to Maddie and David for not believing them. Over dinner, there were fun stories about Maddie and Colton both told. It was a good night for everyone over all.
After dinner, Colton asked David if they could speak in private. David took them to his office where they could talk. “What’s going on, Colton?” David asked as he folded his arms across his chest.
“I wanted to talk to you personally, without your sons around, about Maddie. I’m absolutely in love with your daughter, Mr. Draiman. I want nothing more than to grow old with her after we’ve had a houseful of kids. I guess what I’m asking is; do I have you blessing? May I have Madison’s hand in marriage?”
David smiled at the young man. “Colton, you remind me a LOT of me, and Madison is a LOT like her mother. Maddie needs someone who can balance her out, and I honestly think you’d be perfect for her. In other words; yes, Colton, you have my blessing to ask my little girl to marry you. Take good care of my princess, Colton.”
Colton smiled brightly. “Thank you, Mr. Draiman. This means a lot to me. I’ll take really good care of Maddie… as far as she’ll let me, that is.” He extended his hand to the man that would be his father in law.
David took his future son in law’s hand and shook as he laughed. “Oh, believe me, son; I know. Like mother, like daughter. You’ll get used to it.”
“I think I already have.”
“So, do you have a ring?”
“Actually, I do, but I was wondering if there was some really special ring that’s supposed to go to the first of the girls to get married or something like that.”
“You want to use a family heirloom as your engagement ring?”
“Well, it seems fitting.”
“Let me talk to my wife about that and I’ll get back to you. How does that sound?”
“Sounds good to me. Again, thank you, Mr. Draiman.”
“No problem, Colton. You and Maddie are meant for each other. She could do a lot worse, that’s for sure.”
---------------
As David and Colton made their way back down the stairs, they found that the living room was cleared of everyone but Brie and James, who knelt in the floor with is arms wrapped around his mother’s legs and his face buried in her lap. David looked at his wife in confusion. She shook her head. “I can’t say anything with Colton in the room”, she mouthed.
David leaned in and whispered to Colton. “If you could do me a favor and kindly go find everyone else and stay with them for a little while, please, I’d greatly appreciate it.” Colton nodded and headed out back. He was almost sure that everyone was in Jake’s little house out back. David continued down the stairs and sat down on the couch next to his wife. “James, son, talk to me. What’s wrong?”
“Brittan… the baby…” he sobbed, then buried his face in his mother’s lap again.
“What about Brittan and the baby, James?”
He took a shuddering breath. “Mom, I can’t. Please?”
She nodded and rubbed his back as she looked at her husband. “Remember that bank robbery that was on the news this afternoon?”
“Yeah. What about it?” David asked.
“Brittan was at the bank withdrawing money so that she could buy some things for the baby after school. While you were upstairs talking to Colton, James got a phone call from her parents telling him that she didn’t make it home. She died en route to the hospital. She died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. It would have killed the baby instantly.”
James shoulders racked as he cried into his mother’s lap. David put a hand on James’s back and tried to comfort him. “I’m sorry, James. I know you were looking forward to becoming a father.”
“WHY ME?” he sobbed. “What did I do to deserve this? I loved her and I was looking forward having a baby with her. Why is God so FUCKING CRUEL?!”
“Shh… it’s okay, James. I know you’re upset”, Brie said as she rubbed her son’s back. “But, maybe you and Brittan weren’t meant to be, Jay.”
“But, Mama, I loved her. I wanted to marry her as soon as we’d graduated. We were going to go to Loyola together and she was going to follow me to Law School. WHY?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart. You have to put faith in the thought that God has a plan. Perhaps you weren’t meant to know this child. Maybe you meant to be with another woman. Hell, maybe you’re supposed to do like your Dad did when he met me and you’re oldest child is supposed to be adopted.”
“But what about MY plans, Mama? What about what I wanted?”
“What we plan is nothing compared to what God plans for us, James”, David said quietly. “The only way we’ll know his plans is if we let him guide us.”
“I thought you weren’t religious, Dad.”
“I might not be religious, but even I acknowledge the presence of God in the world.”
For that, James Draiman had no response. He just laid his head back in his mother’s lap and sobbed.
---------------
Colton knocked on the door and was let into the little building by Jacob. “Hey. Do you know what’s going on in there?” he asked when he crossed the threshold.
“He’s dealing with the loss of his girlfriend and baby”, Jeremiah said from near the window.
“James is? How do you know, ‘Miah?”
“For one, we’re identical twins. I just know. And for two, I’ve been having weird dreams about it. I’ve been trying to tell him, but he won’t listen.”
“I thought I was the only one that had the dreams”, Jake said as he closed to door.
“You’re not, Jake”, Maddie said. “Hell, until you said something the other night about how you were having dreams about your unborn son, I thought I was the only one that had the dreams.” She made her way over to Colton and wrapped her arms around his waist. “What did you and my Dad talk about?”
Colton slipped an arm around her and kissed her hair. “I just needed to ask him something. That’s all.”
Jessykah came out of Miri’s room from putting her down for the evening. “I heard something about dreams. Someone care to elaborate?”
“Maddie and I were just telling Jake that that he’s not alone when it comes to having prophetic dreams; that she and I have them too”, Jeremiah said softly.
“Well, you can lump me in with that little group too. So, it jumps from three to four. I have strange dreams too.”
“Well, then, I guess I’m not alone in that boat then. It’s nice to know. You guys do know that Mom has them too, right?”
“No, actually, I didn’t know that”, Maddie said.
“Strange, huh?”
“You have NO idea. It’s uncanny just how much like Mom I’m turning out to be.”
---------------
David and Brie reflected on the day as they got ready for bed. “Holy shit, I can’t believe everything that’s happened today”, Brie said as she changed her clothes.
“I know. We’re welcoming one into the family and lost two potential additions.”
“I feel so bad for James, David. That poor boy was really looking forward to becoming a father.”
“I know he was, and he’ll make a great one someday, but our son James is not ready for that responsibility.”
She sighed heavily as she crawled into bed and laid her head on his chest. “I know, but I still feel for the poor boy.”
“Oh, so do it. What he experienced takes me back to the miscarriage. You lost a baby and I damn near lost you.”
“Yeah, I was bleeding pretty severely. I almost saw the light that day. Then, my senses were invaded by this smell that dragged me back to the real world. I realized I had too much to do here still.”
He pressed his lips to her forehead. “I’m glad for it, too. I don’t know what I’d have done without you had you died that day.”
“You would have moved on because that’s what I’d have wanted.”
“And that’s what James is going to have to do with Brittan. He can mourn her but he’s going to have to move on.”
“I know, David. But, the poor boy is so lost right now. I’m sure he’s going to sink hard.”
“And if that happens and he gets bad, then we’ll get him the help he needs.”
She pressed her lips to the skin of his chest. “Sounds like a plan to me.” The press of her lips became a gentle kiss as she changed the subject. “So, what did Colton need to talk to you about?”
“He wanted to ask my permission to marry Maddie.”
“And did you give it?”
“Yes, I did. He and Maddie are a lot like you and me. There are far too many parallels between us to deny that.”
“I certainly agree. Colton is a LOT like you and Maddie is like me cloned”, she laughed.
“Isn’t THAT the truth?”
“Did he have any other questions?”
“Actually, he did. He asked me if there are any family rings that are supposed to go to the first daughter to marry or something like that.”
“I do have a ring like that, as a matter of fact. It was my father’s grandmother’s engagement ring. The ring went to my grandfather to give to me grandmother, then to my father to give to my mother, and then it came to me. The tradition is that it’s supposed to go to the first daughter to give birth or to marry or to the first daughter in law married in. My great- grandmother Cartwright was funny like that. Technically, the ring should have either gone to Malachai or Jacob when they proposed, but they’d already bought rings. I’ve offered the ring to both of the girls, but neither is interested.”
“So, it’s going to Maddie. What does it look like?”
“It’s very similar to the necklace that Jake and Delilah bought me in Ireland, except that the stone isn’t shaped like a shamrock.”
“Do you think that Maddie would like it?”
“I think so. It would mean more to her than some diamond would.”
“Ok, is it easily accessible?”
“It’s in one of my many jewelry boxes. I can start looking for it in the morning.”
“I think I have a box we can put it in.”
“I wonder when he’s going to ask her.”
“He’ll want us there so that she can see our reactions, so it won’t be long after we get the ring to him that he gets down on one knee.”
“How do you think you’re going to react when you see him slip that ring on her finger?”
“We’ll see when it happens. That’s all I can say. I don’t know how I’m going to react.”
“I think you’re gonna get teary eyed.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because, whether you admit it or not, Maddie is still your little princess and you just don’t want to let her go. If you don’t tear up when she says yes, then you’re gonna cry when you walk her down the aisle.”
“We shall see, my love; we shall see.”
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