Chapter Four: The Long Good Night

How long does it take to sum up a lifetime of loving? He thought. How long does it take to prepare your girl of thirty-one years to let go? How do you teach in a nights passing to look to the good, remember the happy. Cherish even the sad and the hard.

 

"Read me my poem." Howard softly barked coupled with a wink.

 

"No poems for me, I’m going for coffee." Bill had noticed how blue his feet were, his brothers toes almost black, and his voice now just a whisper.

 

He stood in the hall by the door to give them a moment alone. She walked over to the table, lifting the poem as if it were a heavy weight. She put on her best smile and sat at his feet.

 

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Daddy you sit with me on the side of my bed and told me tales of days long past.

Told me how I was grand and would someday be all I ever dreamed.

You rubbed my back and wiped down my head. Whispered a prayer for me at the foot of my bed.

Made me snug as a bug and sang to me till dreams did come.

Now I am grown and I thought we’d be done with tales and songs.

As I sit with you on the side of the bed and tell you tales of days long past.

I tell you now, you were grand and you helped me face this life I’ve lived.

So now let me rub your back and wipe down your head.

Whisper a prayer for you at the foot of your bed.

Make you snug as a bug and sing to you till dreams do come.

 

Forever and always Sarah

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"It has been my honor to know and love you and your mother. To watch you grow and even see you teach me, at times." He said with a tear-crested smile, and a weary face.

 

“I have spent this entire day reliving treasured memories. Most of them I recalled out loud with you and Bill." He said in a dream like whisper.

 

However, foggy eyes and cold feet bid him to dream of those days long past. They call his name and bid him come.

 

The Lord and I have been at peace with each other for a good twenty years. I hold no fear in my passing only a longing. There is so many loved ones waiting on me but mostly my Emma. He thought.

 

Sarah could feel him passing; she climbed in the bed behind him till her feet covered the souls of his. Her warmth stirred his mind but he could not wake. Bill walked back into the room and sat on the bed facing his one true friend and only brother. With her head pressed against his and her fingers wrapped tight in his hand she leaned her mouth to his ear and whispered. "Momma is waiting for you and your hand will not go empty but you will go from mine to hers. In that moment he was a young man in a vested suit walking into the Pearly Gates with the prettiest girl that side of Heaven.

Author's Note

any comments are welcome

Reviews

[roarke]

This is a stand alone chapter. Well written and very touching. The soft and intimate expressions here reveal a close and loving family that has lived their lives for all it had to give. This is a fitting scene that creates the perfect closure to this private moment. Well written.

[MockingJuliet]

"Mother is waiting for you, your hand will not go empty but will go from mine to hers.." Absolutely love that line.

Very, very touching. This story actually makes me want to go call my dad and i never want to call my dad... Yeah... Im going to go call him..

[bluessadmood]

That was very touching my friend ,actually i expected this end,however its full of love..
And he says ..God i have no worries or fears for i have been at peace all my life..
only i know i will leave some precious family and loved ones..mostly Emma
who she returns to him,Mother is waiting for you,your hand will not go empty
but will go from mine to hers..
i really loved this ,so much emotions and love,how it makes you think that life could be so beautiful
even near a death bed..
lovely write..