Mel part 2

Chapter 9

The day of the wedding arrived; except that there was no wedding. Everybody sat in the lounge either staring at each other or crying softly. Their lives had come to a standstill. Cole’s plane had crashed. He had died.
Only Melly wasn’t present. She was upstairs in her bedroom. She had been crying since morning the day before. Now it seemed that all her tears had been shed and there was nothing in reserve. She sat still on her bed hugging her legs and staring into darkness thinking about everything and nothing. Sometimes it seemed that her mind was a complete blank. Other times it seemed like all the emotions in her had stirred up at the same time.
“I’ll never see his face again… Never see him smile… Never see his untidy hair and unbuttoned shirt and loosened tie… I’ll never be able to hug him again or to see his eyes shine with a mystical light when he’ll look at me… I’ll never feel the tingling feeling again when he looked at me in the eye....” All these thoughts clashed down upon her and she buried her face in her hands. It seemed like she did not have any reason to live or anyone to live for. She was suffering from a broken heart.
When the day before Pat had told her about Cole’s death she had screamed and clawed at him. It had taken an effort for Dan to calm her down. Then she had put her head on his shoulder and cried till she fell asleep. Dan and Pat were stunned. They did not know what to do and could not decide how to behave. Late at night, lying in his bed dan felt that he could no longer endure the burden on his heart and he had cried himself to sleep. Pat did not shed any tears. He sat in a corner of the lounge staring into nothingness. Ellen just cried and cried silently praying for her beloved child. Bert did not know what to hold onto. The perfect world around him had changed suddenly: One moment everyone had been so happy, the next they were worse than miserable. Chloe and her mother had barely known Cole. It was the constant fear for Melly in their hearts that made them sad.
“What if she does something to herself!” Chloe said in bewilderment.
“Oh don’t think about that!” Melly’s mother exclaimed.
“She’s got a broken heart.” Pat said dully. These were his first words he had spoken after breaking the news to Melly about Cole.
“I’ll go check on her.” Dan said. He wanted his utmost to get away from such thoughts. He made his way upstairs.
“Mel? How are you feeling?”
She did not reply. There weren’t any feelings left in her. It seemed like hours before she said in a gravely tone, “I always wondered what made people commit suicide. It had always sounded so foolish. Now I know.”
In an instant Dan was at her side. “Don’t you dare think about that!”
“I haven’t got a reason to live.” She continued in the same tone.
He pulled her close and hugged her. “Don’t think like that. You’ve still got me and Pat.“

Melly simply refused to eat. The third day after Cole’s death Pat had had enough. He couldn’t just watch Melly slip away too! He went to her and tried to force her to eat.
“Melly, you have to eat. You can’t punish us like this. I won’t be able to bear you going away too. I won’t have that! You’ll have to eat.”
“No.”
“Doesn’t it occur to you that Cole would’ve wanted you to be happy? He wouldn’t want to see you like this!”
“Cole’s not here to see me smile anymore, Pat! He’s not here!” Melly screamed and started crying again. As Dan soothed her down he signaled Pat not to force her anymore.

Melly had a nightmare. She dreamed of a plane crash. When she woke up trembling, Dan was leaning over her.
“You alright?”
“Dan!” she hugged him.
Dan couldn’t think of anything to say except, “It’s alright, everything’s fine.”
As he soothed her he stroked her dark hair. He started to say “I love you” then stopped himself right on time.
“What am I saying?” he thought. And then it hit him. He did love Melly.

“Pat, we have to talk.” Dan dragged Pat to a corner, “I love Mel. I didn’t … I had never thought about it until today! I love her. She’s the one! She’s always been there and I never noticed! How could I never think about it?” He gripped his head, amazed at himself.
Pat smiled for the first time in days. “Dude, I always knew you had something for her. But what are you goin’ to do about it?”
“That is why I’m with you right now!”
“Well, it’s only the fifth day after Cole… but hey! Maybe it can bring Melly back to, you know, normal.” Pat lowered his head. “At least she’ll have a reason to live.”
“You’re right. I ought to tell her right away!”

“Mel? Are you awake?” Dan turned on the lights.
Melly sat up in bed. “Yeah.” She said with a sleepy expression.
It was night-time. Everybody downstairs knew what was going on in Melly’s room. They were all praying anxiously to God, waiting. Dan knelt in front of Melly on the carpet, and took her hands in his.
“Mel, I have a confession to make. I am aware that you have no other feelings for me but a friends’ but … I’m in love with you.”
Melly’s sleepy expression vanished. To tried to pull her hands back from his but he tightened his grip.
“Listen to me first. Please?” Dan plead. She had a murderous look on her face. Dan continued, “I’ve been in love with you since the day at the superstore, since you slapped me. I had never realized it. I had never given it a thought. But now I realize that you were always right beside me, always there for me. You helped me out on so many things. You’re the perfect girl for me!
“And remember what you used to say? ‘Everything happens for good reason.’ I had never realized that I loved you because if I had… Cole and I would not have been on best terms. You understand what I mean right? Cole died happily thinking of you. In other conditions…“ he shook his head. He thought she had not understood what he was blurting out, but when he looked at her murderous expression had softened. “I love you, Mel. I respect you the most of all women. I understand you. I can make you happy. Please give me a chance. And don’t think I’m marrying you because I pity you or anything like that. It’s because I love you.”
Melly’s mouth was dry. She did not know what to say. Should she scream at Dan? Should she throw him out of her house? But at the back of her mind she knew he was right and now Pat’s words dawned upon her.
“Cole would’ve wanted you to be happy!” she remembered him saying.
Melly found her voice. “Dan, you know that I’m … I’m still in love with Cole? It just wouldn’t be… How can I marry a man who loves me but whom I don’t love!? It’s his best friend I love!”
“It was.” Dan corrected her silently. He was still kneeling. “Mel, I adore, I admire the fact that you still love him. It’s downright loyalty! Besides … I feel it won’t take me much time to make you love me the way I love you. Marry me.”

Dan had been right. He had made her love him. They were married at the end of the same week he had proposed her. They went back to Canada. Cole’s business corporation was given into Dan’s hands. It would be given to Bert when he would become of age. Dan was taking care of Ellen and Bert now, as he had no other family and they had nobody but him.
Six months after their marriage Melly fell severely ill. When she was admitted in hospital she asked Dan
“You love me, don’t you?
“I’ve always loved you, Mel.”
She managed a smile. “Since the day I slapped you?”
“Yes.” Dan had to smile at her candidness.
“At your own superstore?”
He kissed her hands. “At my own superstore.”
She died the next day.

Everybody had thought that it was Nicholas Milburn who will marry Melanie Halsey one day, live happily with her and have children. But fate proved to be superior to what they had in mind. Melanie became Mrs. Melanie Daniel Truman, which was plausibly better for her. Only God knows. After her death Dan never remarried. He spent the rest of his life with her memories, with the memories of his Mel.

---THE END---