grdybiwife
Enhancer of reality
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2011
- Posts
- 1,983
Miranda Taylor stared out the window. Her mind blank, her dark green eyes trailing the rain drops that slid down the side of the town car. It had been five years since she'd been back home and though she talked to her mother every day, Miranda couldn't help regret all the times she declined her mother's request to come for a visit. She always had an excuse. A business trip, unable to get out of one obligation or another, but it was all a lie. Well mostly.
It took a few years but Miranda had finally found her footing in the independent graphic design game. It was mostly consulting out of her home office but she occasionally had to fly out to meet clients who needed a more hands on approach. Her only employee was her assistant so overhead was low and allowed her to live a very comfortable lifestyle with a townhouse in Olde City Philadelphia, a Tesla that she barely drove, and all the designer shoes she could fit in her second bedroom/walk-in closet. Aside from a nearly nonexistent personal life, she had it all together.
At least until that awful phone call in the middle of the night two weeks before. She almost didn't get out of bed. It was a rare occasion that anyone called her after 10 pm, expecting come client emergency she begrudgingly pulled herself out of bed and put on her glasses. Her blood ran cold when she saw her father's number flash across the screen. They never talked these days and he certainly wouldn't be calling for a chat at 2 in the morning. She answered the phone already thinking the worst.
"Daddy?"
"Randy...it's your mother..." He broke into sobs after that last word, but he didn't have to tell her any details. Her father wasn't a crying man so what ever happened must have been devastating. So devastating that he couldn't even pick her up from the airport the next morning, leaving the horrid task to her idiot cousin Todd who showed up two hours late wreaking of pot. He wasn't so stoned that he couldn't give her the details of what happened.
They'd gone dancing. Her father hated it but he loved her mother so once a week they went to the Elk's Lodge for a evening of two stepping and pot luck. It was a tradition in her little hick hometown mostly because there wasn't much else to do on a Friday night since football season was over. She hadn't been feeling well all that day, Miranda remembered her complaining about a cold when they spoke that morning but of course she refused to stay home. Stubborn as a mule was how her father described her mother. "But I always liked a challenge," he'd say with that little wink of his. He convinced her to allow him take her home early and put her to bed. Some hours later he woke up to her having a seizure in bed next to him. She regained consciousness once in the ambulance and once more at the ER but that was it. By the time Miranda got there, she was unresponsive and the doctors were saying there wasn't much they could do but keep her comfortable.
Her father was a wreck so Miranda had no choice but hold it together for both of them. She saw to it that her mother's end of life plan was followed. It was heart wrenching watching her father sob as they disconnected all the machinery that had been keeping the love of his life going for the last few hours. Then it was just the three of them, in silence. Waiting. Miranda took her mother's right hand and her father took her left, kissing it gently every few minutes and whispering reminisces of their 40 years together. How a young Maddy Garrety skipped stones better than all the boys in fifth grade and was the only girl on the little league team her father coached.
"Best knuckle ball in the county," he said with a tearful chuckle, without looking at his daughter. "She beaned me once and I was instantly and terribly in love."
Twelve hours later the love story was over and Madelyn Taylor took her last breaths surrounded by the two people that loved her the most. As shattering as it was, Miranda managed to keep it together long enough to call her assistant with a list of things to ship home. She couldn't leave her father to take care of everything, even if her mother had meticulously planned everything. The obituary written. Burial plot paid. Flower arrangements. Her resting outfit. All of it. "Your Daddy can't be bothered with such trivial things as paperwork. If it wasn't for me he'd be buried to his eyeballs in debt with that shop of his," she been told more than once and even at a young age Miranda knew it was true. All Miranda had to do was make the calls to set everything into motion.
Now two weeks later Miranda sat in the limo beside her father who had just buried the only woman he'd ever loved and she couldn't even bring herself to hug him to ease his pain. All she could think of was how quickly she could get back to her life, how long before she could run away from the feelings she'd pushed down since that summer before she left for college. But then he grasped her hand were it lay on her lap and she couldn't keep it together anymore. Miranda broke down in the arms of the only man she'd ever loved.
It took a few years but Miranda had finally found her footing in the independent graphic design game. It was mostly consulting out of her home office but she occasionally had to fly out to meet clients who needed a more hands on approach. Her only employee was her assistant so overhead was low and allowed her to live a very comfortable lifestyle with a townhouse in Olde City Philadelphia, a Tesla that she barely drove, and all the designer shoes she could fit in her second bedroom/walk-in closet. Aside from a nearly nonexistent personal life, she had it all together.
At least until that awful phone call in the middle of the night two weeks before. She almost didn't get out of bed. It was a rare occasion that anyone called her after 10 pm, expecting come client emergency she begrudgingly pulled herself out of bed and put on her glasses. Her blood ran cold when she saw her father's number flash across the screen. They never talked these days and he certainly wouldn't be calling for a chat at 2 in the morning. She answered the phone already thinking the worst.
"Daddy?"
"Randy...it's your mother..." He broke into sobs after that last word, but he didn't have to tell her any details. Her father wasn't a crying man so what ever happened must have been devastating. So devastating that he couldn't even pick her up from the airport the next morning, leaving the horrid task to her idiot cousin Todd who showed up two hours late wreaking of pot. He wasn't so stoned that he couldn't give her the details of what happened.
They'd gone dancing. Her father hated it but he loved her mother so once a week they went to the Elk's Lodge for a evening of two stepping and pot luck. It was a tradition in her little hick hometown mostly because there wasn't much else to do on a Friday night since football season was over. She hadn't been feeling well all that day, Miranda remembered her complaining about a cold when they spoke that morning but of course she refused to stay home. Stubborn as a mule was how her father described her mother. "But I always liked a challenge," he'd say with that little wink of his. He convinced her to allow him take her home early and put her to bed. Some hours later he woke up to her having a seizure in bed next to him. She regained consciousness once in the ambulance and once more at the ER but that was it. By the time Miranda got there, she was unresponsive and the doctors were saying there wasn't much they could do but keep her comfortable.
Her father was a wreck so Miranda had no choice but hold it together for both of them. She saw to it that her mother's end of life plan was followed. It was heart wrenching watching her father sob as they disconnected all the machinery that had been keeping the love of his life going for the last few hours. Then it was just the three of them, in silence. Waiting. Miranda took her mother's right hand and her father took her left, kissing it gently every few minutes and whispering reminisces of their 40 years together. How a young Maddy Garrety skipped stones better than all the boys in fifth grade and was the only girl on the little league team her father coached.
"Best knuckle ball in the county," he said with a tearful chuckle, without looking at his daughter. "She beaned me once and I was instantly and terribly in love."
Twelve hours later the love story was over and Madelyn Taylor took her last breaths surrounded by the two people that loved her the most. As shattering as it was, Miranda managed to keep it together long enough to call her assistant with a list of things to ship home. She couldn't leave her father to take care of everything, even if her mother had meticulously planned everything. The obituary written. Burial plot paid. Flower arrangements. Her resting outfit. All of it. "Your Daddy can't be bothered with such trivial things as paperwork. If it wasn't for me he'd be buried to his eyeballs in debt with that shop of his," she been told more than once and even at a young age Miranda knew it was true. All Miranda had to do was make the calls to set everything into motion.
Now two weeks later Miranda sat in the limo beside her father who had just buried the only woman he'd ever loved and she couldn't even bring herself to hug him to ease his pain. All she could think of was how quickly she could get back to her life, how long before she could run away from the feelings she'd pushed down since that summer before she left for college. But then he grasped her hand were it lay on her lap and she couldn't keep it together anymore. Miranda broke down in the arms of the only man she'd ever loved.