When I-dub’s time came, he was alone in the kitchen, with only Willow’s little clay bunny there to witness his transformation.
And Clay Bunny has only two pricks for eyes.
Grim waited, but no one came to plea.
“I see you’ve put in the hours working out. Didn’t really expect your time to come quite so soon.”
Willow was on the roof delighting in molecular structure, and the other girls and women were fast asleep.
“Oh! The mysteries of the hidden worlds of plant cell structure!”
The next morning, Linda felt the full weight of the new “widowed” moodlet. It sucked. Big time.
“The strongest Bough is gone.”
She couldn’t lift her head. She could see nothing but memories, and she felt nothing but an empty space where she used to feel his warmth on her skin.
She remembered the happiness of their last few days, full of intimate times in bed and out, lots of selfies, lots of kisses, so many flirts that they made all the girls feel awkward–and they felt bashfully awkward, too. But the fun of sharing those tender jokes was worth every subsequent moment of embarrassment.
“Love you more!”
She remembered what a good friend he’d been to his cousin Kamden, ever since Kamden was first adopted.
Old friends and bookends
She remembered how handsome he was. She could die inside that dimple on his chin.
“I’m not getting older! I’m getting better!”
She remembered his bravery.
Cousins who fight fire together, stay together!
She remembered the way he made her feel.
It may not result in progeny, but when it feels this good, who cares?
He was such a great dad.
“Madrona, even though you’ve been a kid for just a few days, I’ve got so much admiration for you!”
He even woke autonomously to feed or change his baby girls.
“Num-num! Gonna be a glutton like your papa?”
You’d never know he was a hot-head. He was just so happy all the time. And he made her so happy, too. Every single day.
“Just. So. Happy.”
They held their wedding their style–she was pregnant with Aspen, and she dressed like a strawberry cupcake, just to tease the glutton in him.
Confetti seems to follow Cupcake like sprinkles on icing!
She remembered their first date, when they worked out together. She was so chubby back then, on her first day of young adulthood. But I-dub found her irresistible, and that’s what first drew her to him. He was a glutton for her, and she loved to be devoured.
“Oh vre-da!”
It was love at first sight for her. And she never once lost that feeling when she looked at him. Or thought of him.
“Really? You think I look like a cupcake? Covered in sparkly frosting?”
Even now, missing him, when she thought of him, she remembered how she felt. The feeling came back as strong as ever. “This feeling won’t die or fade,” she told herself. “And it will keep my love alive even now, when I will never see him in that same old form again.”
And in the kitchen that evening, sitting around the table, were other memories of what their love had created together: these three amazing daughters.
“Look at them. Each so beautiful and perfect in her own unique way. Each carrying a part of me and a part of their dad.”
