The Light of Dawn

~~~~~~

Claire and I had been together two and a half years, and by this time we were making plans on renting an apartment to move into before college started. We were sitting in Newman's restaurant one sunny June day eating lunch when Becky Flynn surprised us.

"Hey, you two," she smiled, sitting down across the table from us, "Long time no see. Where ya been?"

"Oh, just here and there," Claire giggled, "Spending time together."

"Oh, hey," Becky said, "I heard that you guys are going to go to school here at 'The U'."

"Yes, we are," Claire smiled, reaching for my hand, "And we're going to live together in our own apartment, too."

"Really," asked Becky, "What do your Mom and Dad have to say about it?"

"Well," Claire uncomfortably replied, "We haven't really told them yet."

"Uh oh," Becky ominously said, "You better tell them, girl, and you need to do it as soon as possible. You know that the longer you wait, the worse it'll be."

"I know," Claire cringed, "Don't remind me."

~~~~~~

Chapter Eight

"Hey Aunt Lauren," I said, sitting down to breakfast the next morning, "Can we invite Claire and her family out here for a barbecue tomorrow?"

"Is there any reason in particular that you want to do this?" she asked with a knowing smile.

"There sure is," I grinned, "Actually there are two reasons."

~~~~~~

"I'll have to ask Mom," Claire smiled, when I told her, "But I'm pretty sure that we can all be there. Why?"

I leaned in and sensually kissed her sweet lips and then replied, "It's a surprise!"

~~~~~~

The next afternoon, Uncle Mike had a nice brisket roasting over the barbecue pit while he, John and I sat out on the back deck, enjoying a cold drink and talking, while the women were inside helping to get the meal ready.

"So, tell me, Mike," John inquired, "Do you play golf?"

"I love to play," laughed Uncle Mike, "It's having the time to play that gives me problems, John."

"I can definitely understand that," chuckled John, "How about you Scott, do you play?"

"When it comes to playing golf," I laughed, "I couldn't hit water if I fell in a river."

~~~~~~

After we had all eaten our fill, Aunt Lauren came from the kitchen with a homemade apple pie, followed by Marsha carrying a double-layer chocolate cake. Needless to say, I was drooling by now, but I had other fish to fry at the moment.

As soon as the dessert had been put on the table, I stood and said, "Before we dig in, there's something I need to say." After reaching into my pocket, I withdrew the box containing my mother's wedding rings. As I turned to Claire, I dropped down on one knee, and then nervously said, "Claire, I loved you the very first time I ever saw you, and I'm going to keep on loving you until the day I die. I can't imagine my life without you. I'm asking you to be my wife so that I won't have to live without you."

"OH MY GOD" she screamed, tears pouring down her cheeks, "Yes. I love you, Scott, yes; I would love to be your wife." By now we were standing, holding one another so tightly you'd think we were glued together by the sight of us.

I opened the small box, and placing the engagement ring on her finger, which was a little big, but not too much, I softly told her, "These rings belonged to my mother, and now they belong to you. I love you," and then I softly kissed her lips. Claire was too moved to even be able to speak, but as opposed to her having to think she was required to say anything; I simply held her while she cried, and until she could regain her composure.

"Well done, Scotty," Uncle Mike grinned.

"I have to agree with you, Mike," said John, "Very well done indeed, Scott."

I looked across the table to find Marsha, Aunt Lauren, and Dawn all smiling silently with tears raining down their faces.

~~~~~~

"Are you alright, baby?" I asked Claire, once she'd regained her composure.

"I'm okay," she sniffled, smiling brightly with tears still in her eyes.

"I love you," I smiled, "I love you with all my heart."

"Oh Scotty," Claire cooed, admiring the ring I'd just placed on her finger, "This is perfect, absolutely perfect."

"Bring it here and let us see it, Claire," giggled Dawn.

Before she left my arms to go across the room, Claire kissed my lips and then giggled as she trotted over to show the ring to her family.

"Oh my goodness, Scott," gasped Marsha, "This is simply beautiful, sweetie."

"Am I going to get to be in your wedding, Sis?" Dawn hopefully asked.

"Of course, sweetie," gushed Claire, leaning down and hugging her baby sister, "Who else am I gonna get to be my maid of honor, huh?"

"I love you, Sis," Dawn replied, tears beginning to openly pour down her face, "And I'm so happy for you."

"Aww I love you, too, baby girl," smiled Claire, as she threw her arms around her little sister.

"Uh oh," laughed John, "My two girls are getting along. We'd better find a place to hide before the lightning strikes us."

"Oh hush, Daddy," giggled Claire.

"So, when is the wedding?" Dawn excitedly asked.

"I haven't had time to think about it," Claire cooed, "He just asked me a little while ago."

"Have you two thought about where you might want to live?" Marsha asked smiling.

"It's funny you should mention that," I uncomfortably replied, "We want to live together while we go to college."

"Is that right," John sternly replied, rising from his seat and glaring at me from across the room.

Slowly walking over to John, I stood almost toe-to-toe with him and said, "I mean no disrespect, sir, but I love Claire with everything I am. And if it means that I have to fight for her...I will."

John's stern glare melted into a smile; and as tears began to fill his eyes, he pulled me into a hug and happily replied, "I believe you, Scott. Welcome to my family, boy," then he laughed and added, "Hell, I've always wanted a son anyway."

"And I always wanted a little girl," cried Aunt Lauren, as she rose from her seat and threw her arms around Claire, "I love you, baby girl, and welcome to our family."

"Thank you, Aunt Lauren," cried Claire, wrapping her arms around Aunt Lauren's neck, "And I love you, too."

"You still haven't told us where you two are going to live, Scotty," laughed Uncle Mike, making everyone else laugh as well.

"Well," I replied, "We were thinking about getting an apartment somewhere near campus."

"I thought that all freshmen had to live in the dorms," Marsha said.

"We live here in town, Mom," Claire smiled, "And that means we're exempt from that rule."

"I'm not going to have you two paying rent on an apartment," smiled John, "I just had one of my rental houses to come open. You two can live there for as long as you want."

"Oh thank you, Daddy," squealed Claire, throwing her arms around John's neck, kissing him on the cheek.

~~~~~~

And that was the way our lives went. Claire and I moved into our house the following week. Between her parents and Aunt Lauren and Uncle Mike, we had some nice furniture, plenty of dishes etc, and more love than the law allowed.

We got married during the Christmas break between the first two semesters of college, and after that; our lives became more enriched than I ever thought possible. I was with my true soul mate that I would love forever, and that's all that mattered. Claire and I made love nearly every day and night, never tiring of one another. God, how I loved her!

~~~~~~

During the summer of our first year, a very cool thing happened. My creative writing professor had encouraged me to write a book on any subject I chose. I decided to write a children's story called "Smiles". It was a story about a little boy who had lost his parents when he was young, and I'll leave it to your imagination as to how the story turned out.

As soon as I had finished it and turned it in, I received a phone call from a major publisher the following week, offering me a book deal. Aunt Lauren asked if she could illustrate it for me, who I would never trust anyone else to do, and the next thing I knew; "Smiles" had hit the best seller's list.

Six months after that, the money began to roll in, and in doing so; John hooked me up with a literary agency that was owned by one of his old college fraternity brothers. So, as well as being busy writing; I soon became busy doing book signings as well.

~~~~~~

Over the course of the next three years, I'd made more than enough money to build and furnish Claire's dream house. Needless-to-say, the moment I began making good money on my books, of which there were three by this time, college became a thing of the past. Hell, I was going to college in hopes of becoming a writer anyway so; why go to learn how to do what I was already doing? Claire wasn't very happy about my dropping out, but in the end she smiled and said, "I love you baby, and I just want you to be happy so; if this is what makes you happy, then I'm happy, too."

~~~~~~

The weekend following Dawn's seventeenth birthday, Claire had gone with her parents to see the "Titanic" exhibit that had come to the city which was also our state capital. It was about a three hour drive and they were going to be gone for the week. I couldn't go with them, as I had a deadline to meet, and Dawn had to go to school. She stayed at our house, much to her disdain, I might add. She clearly though that, at seventeen, she was old enough to stay by herself; it was just that her parents wanted someone, primarily me, to keep an eye on her. They also knew that she wouldn't give me any shit either. I was just finishing doing some proof reading that Monday morning when the phone rang.

"Hello," I answered.

"Scotty," Aunt Lauren cried, "You need to get over here as fast as you can, honey."

"What is it?" I asked, a terrible feeling beginning to rise from the pit of my stomach.

"I'm not going to tell you over the phone, baby," she sobbed, "Just please get here quickly."

~~~~~~

"What is it, Aunt Lauren?" I asked, running into their house.

Aunt Lauren looked up at me with tears covering her face, and rushing toward me; she threw her arms around my neck and cried, "Claire, Marsha and John have been in a car accident. John and Marsha died instantly, and Claire is in Mercy Hospital, hanging on by a thread. I'm so very sorry, Scotty. Oh baby boy, I'm so sorry, honey." Suddenly everything went black, and when I next opened my eyes, Aunt Lauren was helping me up from the floor and onto the couch. I suddenly felt sick at my stomach, making me dash for the bathroom just in time to empty the contents of my stomach into the toilet. My first thought was that I had to go get Dawn out of school to go with me to the hospital, and when I voiced my concern to Aunt Lauren, she held my hands and said, "Your Uncle Mike is already on his way home with her."

Suddenly I heard Dawn's terrified voice screaming from the hallway, "SCOTTY! SCOTTY! WHERE ARE YOU?"

"I'm right here, baby girl," I replied, taking her into my arms as she continued screaming into my chest.

~~~~~~

Uncle Mike had a friend with the state police; and what was normally a three hour drive to the state capitol, was driven in just under two hours with a police escort all the way. I promised myself that I would never drive my Corvette over 100 mph when I first bought it, but that went to hell in a hand basket the moment we hit the highway.

We had an escort at the front door of the hospital, waiting to take us to Claire. "Right this way, please," she solemnly said, as soon as we approached. She led us down the hall to the elevators, then from there; took us to the fourth floor and the Intensive Care Unit.

I felt the tears stinging my eyes, and my guts twisting into knots the moment I saw Claire lying in the hospital bed. She was in traction and had tubes and cords running from her body to the machines that were gathered around her bed. Her face was badly bruised and swollen, and her once beautiful skin was now pallor, and gray.

With Dawn on one side of Claire's bed, and me on the other, I leaned down and gently took her hand. And with tears raining down my face, I closed my eyes, kissing her hand as I cried, "I love you so much, my precious angel."

All of a sudden I felt her hand weakly squeezing mine, making me raise my head and looking up to find her Claire with her eyes open slightly open. She could speak but only barely, and as I leaned closer to her, she whispered, "I need to talk to Dawn for a minute, okay?"

"Okay, baby," I replied, "I'll be right outside." As I stepped back, I patted Dawn on the shoulder on my way out the door.

~~~~~~

I stood in the hallway, right outside Claire's door, with my back against the wall, and my head in my hands. "Please, God," I silently prayed, "Don't take Claire from me. You took my parents, isn't that enough?"

"Mister Powers?" asked a female voice, snapping me from the trance I had fallen into.

"Yes," I replied, opening my eyes, "I'm Mister Powers."

"I'm Doctor Laura Daniels," she said, patting my shoulder, "Your wife is in critical condition, Mister Powers."

"But she's going to be alright, isn't she?" I hopefully asked, "How soon before we can take her home?"

"You don't seem to understand," she solemnly replied, "Every bone in her body is broken, and to be as honest as I can, I don't see how she's stayed alive as long as she has."

"But you guys can make her better, can't you," I pleaded, tears raining down my face like flood waters, "Please Doctor, you got to help her...please."

~~~~~~

"What is it, Sis," Dawn wept, "What can I do?"

"I need you to take care of Scott for me," Claire said, "Promise me that you will."

"But you're going to be alright," Dawn cried, "We'll be taking you back home in a few days."

"No, honey, not this time," Claire painfully smiled, "I asked God to let me live long enough to be able to tell you guys good-bye."

"Please don't say that, Sis," Dawn replied sadly, "What am I going to do without you?"

"You're going to be with Scott now," Claire peacefully replied, "Don't tell me that you don't love him as much as I do, because I've always known better, sweet girl. Besides, you two will be lost without each other."

"I'm so afraid, Sis," Dawn cried, taking her sister's hand, "What am I going to do without you, and Mom and Dad?"

"Scotty's gonna look after you now," Claire smiled, "But you have to take care of him, too, because he's gonna need you after I'm gone."

"I'll do my best," Dawn said tearfully, "I promise."

"I love you, and I'm really going to miss you, sweetie," Claire weakly said, "Now please go get Scott, quickly, I don't have much time."

"I love you, Claire," Dawn cried, as she left the room.

~~~~~~

I had just finished talking to the doctor when the door to Claire's room opened and Dawn emerged, barely maintaining her composure. She looked up at me with those sad brown eyes, and sniffled, "She wants to see you now, Scott," and then leaned into me and bitterly wept.

~~~~~~

"Hi, sweetheart," I softly said, "How're you feeling?"

"I'm cold, Scott," Claire weakly answered, "Will you hold me, baby, please?"

As I lay down beside her in the bed, I wrapped my arms around her as gently as I could, and said, "I love you so very much Claire, and I always will."

"I want you to do something for me then," she smiled, the pain in her body reflecting in her beautiful eyes.

"Name it, baby," I sniffled, "I'll do whatever you want me to."

"I want you and Dawn to take care of each other now," she said, "She loves you so, and she'll be good to you, Scotty."

"I will," I cried, blindly saying whatever was needed to ease her mind, "I love you so much."

She looked sweetly at me, and with her last breath, peacefully uttered, "I love you, too," and then she was gone.

I was so torn apart by my grief that I didn't hear the door to Claire's hospital click shut, nor did I know that Dawn had heard every word her sister had said to me, and I to her.

~~~~~~

We buried Claire right next to her mother and father. It was a beautiful day that day, and I know that Claire, as well as John and Marsha, would've loved it. I wasn't surprised by the number of people that attended their funeral, as it only reiterated the fact that Claire, Marsha and John were loved by so very many people, and had so very many friends.

I sat there listening to the eulogies as the pastor was spoke, but didn't hear a single word. Dawn never left my side the whole time, and was right there for me. Where she was drawing her strength from I'll never know....not for a while anyway.

~~~~~~

Chapter Nine

Claire and her parents had been gone for over a year now, but I still expected to see Claire pulling in the driveway just any second. John and Marsha's will had been read, leaving Dawn as their sole beneficiary. And per Dawn's orders, I sold everything, the house, one of John's antique Corvettes, the 53 so that Dawn would have the 54 to drive, and put the money in a bank account that would go to Dawn when she turned eighteen.

My life had now become a series of nightmares on the few nights that I actually could sleep, and then the days were filled with pain and longing for Claire. I had stopped writing; stopped doing all the things that once brought me joy, and basically, just stopped living. Aunt Lauren and Uncle Mike had called on me several times, only to be sent away because of my weak-assed excuses. I shut out the world and crawled into my own shell, as well as my own world, a world of deep sorrow and deeper regret, and last, a world of the deepest pain and darker anger. My beautiful Claire was dead, and as far as I was concerned, so was I.

One afternoon the following summer, everything began to change when Dawn, who, even though I had pretty much ignored her, had never once left my side this whole time, came into the house carrying a basket of fresh picked flowers. "Hi, Scott," she chirped, "How're you today?"

"Does it really matter?" I grumbled.

Suddenly she sat down across from me and began to cry for no apparent reason, or so I thought, until she angrily glared and said, "You think you're the only one who's hurting? Well.....do you?"

"I don't know," I hopelessly replied, "All I know is that my Claire is gone," as I began to cry again.

Coming over and sitting down beside me on the couch, Dawn wrapped her arms around me, and with pleading eyes, said, "You're the only family I have left, Scott. Please don't do this to yourself. Claire would've wanted us to live to celebrate her life, not moping around, mourning her death."

I knew that she was trying to help, but instead of trying to understand, I took a defensive attitude and growled, "Until you lose someone that you love more than anything in the world, you'll never understand what I'm feeling."

"You're being a selfish prick, Scott," she tearfully, yet angrily spat, "I lost the people I loved more than anything in the world the day my whole family died, God dammit. So, don't you dare think for a second that I don't understand what you're feeling, you fucker." With that said, she ran upstairs to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

~~~~~~

I didn't see Dawn for the rest of that day or night, and she was gone when I awoke the next morning at six o'clock. I couldn't bear for her to be angry with me, because whether she believed me or not; I still cared for her deeply. After all, Dawn had stolen my heart the very first time I laid eyes on her. That's why I found her school-girl crush on me absolutely adorable. I guess it was the fact that I was trying to mend not only my broken heart, but my tortured soul that made me lash out like I had at her. Still though, I was in the wrong; and I knew that it was up to me to make things right.

Dawn had been right about Claire when she said that she wouldn't have wanted us to mourn her death forever. So, that morning I sat down with my type-writer beside our pool that Claire had loved so much, and began to write. I wrote down every wonderful thing I knew about my beautiful wife. I recounted the first time we met, and how I felt that afternoon driving home and finding out that she had called my house looking for me. I described, in detail, how just a simple smile from her would send me into oblivion, or how the single touch of her hand, would always leave me speechless. I wrote about our relationship, and all the sweet things we had said to one another. Even the celebration of our birthdays, and the silly little gag gifts we always gave each other were included. But most of all, I wrote about the solemn vows we'd made, vows that demanded and exacted an undying, and eternal love for one another. I also wrote about Dawn, and the precious way she'd stolen my heart as a child. I described the wonderful experiences I'd been fortunate, as well as blessed enough to be able to share with her.