The Atwood DITFT: Generation 1, Chapter 8
Author's Note: Gah... I'm bad at balancing between legacies xD Okay I can't help it though, I love this family a lot and I want to show you guys the babies... Haha it's chapter 8 already! I guess I maybe went overboard xD Anyway, I really hope you guys actually like this legacy because now that I've started, I can't stop myself :P I'm plotting out the entire generation 2 plotline and... it's addicting. Hehe :3 Oh, and just to warn you... this one is reeeeally long. Haha xD
The Atwood DITFT: Generation 1, Chapter 8
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The next morning Nick woke up disoriented. He’d had an extremely vivid dream.
In the dream, he was with Julie back in Riverview. They were older than they had been when they knew each other, though a few years younger than Nick was now.
They had decided to go on a date to the riverside. They laughed and chatted as they whiled away the day, content in each other’s company. He couldn’t remember, now that he was awake, anything they’d talked about-except one conversation.
“Why are you so sad, Julie?”
“It’s nothing.” She turned away.
“Is it because you’re dead?” Apparently dream Nick knew that he was in a dream, that what he was experiencing was not reality.
“Well, that’s part of it. Being here with you makes me sad for the times we never got to have together.” So dream Julie knew it too.
“Me too.”
“But that’s not all of it.”
“No?” Nick looked at her curiously.
“No. See, I’m also sad that your life is so lonely.”
“Lonely? It’s not, not really! Now that Marigold knows her sister lied to her, we’re friends again. And you know me; I don’t need more than a friend or two to be happy. Plus, I always have my pets. And… and you.”
“That’s true. You’ll always have me, even when I’m not there,” Julie said sweetly. “But I want to tell you something.”
“You know I’m listening.”
“Nick, it’s okay to move on.”
“W-what?”
“You’re not disgracing me, or my memory, or your parents’ memory, by falling in love again. We want you to be happy.”
“Happy? How am I supposed to be happy?”
Julie looked regretful. “Oh Nick, this is what I mean.” She pulled him into a hug. “It makes me terribly sad to see you still grieving so deeply. I don’t mean to ask you to forget about me; I know that the memory of me, and especially of your parents, will live with you for the rest of your life. To forget would be a dishonor to us. But you need to find a way to move on.”
Nick stared at Julie. He was beginning to wake up, he could feel it; his brain struggled to comprehend what Julie was saying. “Move on? Julie, I-”
“Our time is almost up, but here is what I want you to know. Just because you still love me doesn’t mean you can’t love someone else, too. The best way for you to honor my memory is to figure out how to live with the sorrow and turn it into the motivator that guides your actions. Live always knowing that we love you, and we are proud of you. We want you to live out your life to the fullest extent you can, because we never truly got to.”
Nick stared at her. It sounded like she was telling him…
“Do you really want me to put it bluntly, babe?” Julie said with a devious grin. “Maybe this is the only way to get it through your head. Go find yourself another woman, Nick. Go get married and have lots of babies. You’ve always said you wanted them. You’d be a great dad, and I can think of a woman that would make a great mom.”
“You’re saying…”
“Oh come on. You’re not an idiot, are you? Did you turn stupid after I died?” Julie laughed. “Seriously bud, is it that hard to figure out who I’m talking about? You let Marigold get away again last night. That’s why you’re having this dream, you goofball. It’s your conscience talking to you. Because evidently there’s no other way to get you to wake up.”
And wake up Nick did, abruptly, with Julie’s voice ringing in his ears: “You’re in love with Marigold.”
* * *
“Can we talk?” Nick asked into the phone.
“Isn’t that what we’re doing right now?” Marigold teased from the other end.
Nick laughed. Always the lighthearted one, Marigold. “Well, yes. But I mean, can we talk in person?”
“How about the pier?”
“Three o’clock?”
“Done. See you there.”
Nick hoped very much he wasn’t making a mistake.
* * *
“Thanks for coming, Mar. I know it was short notice.”
“Hey, think of it as me repaying the favor. You woke up at 5 a.m. for me, after all.”
Nick grinned. “But that was worth it.”
“Are you saying this won’t be?” Marigold laughed.
“Not at all.”
“Oh goodie!” said Marigold. “Well, what is it then?”
Suddenly Nick had no idea what to say. “I guess I just… I don’t know.”
“Come on, silly. We’re friends, right? Friends can tell each other anything.”
“Well, all right then. You asked for it,” Nick said with a laugh. “I guess what I’m trying to say is… Well, okay. Ever since the fire, I’ve told myself no one can replace Julie and I should never try. I guess I figured I got my shot at true love, and once it got taken away, there was no chance for me to get it back.”
“I think I’ve known for awhile that I was wrong about that,” he continued, looking straight at Marigold. “I keep finding myself wishing for someone to spend my life with. And I don’t just mean any ‘someone,’ either.”
Marigold smiled, looking hopeful.
“But for awhile, I thought you were right. I thought it would be insensitive and cruel to find someone else when Julie has only been gone for two years. That’s half the length of time she and I were together… It felt wrong.”
“But last night, I had a strange dream. Well, it wasn’t strange in that I dreamt about Julie. We were spending time together, but… we weren’t acting like a couple. We never kissed, or even hugged in a romantic way. It was all very… platonic, I guess.”
“Then came the strangest part. We had been talking the whole dream, as though we were two friends spending the day together, but I only remember this one conversation, the one we had right before I woke up. In it, she told me she was sad for two reasons: one, because she and I never got to have a life together; but two, because I was letting her lost life keep me from having one. She told me she wants me to move on, not because she wants me to forget, but because she wants me to be happy.”
“Do you think it was… her ghost?” Marigold asked tentatively.
“I’m not sure,” Nick replied. “I don’t know whether I think it was actually her spirit trying to communicate with me, or whether my mind made the whole thing up on its own as a way to show me what I hadn’t consciously realized. You know?”
“Either way could make some sense.”
“But here’s the thing,” Nick said, moving closer to Marigold. “We’ve both been insisting that we’re just friends, but I don’t think I’m the only one who’s wished for something more.”
Marigold grinned sheepishly. “Well…”
“Don’t feel guilty about it. It’s a good thing, actually.”
“Really? Why?”
Nick didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
* * *
Six months passed. Marigold was the perfect girlfriend-she never pushed Nick further than he thought he could go. When images of Julie came back to haunt him, she soothingly reminded him that his dream had been right: Julie would want him to be happy. But she never became jealous or upset if he told her he needed to be away from her for a few hours. She knew he was still grieving, and she would let him be for as long as he needed.
Still, Marigold spent more time at Nick’s house than she did at her own. She would come over early in the morning and play her guitar or her piano outside while Nick gardened.
Sometimes they would spend the afternoon fishing. Marigold loved the outdoors just as much as Nick did, and although she wasn’t quite as skilled at fishing, she enjoyed it immensely. Nick found that her companionship kept his mind from wandering into depressed thoughts, while fishing but also in general. And little by little, he thought he was beginning to take the advice Julie had given him in his dream. He hadn’t forgotten Julie-he never would. But he had found a way to be happy.
Marigold always brought Neville with her when she came over. He and Phoenix had developed a fast friendship, and Nick was overjoyed to see that it really brought out the old, cuddly Phoenix.
She was much more affectionate now, and always begging to be picked up and hugged. Often Katie and Phoenix had to battle it out to decide who would sleep on Nick’s bed at night-that is, unless they weren’t both beaten to it by another special someone.
Soon Marigold moved in officially. It had only been a matter of time, considering how often she was there anyway. With her she brought some new furniture (which Nick liked much better than the secondhand things he’d had before, despite how much more feminine it was), her guitar and little piano, and most importantly, Neville.
It shouldn’t have been as big a surprise as it was, therefore, when Nick discovered that Phoenix was pregnant. He rushed to tell Marigold the news, and they both danced around excitedly, unable to contain their enthusiasm for a little baby cat of their very own.
But later that evening, when Marigold was at work, Nick began to think. If his cat was having a baby… why couldn’t he? He’d always wanted children, and he was getting closer and closer to 30. But before he thought about any of that… there was the subject of marriage. He knew now that Marigold was the perfect woman for him. She could never replace Julie, but like he had thought about so long ago, she had made her own place in his heart.
He was waiting for her when she arrived home from work. “Let’s go on a date tomorrow,” he said as he pulled her close to him. “The pier again, to watch the sunrise. You in?”
“But of course,” she said with a grin.
The sunrise was just as breathtaking as it had been last time. Nick and Marigold stood in awe as it filled the world with color and light.
When it had finished, Nick turned to Marigold. “That was almost as beautiful as you are.” He knew it was cheesy, but it felt good to have someone to say cheesy things to.
“Oh hush,” Marigold said with a smile. “Don’t be a dork.”
“What? It’s true!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
“I mean it, missy! Now, I have a question for you.” He got down on one knee.
Marigold’s eyes widened in shock.
Note: Love love love this picture :3
“Marigold, you’ve been wonderful to me since the day I moved here. You always make me feel welcome. Sure, we’ve had our ups and downs and misunderstandings, but in the end those weren’t what’s important.”
“You’ve been so understanding about me and my past, and I want to spend the rest of my future with you. Will you marry me?”
Marigold squealed with joy. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Nick stood up and grinned, and Marigold flung herself at him. “I love you so much, Nick!”
“I love you too, Marigold.”
When they released each other, Marigold looked intently at Nick. “Let’s get married right now,” she said.
“What? Mar, don’t you want a proper wedding party?”
“Not in the slightest,” she said. “Who would I invite, my sister? I have a lot of ‘friends’ in this town, but none that I would really want at my wedding.”
“What about your parents?” Suddenly Nick was startled by something. In the time he had known Marigold-a little over a year, he calculated-he had never once heard her mention her parents.
“They… well, there’s a reason I’ve never told you about them,” Marigold admitted. “I’m sorry to even say this, especially in front of you, but it would be better if they were dead.”
Nick felt shock and hurt rock through him. “Marigold, how can you-?”
“I know, I know, I’m so sorry,” Marigold said, pain in her voice. “I don’t want to upset you. But you have to understand; my parents aren’t like yours were. They weren’t… good people. My dad left shortly after I was born, and… so did Susanna’s.”
“You mean you two have different fathers?” Nick asked.
“Yes. Or, well, we think so. Our mom… never told us… if it was the same man both times or not. She… she never really told us anything, actually. She was a drug addict, see. Susanna and I were kind of on our own for our entire childhood. That’s why Suse turned out so, um… manipulative, dramatic, horrible.”
“But you didn’t turn out that way,” Nick said softly. “You are a wonderful person despite your terrible past.”
Marigold smiled. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Nick found himself understanding what Marigold had said a long time ago, in response to his statement that the only way to move on from something is to remember it. She had seemed intrigued and said she’d never thought of that before. Nick thought he could see, now, why she might have needed to. “I guess we have more in common than I thought,” he said. “And I do think I see why you say it would be better if your parents were dead.”
“Then I could mourn them,” she said. “Then I could miss them, or have even a semblance of respect for them.”
Nick nodded.
“So you see,” Marigold said, “why I don’t want them at my wedding. I don’t even know who my father is, and I don’t want my mother anywhere near me.”
“Well, to tell you the truth, I can’t think of a single person I want at my wedding, either.”
“So… why wait?” Marigold grinned mischievously. “I can think of several reasons to get married today.” She winked.
“Oho, not being dirty-minded, missy, are we?”
“Why, never!” she said, pretending to be offended. “I don’t know why you would insinuate such a thing.”
“Well then, for reasons completely devoid of any impurity, I say we get married right now.”
And so they did.