Chapter Nine: Nikki
My Dearest Daddy,
When I was fifteen, I think, Chelsea mentioned something about needing to write in her journal. Bryce laughed and told her that "journal" was ancient Latin for "evidence." We all had a good laugh, but that kinda stuck with me. I've never kept a diary or a journal, I don't spill my secrets or air my dirty laundry on social media, or anywhere really. I don't leave a permanent record outside of the stuff I have to do for school.
Which is why THIS is odd. But there are things I HAVE to say. Things I desperately want to say to you, but can't ever actually SAY. Which is why I'm writing you this letter. Which I'm going to burn without giving to you. Maybe the simple act of writing all this down will let me get some kind of order to my jumbled head.
Where exactly to start? I know, I know, start at the beginning, work through the middle, then go to the end. Smartass. That's one of the things I love about you, Daddy. You're a smartass, but in a good way.
Sorry. I'll try not to ramble.
I saw something tonight when I got home that really shook me. It upset me, and really rocked my foundations. I'll get to that. Right now I've gotta go back to where all this started.
It was one of the last times Momma and I ever got to talk. It was about three days before she died. Damnit I hate thinking about this. Time heals all wounds? I fucking hope so. I'm so ready to move past the pain. Get to the point where I have fond memories of Momma, not the gaping wound of her death.
Fuck it all.
Anyway, she asked me to come talk to her. You were out getting groceries and none of the girls were over. Her pain meds hadn't really kicked in and she was mostly lucid, but still a bit ramble-y. She spent a lot of time talking about the two of you, how much she loved you. She told me all about you working up the courage to ask her out that first time; the butterflies in her stomach when she was sure you were going to propose but scared you wouldn't; the worry and terror she felt when you were deployed to Iraq; how relieved she was when you made it home safe, sound, sane, and unwounded. She was so proud of you, Daddy. You were always her hero. The commendations you earned as a Marine just showed the rest of the world what she already knew.
I know the moment her pain meds really took effect because she started talking to me about y'all's sex life. How much pleasure you gave her, how much she gave you. She told me AAAAAAAAAAAAAALL about your 'magnificent cock,' and how she always felt a little guilty that she was the only one who'd ever had it. But not guilty enough to actually share you. Heh
It was pretty uncomfortable for me in a lot of ways. A girl shouldn't have to listen to her Momma go on and on about how much she loved swallowing your cum and how she loved riding your face, how good it felt every time you slid your dick into her. In another way, though, it was pretty awesome. I learned a lot about you that day, not so much from what Momma said, but how clearly happy she was with you. She talked about all the little romantic things you do for her, like bringing her a bunch of roses 'cause it was Tuesday, or slipping a new necklace on her when she slept. Opening her door for her and holding her chair. "The last of the true gentlemen," she said. I've seen that much myself. You really are.
At one point her eyes popped open wide and all the blood drained from her face. I thought it was the cancer causing it, until she said, "Shit! I shouldn't have been talking about your father like that to you. I'm so sorry, honey."
I hugged her and told her it was alright. I didn't mind letting her talk; I always love talking to her. She got to feeling a little better, I guess, and got over being embarrassed, 'cause she said, "Well, the cat's out of the bag, honey. I'm not going to pretend I didn't lose my mind for a minute and didn't say all that to you. So I want you to make me two promises. First, though we don't talk about it much, I'm not going to last much longer. I'm going to die soon." I started crying at that. She wiped my tears and pulled me in for another hug. "It's ok, baby. Shitty things happen to good people. I'm going to die soon. You have such a good life ahead of you. You're so smart, and kind, and beautiful, and wonderful, that your life is going to be absolutely spectacular. So the first promise I want from you is that you won't let what's happening to me screw up your life. Don't let my death derail you from being amazing. From being happy. Ok? Can you promise me that?"
"Yes, Momma." What else was I going to say?
She kissed my cheek and said, "The second promise is going to be a lot harder. By all rights it's a promise I have no business asking you to make. But as much as I love you, I love your Dad just as much. And when I die it's going to all but kill him. He's going to be so messed up! I know him well enough to know that he'll be content with living with my memory for the rest of his life. And that's not fair to him. Just like you, he deserves to live and be happy. So the second promise is that I need you to make sure he does. It'll never occur to him that it'll be ok someday for him to go out and find someone else. Let himself be happy. He'll be content to be a widower forever. But I don't want that for him. I want him to love again, I want him to have fun again, to party and laugh and fuck. Don't let him be stupid, but I need you to promise me that you'll make sure he doesn't turn into a monk or hermit and let himself wither away. And I DAMNED sure don't want him to let that fine cock waste away and not share it with anyone else. So you promise me Nicholette Freya Crowley, that you'll do whatever you have to do, and I mean WHATEVER you have to do, to make sure one day he remembers he's a man while he's still young enough to enjoy being one. You hear me?"
"I promise, Momma. I don't know how I can do that, but I promise you I will."
"It doesn't matter how, baby. I know you'll think of something. And you have my blessing to take ANY and ALL steps you need to. Don't let your Dad die with me, baby. Make him happy." She was quiet a minute, hugging me again, and she kissed my other cheek, her lips paper-dry, but I relished that kiss. I knew there weren't many more she could give me. "And one last promise, my darling Nikki. Promise you'll let YOURSELF be happy, too."
"I don't know how I'll be able to, Momma, but I promise that, too."
Damn it. Writing all that down sucked gigantic elephant dick! I don't ever want to do that again. I mean, I told you a little about what she said and made me promise already, but it's so hard, Daddy, to write this out. I miss her so much.
And I missed you for so long. That day you were in the bathtub and I let you have it because you were being stupid? I think I explained it all then. But I have to get all this down, to help myself sort everything out. And I'm getting ahead of myself.
Where was I?
So yeah, that was one of the last conversations I ever had with her. When she died it messed me up so bad! But it messed you up even worse. I was so terrified that something would happen to you, too, and I'd be all alone. That thought still terrifies me. You spent weeks on the couch; I know you went into your room to get clean clothes and bathe and stuff, but I also know you spent as little time as humanly possible in there. I
never
went into your room. I couldn't bear the sight of Momma not being there.
You lost so much weight the first month after the funeral. I was already worried that you'd get sick, too, and then you stopped eating and I got a little crazy. I didn't know how to talk to you about my fears, and how worried about you I was. Hell, I still don't really know how to talk to you about the important shit. Hence this letter. Which I'll never send. I'm so messed up.
But the girls got me through that first month. The girls and you. As sick with worry about you as I was, you kept me from going insane over Momma being gone. And the girls kept me from going insane over worrying about you.
I think that's when Chelsea first started crushing on you. Or maybe that was when she first realized it. We could all see you wasting away from sadness, and Chels was always the most romantic of us. Seeing you like that just touched that Mallory-inspired Courtly Love stuff that almost all girls have buried inside. Pining away for your dead wife?
So
romantic! It just reaches down and presses all KINDS of buttons in us. And Chelsea's "romance" button has always been the biggest of all of us. I think that's why she's going for the whole psychologist thing...she's trying to hide that she's just a big old girly-girl. I love giving her shit about it. I was too worried about you to see the romance in it. Then.
The next couple of years were so rough, Daddy. Especially when you made me go back to school. I was so MAD at you! Fucking FURIOUS! But even as I was screaming at you and saying all those nasty things I said, I knew you were right. And I realize now that one of the reasons I was so pissed off is because being with you all day, every day, was so wonderful even as miserable as we were, and I didn't want to give that up. Not being able to spend 24 hours a day with you? The thought was torture. I still can't BELIEVE that you told me my choice was I could go back to school or run away. What the hell was wrong with you?