Sweet Dangers

Alternate Ending

Her small fingers wrapped around two of my large fingers. I smiled down at her, and picked her up. Her soft golden curl brushed my nose as I kissed her forehead. She smiled at me, her beautiful blue eyes sparkling.

“Daddy, it’s cold,” she whispered, wrapping her small and chubby arms around my neck.

“I know, baby,” I told her, kissing her cheek as I leaned back and shut the car door. “But you know we do this every year.” She nodded, her small lips curving into a sweet smile.

The wind was soft and freezing, and I unbuttoned my coat and wrapped it around her small body. She was five, but so small. The trees swayed slightly as I picked my way carefully over gravestone after gravestone.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, sweetie?”  I asked.

“Can I walk? I want Daddy to see I’m a big girl now.”

“Of course, Darcy. As long as you keep your hat and mittens on. I would hate for you to catch a cold.”

“Okay.”

I set her down, and she pulled her small hat sewn with penguins tighter around her small head. She looked up at me, smiling. Her teeth were white, but slightly crooked. I knew she would need braces when she got older, but right now her imperfection made her my little girl.

Our little girl.

“Why don’t you go pick some flowers?” I asked and she nodded, her golden curls like a halo.

“You brought the present I made?”

“Of course! How could I forget, Darcy?” I asked, pretending to be shocked and offended. She giggled into her small, gloved hand, and began searching for the remains of some artificial plants that families always left their loved ones.

It was dreadfully cold out, no plants in sight.

Barely any grass, though no snow softened the ground.

I leaned against a cold tree trunk, the spindly branches curving around and arching towards the ground, as if it was slouching over. When Darcy came back, she had a small handful of assorted flowers, all fake and blown away in the breeze. Her little face was flushed pink, her nose bright red. I picked her up, wiping her nose on my sleeve.

“Down, Daddy!” she giggled as I tickled her under the chin, her blue eyes shining. “I’m  big girl now!”

“Oh, c’mon,” I teased. “Even big girls love their daddies.”  I set her down though, and she immediately began scampering around the headstones.

“Where is it again?” she asked me, her small voice like a small tinkling bell.

“Over by the lake remember?” I asked her and she nodded.

She began running towards the lake, and I called after her, “Be careful! Don’t fall!”

“I know!” she shouted back, racing in between and around the headstones.

I followed behind, my hands stuffed into the pocket of my coat, head bent so that the wind didn’t freeze my face. It blew my curls around enough though.

“Daddy! Daddy! Over here Daddy!” she cried. She had stopped in front of one of the larger headstones.

I put a small smile on my face as I came and stood next to her small, excited figure. I read the inscription, like I did so many times a year.

It read:

Friend. Son. Brother. Love.

Louis William Tomlinson

1991-2013

Died in Bravery

I bit on my lower lip. It had been about seven years since that day.

The day Louis had died saving me.

“Daddy?” Darcy whispered, pulling on my sleeve. “Why are you crying?” she asked, her wide eyes curious and innocent.

“I’m not,” I told her, pulling a sad smile onto my lips.

“Do you have my present?”

“Yea,” I told her, pulling the small box from inside my coat.

I handed it to her, her small hands heaving to beside her on the cold grass. She opened the box and pulled out her gifts.

She tugged out one of her small pink blankets. I didn’t protest when she wrapped the blanket around the headstone, pinning it together right above the inscription.

“So you aren’t cold, Daddy,” she whispered.

She took out four candles, setting them on either side of his grave. I reached into the box and pulled out a lighter, lighting the candles for her.

“So you don’t get scared of the dark, Daddy,” she whispered yet again. She put a small hand into the box and pulled out a small cupcake wrapped in paper towel.

“I made this for you, Daddy,” she told the headstone, unwrapping it and setting it down next to the headstone. “Daddy told me you loved cupcakes.”

By now I had tears in my eyes, but I was fighting them for our little girl.

I thought she was done, but she reached in again and pulled out her favorite stuffed animal rabbit.

“Darcy,” I began. “That’s your favorite.”

She ignored me though, placing the soft white bunny gently on the dirt before the headstone.

“So you won’t be lonely when Daddy and I aren’t here,” she murmurs.  She scoots closer to the headstone, wrapping her small arms around it as much as she could. “I love you Daddy. Happy Birthday.”

I smiled a little.

She truly was an angel, just like Louis.

She gave the headstone a small kiss and then stood and hurried into my open arms.

She was shivering.

“Let’s go,” I told her and she nodded.

“I love you Darcy,” I told her. “I love you Lou.”

*********************************************************

I smiled at the two headstones, side by side.

I shouldn’t be smiling, it was right after the funeral.

I would miss him dearly, Harry had been my father.

But they were together at last.

Louis and Harry had finally met again.