Disclaimer: Ah… Part of this was taken from "Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlisle. Naturally, it has a totally different meaning. But I was writing this while this song came on. And I couldn't resist. My tribute to one of the most beautiful father/daughter songs ever.
Chapter Nine: The Role Of A Father
By Natali K. A.
Lily woke up the next morning with the sunlight straight in her eyes. How odd, she always closed the curtains before she went to sleep. It was then that she realized she was still wearing the dress from the night before.
Had she been to drunk to even undress?
Ah, no. She'd fallen asleep on James-for some odd reason she couldn't remember.
The dream.
Lily blinked a few times at her ceiling, slowly but surely recalling every detail from her dream.
What did it mean, that she was having dreams again? Hadn't they gone away? She was thoroughly frustrated and decided that it was definitely too early to be thinking-six-thirty in the morning was not a good time to sleep.
She stumbled down to breakfast, not even bothering to change out of her dress. She'd just hop in the shower after eating and drinking some of her tea. As it was, she could barely put one foot in front of the other.
"Good morning, sweetie," Mrs. Evans said, bringing Lily her mug. "Are eggs and porridge alright?"
Lily grunted, drowning herself in tea. It could never be said that she was a morning person. Her father chuckled from behind his morning paper.
"Can't see why you're complaining. You've slept more than both of us."
Lily glared at him. "Not a morning person."
"Don't know why. You used to be up at dawn when you were little. Just like Petunia."
"Then I had the sense to become as different as I could. Who wants to be like Petunia?"
"Lily, enough," Mrs. Evans clucked. "Incidentally, Petunia's coming over this morning with her Vernon. She'd like you to meet him, so go on and shower and-why are you still in that dress?"
Ignoring her mum's question Lily sat upright, eyes on fire. "I won't meet him and I highly doubt that Petunia wants me to. No, I know exactly what happened!" She slammed her mug down and stood up. "Petunia said she wanted to come over for breakfast so Vermin or whatever his name is could regal you with talk of-what was it, drills? And when you told her that was fine and no problem, she asked if I was here! You told her I would be and when she told you to get rid of me you refused." She glared angrily at both her parents. "Tell me that's not what happened!"
Mrs. Evans avoided Lily's eyes. "It's not. His name is Vernon."
Lily softened a little. She knew it hurt her mother a lot that her daughters didn't get along with each other, but it couldn't be helped, could it?
"I'm sorry. But I just can't," she sighed. "I'm going to take a shower and then I'm leaving to Vicky's or something."
"Or to James and your new family?" Mrs. Evans asked with her back to the room, sniffling. "Are you in such a hurry to leave us?"
"Of course not, Mum. I just-"
"You can't have been dating him that long! Suddenly you're talking about marriage and then it'll be babies and then I'll never see you and then what?"
Lily looked to her father for help, but he'd sided with his wife.
"How long have you two been dating?"
Her vision blurred with tears and she said tremblingly, "No, I'm not hearing this. He's such a great man-"
"So was Hitler. A cruel, evil man, but great nonetheless."
She didn't reply-how dare he compare James to Hitler? Lily hurriedly headed for her room, deciding she didn't want to hear anymore of it.
"Lily, come back here, you know I didn't mean it like that," Mr. Evans said, cowering at the glare he received from his wife. But Lily's footsteps only kept retreating.
"I don't think we should've started this," Mrs. Evans said. "We were engaged when I was sixteen and you were twenty. Lily's much more mature than we were at that age."
"Doesn't matter. The times've changed, dear. I just wish she'd think about this. Suddenly she comes home and she's ready to get married? How many of our friends regret marrying the first person they fell in love with?"
His wife didn't reply.
"Even we've had rough patches," he continued. "Tell me you've never thought that if only you'd waited-"
"You have the most amazing ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time," she interrupted in clipped tones, throwing the dish towel at him. "Is that how you feel?!"
"No, of course not! But it's just-"
Only he didn't get a chance to finish. His wife had left the room to head for Lily's.
Once Mrs. Evans was there, she knocked lightly and entered. Lily was busy brushing out her hair, having undone it from it's bun from the night before.
"I'm sorry. We adore him and you know that. We're just a little shocked. I don't want you to make a mistake, Lily. It's a lifelong decision. You can't just up and get a divorce when you're bored of him."
Lily glared at her in the vanity mirror, brushing with greater force.
"He appears to be a very nice young man, but what if he has some hidden undesirable quality? What if he's abusive, what if he doesn't want children, what if he's a drinker, what if he's a gambler, what if he cheats, what if-"
"More evidence you don't know him at all. Forgive me if I'm in love with a perfect man."
"No one is perfect, Lily."
"I've never heard you complain about my father."
"I didn't think it was any of your business," her mother said, resting her hands on Lily's shoulders. "But if you want some examples, so be it. Your father wanted to divorce me."
A cold vise gripped Lily's chest. When had that happened?
"Early in our marriage, we'd had trouble conceiving and he felt that it was my fault and cause for divorce. We are, as you've noticed, a bit old to be the parents of an eighteen-year old. But we made it through. It's those kind of selfish desires, however, that ruin a marriage. You can't tell me you know everything about him."
"I know what I need to know, including his bad qualities. I spent six years fighting with him. I know he loses his temper rarely, but when he does it's something to fear. I know he's caring but cold and cruel to those who aren't worthy of his care. I know he's ruthless when it comes to defeating someone. I know-"
"I'm not asking you to list them for me. I'm not saying he's a bad man. If you know for sure that he will be all you need in a husband, then that's all I need. You tell your father and me if you want and concede to marry him, and you have our blessing." She turned around and left the room.
Lily shut her eyes, shaking. Her anger was incredible-but not as powerful as her love and gratitude for her parents. With maturity comes understanding. With understanding, you learn to forgive. She couldn't punish her parents for being truthful with her because they cared.
But she didn't have a doubt in her mind as to what her answer would be when it came time to tell them whether or not she wanted to marry James.
That would never mature or change.
*~*
Early next week, James went to the Evans household at a time he knew she was out of the house. He seemed cool and confident to any random passerby, as if he had nothing in the world to worry about.
But under his carefree façade, he was worried and shaky and… nervous.
"I'm here to ask for your permission to marry your daughter. I'm here to ask for your daughter's hand in marriage. I would be most grateful if you would give us your blessing to wed. Please let me tie the knot already because I need to shag your daughter very badly. It would mean a lot to us if we knew that you approved of our union, so I'd like to ask for your blessing. Yes, I'd love a bottle of vodka, and while you're at it, could you giving me your daughter's hand in marriage?" James practiced, trying to find exactly the right way to say it.
Only he still hadn't found one by the time Mrs. Evans had opened the door.
"James! Come in, dear. I've just set lunch out. You do like chicken pot pie, don't you?"
"This is strictly business, Mrs. Evans," James joked-somewhat.
After a short lunch, Mr. Evans and James went into the former's study-at the latter's request.
"Now, James, I know exactly what you're here to say," Mr. Evans began, taking a decanter from the rolling bar and offering James a glass. He refused. "There are not many things I know for sure. Two are this: she was sent to me from Heaven and she's my little girl. No matter what anyone says, she will always be my little precious gift from heaven.
"I watched her grow up. I've changed her diapers, had to deal with her first bra shopping trip-that was horrific. I've watched my little girl cry when some idiot bloke broke her heart.
"I have been so proud of Lily. She's looking like her mum more and more every day-beautiful and perfect and… Lily. She was what Petunia couldn't be to us-a loving child. Petunia's always resented us because we couldn't just stop at her." He took a big drink and continued.
James sat there, fingers woven together.
"The years go by like the wind-you blink and it's just gone." He snapped to emphasize. Mr. Evans leaned forward toward James. "She is going to change her name-most likely to Potter-and I will have to walk her down the aisle to give her to some other man. You cannot have any idea how hard that is for a father to accept."
James didn't reply-he didn't know. He probably wouldn't until-if-he had a daughter.
"The very first time I held her, she grabbed my pointer finger"-he held it up for James to see-"and smiled. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen and to this day brings tears to my eyes.
"So when you come to me, asking for my blessing to take my place in Lily's life, you can't fathom how much I desire to say no and lock her up, away from any man so he won't take her." Mr. Evans sighed and shut his eyes. "Ask me."
James, a little intimidated and quite afraid he'd actually say no (but who really says no?!), gave his hopefully future father-in-law a moment to regain composure. Then he asked the question that was the sole purpose of his visit.
"Will you let me marry and love your daughter?"
It hung in the air, without a response of any kind. James was almost scared to hear what would come out of the other man's mouth, but forced himself to keep looking and listening. He would have to hear it sometime.
"Tell me why. Why should I let you-a man I haven't known for that long-marry my daughter?"
Well, if that didn't just catch James off guard!
He blinked a couple times. "I should think that would be obvious. I love her. A man is born to grow up, leave his parents, and dedicate himself to his partner."
"It takes more than love, my boy," Mr. Evans sighed woefully, refilling his glass. "What if you discover that ten years from now you get bored of the same old routine. Marriage isn't a simple thing. It takes a lot of time and hard work and… just stuff."
James considered Lily's father for a moment before responding with the only answer he could come up with-the only one, he felt, that was actually true.
"I will do anything to keep her happy and not a day will go by that I won't love her. It would be a foolish and stupid thing for me to promise that we'll never have disagreements-bloody hell, we argue all the time. But I can promise that the final outcome will be for her good, even if it means sacrificing myself in some way."
Mr. Evans nodded slowly, sipping his vodka again. "Hmm." Nodding some more, he set down his glass and stood, James following suit. He stuck out his hand which James took.
"So long as I'm living, if I hear you harm her in any way, I will hunt you down. Otherwise, it would be my greatest pleasure to call you my son-in-law."
James could feel his face split into an idiotic grin and he pumped his hand enthusiastically.
Now all he had to do was propose. Simple, right? Huh. Yeah.
*~*
Lily sat cross-legged on Vicky's bed, staring at the floor.
"You do know what he's doing, don't you?" Vicky asked, crimping her hair with her hands.
"What? Wait, who?"
"James, you twit!"
"Oh, him. No, what?"
Vicky raised her eyebrow. "You really are a nincompoop, Lils."
"I thank you for your compliment. What's he doing though?"
"Did he asked you what you were going to do today?"
"Yes."
"Did you tell him?"
"Yes."
"Did he ask you how long you'd be out and if your parents planned on being home?"
"Yes and yes."
"And did he tell you what he was going to do?"
"He just said he'd hang around and see if he found anything to do."
Vicky raised a perfect eyebrow. "He's asking your dad for permission to put a ring on your finger, Lils."
Lily's lips formed a small "o" as she finally got it. She looked at her best mate. "Think my dad said yes to him? Father can be such a… um, pain in the arse comes to mind."
Vicky nodded sagely. "Well, I don't think he'd reject James, but I definitely some sort of little speech and very difficult question or two will be asked. I suppose you'll just have to wait until James proposes to find out!"
"Hmm."
"Will you say yes?"
"I suppose I sort of have to, don't I?"
"You should say no just to be funny!"
"I'm not entirely sure that James would take no for an answer. And if I dared to say that, he'd probably murder me with his own two hands without giving me two seconds to explain."
"Good point! Ah, must run, Lily love. I've got another dinner date." She winked. "See yourself out babe." Then poof! she was gone.
*~*
A/N: Two days late. Sorry, I was tired Thursday and then I spent Friday training for my volunteership at the best hospital ever. So here it is. Technically, it's done Friday, but as you're all so very picky… Yes. So. Um. Enjoy?
I wish I could figure out how he's gonna propose!!
By the way, that finger/grab/baby/smile thing between Lily and her father happened between me and mine. Cute, huh? (I was very cute, thank you.)
Review because you know you love me.
Natali K. A.
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