by Londyn Skye
“Thank you, daddy,” Lillian replied, her tears erupting again.
James reached over and held her hand. He then looked at his four priceless treasures again. “Quite simply … you four and your sista’ Rose are truly the greatest gifts your motha’ has eva’ given me.”
“You’ve certainly proven that to us through your actions every single day of our lives,” Jamie said.
Levi nodded. “By watchin’ you, I’ve learned how to love my kids.”
“The way you loved our motha’ showed us boys how to love a woman with complete vulnerability and selflessness,” Will added.
“And showed me the sort ‘a love and respect that I should expect from a man,” Lillian finished. She squeezed her father’s hand tighter. “Quite simply … the sort ‘a love that you and mama expressed was the greatest gift that all of us could’ve eva’ received.”
James lowered his head when the warmth of his children’s words triggered his tears. He raised his head again only to say, “that means so much to me. I love you all so very much.”
“We love you too,” they all replied in unison.
Each one of his sons stepped forward and hugged their father again, each verbally expressing their love individually as they embraced him. Lillian was the last to hug him. As she lay her head on her father’s shoulder, she whispered heartfelt words into his ear. James then pulled back to look at his youngest child. Just like the day she was born, he saw a strength in her eyes that superseded his. Her astounding words proved that she had indeed inherited her mother’s strength. Warmed by her selfless expression of love, James nodded. “I promise, I will,” he tearfully replied, as complete peace finally settled within him.
After willing herself to let go of his hand, Lillian kissed her father on the cheek. “Goodbye daddy. I love you.”
“Goodbye, my sweet girl,” he tearfully whispered back, touching her cheek. “I love you too.”
After their goodbyes at the door, James’s children reluctantly left him to the solitude that he had begged them for. To be the strong comforting patriarch of his massive family, James had fought for ten days to repress his emotional pain, until he was numb enough to get through it all. He was now too depleted to carry on with such a charade. When he was finally alone, he walked out to the now barren backyard where the amphitheater sat. He paused and gave a sweeping glance to the sprawling land that William had graciously left to them. He refused to look at Lily’s tombstone in the distance, though. It was all he could do to remain upright when they had lowered her casket into the ground. He did not know how William ever summoned the courage to visit his wife’s gravesite weekly. The mere thought of Lily’s body buried beneath his feet made James want to vomit.
Being sure to keep the family plot out of his peripheral vision, James walked across the lawn and stopped at Lily’s favorite spot near the lake. He looked up at the towering tree that had witnessed the beautiful love he had made to Lily underneath it. In fact, he was convinced that their love had helped nurture its roots, as it provided the shade and the backrest during the many times he and Lily had read stories there together. While standing in its shade, that tree’s rustling leaves had served as the beautiful melody playing each time James and Lily renewed their vows. That tree was the backdrop of many family birthdays, picnics, fishing competitions, and the countless times James and Lily had played with their children in the lake. That tree near the glistening lake, Lily’s little spot of heaven, was the place she told James about the fantasy life she dreamt of having with him.
That tree now bore the proof of how Lily’s fantasy had come true. Four generations of descendants that James and Lily’s love had been responsible for creating were now engraved onto small metal placards and had been nailed into the tree. They were perfectly grouped in descending order. With James and Lily as the matriarch and patriarch, their names were now so high up on the growing tree that he would have had to climb a ladder to see it clearly. Countless children, grandchildren, great, and even great-great grandchildren now trailed down beautifully below them. Part of their two-week tradition was adding the engraved placards of the newest additions to their ever-growing family. Aurora Lily Adams and Rory James Adams were the new twin great-great grandchildren that James hammered into the bark before stepping back to pridefully look at what had literally become a family tree. When he did, a wave of sorrow suddenly rolled over him. On this very day, at this very hour, every name on that tree should have been surrounding him as he renewed his vows for the seventh time to the love of his life.
The tidal wave of sorrow carried James as far away from that tree as he could get. Before grief caused his knees to buckle, he plodded over to the amphitheater and stood in front of the stage. He then looked down at the now faded scar on his hand that Lily had stitched after he sliced it open during its construction. He closed his eyes when it brought back memories of his youthful self, surrounded by the fresh smell of paint and the sound of hammers, as he worked side by side with Ben in the heat. Helping to construct the Dream Symphony amphitheater was among the top things James had been most proud of in his life. When he had helped build it, however, James never could have guessed that he was also constructing the stage where Lily’s funeral would take place. But he felt it was fitting. The place that Lily had been introduced to the world was the very place that the world had all come to say goodbye to her. He opened his eyes and scanned the beautiful way in which people had chosen to do so. Mounds and mounds of single white lilies were left behind on the stage by fans, friends, students, and family. The flowers were so plentiful that there was not an inch of the stage left uncovered. James thought it was a beautiful metaphor for how completely people loved his wife. But he felt they could have snuffed an ocean dry with lilies and it still would not even come close to the depths of his love for her. Still, though, he was warmed by the way they expressed their heartfelt goodbye.
Goodbye: a word that James could not bring himself to say to his best friend. After being reunited after the war, James had never spent a single day apart from Lily. Six years of being away from her at school and five years of being torn apart by war was enough to make him have a deep appreciation for having Lily by his side every day thereafter. It was likely a record-shattering streak that most would feel was overwhelming, but not James. He knew all too well that spending every day with the woman he loved was a fragile privilege that could easily be destroyed by happenstance … or death. That thought made him want to spend every day with Lily like it was his last, and to always view his time with her as an honor.
Unwilling to relinquish such an honor, James wanted to relive his life with Lily all over again. Avoiding the sight of her grave, he had walked into the library that William had decorated in Lily’s honor. He took his time as he walked around the room, admiring the many pictures and treasures that lined the shelves. He then sat down at Lily’s custom-made grand piano, closed his eyes, and exhaled.
And so now here James was, on this April fifteenth of 1930. He should have been renewing his vows with Lily for the seventh time. Instead, he had begun his traditional walk down memory lane alone, starting with that fateful day he had returned home from Ohio University and caught Lily playing his mother’s piano. As he relived it in the recesses of his mind, he could feel goosebumps rising on his skin, just like all those years ago as he listened intently and watched her in awe. Now though, he looked back on that memory appreciating how that fateful moment had ignited more than just goosebumps and an overwhelming need to shed tears. He now realized that that very moment had been a monumental turning point in their lives. That was the day that began his extraordinary journey with an even more extraordinary woman.
While sitting in the library escaping into his mind, James felt like he was truly reliving his astonishing storybook life with Lily all over again. This time, though, he did not need to look at trinkets and treasures to help him relive his childhood adventures in the woods, adventures to Winter Garden, fantastical adventures aro
und the world, and every other adventure born from the fateful moment he had walked in to find Lily seated at his mother’s piano. Every life-altering experience with his best friend, that had shaped him as a man, was now as ironclad in his mind as his love for Lily.
After his mental retreat into the past, James opened his eyes to the reality that he had finished his nostalgic conquest all alone. It was then that he had mustered the courage to gaze up at the portrait of Musical Dreams. Every breath, every step he took, every thought, every decision, every heartbeat for eighty-five years had been for the inspiring woman in that picture. He had relied on her strength when he was weak. Even in the years when they were torn apart, the thought of reuniting with her had kept him thriving. But now, she was no longer by his side, not because she was at his father’s home while he was away, or because she was missing, but because she was truly gone … forever. Finally accepting that fact shattered the rest of James’s broken heart. The subsequent pain suddenly hit him like a speeding freight train. He dropped his face into his hands, and the agony brewing in his chest for ten days came spewing from his sullen eyes like an erupting volcano, his body convulsing as he wept with intensity.
Just ten days without Lily’s laughter, her smile, her warmth, the sound of her voice, and her daily expressions of love, was the equivalent to starving James of oxygen. He recalled William once saying that breathing felt like an insurmountable task without his wife. James felt that William’s statement did not even come close to adequately describing the extreme struggle it suddenly was to fill his constricted lungs, and force air through his singed trachea.
Hours of body-shuddering sobs left James weakened and exhausted. With his beautiful best friend no longer steadfast by his side, he had no desire to replenish his strength to begin trying to overcome the most crippling tragedy of his life. With what remained of his fading energy, he slowly rose from Lily’s piano and began making his way toward the grand dual staircase in his foyer, staggering all the way there like he was drunk off misery. Breathing hard by the time he arrived, he held onto the railing to keep himself upright. When he caught his breath, he gathered the strength to lift his head and gaze at the portrait of the child who spent her whole life in his loving arms. With Rose’s tender blue eyes seeming to beam down at him with love, it gave James the needed strength to begin making his ascent. He had been left with a permanent slight limp after the war. But now, in such a weakened state, he climbed the stairs like his injuries were fresh again. As he dragged himself up the steps, he continued to gaze at his daughter’s portrait the whole way for the needed motivation to complete his ascent.
James was starved of oxygen by the time he made it to the top. He leaned on the railing and took a moment to catch his breath. Before walking toward his room, he looked up at Rose and silently thanked her for being his inspiration … yet again. He then limped into the rebuilt bedroom that he had first professed his love to Lily in. He took a moment to look around the sentimental room he had shared with her for decades. He sighed and then walked over to a shelf and pulled out the very first wax record ever made with Lily’s music on it. He then shuffled over to the homophone in the corner of the room, opened the lid, and placed the record on it. After placing the needle on the edge, Lily’s melodies overtook the silence in the room. James then turned to look at the bed. Another surge of tears careened down his wrinkled cheeks and butterflies erupted in his stomach, as a vision of making love to Lily for the very first time began playing in his mind with crystal clarity.
James then sat down at a desk and took out a pen and paper. Without one pause or second-guess, he began writing. The words on his mind flowed effortlessly and poetically. By the time the first side of Lily’s record was complete, so was James. He got up and turned the record over to side B. Another sea of tears surged from his eyes when Lily’s music overtook the room again. As the song gave him strength, James picked up the tear-stained paper he had just written on and folded it neatly. He then walked over to the mirror, picked up a pair of scissors, and snipped a locket of his now white hair. He then placed it in an envelope along with the new vows he had just written, that were inspired by his nostalgic quest down memory lane.
After sealing the envelope with wax, James briefly thought about how the years without Lily had affected him just as equally as the special moments with her. Anytime they were apart, it had always been the hope and anticipation of seeing her again that compelled his actions and decisions. That was no different on this day. James suddenly stood and made his way up the two steps that led to the bed. He then sat down on the edge of it. Sitting in that very spot right after the war, James had once tearfully confessed to Lily that he would give up and die without her. Lillian had never been told that story, but it proved to be a sentiment she innately knew to be true: “You’ve loved us so unselfishly all these years. Now it’s our turn to do the same. Go on home to her, daddy. We’ll miss you so much, but we’ll learn to be okay without you. Give mama and my big sista’ a hug for me,” Lillian had tearfully whispered in her father’s ear that morning before reluctantly letting him go, in more ways than one. With the memory of his daughter’s words giving James the final bit of peace he needed, he lay back on the pillow and placed his vows on his chest, vows that proved the precious love he felt for Lily at first sight had remained indestructible for his entire life. Now prepared to prove that his love was just as indestructible throughout the infinite hours of eternity, James closed his eyes, pushing a swell of tears down the sides of his face. When the last song on Lily’s record stopped, so did James’s shattered heart. When he exhaled for a final time, a smile graced his face. His tears suddenly morphed into those of joy as he was welcomed into the afterlife with a warm embrace from the only woman he ever loved, a woman the world first came to know as the prodigy slave … but who died as a cherished, world-renowned, iconic musical legend.
About the Author
Londyn Skye is a comical, 43-year-old mother of two, ex-all-American collegiate athlete, million-mile lady trucker phenom, and a romance novel junkie! When she was a child, Londyn began creating stories in the fantasy world of her mind as a way to escape life’s troubles. As an adult, she decided to challenge herself to turn her comforting fantasies into a novel. That challenge led her to write The Prodigy Slave trilogy. Wanting the utmost quality for her readers, she has diligently worked to balance the saga with humor, drama, romance, unpredictable plots, and devious, neurotic characters that are equally as captivating as the erotic love scenes between the fascinating heroes and heroines. She has painstakingly painted her fantasies with words that she hopes will help readers to see the images just as beautifully as her unique mind does. Most importantly, she hopes that everyone will feel just as emotionally moved and inspired by the heroes and heroines in her love story.
Connect with Londyn at www.facebook.com/AuthorLondynSkye