The Only Exception

The Only Exception

I kissed him on his gentle lips after I told him I really loved him. I accepted his proposal for what I was feeling was true. Yet, I still couldn't believe that I told someone about my feelings.

I touched his blushing face and whispered on his ears, "Sweetheart, you are the only exception..."

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TEN YEARS EARLIER

I heard my mommy crying in her bedroom while holding the picture of my daddy. I stood there clueless while peaking from behind the door. I felt her pain inside but I never knew why. She just held the picture of my daddy, and nothing else.

After a few seconds, she saw me and quickly wiped away her tears. My mom fakely smiled and reached out her hand towards me, inviting me to bed.

"Is there something wrong, mommy?" I asked her as I lay beside her on the bed. I looked at her and asked her with an innocent mind.

"Mommy is fine." She sobbed. "But I am worried about you."

In my mommy's words, I got even more puzzled. Was there something about me she had to worry about? Mommy was a good mother to me all the time. I can say that daddy, too. When my mom said those words, I thought about my daddy and realized that she can solve the problem with my father. We just had to wait for him to come home from work.

"Let us wait for daddy, mom. So that he can help you." I said. But with this, she cried even more and hugged me so tight. I felt her skin so cold and her heart's pace beating so fast. There was something wrong.

My mother shook her head as she stared at me once again. "Daddy will never come back. He went to a far away place."

I frowned and asked, "Where, mommy?"

"He would be living with his new family in New York." She muttered, feeling the hurt excruciating in her heart.

"Don't be silly, mommy!" I laughed, trying to make myself a bit comfortable. "New York isn't a far away place! It was just a few miles from here."

"You are such an adorable girl." My mom smiled for a bit but became lonely again when she added, "He would be in a far away place... Far from our heart."

There, my mom told me about what daddy have done. My mother told me that he had another woman aside from my mom. My father told her that he doesn't love her anymore and so would be marrying his new love. Still, he promised to do his responsiblities to me as a father. But this didn't heal the wounds that he left to my mother. Unfortunately, my father chose his new woman over us, his family.

From that day, I had a huge grudge on my father. I was just twelve years old and I was not mature enough to understand my mom's feelings. But as time passed by and as I grew a little older, I realized how he gave so much pain to my mom.

Not long after when we discovered that my mom was suffering from a serious condtion: Brain Cancer. When I knew about her illness, the first person I blamed was my father. If he didn't leave us, maybe mom would still be happy right now. If he wasn't such a coward for supporting us, then maybe our family was still living happily right now.

What made me mad to him even more was that, after two years, he stopped supporting me as his daughter: he stopped paying for my tuition fees and other expenses. He just left us in all a sudden without even explaining why. But the Lord was still good, for He made a way for us to know the reason.

It was afternoon when we received a knock on the door. I was already sixteen at that time. My mom was sitting on her rocking chair while staring at the mirror and observing her bald hair which was once filled with healthy hair which I once touched and admired.

I opened the door and saw my mother's sister, Aunt Stella. I was surprised with her news. "I know why your father stopped supporting you."

"Why?" I quickly asked and let her in the house. My mom welcomed her and was also ready to listen.

"He now has a new daughter. His new wife gave birth to a baby girl and he is the father." Aunt Stella stated.

There, I felt like my whole world collapsed. First, my father had another woman and left us so he can be with his new love. Second, my mom had a serious psychological illness about depression and a physical illness which was brain cancer. And now, my father had a new baby, which was the reason he stopped supporting me. So I thought after hearing Aunt Stella's news, will there be something much worse that would happen to me now?

My question was answered after a year. My mom died because of her cancer and her depression made her illness worst. She wasn't able to handle her weakness and had prepared herself for her departure to heaven.

Again, I blamed my father. It was all his fault that mom had to die. But I also blamed myself, for I wasn't enough to make her happy with her life. She still needed dad and I know that her love for him was true.

On the funeral, I cried on Aunt Stella's shoulders. I told her about everything; my pain and my plans for life. I considered myself as an orphan even if my dad was still alive. It is pointless to call myself "The Girl with the Father" for I can hardly feel that I have any. Because of his doings, for me, he was also dead.

I couldn't handle seeing my mother's body in the coffin. Whenever I stare at her dreary face, it just reminded me of my father and my bitter past. It was all over. My father left. My mom was gone. My hopes are dead.

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PRESENT DAY

I kissed him on his gentle lips after I told him I really loved him. I accepted his proposal for what I was feeling was true. Yet, I still couldn't believe that I told someone about my feelings.

I touched his blushing face and whispered on his ears, "Sweetheart, you are the only exception..."

He seemed to be surprised with what I said. I saw on his face the happiness, but I also noticed that he was confused. So I continued speaking, "This was the first time I actually loved someone other than my mom."

"What do you mean?"

When he asked, I told him the story of my life. I told him how and why I lost my trust on every man on the world. I blamed every guy I knew and saw for my mom's death. For me, they were just a model of my evil father.

But I didn't understand my feelings towards Edmund. I tried to stop my feelings towards him for such a long time for I was afraid that he might do the same thing to me as what my father did to my mom.

I have met different guys in my life. A lot of men courted me and tried their best just to make me love them. But they just failed. They all failed in wanting me to believe them. But Edmund? I couldn't explain how my steel heart became as soft as a sky towards him. He was different.

"I will never fail you." Edmund muttered and kissed me again on my cheeks.

I considered that day as one of the bests. But the BEST of the bests day was the time when I said, "I do.", on the church. It was the happiest day of my life. Before, I thought that I will never be married. But Edmund changed my mind, my soul and especially the roughness and hardness of my heart. He turned it into a gentle one...

When I believed him that he would never fail me, I did the right decision. We grew old and not doing anything but loving each other. He was so loyal to me and very patient. I blamed my past for not trusting him at some times on our marriage. But still, he proved that he was different from my father.

I wish my mom saw the greatest part of my life. I wish she was the one who walked with me on the aisle in the day of my wedding. I wish she was able to grab the chance to touch her grandson. I wish she saw me smiling once again, since I stopped smiling when my father left us.

Still, I was thankful for my bitter past in some way. If it wasn't because of the tragedies in my life, I would probably trust any guy I knew and have married earlier. But those tragedies happened that made me not to trust any guy. And because I did not trust a single guy, I never married. And it all led me to Edmund, the love of my life.

Edmund changed me. He proved that no matter how bitter my pasts were, he still molded me into a much different person. I made the right choice to love him even though I really didn't wish for love. And no matter how many boys tried to serenade me, he was certainly the only exception...