The funeral took place the next day, a cloudy and windy day. The place was crowded. Brad Coulter, after all, was a respected and loved man to the world. The service was all a blur to me, and the ceremony wrapped up quickly. Many people approached Maddox, sharing their condolences.
He stood stoic beside me, his fingers wrapped around mine. He never let go, and I didn’t either.
Savannah stepped up to the podium. She cleared her throat, grabbed the mic and addressed the crowd. They had been waiting for her eulogy.
She stared at the crowd for a long moment, shifting from foot to foot. Maddox’s hand tightened around mine.
Savannah swiped away her tears and took a shuddering breath. When she finally started speaking, her voice was choked with tears. “I don’t even know what I’m supposed to say. I just lost my husband, and I’m expected to say a few words about love, family… death… when my wounds are still very much fresh. The Brad Coulter everyone knew, he is… was vastly different from the Brad I knew. You see, he came from nothing. Twenty-eight years ago, we barely even had a dollar to spare. Brad was a self-made man, and till the very end, he never lost sight of what was important to him.”
Savannah eyed Maddox, and they shared a silent conversation.
“I fell in love with Brad when I was eleven. He was my first love, my first kiss… I remember the first time I saw him. It wasn’t anything romantic. Actually, if you heard the real story behind our first meeting, you’d think I was lying. I remember…”
She broke off, choking on her cries.
“Brad and I got married at a court house. We exchanged the cheapest rings. Rings that we had bought from the gas/convenience store. It was the simplest wedding, but it was the best day of my life, second to the day I gave birth to our son. Brad taught me to be strong, to always chase what I want in life. He loved unconditionally. He wasn’t always good at showing it, but he loved. Hard. He’d whisper his accomplishments to me, and he’d whisper his regrets.”
Her eyes clung to Maddox, desperate for him to listen, to hear her unsaid words. “His last words to me were that he wished he had more time with us.”
Maddox sucked in a sharp breath, and he held my hand in a death grip. “He wasn’t a perfect human, or the perfect husband or the perfect father, but as long as he was alive, he tried. And that was all that mattered. If there’s one thing my life with Brad taught me was that love…”
Her eyes searched ours, and she held onto us in the moment, holding us still with her gaze. “Love is messy… love is ugly. Love is roses and thorns. Love is… unconditional. You don’t give up on love. You fight and fight… and fight for it, because it is worth every tear, every ache… every smile, every laugh.”
She smiled through her tears. “This isn’t the movies. Or a romance book. It’s real, and it’s going to hurt. You see, love will become boring, after you’ve been together for years. Every relationship will hit that phase, where the ‘spark’ is gone for a brief moment in time. And that’s where most love stories perish, or where few love stories flourish. It’s exactly, in that moment, where you’re supposed to fight harder. Love isn’t just a feeling. It’s a commitment. You don’t quit when it’s no longer fun. You don’t turn your back on it when it gets ugly. No, love is everything messy and everything beautiful. You fight. You love. You live. And that’s exactly what Brad showed me,” Savannah finished, her attention never leaving Maddox and I.
She wasn’t speaking to the crowd.
Savannah was speaking to us.
I brought our clasped hands to my mouth and placed the gentlest kiss on the back of Maddox’s knuckles. I love you, I mouthed.
He probably didn’t feel it, but I wasn’t going to confess my love to him at his father’s funeral. For now, I was going to let him grieve.
Hours later, Maddox and I were finally alone. I stood beside him, as he knelt down next to his father’s grave, placing a single white rose on it. “Goodbye… Dad.”
Maddox’s voice cracked. This was his moment. When his father took his last breath, Maddox didn’t even flinch. He didn’t cry. He showed absolutely no emotion. He got up and called the people who were supposed to handle the funeral.
Maddox closed his eyes and bowed his head.
Thunder bellowed loud, and the sky opened up, pouring down on us.
I felt it, more than heard his roar. A pained cry left his chest, and I watched, as the man I loved, crumbled, as the storm raged around us.