Broken Serenade Read Online Free PDF Page A

his shoes in pink and red rose petals. He was beginning to regret his earlier act of kindness.
        “I should’ve let you get into that foolish huddle and end up squashed like an obnoxious bug that you are,” he growled in her ear. The child writhed and shook her legs in the air. Red with fury, she continued to call out her “boyfriend’s” name.  
        “Put her down!” The groom’s voice reverberated like a thunder. He freed Igor instantly. The boy hit the sand almost inert, like a bag of potatoes.
        Timothy Leigh rushed to Vivien’s side. She had started to cry silently. He lifted her in his arms and withdrew from the crowd. He sat on the piano bench and put her up on the piano. For a while, they just looked into each other’s eyes.
         “I will marry you, Tee,” the eight-year-old girl uttered timidly, now acting like a scared little mouse.
        “Vee, don’t you think that one painfully crushed soul is enough for today? Really! Do you want to humiliate yourself too?”
        “You don’t have to worry about a thing, Tee! I thought about them all,” Vivien went on to plead her case. “I know how to make peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches and soft-boiled eggs. You can drive me to school every day and then go do your things. I won’t bother you.”  
        Exhibiting a sad smile, Timothy interrupted her.
        “Vee, I understand that you want to help me get over this failure, deadlock, unfortunate situation – you name it! – but the sacrifice is way too big. And it’s impossible. I cannot marry you even if – against all reason! – I would want to. It is illegal. You probably know that too. In less than five minutes, the sheriff would be here to handcuff me and throw me in jail. Now, tell me! Would you want that to happen to me?”  
        “Who would denounce you, Tee? Not me, you can imagine,” Vivien rushed to exculpate herself, wearing an innocent look over her tear-wet face. “It’s true, you’re a bit older, but thirteen years difference between us is not une catastrophe ,” she pointed out.
        Her exercised French accent brought a faint smile on Timothy’s purple lips.
        “You’ll grow up to be a beautiful woman, Vee. And you’re going to make a man very happy one day,” he said convincingly.
        “But I want to make you happy, Tee! And I don’t want to wait to grow up! I’m old enough to make a decision. And I made up my mind: I want to marry you. Every girl has to find herself a boy and marry one day. What difference does it make if it’s now or ten years later? The sooner the better. And we have everything ready: guests, music, preacher, food and stuff…”
        He wasn’t getting anywhere. Timothy Leigh rolled his eyes at her, exasperated, exhausted. He didn’t need this peculiar conversation, not now when he was going through the most difficult time in his adult life so far. Not ever, he decided, on second thought.
        “Vee, I’m a man, and you’re a child. Men don’t marry children. Bottom line, I will not marry you. Period,” he said clearly.
        However, his broken heart sent him an instant lived premonition that he could not completely ignore.
        “Look,” he added quickly, reaching into the hidden pocket of his coat. “This gift was something special for the woman of my dreams.”
        He placed in her lap a small pastel-blue box tied elegantly with a delicate yellow ribbon. “Nadine doesn’t deserve it anymore, but you can wear it when you grow up. If you want to.”
        Huge, transparent tears sprang one after the other from her big blue eyes. Heavy and fluid, they rolled down her beautiful rosy cheeks.
        “I don’t want gifts from you. I want you . I love you, Tee,” she whispered confused. “Is it so hard to understand? I could make you love me too, you just have to be patient,” she insisted sobbing. “I love you so much! Please don’t leave me!”