Moonshadow

         Tim held his tiny daughter for the first time as ‘Moonshadow’ sent its soothing strains through the hospital room, calming nerves and emotions.  Tears filled his eyes as he looked at her miniature features.  “You are as beautiful as a 'Moonshadow',” he whispered, kissing Heather’s downy hair.

         Heather held tightly to Tim’s fingers as he steadied her steps.  She bounced to the beat of the music as it filled the room and giggled as he swept her into his arms and danced her off to bed.

         “Play ‘Moonshadow’ Daddy,” Heather begged as her father opened the CD case.  She scrambled to get her tiny body off the overstuffed sofa.

         As her feet reached the floor the music began, but Heather knew better.  “That’s not ‘Moonshadow’,” she chided, falling against the cushions.

         “I guess I can’t fool you, can I?” Tim smiled and entered another track. 

         Heather waited anxiously, but fell to the floor at the first note.  “Daddy,” she sighed, shaking her head.

         Tim switched to the correct track and sat back to watch the show.  Heather danced across the floor, her tiny feet touching only the areas lit by the sun as it came through the vertical blinds. 

         Each time she traversed the floor, more memories returned.

         Where have all the years gone? he asked himself as the familiar strains of music seeped from the car stereo speakers.  Looking in the rearview mirror he half expected to see the curly-haired toddler but instead found himself looking into the glowing eyes of a teenager.

         “It’s ‘Moonshadow’, Daddy,” she said, recognizing the song.  “Turn it up.”

         Tim turned up the volume and glanced back into the mirror, surprised to see his beautiful daughter sitting beside a young man.  He shook his head and looked again; this time she was gazing lovingly at an engagement ring.

         Parking the car beneath the canopy, Tim opened the door and out stepped the most beautiful bride.  She took his hand and looked up into his eyes.  “Thank you, Daddy,” she whispered, leaving a lipstick imprint on his cheek.

         Tim smiled and took her in his arms.  “You’ve always been as beautiful as a ‘Moonshadow’,” he said.  Opening his eyes, he found himself on the dance floor, the familiar notes playing in the background.  With Heather in his arms he waltzed across the floor as moonlight trickled through the sheer fabric draping the pavilion. 

         As the dance concluded, he returned her to her husband and admonished, “Take care of my ‘Moonshadow’.”

         Chad only smiled.  He couldn’t imagine the emotions Tim was feeling as he turned his beloved daughter over to someone else’s care. 

         He blinked and looked around at the changed scene before him.  Everyone was gone and only he and Heather remained, clinging to each other in the moonlight as they looked out over the Sandia Valley.  Heather hummed softly as she rocked with the rhythm of the tram as it returned to the bottom of the mountain.

         “’I’m being followed by a moonshadow, moonshadow, moonshadow’,” she sang happily.

         Chad looked out anxiously at the passing valley and then back at Heather.  His arms were stretched tight around her expanding abdomen as she sang the next verse through clenched teeth in an attempt to concentrate on something other than her pain. 

         “’Leaping and hopping on a moonshadow, moonshadow, moonshadow’,” her words trailed off as the music continued alone.  He focused his thoughts on the road ahead and drove toward the hospital. 

         Chad held his tiny daughter for the first time as Heather weakly hummed the melody of her favorite song, the song that had been playing when she was born; the song she had grown up with.  In that moment he finally had an inkling of Tim’s meaning when he had said, “Take care of my ‘Moonshadow’.”

         Tears filled Chad’s eyes as he gazed lovingly at the sleeping infant in his arms.  “You are as beautiful as a 'Moonshadow',” he whispered, kissing her downy hair, “just like your mother.”

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