The Life and Loves of Some Butterglove Rabbits

As the three sons of Hansel and Dorothea Butterglove, we have our distinct quirks and personalities but we act as a single unit in an emergency.

It was only three years since our mum had passed and we were in the hospital fearing the worst about our dad. Thankfully, he rallied and we had him for a while longer, but those few days will always be in our memories. 

 

When the worst had past, we started to return to our normal lives, but one of us would always stay with him during his recovery period.

One day, when I sat near him, drawing out some ledger lines in preparation for writing some music, I caught sight of him watching me.

"You alright, dad?" I asked.

"Just thinking, lad," he replied with a gentle smile. "You're great sons, Jack. And I probably haven't said it as much as I should have, but you know me; I love you boys."

"We know, dad. And we love you."

"I've never doubted that. But I needed to say it out loud, and I'll be telling Newton and Merlin too. My health scare helped me to assess priorities and that includes saying important things often taken for granted. I'm glad that was never an issue between me and your mum. We never left things unsaid."

"That's good, dad. It's good not to have regrets."

"Too right, Jack." He was silent for a while and I was about to return to my notepad when he spoke again. "I hope you boys all find partners as perfect as my Dory was to me. It does my heart good to see Merlin with young Eliza Dandelion. I think they make a wonderful couple. There's definitely love there."

o 0 O 0 o

He was right. I saw the adoration in their eyes when they saw each other. Come to think of it, that's how I sometimes saw mum and dad looking at each other.

At that time, Eliza was working alongside the Harveys at Babblebrook's Village Store. Merlin used to volunteer to do the shopping. At first we thought that was because - with his joy of cooking - he wanted to select ingredients that met his standards. Maybe that was part of it, but his shopping treks grew more frequent and lengthier. Merlin was smitten.

 

Eliza's parents - Cornelius and Letitia - were already exhibiting their desire for continually taking holidays, so they were rarely about when I saw Merlin increasing his interaction with the Dandelion family. Eliza's brother Denzel was often present but he never showed signs of being overprotective. It was clear he liked Merlin, and when he saw our garden he inveigled an invitation from our dad so that he could practise his horticultural leanings. That's how he became more aware of my cousin Samantha, although they didn't hook up until later.

Speaking of being overprotective, my future brother-in-law Burdock Rowan Ivory kept a beady eye on any prospective suitors for his sister Cecile. That would include me, and his diligence would continue for some time. (*See my earlier story The Costume Party.)

I met Rowan as part of my job. This was before I started as a full-time songwriter. I worked in the office for Henry-Lloyd Construction. I'd help liaise with Mellowdene Council and various suppliers when new houses were proposed. Rowan worked as an architect in the adjacent office. 

 

We lunched together and I became part of his group of friends. Often Chris Snow-Warren would join us. Tanner Blackberry, Charlie Furbanks and Hector Corntop were the core group. Rowan kept all of us away from his sister! I wasn't to find love just yet.

That isn't to say I wasn't searching. Merlin had someone and Newton wasn't looking - he was fixated upon developing his prowess as a superb Professor, wanting to be a credit to his mentor Aristotle Treefellow. I wasn't that infatuated with my job. Willard Henry-Lloyd was a great boss and his son Ben was shaping up to follow in his paw steps, but administering building contracts was hardly a calling.

I dated Tatum Champagne for a few weeks but - despite her wacky sense of humour and ability to mesmerise me with some frankly astounding throat singing, we both knew we weren't romantically compatible. She's in a happy marriage with Phil Hopkins these days.

 

Similarly Kerry Buttermilk and I agreed that friendship was the way to go. We enjoyed country cycle rides together and a shared love of the music of George Goosewin and Duck Ellington, but that was as far as it went. She is now Kerry Sweetpea and Alex Periwinkle's sister-in-law.

 

I should add at this point that Cecile is fully aware of my life before Rowan secretly arranged our first date together. Embarrassingly Cecile, Tatum and Kerry met up to discuss me before my courtship progressed too far!

o 0 O 0 o

My dad was alive for Merlin's wedding but - although he was delighted when Cecile and I started dating seriously - he didn't survive to make it for our marriage. I suspect he'd given up hope on Newton, so missed the entire saga with the Bonny twins.

What would he have thought of our families today? He would have loved to see his three sons settled and he would have doted upon the loves of our lives - his grandchildren.

 

As we still love both him and mum.

o 0 O 0 o