AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Grams picked up the large salad bowl with the help of Beck. “But let’s get our salads first.”
After we all got our food dished out, we ate for a minute or two in silence before Grandpa said, “Beck, did you know you were named after your dad?”
He quickly finished chewing, wiped his mouth, and answered. “I did. My mother told me very early on that I was named after my father. She didn’t give me much personal information about him, other than his name was Beck and his family lived in Montana. I asked her, when she was sick, why she’d never told me more.”
“What did she say?” Grams asked.
“She wasn’t sure if my father’s family ever knew about her, and she never wanted to bother you or make you feel obligated to accept either of us. I’m afraid my grandfather put a lot of that doubt into her head. Looking back over the years, and thinking about the things he would say to her, I don’t believe he wanted her to find out more about you all. He was afraid of losing her, I think.”
“That’s terrible,” Merit whispered. “Did she ever remarry?”
Beck shook his head. “No, much to my grandfather’s dismay. He’d always wanted her to marry the son of his closest friend and business partner. His name was Joshua Hannover. Another family in the oil and gas industry. My mom liked Joshua, but she always said she could never marry him. They were friends, and that was all. When I was a mouthy teenager, in my rebellious years, I asked why she couldn’t remarry to at least give me a father. She got so angry with me,” Beck said, actually smiling at the memory. “She told me if I ever suggested something like that again, she’d rinse my mouth out with soap, no matter how old I was. I was sixteen at the time. When I got a bit older, she explained that Beck was the love of her life, and that she could never imagine herself ever loving anyone the way she still loved him.”
Grams sniffled and wiped at a few tears.
Beck went on. “She talked about him a lot when I was younger. Never pertinent details, if that makes sense. More like…how brave and strong and protective he was. How he made her feel. And when I was struggling in any way, she would make up stories about him. When it stormed, for instance. I was always afraid of the thunder. My mother would tell me how my father loved thunderstorms and how they reminded him of home. I love storms now. They make me feel closer to…well… to him, I guess.”
My heart felt as if it was breaking in two. Poor Beck. Why had his mother never told him more about his father? It was so strange.
“As I grew older, the stories were less and less frequent. But she would often tell me I looked like him. That the resemblance was crazy. A part of me wondered if it made her sad.”
Grams reached for Beck’s hand. “No, don’t even think that. I would imagine it made her happy to see him in you. To know that she had a piece of him with her.”
Beck nodded. “I eventually stopped asking questions, and I didn’t really bring him up again until she was diagnosed with cancer. She told me all the information I needed to find my father’s family was in boxes that she kept in the attic. You would’ve thought I’d run to look for them, but it took me a few months to even walk into the attic after she died.”
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Beck,” Grams said, squeezing his hand.
“I am as well, son,” Grandpa added. “We know what it’s like to lose someone you love so much. It leaves a forever hole in your heart.”
Beck nodded, and then started to eat again.
Grams gave everyone several minutes’ reprieve before she spoke. “Tell us about you, Beck.”
He smiled and set his fork down, wiping his mouth once again. “Let’s see. I’ll be twenty-eight in July. I received my degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M, and I work for my grandfather. He also has a large cattle ranch outside of Dallas. When I’m able to, I sneak away and spend time there. I’d much rather be sitting on a horse than behind a desk.”
Grandpa and my father exchanged a knowing smile.
“My first airplane ride was here to Montana. My mother had one brother, so I have an uncle and aunt and some cousins. We don’t see each other often though. So I don’t really have a large family.”
“On your mother’s side,” Grams added with a wink.
Beck chuckled. “Yes, on my mother’s side. I, um…I enjoy hunting, working on the ranch, being outside. My mother and I used to go camping a lot when I was younger, and I wish I had the time to do that more often. I’m a sucker for chocolate ice cream, and this fruit dip my mother used to make with cream cheese. I don’t like sushi or swimming in the ocean, and I really don’t like fishing, much to my grandfather’s disappointment.”
