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“Your mom and I have been talking,” he said. “We think that Mom should stay in Georgetown with Dad. They would want to be together.”
I nodded. “Yes,” I said, choking back my tears. “She would love that.”
“Come here,” Dad muttered, gathering me close into his arms.
I leaned into his strength and let my tears flow freely as he held me. I felt like a little girl again, although this time, I wasn’t crying because of a scraped knee or some other childish foible.
No, I was feeling overwhelmed by so many emotions. I knew what I had to do but at that moment, I really didn’t want to think about it.
I didn’t want to think aboutanything.
I wiped my tears and gave my Dad a wobbly smile. “I…I would like to go outside for a walk…be alone with my thoughts for a bit.”
He nodded and kissed the top of my head. “Take all the time you need, sweetheart.”
I gave him a kiss on his cheek and took out Buddy’s leash. My faithful companion looked up at me when I clipped the leash onto his collar, his soulful eyes looking up at me.
“Let’s go for a walk, Buddy,” I told him softly. “Let’s go get some fresh air.”
He got up and nudged my hand with his nose, licking it as if to comfort me, which caused another fresh wave of tears to spill out from my eyes. Dad looked at me worriedly but I just shook my head and smiled at him.
“I’ll be okay.”
“I know,” he said softly. “Because you’re a strong person, Amanda. You might not see it yourself but you are.”
I took Buddy to the area at the back of the house facing the lake. I paused for a moment and closed my eyes, allowing the soft breeze to caress my tear-stained face. I pushed back the strands of hair that escaped from the messy ponytail I had tied that morning.
As I basked in the warm sunshine, I could almost feel Grandma Margaret—I had always associated her presence with the warm summer sunshine. Her hugs never failed to soothe away my troubles.
No one will ever hug me like Grandma used to do…
When I lifted my face up to the breeze, I could almost hear Grandma Margaret calling out for me because she had forgotten her hearing aid.
Well, you won’t be needing your hearing aid in heaven, right, Grandma?
I smiled at that, choking out a laugh, when I remembered our last trip to the mall together with Oliver, where she left her hearing aid on the veranda just before we left. It had caused a lot of hilarious misunderstandings throughout the trip.
I shook my head at that. Grandma Margaret had adored Oliver and when he volunteered to be her personal doctor, she had been over the moon.
And Oliver—he had always treated Grandma as his own. In the hospital, he had maintained a clear-headed calm while I was already falling apart but there was no mistaking the concern in his brown eyes whenever they turned towards the examination room where Grandma Margaret was in.
“I miss you both so much,” I murmured, tears streaming down my face.
Speaking of Oliver…I haven’t told him yet about Grandma Margaret. Should I let him know about it? He would be heartbroken.
Then again, I hadn’t heard from him ever since he left for London. His letter was the last bit of communication we had.
It’s better this way, I told myself.If I contacted him, it would only make the longing worse for the both of us. It’s already bad enough as it is. I should just move on with my life as best as I can.
I took out my phone and rifled through the photos, looking at our smiling faces. There were these pictures with him and Grandma making goofy faces at the pancakes. I had also snapped a couple of pictures of him holding up the socks Grandma Margaret made for him, as well as Buddy photobombing some of the selfies.
I came to the last photo—the one that Grandma Margaret had taken while we were on the hill. My head was on Oliver’s broad shoulder and his arm was around me, holding me lovingly to his side as we both stared out into the sunset. Buddy lay at our feet, basking in the sunshine.
I reached out to trace the photo on the phone, almost as if I could reach out to that moment.
In that time, I had never felt so gloriously alive, so wonderfully happy!
Grandma really managed to get a good picture that captured everything that was perfect about that moment. And even though she was also a part of it, because she took the picture.
