She glanced back into the room and asked, “Where is it?”
My eyes went to the nightstand next to Winnie’s bed to see that the picture of Hope was gone.
Aurora
Liam seemed frozen for a moment before he moved past me and into the room. He stopped and stared at the table.
“Winnie? Where is the picture of Mommy?”
Making her way over, Winnie pulled open the drawer and pointed. “Wight there.”
My heart felt like it tumbled down into my stomach. Liam knelt. “Why did you put Mommy’s picture in the drawer?”
“Ms. Kim did.”
I saw the anger move across Liam’s face. He slowly stood and pulled out his phone. I quickly made my way over and placed my hand on his arm.
“Liam, don’t do it here. Not with little ears.”
He glanced down at Winnie and forced a smile. “Sweetie, let’s walk Aurora down to her car. She has to go to work.”
Winnie took my hand and we started out of the room. We weren’t halfway down the steps when I heard a furious Liam ask, “Why the fuck did you put my wife’s picture in the drawer?”
I winced and increased my pace.
“Is Daddy mad?” Winnie asked when we got to the bottom of the steps.
Oh gosh. What do I do? What do I say?
I exhaled and knelt so I could look into her face. “Yes, your daddy is upset that Ms. Kim would put your mommy’s picture in the drawer because he wants you to be able to talk to your mommy anytime you want. But you can talk to Mommy anywhere, anytime, even if you don’t have her picture.”
Winnie smiled as she nodded. “Can we talk to her now?”
I smiled. “Of course we can.”
Winnie took my hand and pulled me over to the sofa. We both sat down. “Talk to Mommy, Rora.”
“Oh, um, okay. Well, let’s see.” I drew in a deep breath and exhaled. “Hi, Hope, it’s Winnie and me, Aurora. We wanted to take a moment to tell you that we both miss you very much. We know you are in Heaven, and we know you miss us too. Especially Winnie, but you’re happy and no longer sick. And we know that someday we will get to see you again.”
Winnie squeezed my hand. “When we see Mommy?”
“Well,” I said, cursing myself for probably going deeper than a two-year-old could comprehend. “It will be a very long time before we will get to see her because you will have to grow up, and have a family of your own, and well…it will be fast for your mommy in Heaven, but a bit slower for us.”
She stared at me like she had no clue what I was saying. I let out a nervous laugh. “Guess I need to order a book about talking to kids about grief and the afterlife.”
“Do they make such books?”
I startled as I turned and saw Liam standing there. Another bubble of nervous laughter escaped. “I’m sure they do.”
“Get a copy for me, too, will you? Because apparently, I’m screwing everything up.”
“Of course I will, Liam,” I said as I stood. “So did she say what happened with the photo?”
A look of anger passed over his face, but it was gone as fast as it appeared. “She said Winnie was playing on the bed and she put it in there so it wouldn’t get knocked over and forgot to take it out.”
I nodded, wanting to believe it but having difficulty thinking there was any way what she said was true. Winnie knew she couldn’t play on the bed, let alone jump to where she might knock something off the table. First, Perry the Moose was gone and replaced by one Kim bought, and then Hope’s picture was stored in the drawer. None of it sat well with me, and I needed to figure out a way to tell Liam that without seeming like I was crossing any lines. I certainly wasn’t going to talk to him about it in front of Winnie. That much I knew.
“I’d better get going. Thank you for letting me hang out with you guys this morning,” I said as I moved toward the door.
