“She will be waiting to give you that hug—I’m sure of it,” Melanie said softly. There were tears in her eyes, and Anna looked between the two of us, confused.
“Why are you both sad?”
“When I was a little boy, Mommy’s grama was like a grama to me too and I miss her very much.” I explained and tore my eyes away from Melanie’s.
“Oh.” Anna nodded with a solemn expression on her face.
“She loved your Daddy, just like she loved Uncle Kyle and me.” Melanie added, and I squeezed my eyes shut tight, “and a grandmother’s love never goes away—not even when we mess up.”
I knew, without a doubt, that I was going to spend the rest of my life silently loving the woman behind me, the one that I let get away, but I also knew that I was going to be a better father and man because of that loss.
I looked again at the grave where the first person who had believed in me was buried and vowed never to take anything good in my life for granted ever again.
“More than I love myself,” I whispered to the sky and stood back up, ready to follow the beautiful little girl I was lucky enough to call mine into the next chapter of my life.
The End.
