Chapter 21
The years rolled by.
Softly.
Gently.
Leo graduated college with honors.
Top of his class.
We sat in the front row.
We cheered so loud our throats hurt.
When they called his name, he walked across the stage.
He looked right at us.
And he winked.
That night, we had a big party.
All his friends.
All our friends.
Emma was there.
She’d been with him for five years now.
Everyone was waiting for the question.
And sure enough…
After dinner, Leo stood up.
He tapped his glass.
“Can I have everyone’s attention?” he said.
The room went quiet.
He turned to Emma.
He got down on one knee.
He pulled out a small velvet box.
“Emma,” he said, his voice shaking just a little. “I have loved you since the tenth grade. Since you beat me at soccer and then bought me a Gatorade to make me feel better. You are my best friend. My favorite person. The first thing I want to see in the morning and the last thing I want to see at night. Will you marry me?”
Emma screamed.
She cried.
She nodded so hard her hair flew.
“Yes!” she said. “Yes! A thousand times yes!”
The room erupted.
David and I hugged each other.
We were both crying.
Our son was getting married.
The wedding was the next summer.
It was perfect.
Outside.
In a field of wildflowers.
Leo was handsome in his tux.
Emma was breathtaking in her dress.
I walked Leo down the aisle.
David walked Emma.
We met in the middle.
We gave our children to each other.
The minister said the words.
They said “I do.”
They kissed.
And just like that…
Our family grew.
At the reception, I danced with Leo.
He held me close.
“Thank you, Mom,” he said. “For everything. For fighting for me. For loving me. For teaching me what a good marriage looks like. I wouldn’t be here without you. None of this would exist without you.”
I cried into his shoulder.
“You’re welcome, baby,” I said. “You’ve given me more than I ever gave you. More than I ever deserved.”
David danced with Emma.
I watched them.
He was telling her something.
She was laughing.
Then she was crying.
Then she hugged him tight.
Later, she told me what he’d said.
“He told me that if Leo ever messed up, if he ever hurt me, if he ever was less than I deserved… I should call him. And he’d come get me. And he’d take care of me. Because I was his daughter now. Forever.”
I smiled.
That was David.
Through and through.
That night, after everyone had gone, David and I sat at the head table.
The hall was empty.
Just us.
And the leftover cake.
“Can you believe it?” David said. “Married. Our son is married.”
“I know,” I said. “Next thing you know, we’ll be grandparents.”
David’s eyes lit up.
“Grandparents,” he said, like he was tasting the word. “I’d be a good grandpa. I’d teach them to build treehouses. And change tires. And clean guns on the porch when their first boyfriend comes over.”
I laughed.
“You would,” I said. “And I’d be the grandma who spoils them rotten. Who gives them candy before dinner. Who lets them stay up late watching movies. Who tells them all the embarrassing stories about their dad.”
“Deal,” David said.
He raised his glass of champagne.
“To us,” he said. “To everything we’ve been through. To everything we’ve built. To the next chapter.”
“To us,” I said.
We clinked glasses.
And somewhere, in the quiet dark, I knew Helen was looking down.
Or up.
Wherever she was.
May you like
And I hoped, for her sake, that she’d found peace.
Because we had.
