Page 6 of I'm Yours

She jumps off her stool to get a banana from the counter and starts eating it first before digging into a doughnut. I take a moment to look around. Boxes are stacked in what seems like every corner of the house. Most of our furniture is being moved to a storage shed in Lakeside, with the exception of Emmy’s room. It’s been driving my mom a little crazy that she wasn’t allowed to set up her room completely, too, but I know my daughter will transition to their house easier if she has her own bed and bookshelf. She, of course, painted and put a dresser in the room because she couldn’t help herself but promised Emmy could help decorate once we arrived.

The movers already have their instructions. Anything not boxed up, box it up labeledKatherine, throw it in the truck, and put it in the back of the storage shed. There’s only so much I can handle, and going through my late wife’s things would only tip me over the edge that I’m teetering on already.

“Aren’t you gonna eat?”

I turn to look at my daughter. Chocolate frosting covers her lips and there’s a smear on her cheek as well. “Sure am.” She smiles a chocolate smile and I grab a plastic glass off the counter, fill it with the last of the milk we had in the fridge, and slide the glass over to her. After rinsing out the jug and placing it in the recycle bin, which I’m not even sure will get picked up since we technically no longer own this house, I take a seat next to her and eat three doughnuts and a banana.

“I’m full.” She finished everything in front of her so I ask her to clean up her plate and head to the bathroom to brush her hair and teeth. She’s a good eater, just like me. Her mom, however, was not. In fact, it was an issue that we fought over time and time again. After having Emmy, she struggled with postpartum depression. Her changing body and inability to lose the baby weight she’d put on as quickly as she’d have liked didn’t help the way she saw herself. While I thought she was beautiful, all she saw were stretch marks and a little extra skin on her stomach. She didn’t eat enough and exercised more than she should. Her body was starving, which was one of the reasons we never had another baby. For one thing, her body couldn’t handle the stress. For another, both of us knew her mind couldn’t handle it, either.

I peek my head into the bathroom and see that Emmy’s almost ready aside from getting dressed. “Head on into your room and get dressed and make sure you have everything in your backpack for the ride, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to shower. You good?”

“Mm hmm.”

I watch her for a second longer then walk down the hall to take my last shower in this house.

Just as I’m finished getting dressed, the doorbell rings. Little feet pound against the floor as Emmy runs to the door to open it. “Wait for me, Emmy!”

“Okay, Daddy!”

I come up behind her and open the door.

Instead of movers, Katherine’s mother Bev stands before me.

“Grammy!”

“Hi, baby girl!” Bev picks up Emmy, holding her close and giving her a tight hug before setting her back down.

I lean over and wrap her in a hug that she accepts. “Hi, Bev. How are you?”

She gifts me a watery smile after stepping away. Shrugging her shoulders, she looks behind me at the boxes. “I had to come say goodbye.”

“I’m glad you did. We would have swung by your place on our way out, though.”

“I know, I know. You said as much. I just…” She presses her lips together and I know what she’s about to ask. It’s something I’ve been anticipating since I told her we were moving to Lakeside. She wants Katherine’s things. That’s why there is a very small box that I did manage to put together of items I want Emmy to have. Everything else, I’d planned on donating once I was ready to pull it out of storage if Bev didn’t want it. How do you go about asking your mother-in-law if she wants her deceased daughter’s clothing, shoes, and other belongings, though? It took me a long time to remove her clothes from our closet, let alone find the right words to ask her so instead, like so many other things, I ignored it as long as I could and hoped I would have an answer later on.

“Do you want to come in?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Katherine had one sibling but her father passed away a few years ago. Her sister lives in Florida and doesn’t have any children. In a sense, I’m taking away the only family Bev has. She knows it’s best for Emmy and me, but that doesn’t make it any easier for her to accept. Or for me to be leaving her.

I pull her into the living room and we have a seat on the couch while Emmy tells us both she’ll be right back. “Have you thought anymore about moving to Florida to be near Leah?” Once she made it clear she wouldn’t be coming with me, I changed tactics and began encouraging her to move near her other daughter. The thought of her being here alone grates on my nerves.

“That’s one of the things I came to tell you. Leah found out last week that she’s pregnant.”

“That’s great! Tell her congratulations for me.”

“I will. With you two moving to the lake, I think it’s time for me to move on as well. We’ll be able to visit each other, right?”

“Of course. And FaceTime. You know how much Emmy loves to talk on the phone with you.”

Her eyes are teary when she nods, sniffling. “Do you mind… I hate to ask but…”

“Do you want to go through her things, Bev?”

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