Page 121 of The Affair
“But I had Candace put a sign on the door! She told me she did it. She even texted me a picture!”
He just smiled.
“She was in on this too, wasn’t she?”
Now I knew why she’d sounded so funny on the phone. She was covering for him and doing a piss-poor job of it too.
“Yes,” he replied. “I wanted to make sure it was taken care of while you were away. We both did.”
Something clicked together in my brain at that moment. “Wait, are you saying we’ve been open this entire time?”
“Except for the time it took for your mom to FedEx me keys, yes. Everyone pitched in too. It was a group effort. Your brother took care of all the financials—he’s got a bunch of really useful suggestions too, on how to cut costs and raise revenue. Candace covered shifts, and I did pretty much everything else.”
“Oh my gosh!” I exclaimed, amazed and a little speechless. “Are you kidding me?”
I mean, he had to be joking.My brother had helped out?
There was no way. But as I began to look around, I noticed the differences. Several items were missing, including most of Candace’s mugs and koozies. They’d kept the place open. They’d taken care of me when I needed it most.
“I don’t know how to thank you.”
“You already have, just by being here.”
After my mom had left, I’d thought I was alone, but it seemed I’d just needed to readjust my lenses and look at life in a different way. Turned out, there had been people supporting me all along, and my future was bright.
No, not my future.
Ours.
Our future was beyond bright.
Epilogue
Five Years Later…
“And that is your grandpa, Jack Sr.,” I said, pointing to the faded picture on the wall. “He loved old movies and was the best daddy in the world.” Someone cleared their throat behind me, and as I turned, I found Sawyer standing behind us, smiling. “Well, aside from your own daddy, that is.”
Wrapping an arm around us, he gave our infant daughter a tender kiss on the forehead. “I wondered where you two had wandered off to. Jack says the dishes are done and the kids are asking to open a present before bed.”
“I’m surprised they lasted this long, to be honest.”
“Just wait.” He laughed. “In another year or two, our little Mary will be joining them.”
My chest tightened, and I took another look at the wall of family pictures in our hallway. “She would have loved this,” I said, smiling fondly as my eyes met our daughter’s namesake. Mom’s face was so bright that I could almost feel her excitement bouncing out of the frame as she stood in front of the Trevi Fountain in Italy.
“Yeah,” Sawyer agreed. “She always loved the holidays.”
The chemo had done what it was supposed to. It gave my mom what she’d wanted most—more time. In that time, she did all the things she’d wanted to do. She’d traveled, watched new grandchildren come into the world, and most of all, she’d been there to walk me down the aisle.
The thing about time though, it was never enough. An eternity with her wouldn’t have been enough as far as I was concerned. When we’d lost her ten months earlier, she’d gone with a happy heart, a full life, and a loving husband waiting for her on the other side.
I knew she was looking down on us, and I knew I’d see her again.
This wall was a testament to the love she’d given. There were family photos from long ago, and new ones were being added all the time.
She was our legacy, and I hoped, one day, I could be everything to my daughter that she had been for me.
“You ready to show Mary what this whole Christmas thing is about?”
