Page 71 of Then Came Love
“More like going for very slow jogs.” She laughed. “And I had a great day all by myself. I went shopping and had lunch in town at this cute little café, and now I’m going through old pictures.”
“You sound like a whole different person.”
“I feel like it, too. Want to know something else that’s kind of weird?”
“Sure. I like weird stuff.” Her aunt giggled.
“I told you that I can talk to Jax about Mom and Dad and Casey.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that.”
“Well, as I’m looking through these pictures, I’m not crying, and almost every time I looked at them when I was with Todd, I bawled my eyes out.”
“You looked at them with Todd? I thought he had a hard time revisiting your old memories.”
“He did. I didn’t mean with him. I looked at them when we were apart, but I’m not crying now, and I think that’s because I don’t have to hide my feelings about them anymore. And that’s not just because of Jax. That’s because of you and Uncle Gary, too.”
“Oh, Jordan, that’s great news.”
“Yeah, it feels really good. You should see the picture I just found from a Fourth of July parade. I think it was the year before the accident.”
“I want to see it! Hold on. I’ll FaceTime.” A few seconds later her aunt’s smiling face appeared on the screen. She was petite and wholesome looking, with fair skin, honey-blond hair, and bright blue eyes, so different from Jordan’s big, burly dark-haired father. “Whoa. Happiness looks good on you. You are positively radiating.”
“That might be the sugar high from the ice cream I had after lunch.”
“No. I’ve seen you eat enough ice cream to recognize the difference. You look like you did when you were a little girl and your daddy would surprise you with a new dress.”
Jordan’s hand moved over her heart. “I miss that. Not the presents, just that feeling when he walked through the door. Me and Mom and Casey would all run to him, even if he was empty-handed.”
“He loved you all so much. He used to say that his world was gray before your mom came into it, and she brought rainbows and sunshine, even on rainy days.”
“I love knowing that.”
“It sounds like Jax is doing the same for you.”
That made Jordan feel good all over, because she was thinking the same thing.
“Now show me that parade picture.”
Jordan held it up, and her aunt’s expression warmed.
“Look how little you and Casey were, and your parents look so young. It’s hard to believe we were ever that young. That picture was taken the summer before the accident. We were there visiting that weekend. I took that picture, and I can still hear my brother telling me not to mess it up. Casey sure did idolize him.” They were wearing matching flannel shirts. “Look at her chin resting on his head, one spindly arm wrapped around his neck like he was hers.”
“She wanted to be him.”
“Yes, she did. Can we look at more pictures?”
“I would love to!” Jordan set her phone down to free her hands, and they looked at several more pictures. Her aunt shared stories for nearly every one of them.
She pulled out a picture of her father sitting in a rocking chair, holding a baby bundled up in a blanket. He was looking at her with a serious expression. “Do you know who he’s holding—me or Casey? I can’t tell the color of the baby’s hair.”
“That’s you, and it was taken about a week after you were born. I stayed with you guys for the first two weeks after each of you was born to help out. Neither of you was a great sleeper. Your father was so worried about why you weren’t sleeping, every night before you went to bed, he’d have a very serious talk with you about how you were safe and tell you he would never let anything happen to you. That’s what he’s doing in that picture.”
“That’s so sweet. I can’t believe I never knew that.”
“Talking about your parents and Casey was hard for all of us for a very long time. As adults we could compartmentalize it, but it was too hard for you. You used to break down in tears whenever we talked about them, and you’d get angry if we talked in the past tense about Casey. Even three years after the accident, you were adamant that one day you’d move back to Maryland and you guys would be together again. That was one reason we encouraged you to move on with your life. It was so hard knowing you were hurting so much. I’m glad we can talk about them now.”
“Me too.” She glanced at the picture of her father. “You can see how much he loved me.”
“That man lived for you and your sister and mom. But he was a little overprotective. The first few nights after you came home from the hospital, he slept on the floor beside the crib with his arm through the slats and his hand on you. He was afraid you might stop breathing and he wouldn’t know.”
