“Mmmmm… you’ve been drinking Mama K’s hot chocolate again, haven’t you?” I asked accusingly.
He grinned and kissed me again, his lips cold and soft against mine.
“Mayyybe…” he drawled teasingly.
“Howcouldyou! Youbeast!” I exclaimed, jokingly punching his shoulder. “You know how much I love Mama K’s hot chocolate!”
He grinned at me unrepentantly.
“Am I still a beast if I tell you I’ve got a thermos of it in the car waiting on you?” he asked.
My eyes went wide and I grabbed the hunter-green scarf off the back of my chair that Mama D had knitted me.
“Why didn’t you say so!” I exclaimed as I snagged my coat from the closet. “Let’s get going!”
He chuckled at my sudden speed as I made my way out to the car. It was well known in the family that the way to my heart was through hot chocolate. Mama D used real chocolate for hers, not some fake powder. She also used the full size marshmallows and added just a touch of cinnamon when it was all done. It. Was. Perfect.
Kaine was taking me to the cemetery to take some pictures of me at my mother’s grave. Mom had loved the seasons in Ohio, and Christmas had been one of her favorite holidays. She had always gone nuts for the family at Christmas, insisting on stockings, and Santa cookies, and the whole nine yards.
I missed her so much at this time of year, but the pain had softened now. It was becoming more of an ache than the sharp, biting thing it had been initially. Alex and Marty had helped me learn so much more about her than I ever had before, and I knew she’d built a good life for herself back in Ohio.
As we parked and got out of the car at Rose Park Cemetery, I paused for a moment just to take in the view.
There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground from the night before. The sky was a brilliant winter blue, dotted with just a few fluffy white clouds.
Kaine had insisted on bringing his tripod to take some pictures of us together and he was setting up while I waited. Her grave was at the top of a low hill, underneath a huge maple tree. During the fall, the leaves had been a vibrant, gorgeous red. Now, the tree stood empty of leaves, its dark branches silhouetted against the winter sky.
I took my gloves off, ignoring the chill as I ran my fingers over the rough bark. Even though there was no apparent life right now, there was still so much potential within that strong tree.
My mother’s gravestone was at the foot of the tree. It simply read, “Harley Phillips Terhune. Beloved Wife, Mother and Friend. Taken from us too soon.”
My fingers stroked over it lovingly, brushing the snow away from the top of the monument. My fingers played across the carved words.
I looked up from where I knelt and saw the carving in the side of the tree. It was a heart that said “Harley plus Alex” inside. Marty’s name had been added on a bit later, and a second heart was added around it to include all three names.
“I was really nervous when she came back to Akron,” Marty had told me the fall day when I’d first come with him and Alex to visit my mother’s grave.
“I was so afraid, and so jealous of their relationship,” he explained. “Alex and I hadn’t been together that long before she came back and I was afraid that the return of his childhood sweetheart spelled the end for us.”
Alex had smiled sweetly at Marty and kissed him gently, then traced the outline of the larger heart.
“When Marty finally admitted his fears to her, Harley brought the three of us up here. She took out a pocketknife and added Marty’s name to the tree. She drew the larger heart around it and said ‘Love’s always got room. Love’s the only thing you can get more of by giving it away’.”
I admit, there had been lots of tears at that visit.
Elsewhere in the graveyard, but not within sight, was a small monument for my father. It didn’t hold his body, though. We had been able to donate his organs and give new life to eight different people. His heart would beat for someone else, his eyes would see for them. His tissue would give new hope to others, and I’d donated the rest of his body to science.
I didn’t understand what had driven my father to be the way he was, to cause the pain he’d caused, but I was glad that I had been able to bring some good out of his life.
“You okay, baby?” I heard Kaine ask and I nodded as I turned around. I’d heard the telltale shutter sound of his camera taking photos as I’d touched the tree. The sound was becoming the backdrop of our lives together and I loved it.
He took one more look through the viewfinder of the camera on the tripod, then pressed a button and stepped forward until we were standing together against the tree, He leaned toward me, capturing my lips with his, and the feel of his arms around me made me sigh. The winter sun made us cast long shadows, and when he finally released my lips I was breathless.
“So, I came up here last week to have a talk with your mom,” Kaine said, a bit sheepishly.
I looked at him in confusion. I often came up here to talk to her, but I didn’t know he had come up alone before.
“We had a long talk about you, about how much I love you,” Kaine continued, the winter sunlight making his blond highlights look even more golden than normal. “I told her that if I had the chance, I would give you the moon.”
