I make my way to my room, tired from the long, emotional day of welcoming a new baby. To anyone else, the place would be silent, but not to me. The sounds of laughter and joy fill theair as I pass through the den where the kids used to stay up late playing games. The stern voice of my Henry rings loud down the hall from his study, where his business calls would take place long into the night. The door to the dining room mutes the raucous fights that would break out at breakfast before school, as all three moody kids came to blows over who got the last bagel.
Reaching the top of the stairs, I try to turn right and go to the room that’s been mine since my son took over, but my feet take me left, to Henry and Kat’s room. A room I haven’t set foot in since the death of the man I shared it with. The door is already cracked, so I push it open and take a step inside. Just one little step is all it takes for every memory of the love we shared to come flooding back into my mind.
A second is all I can stand before I’m stumbling back. With tears streaming down my face, I close the door and run to the far end of the hall to my mother-in-law's suite. None of the kids know this, but those rooms belonged to their father growing up. Henry never wanted any of his children in them. “There was too much sadness,” he would say. But when he passed, I knew I wanted them. My sweet son told me I could keep my owner's suite, but that was too much. I needed something that belonged to my love, though. I was hoping just a little of his essence would remain, if just in the spirit of the room…
Slamming my door behind me, I sink to my knees, bawling like a baby.God, how could I even entertain the idea of being with another man?
“I’m so sorry, darling, I will only ever be yours. Please,pleaseforgive me…I miss you more than you could ever imagine, and I…I was justso lonely.Oh, Henry, I don’t know what to do.”
The wind from my open window blows the curtain, letting in the light from a full moon.
“I know. I know, love. You love me farther than the moon and back…”
Lying fully on my side, I relish the cold hardwood beneath my cheek. Again, the curtain falls back, lighting the room. I smile as my old crystal chest reflects a kaleidoscope of colors from under my bed.I haven’t looked in that old thing inyears.
Placing it on my desk, I open the chest, and this time, it’s happy tears welling in my eyes. Trinkets from my past. An old eggshell from the first time my husband tried to cook baby Henry breakfast. A playbill from the first time we took the kids to seePhantom of the Opera. A hook from the first time Ledger caught a fish, along with so many other little things that wouldn’t mean anything to anyone else.
At the very bottom are two letters I don’t remember. The same color envelope as the ones I gave to the children. Pulling them out, I turn them over toBlanchewritten on one, and the otherTo whom it may concern,in Henry’s handwriting.I waste no time opening the one addressed to me.
Epilogue 1
Every glance at my beautiful bride overwhelms me more than the last.My wife. Something I never thought I would have again. After Kat’s mother passed, I didn’t think I would even find love, much less someone special enough to join in marriage. Blanche Sinclair came into my life like a wildfire, burning away all the rubble left from past transgressions and renewing my heart. If I’m honest with myself, my love for her exceeds any I’ve known before, even if I’ll never take the place of what she lost.
I still remember the night she called me crying.
“Okay, Ivan. I’m ready.”
I was on my way to Sasha and Lucy’s house after meeting my first grandchild. I turned the car around, sped back to Henry and Kat’s house, where she was staying, and almost knocked down the door to get to her. The love we shared that night was unmatched, passion sizzling in the air of every room we defiled.Sorry, Henry and Kat. Sorry, Vanya…
Our children were ecstatic to hear that we werefinallyofficial. Apparently, they all knew we had been…intimate with each other. I think I heard Sasha mumble something about a jumpdrive, and if he was talking about what I think he was, the kids definitely know more than I’d like them to.
From there, it didn’t take long before I was on one knee. The ring had been designed a year prior, but I wanted to give our relationship at least alittletime to breathe, more for Blanche than myself. I was sure she would panic and leave, but since that night I got her call, she’s been all in. I'm not sure what changed, but I’ll take it.
Our ceremony took place at Kat and Henry’s house, in front of a beautiful fountain in their backyard. Our children and grandchildren surrounded us, and we didn’t need an outsider because Jack officiated. He cried like a baby the whole time, barely able to get any words out, so in retrospect, it might have been in our best interest to find someone else. In his defense,everyonewas weeping. Even the family of ducks in the fountain seemed to watch on in reverence.
Finally home, I can’t help but notice a sniffle from Blanche as she pulls something from her desk. “Are you alright, l’vitsa?”
“Yes, just thinking about how lovely everything was today.”
She’s still facing away from me, so I close the distance between us, wrapping her in my arms and gently swaying us back and forth. “It was beautiful, almost as much as you, dear. We had our whole family there. Everyone was with us to celebrate.”
“Well, not everyone…”
“He was with us today, too,” I whisper, reaching for her hand, only to find her grasping a letter for dear life. “What’s this?”
Hesitating is so unlike Blanche, so when she doesn't respond, I spin her around so that we’re eye to eye. “What is it, darling?”
“It’s a letter.”
“From yo—”
“From Henry.”
“Okay, well, read it then!”I guess. Weird thing to do on our wedding night, but sure, I guess.
“It’s…for you.”
“Henry, your beloved husband, who passed away years ago, wrote me a letter?”
