Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100750 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“Wow!” Lynnea exclaimed. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Daddy would love his cake,” Gemma said as she clapped and hugged her mom.
“He would,” Nadia agreed. The question at the forefront of her mind was, What next? Did they add candles? Sing “Happy Birthday”? Celebrate as if he were there?
“Okay, girls, run upstairs and change. I’ll box this up,” Lorraine said. As soon as their thundering footsteps reached the landing upstairs, Nadia gripped her mother’s arm as she reached for the cake.
“What’s going on?”
“The girls want to go to the cemetery and celebrate. I know you probably don’t want to, but they do, and it’s important to them,” Lorraine said pointedly. Nadia opened her mouth to say something but then shut it. “Go get dressed,” Lorraine told her daughter. “We’re leaving in ten minutes.”
Lorraine packed the cake into a box and set a bag on top of it. If Nadia had to guess, it was paper plates. They were going to have a celebration whether she wanted to or not.
Slowly, she made her way upstairs and paused at the bathroom, where the girls were. She listened to them talking about how Daddy would love his cake and how he’d see them from heaven when they were at the cemetery. Nadia had no choice.
In her closet, with her back to Rafe’s clothes, she chose his favorite dress and cried every second it took for her to put it on. She went without makeup and ran a brush through her hair before slipping a hair tie around it to keep it out of her face. She slipped into a pair of sandals and, on her way out of her room, paused. The silver picture frame she kept on her nightstand that held a photo of Rafe danced in the sunlight. Nadia picked it up and ran her fingers over the glass cover, tracing the outline of his face. “God, I miss you,” she said to his image. Instead of putting it down, she held it to her chest and carried it with her.
Half Rafe’s remains were at the cemetery, in a niche of a columbarium. The other half were at home, on Nadia’s dresser, in a steel gray marble box. At any given time, she could open it and remove his ashes, but she had yet to do that. She figured eventually, they would find a place to spread his ashes, but until then, the box sat there.
When they arrived, Lorraine set a blanket out near Rafe’s niche and carefully unboxed the cake. Gemma and Lynnea sat down, while Nadia placed a bouquet of roses in the metal vase adhered to the columbarium. As she looked around at the other flowers, she saw notes taped to the front of some and wondered if writing a letter to her husband would be therapeutic. But then, she wouldn’t want a stranger to read her thoughts.
Nadia hesitated when she turned toward her mom and daughters. “Sit between the girls,” Lorraine told her. Nadia did before her mother caused a scene.
In the center of the cake, underneath “Happy Birthday,” Lorraine placed a single candle. Is it to mark Rafe’s first birthday in heaven? Nadia wondered.
“Okay,” Lorraine said as she sat back on her heels. She began singing, and the rest of them joined in. They sang softly, saying either “Daddy” or “Rafe” when the song prompted. By the time they’d finished, everyone had tears on their cheeks.
Lorraine kept the celebration going, despite the somber mood, and cut into the cake. She handed a piece to Gemma, Lynnea, and then Nadia before taking her own. They each took a forkful and savored the homemade cake.
“This is yummy, Grandma,” Gemma said with a mouthful of cake, and also a very colorful mouth thanks to the frosting. Nadia couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t want to be there but was thankful her mother had pushed her to be.
“This is a really great cake, Mom.”
“And me,” Lynnea said. “I helped.”
“You did, and it’s perfect,” Nadia said.
“It really is, if I do say so myself.” Lorraine patted herself on the back, and everyone laughed.
“Can I say something to Daddy?” Gemma asked.
Nadia’s breath caught in her throat as she nodded. “Of course.”
Gemma stood and looked at Rafe’s niche. “Hi, Daddy.” As soon as she started, Nadia couldn’t hold back her emotions. “I’m sorry you’re not here for your birthday. We made you the bestest cake, though, and I hope you can see it from heaven. I miss you so much.” Gemma choked on her words. Nadia began to stand, but Lorraine set a hand on her and shook her head slightly.
“The girls need this. Let her do it.”
All Nadia wanted to do was comfort her children. To take their pain away. She nodded and bit her bottom lip in an attempt to keep her emotions in check.