Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82893 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 332(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Knock, knock.” I hear coming from the door and smile when Lucia steps into the room, holding a huge bouquet of pink and white flowers with two balloons floating above it. “I thought I’d be here before everyone else.” She places the bouquet on the dresser and then looks at Diana. “My dad is standing outside. Can he come in without you kicking him out?”
“He can do what he likes.” Diana sniffs, and I look at my mom, who is trying not to smile. Over the past couple of years, Diana has lost some of her anger toward Ricardo because of Elora. It’s not that she likes him, but she accepts his presence.
When Lucia comes back into the room a second later with her hand wrapped around our father’s wrist, I watch his eyes go to Elora and soften. He cares for her in his own way and respects everything that she has accomplished in the past few years, from starting school so that she can one day be a grief counselor to working with Mom on starting a nonprofit to help families pay for therapy after they’ve lost someone they loved.
“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” Mom asks Dad as he leans over to get a better look at Millie.
“Perfect.” He reaches out one finger to softly touch her cheek.
Looking around the room at my family, I don’t know how Elora did it, but somehow, having her in my life has healed my family. Or maybe, like me, they all learned that life is short and fragile after losing Val. You never know when someone might be taken from you. And those regrets you have after a loss are difficult to swallow, especially when you have no way to get back the time you lost.
That is why Elora encouraged me to reach out to Molly after she gave birth. I was still too angry at that time, but then she asked me what Val would have wanted me to do. Of course, I knew the answer, but building that bridge was difficult.
Eventually, with Elora’s support, I worked through my issues to have a relationship with my nephew, and I’m thankful I did. Val Jr. is the spitting image of his father and his exact personality, so in the end, Molly gave us a piece of Valentino. Through him, my brother’s memory will live on. Just like Millie’s memory will live on every time we take our daughter and any other kids we have to visit her home in Wyoming and all the places we traveled with her.
I wish that I could say that Elora’s family learned that same lesson after her mom passed away, but unfortunately, they didn’t. Elora has had little to no contact with them over the years except to send them photos of the places we traveled in Millie’s name, so if they’d like to visit those places one day, they could.
Walking over to my wife, I lean over and kiss the top of her head. Before her, anyone looking at my life from the outside would have thought I had it all. They would’ve had no idea that I was the king of nothing until I met and fell in love with Elora, and she changed my entire life.
Elora
2 years later
“Can you see anything?” Roman asks, keeping his hands firmly covering my eyes while he uses his big body pressed up against my back to urge me forward.
“No.” I wave my hands out in front of my belly, which is getting bigger by the day.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I laugh, stumbling slightly, hearing someone, most likely his mother, gasp for him to be careful.
The demand is ridiculous. My husband would never let anything happen to me, especially with me carrying our son, who should be here any day now.
“Okay,” he whispers, his lips brushing against my ear and making me shiver. When his hands slide away, I blink my eyes open, and it takes me a few seconds to realize what I’m seeing. Tucked away in the corner of the playroom is the VW van he and I drove in for days as we traveled from Oregon to Vegas years ago. Only it’s been freshly painted, and the wheels and the sliding back door have been removed.
With my heart in my throat, I walk down the single step into the room. When I reach the van, I look through the driver’s window at the front seats that have been replaced and the dash that has been traded out for something you’d find in a children's museum with the steering wheel still intact but gadgets and gizmos to press, turn and touch where the dashboard once was. Walking to the open back door, I see the wood floors in the back that were destroyed when I bought the van have all been replaced. The bed has been taken out, and the kitchen has been updated with a child’s version of a stove and sink.