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Show 13 The door to the bedroom was half open and I peeked around it, fearful that my very glance would waken Grandfather. But he was already awake. He lay as he had yesterday, the quilt around him, his hands crossed on his stomach. His head was slightly raised on the pillow so he saw me as I peeked in. "Annie, darling." He reached out to me. I came to him and reached down to hug him. He smelled of medicine but my grandfather's old familiar scent was there too, like life returning to his body. "Where are you off to today, little lady? School's not on yet, is it?" "No, Grandfather. Not for a whole month yet." I giggled. "You've only been sick for three weeks." "Well, it seems like forever." He sighed and looked at the ceiling. He rubbed his thumbs across each other and looked back at me. "Your grandmother says you've been here every morning to keep her company. And she's looked forward to that a great deal." He reached out and patted my cheek. "That's my girl, my rose." "I haven't minded, not after the first. We didn't want her to be alone." I paused. "She mostly talked about Paul." Grandfather sighed. "Yes, I know. She does miss that boy so. Can't seem to get over losing him." "But Grandfather, she mainly talked about him when he was little, not about him being a soldier. Why?" "Because that's the way she wants to remember him. Maybe the only way she does remember him." He turned his head carefully and looked at the photograph of Paul on the table by the bed, the one taken when he graduated from high school. "You know, she only saw Paul in his uniform once. She wouldn't let him wear it in the house. And she didn't go to the train station the morning he left. But she saw him as he was ready to leave. And it broke her heart. Maybe she had a feeling, saw a shadow on his face even then." |