Page 94 of What We Broke

“Here.” She hands us each a marker. “You both can do it too. Any time you think of something you want to tell her, just write it down.”

I am in awe that our seventeen-year-old daughter eased our grief with innocence and resilience neither Leo nor I possess. She has thoughtfully given us a way to keep Lola in our memory, always.

“There’s one more thing.” She grabs a bag from the corner and pulls out what look to be photo frames. Raine walks over to the chest of drawers and lines each of them up beside one another. “Remember these?” she asks.

Leo and I had framed photos of all of us to keep in Lola’s room. There was one of each of us from our wedding day, but next to it is the same looking frame, only it’s a picture of our sleeping baby Lola.

“Jesse,” Leo cries. He picks up the frame as I come up behind him, resting my hands on his shoulders. “She’s so beautiful,” he says through tears.

“Turn it around,” Raine says.

I glance up at her. “What?”

“The picture frame,” she reiterates. “Turn it around.”

Leo does as she says. And there’s a folded note. He opens it, but I’m the one who reads it out loud.

Dear Jesse and Leo,

My two very favorite men. Fathers to the two best girls.

I know it’s been hard, and if I could’ve taken away all your pain in the last sixteen months, I would’ve done it in a heartbeat. The road to right now has been the hardest road any of us have traveled.

But your love prevailed.

I hope I find a love like yours.

I knew you would make it here one day, and I have been saving this photo till I knew you were both ready to see it.

Be kind to yourselves, give yourselves grace when you need it, and be proud of the men you are.

I love you both.

Xx

Zara

epilogue

LEO

TWO YEARS LATER

“We should’ve stoppedher from going to college in another state,” Jesse says as he grabs our overhead luggage, waiting to disembark the plane. “I hate being so far away from her.”

“I did suggest moving to L.A.,” I remind him.

“Zara’s already there with her.” He sighs. “And I don’t want to smother her.”

“Because the back and forth every six weeks and the five to six FaceTime calls a week aren’t doing that,” I murmur under my breath.

“I heard you.” He nudges me. “And why are you so okay about it? I know you miss her.”

“Of course I miss her, but this is where she wants to be. She’s nineteen now.” I rest my hand on the small of his back. “Zara being here with her should be a comfort for you.”

“I just miss them both,” he grumbles. “I didn’t think we would ever live apart or even leave Seattle.”

Raine and I had developed a new relationship in the last two years. And it was very different to the one she had with both Zara and Jesse. I was still her parent, she still called me Pa, and I loved her more than I ever thought was humanly possible. But Lola’s death had shaped us. It had left some scars and we would forever be healing.

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