Page 91 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
The overcast skies shifted, allowing a hint of sun to peek through, slanting across the room in warm bands of gold. It illuminated the pieces of their life scattered about. All the things Miranda had wanted near her as she prepared to depart. Photos and trinkets, the little nothings that would soon be all that was left.
A gull cried from somewhere nearby, mixing with the waves greeting the shore and Miranda’s ragged breathing.
“Mom?” Samuel crossed the room to his usual chair on the far side of the bed. He would spend hours in it reading to Miranda or just talking to her about nothing at all. “Did you hear me?”
“I did.” The shallow rise and fall of his mother’s chest stalled momentarily, and Miranda opened her eyes to look at her son. “I love you.”
Those three little words were uttered every day in this house. But today, it was different. Today, theI love youfalling from Miranda’s lips wasn’t a normal one. It wasn’t theI love youmothers said to their children in the hurried rush of life. It wasn’t the kind that was uttered with pride when they’d achieved a goal, or the kind that was whispered when trying to console their broken hearts.
This time—thisI love you—was the final one.
The one reserved for the end. The goodbye. The promise to always watch over him.
Samuel’s face drained of color, and he clutched his mother’s hand, recognizing the power behind the words. “I love you, too.”
“Look after your father and Josie,” Miranda whispered, her voice barely audible. “Look after them all, my darling boy. They’re yours now.”
Samuel nodded through his tears. “I will.”
For an aching fraction of a second, Josie thought Miranda was gone, but then—as she always did—Miranda surprised her.
“I love you, Josie.”
Josie took her wife’s other hand and squeezed. “I’ll love you forever, Miranda.”
“I don’t need to tell you to take care of Samuel. I know you will.” Miranda's head sank into the pillow, her eyes drifting closed once more. “He’s yours, as much as he’s mine and Ben’s.”
“Samuel’s stuck with me.” A sob threatened to tear right out of her, but Josie covered it. “Right, boy?”
“I’ll take care of them, Mama.” Samuel leaned down, pressing his face to his mother’s shoulder, his arm draped protectively over her. “Always.”
The room went still.
And they listened.
To the waves. To the gulls crying in the air. To the precious sounds of Miranda’s final breaths.
“Josie?”
Josie startled and released a tearful laugh. Her girl really was always full of surprises. “Yes?”
“Don’t be sad,” Miranda exhaled, her muscles relaxing. “My friends are here, and I’m not afraid anymore.”
It might have been silly, but Josie had felt them this whole time. Their past. Their friends. They had been there, waiting to take Miranda. She wasn’t one to believe in such things, but she would make an exception this time. Laura Jean and Devon weren’t the type to let their friend down. She knew they would walk with Miranda as she journeyed into the unknown.
“Okay.”
That was all she could say. Her tears ate away at the words she wanted to speak, drowning them out while she counted Miranda’s breaths. One. Two. Three.
And then…
Nothing.
Samuel’s shoulders shook violently as he cried. Burying his face in his mother’s neck, he screamed, his heart shattering on what should have been a simple September morning.
Josie gathered her in from the other side, wrapping her arms around her wife’s body and her son’s grief.
The anger would come later—she could already feel it rising—but now wasn’t the time. Now was for sorrow. For the weight of absence. For falling into the void Miranda left behind.
