Chapter 6 - Lauren's Letter
Annie returned.
Jordan ran so fast toward her that he nearly fell.
“You came back!”
Annie dropped to her knees.
“I came back.”
Justin wrapped both arms around her neck.
“You promised.”
“I know.”
Alexander watched from the doorway.
Something inside him finally settled.
Not because Lauren had been replaced.
She hadn't.
She never would be.
But the Morrison house had stopped being a museum of loss.
It was becoming a home again.
Derek accepted legal help but not a bailout.
For the first time, Annie refused to pay his debts.
He was furious.
Then ashamed.
Months later, he entered a treatment program for gambling addiction.
Annie visited him.
“You hate me?” she asked.
Derek shook his head.
“I hated myself.”
He looked at her.
“You finally stopped saving me.”
“You saved me first.”
“Yeah.”
He smiled sadly.
“Maybe we're even.”
The biggest surprise came while Alexander renovated Lauren's old bedroom.
Not to erase her.
To change the room into a family space.
Inside an old jewelry box, Jordan discovered an envelope.
“Dad?”
Alexander looked.
His name was written across it.
ALEX.
Lauren's handwriting.
His hands began shaking.
Annie noticed.
“I can take the boys.”
“No.”
Alexander sat.
“Stay.”
He opened it.
The letter had been written years before the accident.
Lauren had apparently hidden it after one of their conversations about death.
Alexander read silently.
Then stopped.
“What does it say?” Jordan asked.
Alexander swallowed.
“Mommy wrote something for me.”
“Read it.”
Alexander looked at Annie.
Then began.
Lauren wrote about their marriage.
About the twins.
About Alexander's terrible dancing.
Jordan laughed.
Then Alexander reached the final paragraph.
His voice broke.
Lauren had written that if she died first, she wanted Alexander to keep living.
Not merely existing.
Living.
Laughing.
Making mistakes.
Loving their children.
And, someday, if life offered him another person worth loving, not being afraid to love her.
Alexander couldn't continue.
Annie covered her mouth.
Justin whispered, “Mommy knew Annie?”
Alexander laughed through tears.
“No, buddy.”
Jordan looked confused.
“Then how did she know?”
Alexander pulled him close.
“She didn't.”
Annie quietly stood.
“I should give you—”
Alexander caught her hand.
“Don't leave.”
She stayed.
The five-year-old twins climbed between them.
For several minutes, nobody spoke.
They didn't need to.
That spring, Alexander took Annie to Lauren's grave.
He had never brought another woman there.
Annie placed white flowers beside the headstone.
“She sounds extraordinary.”
“She was.”
“You miss her.”
“Every day.”
Annie nodded.
Alexander looked at her.
“You know loving you doesn't mean I love her less.”
“I know.”
It had taken her months to truly mean it.
Alexander took her hand.
“Good.”
“Why?”
“Because I have something to ask you.”
Annie looked suspicious.
“Alexander.”
He reached inside his coat.
Her eyes widened.
“Oh, no.”
Alexander froze.
“No?”
“I mean don't kneel.”
“What?”
“It's muddy.”
He looked down.
It was.
Annie laughed.
Alexander laughed too.
Then he opened the ring box while standing.
“Annie Reed.”
She covered her face.
“Alexander.”
“You interrupted my proposal.”
“Sorry.”
“Can I continue?”
She nodded.
He took her hand.
“You walked into a house full of people who had forgotten how to live.”
Annie's eyes filled.
“You didn't fix us.”
He smiled.
“You taught us how to stop being afraid of being broken.”
He held up the ring.
“Marry me.”
Annie whispered:
“Yes.”
Then she looked toward Lauren's headstone.
“And I promise I'll never ask you to forget her.”
May you like
Alexander kissed her forehead.
“That's why I knew I could ask.”
