That night, after everyone had gone, I sat alone in the kitchen with the box in my lap. Walter’s mug was still in the dish rack. His cardigan hung on the hook by the pantry door, right where he’d left it the week before he died.
I looked at that cardigan for a long time. For one awful moment at the funeral, I had thought I had lost my husband twice, once to death and once to a secret I didn’t understand.
Then I opened the box again, took out the ring, wrapped it in Walter’s note, and slipped them both into a little velvet pouch.
The next morning, before the cemetery filled with visitors, Toby drove me out to Walter’s grave.
He parked close, glancing at me in the rearview. “Want me to come with you, Grandma?”
I nodded. “Just for a minute, love. Your grandfather never liked to be alone for long.”
He offered me his arm as I climbed out, steady as his grandfather used to be. The grass was slick with dew, and the crows on the fence eyed us like old friends.
I knelt, careful, and set the little velvet pouch beside Walter’s photograph, tucking it between the stems of fresh lilies.
Toby hovered, uncertain. “You okay?”
I smiled through tears and nodded. Then traced the edge of the photo with my thumb. “You stubborn man. For one terrible minute, I thought you’d lied to me.”
I looked at Walter’s photograph, then at the little pouch resting beside the lilies.
“Turns out,” I said softly, “I only knew the part that loved me best.”
Toby squeezed my arm, and I let myself cry — grateful for the piece of Walter I would always keep.
And that, I realized, was enough.
