Waiting

Waiting

Andrea was so excited. Today was the day. Today she would see her child again, and her granddaughter too. She had almost given up when she mailed off that last letter. Thank goodness she hadn’t.

Susan wrote back, tentatively, finally curious to know her mother, the mother she hadn’t seen since she was four. The mother she didn’t even remember. Andrea apologized hundreds of times before in letters, she never even knew if they got opened. But now she knew, Susan had read every letter.

Whether Susan forgave her for running off with another man, Andrea didn’t know, and didn’t care. She just wanted to know her child. And now her grandchild, and Susan was coming.

Andrea went out and picked a bouquet of daisies from the garden in front of her window. Susan’s favorite flower when she was a toddler. They would pick bouquets and have them all over the house by the time Frank got home. Would Susan remember? It didn’t matter, what mattered was Susan was coming and Andrea could touch her and hug her and meet her precious granddaughter.

Andrea looked at the clock, one more hour. Taking a deep breath to push down the excitement, and panic, at what was about to happen, she sat in the chair near the front door so she would see them when they arrived. As she waited, she began pulling up memories of Susan. Twirling a daisy between her fingers, she got lost in the child, overwhelmed at all she had given up, and grateful for this chance to finally see her again.

Susan called the police to break in when she couldn’t get her mother to open the door. They found Andrea had passed, still sitting in her favorite chair, holding a daisy, and smiling.