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SITTING AT MY GRANDMOTHER'S antique vanity mirror felt like the ultimate deja-vu, taking me back to my times as a child. The chestnut, wooden engraved jewelry box that was presented as a wedding gift from my grandfather on their twenty-seventh anniversary had it's own particular place upon the vanity. It's held some of the finest pearls my grandmother has ever owned. My fingertips glided across the fresh engrave just as my grandmother walked in— her swift presence startling.
"Twenty-eight years old or eighteen, you know that's the one thing you are not allowed to touch," she says disappearing into her closet with a basket filled with laundry. "I'll take that, thank you," she removed the jewelry box from my palms, leaving me in awe.
I returned my attention back to the mirror in thought of the neatly-folded piece of paper my father had given me just days ago. It was placed in an open side pocket within my black, Chanel Quilted Classic handbag waiting to be opened. I remembered my father saying it was the answer to my long-awaited question and for a short moment in time I felt clueless. The adjustment of knowing Ermias was still alive and well mind-boggled me— one of the hardest things I've had to forcefully wrap my mind around. I had so many questions, yet there wasn't anyone to acknowledge them.
Why? Why leave me in the blind? I thought.
"Lauren..." my grandmother called out while tapping her knitting needles together for my attention.
"Lauren?"
"Huh, yes?" I questioned in desperate search of her through the vanity mirror.
She pinches the bridge of her nose and sighs. A smile shortly followed, "You look absolutely beautiful tonight, sweetheart." Hearing my grandmother's words allowed me to a relief I needed desperately.
"Thank you, nana," I spoke with a closed-mouth smile to soon follow.
"So, who are you hitting the town with tonight? Is it that handsome doctor friend of yours that I have still yet to meet?"
From the very moment of my grandmother finding out about Adam last year, she has been in love with him every since. Oftentimes, she found herself going on about him for hours on end with questions that I dread answering.
"No, not Adam. He's in New York tonight," I relayed with a little untruth as I applied the final and lasting touches to my hair. As little to my grandmother's knowledge, he was much closer than just being a few hours of a flight away. He was minutes close.
"Like that has ever stopped him before," she smirked while continuing to knit. She continues on, "Remind me again why you decided to marry what's-his-face instead of the doctor?"
I sighed, "Nana, do we really have to have this conversation right now? Ermias will be on his way pretty soon an—"
"Ermias? Angelique's boy?" Nana spoke in question to formulate her thoughts.
