Deadshot Cove

Withering pine

In a small village a old man sat. Although the snow falling lightly on the ground and collecting in his hair made it apparent that it was cold, the man showed no signs of discomfort.
He just sat there flipping through a book, and whatever he was reading, he seemed to like. He never exactly smiled, but the lines in his elderly face seemed to lessen every now and then.
From across the clearing the laughter of small children was heard and the man looked up smiling to see three kids from ages 10-5 two girls one boy.
"Hello grandpa!" Said the youngest girl of the group. "Why hello child" the old man said in a surprisingly strong but soft voice. "I hope my daughter has been treating you well"
"Mommy has been amazing!" She said "she bought us cookies from town!" the little girl beamed and handed the old man a sugar cookie. "Here you go! I hope you like it!" The old man smiled and took the cookie "aw thank you, I'm glad I raised her right." he said and took a beite "These were always your grandmothers favorite"
"Is that what you're looking at?" The oldest or the kids (the other girl) asked
"Pictures of you and grandmother I mean. "
The old man smiled a little wistfully.
"No child" he paused then said, his voice much softer." These are of me and my true love"
The kids leaned in to see a picture of a handsome young man at the beach on a bright summers day with his arm around a darker skin woman with curly black hair. The woman was absolutely stunning. The middle child(the boy) then spoke up for the first time "woah grandpa, you looked a lot like a girl back then" the man laughed, a deep good laugh, not something you'd expect from a frail old man.
"The man in this picture, was me 60 years ago" he said "And she was-" his voice trailed off as he was lost in memories.
"But she isn't grandma?" Said the little girl, standing on her tip toes to see the picture in the mans hands. "Oh no, she wasn't" the man smiled again and touched the picture wistfully.
"What happened?" The oldest girl asked, looking mildly interested.
The old man shook his head. "Another time child, I will tell you all that story another time" he stood up and picked the little girl up in his arms. "For now let's focus on the joys of Thanksgiving!"
Just on cue, a woman's voice was heard calling them back for dinner. The kids ran off but the man turned and took one long look at the setting sun and muttered "Why wasn't she?"

Thank you ^^ I hope you enjoyed it!
Just a little something I pulled together. 😁
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