Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
•••
Alice was getting ready for FP to come over to the house. He told her he had a surprise for her that he's been working on for a while. She didn't know what he was up to but she was very curious to find out. "Mom," Betty knocked on her bedroom door. It was open but she needed to get her attention. "Mr. Jones is here."
"Tell him I'm coming."
Betty nods and walks over to the stairs to look for FP. He was standing at the bottom of the steps. "She's coming."
"Thanks Betty," FP smiled. He patiently waited and saw her appear in his eye sight. She saw him and a big, wide smile was plastered on her face. "What are we doing?"
"You're going to have to wait and see." FP put his hand out. She waltzed down the stairs and he held her hand, walking her to his truck. She looked inside and saw a box on the seat. A bouquet of flowers were on top.
"What's this?"
"They're not for you," FP chuckled and shut the truck door. "They're from you."
"What?" Alice asked confused.
"You'll understand when we get there," He left a kiss on her knuckles and held her hand while he drove. She loved how his thumb would rub her hand as he held it. After a few minutes she realized where they were going. She saw that they were approaching the cemetery. "FP, what are we doing here?" She didn't mind being there since she believed she knew exactly why they would be there.
"I told you I had a surprise," FP drove past the mass grave she thought they were going to. She looked at him weirdly. "You just missed it."
"No I didn't." FP parked in front of a new grave. He handed her the flowers and picked up the box. He climbed out of the truck and kept the box closed. He went over to the gravestone and sat in front of it. Alice followed behind and sat beside him. She saw that the name Charles Smith was engraved onto it. She felt tears well up in her eyes. "You, you did this?"
"He deserves a grave of his own," FP sets the box in between them. Alice leaned forward and placed the flowers on Charles' very own grave.
"How did you do this?"
"I talked to someone and asked them to assign a spot for Charles. Soon after that they dug his ashes out from under his marker and he was brought here." FP opened the box and revealed what was assigned. There were gifts meant for Charles. FP reached in and took out a teddy bear. "He's always going to be our baby boy. No matter how much of a man he was." He put the bear beside the bouquet of flowers.
It was Alice's turn to check the box. She pulled out a journal. She opened it and it was empty. "What's this for?"
"To write to him every time we visit," FP took the pen out of the box. He grabbed the journal and opened it to the first page. He jotted down the date. He verbally said what he was writing down. "To Charles. This is the first day your mom and I get to see you in your very own grave. We wanted to celebrate this change with you. This will be our way of talking to you. For starters we want to let you know we love you. Maybe you may no longer be with us but in our hearts you always will. I hope you enjoy the bear we brought you and the flowers. It's a gift we're leaving here just for you. We will be talking to you a lot from now on."
Alice took over and wrote underneath him. She read out loud what she wrote just like he had done. "I'm your mother. If you could read this right now you would know how messy your father's handwriting is. Don't worry I'll be helping him on that. I wish we could have gotten to know you. We heard good things about you and we for sure are proud to be your parents. One day we will reunite as a big family but for now we will communicate from two places. We love you and like your father said you will forever be our baby boy."
Alice signed her name on the bottom and let FP do the same. She kissed the page and shut the journal. FP placed it with the other items. He snaked an arm around her and they adored their son together. "He's looking back at us right now."
"What do you think he's telling us?" Alice wondered.
"How beautiful his mother is."
"Or maybe how amazing his father is." She smiled. She was so grateful for what he did for him.
"Which ever it is, he's watching over us." A light breeze hit them. Little did they know it was a hug Charles sent them from up in the sky to show them he was there with them.
