Letters to Prince

Letters to Prince Chapter 25

Into the Light

Marie's family was gathered around her bed. Her daughter was holding her hand and her oldest granddaughter stroking her arm gently. The youngest grandchild who was eight started to whimper. Marie opened her eyes. She would recognize his sniffs and quiet cry anywhere. "Baby boy" she said softly, don't cry. Come climb up here with me. Jaime climbed up next to his grandmother and laid his head on her shoulder. "Now tell me why you are crying". Jaime looked at her with his big dark gray eyes and said, "everyone says you are dying granny and you will leave us soon. I don't want you to leave. I want you to stay here with me". She put her arms around the little boy that had stolen so much of her heart from the day of his birth and said, "Jaime, if I could stay I would but it is God's desire that I join him in heaven and so I will go soon. But I will see you again when it is your time to come to heaven. I will be waiting for you as you cross over into the light of God". "Promise", Jaime asked? "Yes I promise" Marie said. "Just live a good life. Keep your word to those to whom you give it, be careful to love only one woman who also loves you and withhold nothing of your heart from her and love your God completely, with obedience to his word and reverence to his person. Your mother will explain these things to you as you grow older, but please remember I shared them with you my baby boy". "I will remember granny". Jaime climbed down and went into his granny's study and got a piece of paper and wrote down all that he could remember she said. He folded it up and put it in his jeans pocket. "Love one woman, keep my word and love God completely". He said out loud. That would become a mantra for him that he would repeat and work to do all of his life. He would only marry once and would be faithful to his wife until he died...he would never forget his grandmother's wisdom and it would serve him well.

"Thank you to all of you for coming to see me and say goodbye. I love each of you with every bit of my heart. Take care of each other and remember me as someone who believes in everyone of you". Each of her children and grands came and kissed her on her cheek. "Let's let granny get some rest now ok", her daughter said? They all filed out of the room...Jaime who had trotted back into the room with his mantra safely in his pocket was the last to kiss her cheek and the last to say I love you. He left with his mom looking back at Marie until he walked out of her bedroom door. Marie asked the hospice nurse to retrieve her valise from the top drawer of her nightstand. It was never far from her since she had begun to spend the majority of her time in bed. The nurse asked if she wanted anything and she said no...she would nap awhile in a few minutes. The nurse plumped up her pillows behind her and left the room for a short break. Marie unzipped her valise and pulled out Prince's last letter and re-read it with a smile on her face. She then began to write.

Dearest Prince,

It seems so long ago that we began to correspond. I was, as you know, shocked at first and filled with disbelief but over time came to know and trust you, sight unseen, until at this point I can honestly say that my love for you is only exceeded by my trust in you. You always had my heart from the first moment that I laid eyes on you so many years ago. But you have in the last year gained my confidence also. I always sensed in you a man of depth and while somewhat wounded and distorted, a deep and solid character. I have learned of that depth through our letters and seen growth in you and myself through these intimate exchanges and I am so very grateful for each. I have not written to you for the last two weeks not because I had nothing to say or because I did not enjoy your last letter, but rather because my strength has been waning. No one has said, but my time here is very, very short. My entire family came to say their good byes today so I suppose my doctor has said something to them. While I will miss them all, my youngest grandson, Jaime is the person I have the most trouble leaving. He is so young...8 years old and so very, very special. He was the last to kiss me goodbye and as hard as it was for us both, I will treasure that kiss through eternity. The others are solid and beautiful and kind too...but for some reason this little one has always owned a huge piece of my heart.