“I’ve never looked inside. I only opened it to store all her crystals and the other trinkets she had on her dresser when Harold and I moved to the farm.”
When we get downstairs, we sit side by side on the couch. I guess it’s nice having someone to talk with about Jenny. Maggie and Lily are the only two people I know who knew her.
Her gaze bounces over my face when I try to hand her the box, and she pushes it away. “No, honey. I want you to have it.”
My head pulls back. “Maggie. No. This is yours. If you don’t want it, it should go to Jackson.”
She makes a clucking noise in the back of her throat. “Do you think a fourteen-year-old girl would want her mom rummaging through her most private things … or her son?”
“Yeah, I see what you’re saying, but still.”
“Raffe, if there is something in there you think Jackson or I need to see, then you let us know.”
“You’re sure?”
She nods.
“I don’t know. It feels like I’m betraying Rachel in some way.”
“You can miss both of them, Raffe.”
“But …”
“It’s okay to miss one more than the other, especially on certain days. Today is a special day, isn’t it?”
I swallow hard and nod.
“She loved the summer solstice,” Maggie says, wiping her cheeks.
I chuckle sadly. “If I close my eyes, I can see her spinning with her arms spread wide, the sun on her face. She’s wearing the prettiest dress.”
“The white one with the little purple flowers?”
“That’s the one.”
“I made her that dress. It was supposed to have been for Easter, but that girl refused. She said, “Mama, this is a perfect solstice dress.” Harold didn’t like that kind of talk. You know, he was a religious man.”
“He was a hard man,” I agree, nodding my head. “She made me take a Polaroid of her that day.”
Grandma Maggie smiles wide and pats the box. “I think you’re in for a treat when you open this.”
“It’s in here, isn’t it?”
“It is. It was hanging …”
“On her dresser mirror,” I finish for her.
“And how do you know that? I had a strict no boys in the bedroom rule.”
My eyebrows fly off my face when I realize my mistake. “I mean.” I scratch my head, trying to come up with a good excuse. “It was just a good guess.”
She chuckles, and I relax. “That was a long time ago, dear.”
“It was. It was.” I tap my fingers over the box. “Thank you for this.”
“Go. Spend some time with her on this solstice, and don’t you feel guilty about it.”
“Rachel used to send me up to Dirk’s cabin on this day every year.” My head falls. “God, she was such an amazing woman.”
