Page 364 of Saving Forever with the Hockey Captain

"They've always reminded me that the strongest things don't have to be flashy."

She steps behind me and gently gathers my hair over one shoulder before fastening the necklace around my neck. The pearls rest lightly against my collarbone, cool against my skin.

"There." Her voice is barely above a whisper. "Now they're exactly where they belong. These belong to you now, sweetheart. Maybe someday you will pass them on to a daughter of your own."

She removes the matching pearl earrings, fastening each one with the same gentle care she used when I was little, and she was helping me get ready for church on Sunday mornings.

When she's finished, she turns me toward the mirror. For a long moment, neither of us speaks. Then she smiles through eyes already glistening with tears again. "I don't see my little girl anymore. I see a woman who's found the kind of love every mother hopes her daughter will find."

Now, my eyes fill. "I love him so much, Mom."

"I know."

She kisses my cheek softly. "And after watching the way he looks at you..."

She laughs through her tears. "...I'm quite certain he loves you just as much."

***

Then Jamie's mother opens a small velvet pouch she'd placed on the dresser.

"I have something for you as well."

She places a delicate hand mirror in my hands. It’s silver with the edges engraved with tiny wildflowers worn smooth by time. "It belonged to Jamie's grandmother."

I look at her in surprise. "I can't possibly..."

"You can." She smiles. "She carried it on her wedding day and so did I."

I run my thumb lightly over the engraving. "It's beautiful."

"So was their marriage…and mine."

She closes my fingers gently around it. "I'd like you to have it, Annette. We did not have a daughter of our own to pass this along to, but I want you to know that from this day forward YOU are that daughter."

My eyes immediately fill again. "I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything." She steps forward and kisses my forehead. "Just promise you'll treasure it as much as I have."

I laugh through my tears. "I will do that."

She smiles. "I know."

Then, more quietly, she adds the words that settle forever into my heart.

“Thank you...for loving my son so well.”

***

For several moments, none of us moves.

The room is wrapped in a silence that somehow feels full instead of empty.

Then my mother smiles through her tears.

"Well..."

She reaches for a tissue.