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"I just wish I could have done more," she says. I can hear the regret in her voice, and I hate that for her.
"I plan to open that shelter we talked about for homeless women and children one day," I tell her. I know it would make her happy. "What do you think I should call it?"
"You're really going to do that?" Her voice quivers.
I pause for a moment and look at her. "I am. Do you think I shouldn't?"
"I think it's a wonderful idea and if it's something your heart desires, then you need to do it. I just want you happy and to love your life, and if helping others makes you happy, then you do it. I honestly love the idea."
I give her a kiss on her cheek. "Thanks, Grammy. Your support means the world to me."
"Honey, if you want to start a business shoveling cat poop, I would support you. I wouldn't love the idea of that kind of work for you, but I'd still be by your side rooting you on."
Silent tears run down my temples. "Pick a name for me," I say.
"Oh, you just gotta put me on the spot, don't you." She laughs, and it causes her to cough. She leans to the side to cover her mouth with a tissue. There's a little blood, and it sounds like she has to breathe in deep to cough and catch her breath.
"I'm sorry," I say, once it subsides.
"Bite your tongue. It feels good to laugh. Do me a favor and reach into the nightstand and get the box with the bow. I got something for you to wear to graduation."
My throat immediately clogs up again. "No," I tell her. "Give it to me after graduation."
"Don't make me get up and get it."
"Give it to me after I graduate, when we have our drink," I repeat, my voice a pleading whisper. It's like a bad omen. I know if she gives it to me now, then she won't be there that day. I can't chance it. I just can't.
"Aubrey, please, I want to see you wear it when you walk across the stage."
I close my eyes, knowing I don't have it in me to fight her when her voice is so weak as she pleads with me. Sitting up, I pull the drawer open and reach inside. There's a little white box with a satin bow. I turn back toward Grammy, hiking my knee up onto the bed. I lift my eyes to hers. She seems so tired.
"Ms. Shelly helped me look on the internet. She used her phone… Lord knows how she could even read on that thing, but when we came across this, I knew it was the one. Go ahead and open it."
My hand hesitates on the end of the bow. Grammy sees it and places her hand over mine. I look at her.
"Please, for me."
I nod, fighting the tears. Pulling the ribbon, I let the ends fall to the side and push the top of the box up to reveal a rose gold necklace. My lips part on a sigh. It's two rings, one large, one small, intertwined and attached to a thin chain.
"It reminded me of us. We've always been attached at the hip, well, until you went off to school. I'm the smaller circle, though. You've always had a larger-than-life personality."
Tears blur my vision. "It's beautiful… I love it. Thank you so much."
"I got that color to match your mother's necklace. I thought you could wear both of them together."
My fingers run along the chain I'm wearing. "Grammy, you didn't have to get me this."
"I know I didn't have to. I wanted to."
I smile at her. Picking up the card it's attached to, I read the printed letters. "Oh, the places you'll go," I read aloud. There's a longer message at the bottom and by the time I'm done reading it, there are tears in her eyes, which only make my already unstable emotions worse.
"Put it on," she says quietly, and I do.
The horseshoe necklace my dad gave my mom fits in the center of one of the circles. It's like we're all together again.
"Wherever you are, wherever you go, you'll have all of us with you."
She's right. It reminds me of us too, and it makes it that much more special to me.
