Hannah accepted them with a delighted laugh.
“They’re beautiful.”
“Daddy helped me pick them.”
Alexander smiled.
“He was very particular.”
Oliver nodded seriously.
“Because Mommy liked yellow flowers.”
Hannah’s eyes filled with tears.
She hugged the little boy tightly.
Behind them, the afternoon sunlight streamed through the windows.
For a brief moment, Alexander imagined Elizabeth standing beside them, laughing as Oliver tried to straighten Hannah’s crooked flower ribbon.
The image no longer shattered him.
It warmed him.
Months later, on what would have been Elizabeth’s birthday, Alexander took Oliver to the small garden behind Elizabeth House.
Together, they planted a young magnolia tree.
Hannah joined them after her afternoon classes.
Oliver carefully pressed soil around the roots.
“Will it get really big?” he asked.
Alexander nodded.
“Bigger than you someday.”
“Will it still be here when I’m old?”
“If we take good care of it.”
Oliver smiled.
“Then children can sit under it when they’re sad.”
Hannah looked at Alexander.
Neither spoke.
The little boy brushed dirt from his hands and stepped back to admire the tree.
“Mommy would like that,” he said.
Alexander looked at the young branches moving gently in the breeze.
“Yes,” he whispered. “She would.”
