My knees almost gave out. Around us, the gym kept roaring with other families, other names, and other lives.
But for one impossible second, the whole world narrowed down to two warm hands and a voice I hadn’t heard in almost two years.
“Are you really here?” I whispered. “Or am I making this up?”
“I’m really here, Em.”
“How?”
“Turn around,” he said softly. “And I’ll tell you everything.”
The hands lifted slowly, and I spun around with my heart hammering against my ribs.
Standing there in a crisp dress uniform was a face I hadn’t seen in almost two years.
“Uncle Daniel?”
“Hey, kiddo. Sorry, I’m late.”
I couldn’t move. I just stared at him, at the same eyes my mother used to have.
“You’re— you’re supposed to be overseas. They said no contact. They said—”
“They said a lot of things,” he smiled, his own eyes wet.
“But your grandmother said something louder.”
“Nana?”
“She wrote me a letter, Em. Weeks ago. Told me her granddaughter was about to walk a stage with nobody to scream for her.”
I felt my knees go soft.
“So, she begged you to come?”
“She didn’t beg,” he said gently. “She told me. There’s a difference. And when Ruth tells you something, you listen.”
The tears I’d been swallowing all morning finally broke loose.
“I didn’t think anyone was coming. I almost didn’t show up.”
“I know. That’s exactly why I had to.”
He pulled me into his arms, and I felt the rough fabric of his uniform against my cheek.
“I’m so proud of you,” he whispered. “Do you hear me? So proud.”
“You came all this way just for—”
“Just for you. There’s no ‘just’ about it.”
I pressed my forehead into his shoulder and let myself cry the way I hadn’t cried since the funeral.
“Your mom would have been losing her mind right now,” he said softly. “She would have been the loudest one in this whole crowd. You know that, right?”
“I miss her so much.”
