At first, I thought my daughter-in-law was just an anxious new mother. Then I noticed she covered the baby’s face every time I entered a room, and when I finally approached his uncovered crib, she rushed in so quickly she knocked into me.
I flew out to meet my grandson 11 weeks after he was born.
I was there for five days.
And in five days, I never really saw his face.
Every time I came near him, my daughter-in-law, Sophie, seemed to find a reason to cover his head.
At first, I told myself I was imagining it.
I know 11 weeks sounds like a long time to wait before meeting your first grandchild.
I live three states away, though, and six months earlier, I had buried my husband, Lewis.
Some weeks that spring, getting to the grocery store and back took everything I had.
I would stand in the produce aisle staring at apples and suddenly realize I couldn’t remember what I had come for.
Lewis and I had been married for 40 years.
You don’t spend 40 years with somebody and then wake up the morning after his funeral knowing how to be alone.
My son, Daniel, understood.
“Come when you can, Mom,” he kept telling me. “We’re not going anywhere.”
He never once made me feel guilty.
So eventually I bought the plane ticket and packed a suitcase by myself for the first time in decades.
Then I flew three states to meet Daniel’s son.
I expected the trip to be difficult because it would remind me that Lewis wasn’t there to become a grandfather with me.
I didn’t expect to spend most of it wondering why Sophie wouldn’t let me look at the baby.
The first day, he was asleep when I arrived.
What happened next changed everything… FULL STORY on the next page.
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