Whereas she was studying aloud to her blind grandfather, 12-year-old Sophie stumbles upon a weathered letter tucked contained in the pages of a long-abandoned guide—one her grandfather by no means had the braveness to revisit.
As she begins to learn its sorrowful contents, she uncovers a long-buried love story… and a revelation that would alter the whole lot she thought she knew.
Sophie sat cross-legged on the foot of her grandfather’s mattress, bathed within the gentle glow of afternoon daylight streaming by the partially drawn curtains.
The comforting aroma of aged paper and mint tea lingered within the room as her fingers brushed over the raised lettering on the quilt of The Depend of Monte Cristo.
“Are you prepared, Grandpa?” she requested, glancing on the aged man resting towards the pillows.
Grandpa Walter’s cloudy eyes crinkled on the corners as he smiled. “At all times prepared for an journey, my little bookworm. I used to learn to you, and now you learn to me.”
“And I like doing it, Grandpa,” Sophie replied.
At twelve, Sophie had taken on the function of guardian of their cherished routine. Together with her dad and mom usually away at work, she spent her afternoons with Grandpa Walter—one thing she’d been doing since she was little sufficient to curve up in his lap.
In these early days, it was his voice that made the tales come alive. However since shedding his imaginative and prescient 4 years in the past, their roles had quietly shifted.
Sophie opened the guide and thumbed by the pages, trying to find the spot the place that they had stopped studying the day earlier than.
“You understand, Grandpa,” Sophie mentioned thoughtfully, “Dantès spent years planning his revenge… however in the long run, he let some individuals go. Some didn’t even express regret. Isn’t that unfair?”
Grandpa Walter thought-about this. “Ah, that’s the query, isn’t it? He thought revenge would convey him peace, however in the long run, it was forgiveness that set him free.”
“As for equity… typically letting go isn’t about justice. It’s about selecting peace over the previous.” He sighed. “A lesson I took a very long time to study.”
Sophie checked out her grandfather. She needed to ask what he meant, however his expression had turned distant and troubled.
“Sophie, I feel we’ve learn The Depend of Monte Cristo one too many instances.” Grandpa gave a faint smile. “Why don’t we learn one thing new? Examine the closet. I feel there are some books we haven’t explored but.”
Sophie slid up and about and made her approach to the closet. The door resisted barely earlier than creaking open, revealing stacks of packing containers neatly labeled in her grandmother’s tidy script.
As she shifted a container crammed with winter garments, one thing uncommon caught her consideration—a pale pink guide tucked between two shoeboxes, its floor coated in a high-quality layer of mud, as if lengthy forgotten.
Gently, she pulled it free and blew away the mud, uncovering faint traces of gold lettering that had practically vanished with time.
“Did you discover one thing?” Grandpa Walter referred to as out.
“A guide I’ve by no means seen earlier than,” she replied, settling again onto the mattress. “The duvet’s pink, however it’s actually pale. You possibly can’t learn the title anymore.”
She positioned it in his arms. His fingers moved skillfully over the quilt, tracing the embossed designs. Then one thing in his expression shifted—a slight pressure round his mouth, a crease between his brows.
“Grandpa? Are you aware this guide?”
Walter’s arms trembled barely. “I by no means learn it,” he mentioned quietly. “It was a present from my old flame, sixty years in the past… however I couldn’t bear to open it.”
Sophie’s eyes widened. “Your old flame? Earlier than Grandma?”
“Sure. Lengthy earlier than I met your grandmother.” His fingers continued tracing the quilt. “Her identify was Margaret.”
“Can I learn it to you now?” Sophie requested, her curiosity totally ignited.
Walter hesitated, then slowly nodded. “I suppose… it’s time.”
Sophie rigorously opened the guide. The pages had been yellowed however intact, and the textual content was nonetheless clear.
“It’s titled Whispers within the Backyard,” she learn from the title web page.
As Sophie started to learn, the story revealed itself—two younger lovers torn aside by destiny, their craving expressed by lyrical, heartfelt phrases.
Grandpa Walter sat in silence, his expression tightening as he listened.
This story was totally different from their normal lighthearted adventures. It was wealthy with emotion—pleasure mingled with heartache. For practically an hour, Sophie learn aloud, her voice echoing softly by the stillness of the room.
Then, as she turned one other web page, one thing stunning occurred. A letter slipped out from between the pages and gently fell into her lap.
She frowned and picked up the envelope. “Grandpa, there’s a letter inside this guide!”
“That… that may’t be.” He furrowed his forehead, confused. “A letter? Please… open it and browse it to me, Sophie.”
Sophie gently broke the seal and unfolded the delicate paper with care. The handwriting was swish, leaning barely to the fitting.
She started to learn aloud:
I hope you possibly can forgive me for being such a coward, for not telling you the entire reality once I left. I couldn’t bear to see pity in your eyes.
Once I instructed you I used to be going to check in New York, that was solely half the story. The docs had already instructed me I used to be going blind, and nothing may cease it.
I couldn’t allow you to tie your future to somebody who would solely maintain you again. So I walked away earlier than you would see me fade. I instructed myself it was love that made me go away, and possibly it was—a egocentric type of love that couldn’t face watching you sacrifice your desires for me.
I’ve considered you daily since. I’m wondering should you nonetheless learn these poetry books we liked, and should you nonetheless stroll within the park the place we met. I’m wondering should you hate me now.
Sophie’s voice quivered as she reached the ultimate phrases.
Her grandfather sat wordless, the silence stretching lengthy and heavy. Then, quietly, his shoulders started to tremble. He was crying—not only for what he had misplaced, however for the reality he had by no means identified.
“She was going blind,” he whispered. “All these years, I believed she had discovered another person. Somebody higher.”
“I’m so sorry, Grandpa,” Sophie mentioned, taking his hand.
He squeezed her fingers. “Sixty years,” he murmured. “Sixty years believing a lie.”
“The letter has a return handle, Grandpa,” Sophie mentioned, swallowing arduous. “Perhaps… possibly we will discover Margaret.”
Her grandfather let loose a deep sigh and wiped his eyes. “In spite of everything these years? I don’t know, Sophie.”
That night time, when her dad and mom got here to select her up, Sophie pulled them apart and instructed them the whole lot.
“We now have to search out her,” Sophie insisted. “It’s been so lengthy, however possibly she’s nonetheless on the market.”
Her father frowned. “Sweetheart, that handle is sixty years outdated. She’s most likely moved since then.”
“However we now have to strive,” Sophie insisted. “For Grandpa. The handle is close by. It doesn’t harm to go test it out, proper?”
Her dad and mom exchanged a look, after which her father nodded.
They parked in entrance of the home a couple of minutes later. Sophie jumped out of the automotive and ran to the door, her mom shut behind.
A girl in her thirties answered.
“Hello, ma’am, I’m sorry to hassle you,” Sophie mentioned, “however we’re hoping you may know what occurred to a girl who used to stay right here. Her identify is Margaret.”
The lady’s eyes widened, and she or he frowned.
“Margaret is my aunt,” she replied, “however she’s been dwelling in a care facility for years.”
Sophie and her mom defined about Margaret’s letter to Walter and the way she had discovered it that very day.
“Please… will you assist us reunite them?” Sophie pleaded.
“After all I’ll,” the lady mentioned with a smile.
The next Saturday, they took Grandpa Walter to the care heart the place Margaret lived. His arms gripped the letter tightly as they guided him inside, his coronary heart beating so quick that Sophie may really feel it when she held his arm.
“What if she doesn’t keep in mind me?” she whispered.
“She’s going to,” Sophie assured her, although her abdomen twisted with nerves.
The nurse led them to a sunlit widespread room, through which an aged girl sat by the window, listening to classical music. Her silver hair was tied again in a bun, and her eyes, regardless that sightless, gazed into nothingness.
As Grandpa spoke her identify, she let loose a choked cry and turned towards him.
“Walter?” Her voice was trembling with disbelief.
“Margaret,” he replied, his voice breaking. “Is it actually you?”
They talked for hours, their arms touching, acquainted regardless of the years. They shared tales of the lives that they had lived, the households that they had raised, and the fun and sorrows that they had skilled aside.
Throughout considered one of his many visits within the following months, Grandpa smiled at Sophie and mentioned, “Are you aware what essentially the most magical factor about this story is?”
She shook her head, whispering, “No.”
“That neither she nor I do know what we appear to be now. That’s why we ‘see’ one another as if we had been eighteen.”
Sophie watched them sit collectively, misplaced in a world solely they may perceive. Margaret’s head rested on Walter’s shoulder, their arms entwined as if making up for many years of separation.
“Some love tales by no means really finish,” Grandpa Walter mentioned softly. “They simply look forward to the fitting second to proceed.”
And in that second, Sophie understood what her grandfather had taught her about tales from the very starting: essentially the most highly effective ones don’t stay solely on the pages, however within the hearts of those that expertise them.
