25
The Chairman and Chairwoman of Payne Industries sent out bonuses to the entire company. The occasion, they said, was the birth
of their grandson.
I looked at the wrinkled, red little bundle and felt a distinct lack of maternal love. I wondered if I was an exception. I’d seen other
mothers holding their newborns, crying with joy.
A miniature Nicolai. It looked so strange.
“Little Payne, Mommy loves you, and she loves Daddy too, okay?” It was a comical sight, this tall man holding such a tiny baby, whi-
spering in his ear.
I felt like I was seeing yet another new side of Nicolai.
Watching him, I couldn’t help but smile.
Do I love my husband?
Before little Payne arrived, I could have said no. I could have divorced him at any time.
But as he explained everything, my heart began to soften, piece by piece.
The day I played the piano for the stray cat was the day my parents‘ divorce was finalized, the day both their new families were
tearing each other apart. It was the day I was about to shatter, and I was trying to piece myself back together with the notes of the
piano.
I never thought that moment would be frozen in someone else’s memory.
It was like someone had found the shattered pieces of me, put them together, and whispered that they loved them.
[The End]
I never thought that moment would be frozen in someone else’s memory.
It was like someone had found the shattered pieces of me, put them together, and whispered that they loved them.
Love?
I think my heart just skipped a beat.
