“Five minutes?”
“Maybe,” Marley shrugs. “Why don’t you help with the sandwiches?”
“Can’t,” Will shakes his head importantly. “Need to get games for Pappa and Nanna.”
“You can get them later, come on,” I tell him. “Help your sister.”
“But Pappa and Nanna are coming!” he claps his hands joyfully.
“Will you put them in prison for stealing gummy candy as well?” I ask, laughing.
Then, suddenly, a familiar voice joins the conversation.
“Pappa and Nanna don’t steal gummy bears. They bring more!” I hear my dad shout, and Will screams with joy, rushing over to him and jumping into his arms.
“Look who I found by the side of the road,” Dominic chuckles, as I approach him, and nudge him playfully with my elbow. “Ouch!” he exclaims, jokingly. “What was I supposed to do? Leave them there?”
We all laugh cheerfully, greeting each other and hugging. Marley and my mom help me finish the sandwiches, while the men go out and start playing. With the open window, I can hear that Will has chosen to be a pirate this time and has already shouted argh more times than I can remember.
“How have you been, mom?” I ask, wanting to ease into my next question, instead of just dropping it onto her.
“I’ve been fine,” she tells me lovingly, “but I don’t think that’s what you wanted to ask, is it?” She gives me that motherly look, which assures me that there is nothing in this world I can hide from her.
“No,” I admit. “I wanted to ask about dad, but I didn’t want you to think that I don’t care about how you are as well.”
“You know I’d never think that,” she assures me. “As for your father, he’s doing perfectly well. You know how easily and quickly he adapts to everything.”
Dad has been a free man exactly fifty-five days. It took a long time to get the paperwork rolling, although Dominic’s lawyer really did a great job. It’s just that the wheels of justice are slow to start turning. Luckily, once they do, they will get where they need to get eventually.
We were all there for dad’s first day home. I can’t even describe it in words. He went about the house, touching everything with the tips of his fingers, gently, like a blind person touches the world after a lifetime in darkness. It brought us all to tears. Even Dominic turned aside, not to let it show.
Then, he took a bubble bath. A bubble bath! Something he never did before. I’m guessing he’s had enough of showers for a while.
What he asked for next was his favorite dish, which mom had already made and just pulled out of the oven. We all sat down at the table, and ate in silence, watching him. He didn’t mind. He would occasionally look up from his plate, and smile at us. Again, the sight of him so blissfully happy was overwhelming.
I can’t even imagine what it was like to sleep in his own bed, next to his wife, after so many years. Mom admitted to me that she cried that night. He held her, and that was how they fell asleep. Even after all this time, the love they had for each other endured everything, all the troubles and hardships, all the heartaches and desperate times. It’s true what they say. Love conquers all.
“He’s started going to the town hall on Thursday evenings,” my mom adds. “You remember? They had chess meetings.”
“I remember,” I nod. “Are they still the same guys?”
“Seems so,” she tells me. “He’s really enjoying it, I think.”
“I’m glad that he’s going back to normal life,” I say with a sigh of relief. “I wasn’t sure how he would handle it at first.”
“I never had any such fears,” my mom assures me. “That is what I’ve always loved about your father. Nothing can break him.”
“We can all learn so much from him,” I say, with a melancholy smile.
About fifteen minutes later, we take out the sandwiches, spread a blanket underneath a big oak tree, and all of us sit to have some orange juice and to eat the sandwiches. After we’re done, Will pulls Nanna and Marley to play, and Dominic joins in, leaving my dad and me as the only two people on the blanket, watching them.
“I still think you shouldn’t have taken Will to see me in prison,” he suddenly tells me. I can hear the sadness in his voice.
We’ve had this conversation so many times before, but as always, I did what I felt was right, and that was to tell Will that his grandpa was the sweetest, kindest man alive who was wrongfully accused of something he didn’t do, and one day, he would be free again. My dad often reminded me that it’s a promise I shouldn’t give, when we don’t know what might happen but, I knew. I simply knew. It’s a knowledge that comes from deep inside of you, when you’re sure without any proper outside evidence, other than just a gut feeling and my gut feeling was right. Now, we have grandpa with us all the time, whenever we want to see him, we just go. He is there when we need him.
“I’m afraid that he will remember it when he’s older,” my dad adds, gazing at the little group playing whatever game Will came up with in the spur of the moment.
“Dad,” I turn to him, taking him by the hand. “I want him to remember.”