Short Stories By Me

These Little Moments

As she twirled in her new dress, the little girl heard a sob from the kitchen table. "Hey, dad?" Her father looked up. "Is there something wrong?"

    "Nothing," he said, sniffling. "You just look so much like your mom."

    She gave him a hug. "Mom loves you, and so do I. We will always be here for you."

    He wiped away his tears. "Sophie, I have something for you. Your mom wanted you to have this when the time was right." He said as he took out a small box from the bookshelf. "And I think that time is now."

    "What is it, Dad?" She asked as she sat down beside him.

    He drew a white stone from the box. It was small and round with a soft, milky color. A moonstone. Her heart warmed at the sight. Her mother always said that moonstones symbolize hope and she wore that necklace to keep hope close to her heart.

    "Woah! So pretty!" She exclaimed.

"It's time for you to have it," he said to Sophie. "Turn around. I'll put it on for you."

As he moved her hair out of the way and hooked the clasp, she looked in the mirror. "How do I look, Dad?"

"You look wonderful. Want me to put your hair up the way your mom always had it?"

"Sure!" She said with a smile.

Her father started combing and hummed a little tune. Smiling, he started to sing the lyrics to the song.

As his deep voice echoed around the room, Sophie's ears perked up. She knew this song. Her parents always said it was the song they had bonded over when they first met. The music washed over them both as memories of the past were brought forth and put smiles on their faces.

As the song ended, the last notes still ringing in the air, she felt her father putting in the finishing touches. Wrapping her hair with a pearl hairpin and tucking in the stray edges, he grinned and said, "You're now a mirror of your mother."

"It's been 5 years, Daddy. Can she see me?"

"Don't worry. She is watching you grow up every day. She is proud of you, and so am I."

"I miss her so much. I love you, but without her around, nothing feels the same."

He sighed and smiled. "I miss what we had before, but I'm still glad for what I have now. Your mom always wanted you to have hope for the future and remember your past, no matter how dark it seems. Those little moments we had back then, these little moments we have now, we know they'll never last."

"And they're the ones that mean the most, right? So let's make the most of it now."

"Yes, Sophie," he said softly. "Death may come, but hope will stay."

"In these little moments."