A Loss For Words

Ms. Davis

Nine months later, she refuses to speak to anyone but him.

She won't talk to Olivia or Kyle, even her mom and dad, and it's hard.

She turns her head away when anyone but James walks into the room and he watches people who are their best friends, their family, leave with tears streaming down their faces, unable to understand why Mia, why their Mia, doesn't want to see them.

Her mom takes it the hardest. "I missed so much time with her," she says, crying. "I was never there for her."

"She knows you were thinking of her, Ms. Davis," he replies, wrapping her up in his arms. "She talked about you all the time and looked up to you and she loves you so much."

She shakes her head. "This isn't natural," she chokes out, her tears soaking his chest. "I'm not supposed to outlive my daughter."

He doesn't have an answer for that because in a sense, she's right. So instead he holds his mother-in-law a little closer and wonders if Mia would have grown up to look like her.