hey rockstar

forty eight ; you are loved (long)

Watching her open the box makes me nervous. The things inside of it are all picked out specifically by her mother, things that she wanted her to have with her. There's no way of knowing exactly what was being given to her, it could be a wedding dress or just photos of them. Compared to me, Tenley is calm and collected - barely batting an eye as she removes the bubble wrap from the inside.

Inside the box is a smaller wooden box, with golden detail. The simplicity of the box is shocking, but as she opens it a small smile is left on her lips. The very first thing Tenley pulls from the box is a small gold necklace. I try my best to hide the confusion on my face, but as she sets it on the table she looks at me with soft eyes.

"It's St. Joan of Arc. She gave me a medallion of St. Christopher when I moved to Australia."

"I don't mean to sound like a dick but..." she shrugs, laughing as she shows me the necklace. Engraved in gold is a young girl, holding a sword over her chest with a string look on her small face.

"Joan of Arc is the patron saint of soldiers, we pray to hear for courage and leadership through difficult times."

"I didn't know you were Catholic?" She shakes her head, pulling a small book from the box.

"My mum was raised Roman Catholic. She never really kept up with it - but the odds times you would catch her praying and she always gifted saints when she thought they would be needed," I stare at the girl in gold, respecting the knowledge that Helena had when searching for things to give Tenley.

"What's this?"

"My mom's favorite book, The Giver, she says she read it three times to me while she was pregnant. That and...Harry Potter," she laughs as she pulls out a send, very aged looking book. The familiar cover of Harry potter is attired, but in good shape for being 20 years old. She smiles as she pulls out another book - this time not a book.

"Is that a journal?" She nods, flipping through the pages slowly, skimming the words.

"It looks like it's the diary she kept when she first met my dad, and it looks like she kept it for a long time," she points to one of the last pages, the only words being 'she's here, her name is Tenley Blake'.

"Is this just keepsakes of your mums?" She shrugs, taking out a few pictures tied together with ribbon. Picture of her little family together doing different things. At the button is a CD, and a ring box.

I keep quiet as she pulls out the ring box, tears in her eyes as she opens it to reveal three rings. Two of them are simple, a gold band, and a gold signet. But the third looks to be an engagement ring, and by the tears rolling down her cheeks I know that she must have loved it.

"So, she used to wear these rings all of the time. I've never seen her," her voice cracks slightly," I've never seen her without them and uh...I used to ask her all the time if I could wear her engagement ring."

"DId she let you?"

"Always, I had a little fake marriage to my friend Sam when I was little and my mum let me wear her ring and wedding dress. It was always a dream to have a ring to match hers." I examine the ring in the box, the stone and the unique shaping around it make it stand out but as of right now - it doesn't seem like it would fit her. But...I understand her love for the ring.

"You really got fake married," I laugh watching her pull a small card from the CD case. In very delicate looking handwriting is her name.

"Yeah, I'll have to text my dad and see if he has any of the photos. We had like a whole ceremony," her laugh is soft and light hearted, her eyes darting back and forth on the card. From over her shoulder i read the writing;