I didn’t tell Grams I found Charlie or that he would be here this morning, just in case it didn’t happen. I couldn’t bear to disappoint her. However, I also wanted to see the look on her face as he walked through the door. Mom and Annie aren’t here yet, which is a good thing because I think they might interfere with Grams and Charlie’s reunion, but I have to be here for this because Grams entrusted me with her secret.

“Emma,” Jackson whispers into my ear. “Maybe we should give them a minute.”

“I can’t leave,” I whisper back. Both of us are standing at the door, and I know Jackson wants to hear what happens just as much as I do.

“All right,” he says.

“Amelia,” Charlie says her name again as if he just wants to hear it out loud. He’s caressing her cheek and wiping her tears away. He leans forward and gives her a long hug. Grams closes her eyes, and her lips quiver as her chest rises and falls.

I’m having a hard time breathing just watching them. The honor of watching a love story that has spanned seven decades is nothing I’ll ever forget. After a moment, Charlie turns and takes ahold of a chair by the bed, pulling it up beside Grams and takes her hand within his again.

Charlie is gazing into Grams’s eyes, and it looks like he is struggling to find the right words to say. “I brought you something,” he tells her.

“You brought me something?” Grams asks, trying to laugh against her tears.

“I was worried you might be hungry,” Charlie says as he hands her the pastry bag he had been carrying.

Grams peers inside and cups her hand over mouth. “Charlie Crane,” she says, weakly.

“A sweet roll for my sweetheart—your favorite,” he says.

Grams’s eyes well up again as she continues looking at the fresh pastry in the bag. She swallows hard and finally looks back up at him. “I thought you died, Charlie. I waited in Switzerland for a year, but when you didn’t come back to me, I assumed you had been killed, so I made the decision to move here. I thought if by God’s grace you were still alive and you were ever going to find me, it would be here—where our dreams were supposed to come true.”

Charlie rests his hand on Grams’s and encloses her fingers in his. “I was sent to prison for ten years when they took me away from you that day. I was so angry that they ripped us apart, but I saw you get far enough away that I had some relief knowing you would be able to escape. When I was released, I looked everywhere for you. I wasn’t sure if you were even alive, but I didn’t stop, Amelia, not until I found you.”

“Oh Charlie, my sweet Charlie. It took seventy-four years, but you found me, my love,” she says.

Charlie looks down at their hands for a moment before gazing back up at her. “Amelia, I have to be honest with you about something.”

“What is it?” Grams asks with wonder and her voice cracks with a sound of weakness.

“I—I found you a long time ago,” Charlie says. He takes a deep breath and looks back up at her. “It didn’t take seventy-five years, Amelia. I wanted to have you back in my life so badly, but I saw you at an airport one day with your family, and I accepted the fact that you were happily married with two daughters. I wasn’t going to interfere with the life you made for yourself. I just couldn’t be that selfish.”

I gasp, making my presence known at the doorway, and Charlie turns around as Grams stares at him with her mouth wide open. “Give us a moment, will you, sweetheart?” Charlie says to me.

Jackson pulls me from the doorway but just around to the wall so we can still hear their conversation.

“You’re a doctor, you know, you shouldn’t be spying on patients,” I tell him.

“Shush, I can do what I want. This is not a violation of patient privacy. It’s about a love story.”

“That’s my grandfather in there,” I tell Jackson. “I think he’s Mom’s dad, and she doesn’t even know. I know the truth, and she doesn’t. That’s not fair to her.”

“Em, your grandmother may not want your mom and Annie to know, and you have to respect that. That information could destroy them.”

“Grams wouldn’t ask me to keep a secret like that,” I tell him.

Jackson leans forward, bringing himself down to eye level with me. “She kept a secret for seventy-four years. I wouldn’t be so sure.”

I rest my head against the wall, exhaling despair. I can’t keep that kind of secret from Mom. I hope Grams tells them the truth.

“Charlie, how could you? And what do you mean, you saw me at the airport?” I hear Grams speaking louder than before.

“I was at the airport in Rhode Island one day many years ago, and I saw you from a distance. I couldn’t believe it was really you, but it was. I was so happy, so overjoyed. I headed toward you, but as I got closer, I saw you were sitting there with your family. You were smiling and laughing. You were happy, Amelia. I saw it with my own two eyes. That’s all I wanted for you,” he explains.

“Charlie Crane,” Grams scolds him. “That wasn’t for you to decide by yourself. You should have given me a choice. I deserved a say.” Grams’s voice was growing louder by the second, and I couldn’t tell if it was out of anger or pain, but she didn’t sound happy. I didn’t see their reunion going this way.

“You’re right, but at the time, I thought I was doing the right thing. Please forgive me?" Charlie begged.

A few more loud exhales bounce off the wall of her room before either speak again. “There’s something you need to know, Charlie, something you would have known had you come up to me in the airport that day,” Grams says.

I move an inch closer to the door, needing to make sure I don’t miss any of this. “What is it?” he asks her.

“We have a daughter,” she says, her words shaky, but firm.

There’s deafening silence in the pause between them. “As well as a granddaughter.” Again, there is silence.

“I have a daughter?” he musters the word as if his tongue is lodged in his throat.

“Yes, her name is Clara.” I was right…Mom. Mom has no clue.

“All this time, I’ve had a daughter, and she grew up without me. Dear God,” Charlie says with muffled words.

“But who was that man I saw you with?” he asks.

“My late husband,” she said. “Max and I became friends when I moved into my first apartment in New York. He lived in the same building, and he was always bringing food for us, and toys for the girls. He just loved spending time with us, and he was a good man. As our friendship grew, he told me he’d help me with everything, and I wouldn’t have to take care of my family alone. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes.”

“He married you even though you had a daughter with another man? Did you love him?” Charlie asked.

“Of course, I did. He helped me take care of my family. What’s not to love?” I roll my eyes at a comment only Grams could come out with.

“That’s not what I’m asking you, Amelia,” Charlie says.

Grams’s voice lowers to a whisper. “Let me finish the story, Charlie. Max was homosexual. You know it wasn’t common back then for somebody to admit to that, and nobody knew the truth except me. We had a good life together. I was married to a man I could laugh and cry with, and we took care of each other. It was easy. It was nice.”

As I peek around the corner, Charlie looks dazed. I’m sure it’s a lot for him to take in all at once. First, he reconnects with the love of his life after decades of being apart. Then he finds out that she’s been waiting for him all these years, while he was staying away so she could be happy. What kind of cruel irony is that? “What about you, Charlie? Did you ever marry?” Grams asks.

“No,” he says, simply. “No one ever held a flame to you. I dated a few women, but honestly, I gave up trying after a while. I was meant to be with you, and if I couldn’t have you, I was surely meant to do something different with my life. I always felt like losing you was my punishment for the wrong I did in this world.”

There is a sudden silence between them. It’s killing me, and I can’t stand out here wondering what’s going on. I turn the corner, going back into the room even as Jackson is trying to keep me where I was.

Instantly wishing I had just listened to him, I quickly return to the hallway and press my back up against the wall.

“I told you to leave them alone,” Jackson says. “What’s the matter?”

“They’re kissing,” I tell him.

“That’s a man who knows what he wants,” Jackson says, his eyes filled with mirth. “I could see it as soon as I met him.”

I elbow Jackson gently in his side “Stop that,” I say.

“Hey, give him a break. He waited more than seventy years to kiss her.”

With a deep breath and my eyes closed, I knock on Grams’s door because I’m worried about the effect on her heart if she gets too excited.

I open my eyes after a long second, finding two sets of eyes gazing at me with pride. “Emma, my dear, you are my granddaughter,” Charlie says as he approaches me with his arm stretched out wide.

He holds me tightly, and I return the embrace. I don’t know this man other than what I’ve read, but if he was good enough for my grandmother to love, then I want nothing more than to get to know him.

“Apparently so. I just found this out myself last night,” I tell him.

“Your grandmother is good at keeping secrets,” he says with a proud smile.

“Hey, doc?” Charlie calls out.

Jackson walks right in when called, in case they had any doubt he was standing in the hall with me.“Yes, sir?”

“What can we do about getting this woman back on her feet?”

Jackson seems caught off guard as he runs his fingers through his hair. “Well, there are two options. Both are risky, but one is more dangerous than the other. We can do nothing and hope that the progression of Amelia’s condition is slow. The other option is surgery, which would consist of replacing the aortic valve. It’s a risky procedure in a younger person, but even more so for Amelia because of her age.”

“If I don’t have the surgery, I’ll be dead within a year, right?” Grams asks.

“No, not necessarily. It could be longer, but probably not by much. I just can’t predict or make any promises.”

“Do the surgery,” Grams blurts out without even giving it a moment’s thought.

“Amelia, are you sure about this? Don’t you want to discuss it with your daughters first.”

“Daughters? Wait…” Charlie says, shaking his head and looking confused.

“I saw two little girls with you in the airport that day. Who was that other little girl? Do you have another daughter? Who is her father?” Charlie asks.

Grams’s lips press firmly together as she takes the time to look at each of us. “You said you would be her papa, so she’s just as much your daughter as she is mine,” Grams says to Charlie.

“Lucie?” Charlie asks.

Grams smiles and bites down on her bottom lip. “Yes, I changed Lucie’s name to Annie so I could keep her safe, and then I kept her as my own.”

“Oh my goodness, you raised these two precious girls without me?” Charlie asks with a profound look of sadness on his face.

Grams looks upset for a moment, maybe thinking Charlie is angry, but his expression changes quickly, and he lifts his face to look directly into her eyes.

“You still amaze me, Amelia. What a wonderful thing you did for your girls,” Charlie says with pride written on his face.

Relief spills through Grams’s eyes as she continues, “Annie doesn’t technically belong to either of us,” Grams says, and I immediately understand why it’s so important for the truth to remain hidden from Mom and Annie. It would hurt them so much. Looking at it from the outside, I find immediate understanding of what love is.

Love is keeping someone safe, taking a bullet for them, and letting them live in happiness. I get it now.

“You’re right, Amelia, she may not belong to us by blood, but she belongs to us by love. We loved her then, and I love her now just like you do.”

“You haven’t changed a bit, Charlie Crane.”

Charlie leans forward and shamelessly kisses Grams again, without a care in the world, even though we’re standing here watching.

“So, about the surgery,” Grams says as she wipes away her tears again. “How quickly can I start the rest of my life?”

“Amelia, are you sure about this?” Jackson asks.

“Jackson, come here,” Grams says, waving him over.

He walks over to her, and she takes his hand in hers.

“I’ve already handed you a part of my heart,” she says, pointing at me. “Now fix the other part. You’re the best cardiologist in this hospital, aren’t you?”

“Well, I—”

“Quit being so humble,” Grams says. “Fix my damn heart, Dr. Beck. I need more time.”

“As long as you are aware of the risks involved. I understand where you’re coming from—I’ll perform the surgery, and you know I’ll do my very best,” Jackson says. “I’ll have the pre-op tests done this afternoon, and we’ll schedule you for surgery tomorrow morning.”

“On a Saturday?” she asks.

“For you, I’ll make it happen,” he tells her. “I know better than to stand in your way on this.”

“Okay, just remember, you promised to marry Emma before I die, so keep that in mind tomorrow. You don’t want to go breaking promises to an old lady now, do you?”

“No, ma’am,” Jackson responds. I can see how nervous he is, and yet, I believe I may be more nervous, but hopeful at the same time. This could give Grams a second chance at life, and while she may be ninety-two, her will to live is stronger than her weakened heart.

“I have some scheduling to do,” Jackson says. “I’ll be back in a bit to check on you.” Jackson turns to shake Charlie’s hand. “Again, it was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Crane.”

“Well, he’s a keeper,” Charlie says to Grams as Jackson leaves the room.

“Exactly what I told Miss Emma over here,” Grams says with a raised brow.

“Listen to your grandma; she knows what she’s talking about,” Charlie says. I guess he’s got the right to say what he wants. After all, he is my grandpa, and they sure do look good together.

“When do I get to meet my daughters?” Charlie asks Grams.

Grams fidgets with a thread on the bed sheet, appearing lost in thought for a moment.

“Charlie, the girls believe that their father passed away ten years ago. They loved him dearly and mourned the loss of him for a long time after his passing.”

“You didn’t want to hurt them,” Charlie says, understanding more than I would ever be able to. “You were right to keep this secret, and it would be unfair to disrupt their lives now.”

“I’m afraid they would never forgive me,” Grams says to Charlie. Charlie and Grams both look over at me. “Emma, this is a big secret. It’s a lot to ask of you to keep it for me. Is it going to be too much for you? Because I would understand if it is.”

“I love Mom and Annie, so, no,” I answer simply. It hurts to know they’ll never know the truth, but I understand that going through half your life and then learning that the one person who always cared for you withheld the truth about who you are, might be too painful to comprehend, no matter the reason. I have to live with this fact, but no one in our family deserves any more pain after the suffering that’s already been done.

“Thank you,” Grams says. “You are just like me, you know that?”

I smile, unable to respond with words that will do justice. I don’t think I have done enough to deserve a comparison to her strength and greatness, but the fact that she thinks I do, means everything to me.

“Mom and Annie are supposed to be here in a few minutes,” I tell them.

“I’m your grandmother’s close friend from before the war. We grew up together, and I happened to see her name on the wall as I was visiting another sick patient,” Charlie says.

“Close friend?” Grams asks him. “That part is the truth. The part where we fell in love and had a daughter together is something we’ll just keep between us,” Grams says as she beams with utter happiness.

“You’re sure about this surgery tomorrow?” I ask Grams one last time.

“Yes, and I need you to back me up with your mother and aunt, all right?”

“I promise,” I agree.

As expected, Mom and Annie walk in with coffees in hand.

“Good morning, Mom,” Annie says, before noticing a man sitting in the visitor seat. “Oh, who’s this?”

Charlie is gazing at Annie and Mom. He clears his throat after a long second. “I’m—I’m Charlie,” he says, standing from his chair to offer his hand to each of them.

“Charlie,” Mom says as if she’s running the name through her head, trying to place it. “It’s nice to meet you, Charlie.” She reaches over for his hand, looking at him quizzically as if she’s trying to dissect his thoughts. Next, Mom glances at me questioningly, but I shrug.

“Are you a friend of my mom’s?” Annie asks.

“Indeed. Amelia and I are old, old dear friends. I saw your mother’s name on the wall as I was visiting another patient, and it seemed too good to be true.”

“Sure does,” Annie says with a bit of apprehension. “Mom has mentioned a ‘Charlie’ several times in the past week. Is this the same Charlie, Mom?” She’s studying Charlie intently but doesn’t haven’t much else to say. Annie has no idea she has met him before.

“Yes,” Grams says without elaborating. “What a coincidence, huh? This is Charlie, and he’s right; we go way back. He’s a dear old friend, and I’m glad he found me today.”

Annie takes a moment to look between Grams and Charlie again, and I can tell she’s more curious than she’s letting on. “Oh, that explains it. She must have seen him walking around the hospital,” Annie says. “Well, it’s so nice to meet you, Charlie. Any friend of Mom’s is a friend of ours, of course.”

Charlie is quieter than he’s been since we picked him up, and I feel a need to leave the room before I give anything away with my facial expressions since Mom knows me too well, but I promised to help Grams with this battle about the surgery tomorrow.

“Girls, take a seat,” Grams tells them.

They look at her warily for a moment before sitting down. “What’s going on, Mom?” Mom and Annie peer over at Charlie next, maybe wondering why someone who’s practically a stranger is standing there when they are about to have what sounds like a serious conversation. I would feel that way if I didn’t know better.

“I’m going to have the surgery tomorrow. I have to give my heart one more chance, and there’s nothing either of you can do to talk me out of it.” Grams gets right to the point.

“Mom, Jackson said it was dangerous, and it could kill you,” Annie says, immediately upset—obviously against the idea, and Mom is right behind her. There’s no winning with this. It’s a gamble either way.

“Clara and Annie, I’m going to die anyway. If it’s my time, then it’s my time. Let me die when I choose to die, okay?”

Annie and Mom give each other a knowing look, silently agreeing that there is no arguing with Grams about her health. She has always overseen her own life, and it will continue to be like that until the day she dies.

We’re all gathered in Grams’s room this morning at six o’clock since Jackson scheduled the surgery for seven. He said it could take several hours, and he wanted to start as early as possible. I’m stealing half of Grams’s bed, resting with her, needing to be as close as possible. Annie and Mom are sharing the space on her other side, and Charlie is beside me with his hand on my shoulder. “You’re going to make it,” Charlie says. “You’re a survivor, Amelia. You know that.”

“I know,” Grams says. She doesn’t seem like herself today, kind of like the day when she was telling me she was going to die, and it scares me.

“Do you think I’m doing the wrong thing?” she asks.

“No,” I tell her. “If you have a chance at more, I say take it.”

I must be able to live with the outcome if today doesn’t go well, but Grams has always focused on living in the moment and taking risks so she never had to wonder what could have been, except for with Charlie. In any case, if this is what she believes is right, then I have to be okay with it.

Jackson knocks on the door and walks into the crowded room. He’s in his scrubs with a surgical cap already in place. “Good morning, Amelia,” he says.

“How is my future grandson-in-law?” she asks, teasing him with a pointed finger.

Jackson laughs. “I’m doing well. I’m ready to save a heart today. How are you doing?”

“I’m scared,” she says honestly.

Jackson moves in slowly as we all part ways from Grams’s side to give him space. “You’re going to be set up in just a few minutes, but I wanted to make sure you don’t have any last-minute questions or concerns.”

“I don’t think so,” Grams says. “I’m ready to get this over with.”

“Understandable.” He places his hand on Grams’s shoulder and smiles at her, looking calm and relaxed, which is exactly what she needs. I appreciate it, especially since we all know how risky this surgery is.

“I’ll give you all another minute before the nurses come in to get you,” Jackson says.

He looks at me and subtly asks if I’m okay with a gesture of his raised brows. I nod and shrug, unsure how to respond. “I’ll take good care of her,” he mouths before leaving.

It’s hard to imagine saying goodbye, but how can I not prepare for the worst? I lean over Grams and wrap my hands around her face, staring into her hazy eyes as she gives me the same look in return. No matter the outcome, I need to remember this moment for the rest of my life. I need to remember everything about her because I’m so much a part of her. She can’t leave me…she can’t. I break my gaze for a moment, looking up at the ceiling to stop the pooling tears from falling down my cheeks. I exhale slowly, pleadingly for this pain in my chest to go away. Right now, I feel like I need a heart doctor too.

“I love you so much, Grams, and you are going to make it through this, okay?” My chest is tight, and my throat is dry. My heart hurts, and I’m not going to be able to keep it together much longer.

“I know you love me. You will always be my sweetheart, Emma. Always.”

“And my girls…you are my special, special girls. You have made my life worth living. Every moment. Every single moment has been worth it for you. I don’t know what I’d do without you. I really don’t,” Grams tells them.

“Don’t talk like that, Mom,” Annie says. “We love you. You’re going to make it. You have to.”

Mom and Annie release an ocean of tears as they hold each other, walking out of the room. “Charlie, are you coming with us?” Mom asks him through a hiccup. They haven’t asked him many questions, which I find odd, but at the same time, I’m grateful.

“I’ll be right there,” he says to them.

Mom and Annie offer each other a look, and I can’t decipher the exchange. Maybe they know something, or maybe I am truly the only one who knows. Maybe none of us are meant to ever speak of it with one another. It’s so confusing, yet I understand it all so clearly.

Charlie is the only one left beside me, and he sits down on Grams’s bed and leans back into the pillow with her.

“Amelia, we’ve made it this far. I know this is what’s right. I still love you, darling, just as much as I did all those years ago.”

Grams reaches up and touches Charlie’s cheek with the tips of her fingers, gazing at him as if she were a young girl in love for the first time. “You know what my biggest regret was, Charlie?” Grams asks.

With a small smile on Charlie’s face, he presses his fingers gently through Grams’s hair. “What’s that?”

Grams shakes her head from side to side with small movements. “I never got to tell you how I truly felt that day when you saved me, Charlie.”

With his hand now cupped around her chin, forcing her to focus on his face, he smiles. “It doesn’t matter,” he says. Charlie’s eyes well up, but it looks like the tears are made from contentment and joy. He lays his head on Grams’s chest and holds her tightly. “I could die knowing you never said those words because I knew how you felt, and that was enough for me.”

Grams pulls in a deep breath and holds it for a moment. “Charlie, it’s not enough, and if this is it for me, I need for you to know—”

“No,” Charlie says as he places his finger over Grams’s lips. “You don’t owe me that. Love isn’t words, Amelia. Love is so much more than letters and sounds, and we know that.”

“Yes, that’s true, and I was sure if said those deadly words to you, then you would be the next person taken from me. Before I met you, I lost everyone I loved. I couldn’t bear to take a chance on that with you, as well. However, now that I might be the next to go, you should hear those last words.”

“Don’t say your last words, Amelia. Don’t.”

“Charlie, I have waited all these years to tell you what I couldn’t say back then.”

“Don’t say it,” he croaks, sounding as if he may shatter. His face crumples with pain and anger as he continues to plead. “Please, don’t. Save them for later.”

“I love you, Charlie. I have loved you since the beginning of our time together, and if this is it for me, then these words—‘I love you’ are my last words, and they will always belong to you.”