The Memory Keeper: A Heartwarming, Feel-Good Romance(54)

“Who’s Warren?” Georgia asked.

“My Pop-pop.”

“Oh,” Georgia cooed. “The plot thickens! Read some more. Pretty please?”

“We have to get some work done!” Hannah laughed, but she wanted to read more just as badly as Georgia did. “But you twisted my arm,” she teased. She grabbed her coffee and turned the page.

June 27, 1943



I really enjoy my talks with Warren. I’ve visited with him at the soda fountain every day for the last four days. I teased him that he was going to use all his student funds buying me sodas, but he dismissed it completely and bought me one anyway. Today, he read me some of his history book and we discussed the differences between the two world wars. It was fascinating. He’s a very serious man. He talks about things I’ve never thought of before, but sometimes I can make him laugh. I do find that as exciting as when I made the bouquet for Minnie.





“Warren is Casanova!” Georgia said with a laugh. “He’s totally moving in on her! And while she has a boyfriend too?” She pursed her lips playfully and shook her head.

The idea that Pop-pop had any dating game whatsoever made Hannah laugh out loud. He’d never try to steal another woman on purpose. “I do think he was smitten with Gran, but he’d never have made a move until he knew she wasn’t taken. He was too good a man.”

“Read another entry!” Georgia said.

Hannah didn’t mind the request at all. The mess in the shop would still be there when they’d finished reading, and she was enjoying herself. “Okay, one more and then we have to get some work done.”

“Of course,” Georgia agreed.

July 2, 1943



I got a letter from Charles!





Georgia gasped. “This is like a movie!” Then she mimed buttoning her lips shut and said, “Sorry,” with them pressed together. She ran her finger in circles in the air to gesture for Hannah to keep going.

Hannah continued.

In my hand, I’m holding the battered envelope addressed in his handwriting, trembling with excitement. I can’t wait to open it! I’ll write down everything he says on the lines that follow so I can keep it in this journal forever. I’m opening the letter now. Oh, I can see more of his lovely handwriting! He says—





Hannah stopped reading.

“What does it say?” Georgia leaned over the journal, trying to view the last sentence.

“There’s nothing there,” Hannah said, showing it to her. “It just stops, mid-sentence.”

“Well, turn the page! You can’t end like that!”

She peered down at the half-sheet of empty lines below that last word. Confused, Hannah turned the page.

July 3, 1943



I am writing through my tears. I’ve cried all night and Mr. Williams has threatened to fire me for not giving notice, but I couldn’t go to work today. I can hardly move. I wasn’t able to write it before, and I can hardly do it now, but Charles’s letter said:



My dearest Faye,



If you’re reading this, then they’ve found me in the fields and sent my final goodbye to you. I’ll keep this letter in the pocket of my jacket every single day I have to go into battle, so that no matter what, I’ll get to say I love you. I hate this war and the time it has stolen from us, but I want you to go on and be happy. Do the things you love. Don’t waste time doing anything else.



All my love,



Charles





“Oh, that’s so sad.” Georgia’s face had dropped, her body still. “What a terrible thing to have happened.”

“Yeah…” Gran’s comment about the two sides of the coin came back to Hannah, and it really hit her how different Gran’s life would’ve been if Charles had survived the war. It was bittersweet to believe that things had happened for the best, the way they were meant to happen. For Hannah to have been born and have a life, Charles had to pay with his own.

“That’s a somber note to start cleaning on. Can we read just one more?”

“It might depress us even further,” Hannah said, still lost in thought.

“It’s worth a shot.”

“All right.” In an odd way, the journal was helping her see her priorities more clearly. It spoke to her. She moved on to the next entry.

August 15, 1943



We had a summer thunderstorm all day today, and then the sun shone so brightly afterwards that I could hardly see when I walked to the floral company. On my way, a rainbow arched over the flower shop and I couldn’t wait to get inside to tell Minnie. She told me it was a sign that happiness is all around us, if we just pay attention and look up instead of down. Then she put a record on her RCA turntable, grabbed my hands, and we danced. I laughed so hard and it felt just glorious. While my grief still comes in waves, I promised myself more moments like that one. It was then that I realized I hadn’t been to the soda fountain in a long time. Minnie said she’d deliver the bouquets for me tomorrow afternoon, and she even gave me a nickel to get a soda.





“Perfect entry to end on! And I’ve got something to lift our spirits that fits right in.” Hannah set the journal on the counter and went to the back corner of the shop, where Gran kept her old record player. She pulled out the “Rockin’ Robin” record and put it on, turning the volume up.