But now Gianna told me Emily had understood why my work mattered.
She’d sometimes complained.
“She once told me something you taught her,” Gianna continued. “That helping someone isn’t always convenient, but you help anyway.”
I covered my face.
I’d said those exact words to my daughter when she was a teenager.
Gianna gave me a moment.
Then she put another photo before me.
I covered my face.
It showed Emily sitting beside Lucy.
Children’s books surrounded my granddaughter.
I touched the picture.
“Where was this taken?”
“Here. Lucy came with her mother to help organize donations.”
I remembered that Saturday.
“Where was this taken?”
Lucy had told me she’d sorted books into piles because some children liked animals and others liked princesses.
I’d laughed and asked whether she’d made a pile for dinosaurs.
She’d said, “Of course, Grandpa!”
Now, I understood where she’d been.
She’d sorted books.
Gianna smiled.
