After my grandmother gave birth to three children, my grandfather left to seek his fortune overseas.
From then on, the only connection between them was a thin trickle of letters sent home from abroad.
Now my grandmother was dying of cancer, and her last wish was to see him one more time. So I traveled south and found him.
White-haired but sharp-eyed, my grandfather carried himself with the polished bearing of a distinguished professor.
I couldn't stop myself from speaking up during his lecture：“Professor Dickerson, I heard you remarried. Is that true?”
He gave a warm, easy smile：“I never remarried. I've only been married once, and I've only ever loved one woman, my current wife.”
A knot tightened in my chest on my grandmother's behalf. I pulled out a worn photograph.
“This woman is the same age as you, seventy years old. Do you recognize her?”
He studied the photo for a long moment. Something shifted behind his eyes.
“I don't know her. She looks unwell. If she needs help, I'd be happy to make a donation.”
I looked at my grandmother's face in the photograph, and I didn't bother being polite.
“She has terminal stomach cancer.”
“She's holding on to her last breath, waiting for you to come see her.”
——
A flicker passed through his gaze, brief and quickly buried beneath a composed, scholarly smile.
“Miss, you don't appear to be one of my students, and you don't seem to be here for my lecture.”
Before I could figure out what to say next, several security guards rushed over.
Today was a rotating lecture series for the university's top professors. The auditorium was full of academics, and security was tight.
One casual remark from him was all it took to paint me as someone with bad intentions.
The guards seized my arms and pinned them.
I struggled, shouting toward him, “My name is Rebecca Dickerson! My grandmother is Maura Swanson! Forty-eight years ago, you went overseas to make your fortune. Do you remember her?”
“My grandmother has terminal cancer. She's lying in a hospital bed right now, clinging to her last breath just to see you one more time.”
“If you'll come back with me now, if you'll let her go in peace, I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life.”
One week ago, my grandmother had been on her deathbed, drifting toward the end, when she caught a glimpse of my grandfather on the television screen.
Her mouth fell open and she wept, grabbing my hand, shaking it with what little strength she had left.
“Sweetheart, I saw your grandfather. He's alive. He's not dead.”
“I need to hold on a few more days. If I don't see him one last time, I won't be able to close my eyes.”
And she did hold on, suffering through every hour. Each time she managed to open her eyes, the first words out of her mouth were the same: had I found him yet.
I wasn't going to let her die with that regret. I did my research fast, traced the address, and found him.
He was a celebrated professor with countless devoted students.
Draped in honors and prestige, he existed in an entirely different world from my ordinary grandmother.
Standing before him now, the injustice of it burned through me on her behalf. My blood was boiling.
Something shifted in his eyes when he heard my words.
It vanished just as quickly.
He spoke in a clear, carrying voice：“Forty-eight years ago, I never went anywhere.”
“I never went overseas. I have been right here, in this city, teaching, for my entire career.”
“I married late. I was nearly fifty before I wed. Apart from my wife, I have never been involved with another woman.”
His tone was effortless. His expression, utterly serene. His eyes grew clearer and steadier the longer he spoke.
For a moment, I doubted myself. Had I gotten it wrong?
My grandmother had only caught a single glimpse of him on television before insisting it was him.
My mind went blank. The guards, seeing me fall quiet, loosened their grip on my arms.
That was when my pager went off.
I glanced down at the screen. One line of text.
【Rebecca, your grandmother's heart stopped for a moment. Get your grandfather and come back now.】
