“But, it’s your home,” my neighbor and close friend, Elizabeth, said.“I know,” I said, pouring us some tea. “But it’s… the thought of living alone is just too much. I can’t do this. And I think being with the grandkids will be healing.” Elizabeth nodded and smiled. “We’ll miss you at book club, Piper,” she said. James and his family welcomed me with open arms, making me feel like part of their daily life.“Mom, it’s just until you’re ready,” Natalie had told me, when we were unpacking up clothes upstairs in the guest room. “Exactly,” James said from the doorway. “You don’t have to be alone right now. We miss dad, too. But he’s been your life partner for decades, I can’t try to understand that loss.” They both insisted that they wanted to help me through this difficult time, and when I moved in, I took only the essentials. They rest of my things were locked 30 minutes away at my home, locking away the memories of a life shared with Richard.From the beginning, there was simply one rule for the kids and myself: “Please, all three of you, stay out of the basement,” James had said when we were sitting for dinner, his tone was gentle but firm. “There are some repairs being done, and it’s really dusty and messy down there. We don’t want any of you to get sick or hurt. Understood?” The boys, John, 6 and Eric, 4, nodded.I understood James’ concern, too. I’ve had a lifelong battle with allergies, and dust and I have been feuding since I was a child. So, I agreed without giving it much thought. It wasn’t like I had any reason to go down there anyway. “Okay,” I said, giving Eric another chicken drumstick. “All three of us will behave and not go to the basement.”Living with them was an adjustment. In the recent years, I had spent so much of my time alone with Richard, so now, living with four others, it was chaotic. Chaotic, but in the best way possible. “One day when I’m not here,” Richard would say. “You’ll take on your role of being a grandmother a lot more seriously. Those little boys will bring a light into your life that you’ll need.” And he was right.John and Eric were everything I needed to keep me distracted while my heart healed and grew with love for my grandchildren. We had also gotten into a new routine, where every evening, we’d gather in the living room for story time. Nothing delighted me more than watching their eyes light up as I read to them. It was during one of those story sessions that Eric revealed something.“Grandma, read the part about the Chamber of Secrets again!” John demanded eagerly, bouncing on the couch. “Yes, Grandma! The Chamber of Secrets!” Eric echoed his brother’s excitement. We’d been reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for a few days now, and it had quickly become a favorite for them. There was something magical about losing ourselves in the fantasy world.“Are you sure it’s not too much for the kids?” Natalie asked, when she sat on the couch across us. “Not too dark?” “No, I’ll do an edited version of the dark parts,” I promised Natalie as she went upstairs to bed. I turned to the next chapter, and as I read about Harry discovering the hidden entrance to the chamber, Eric suddenly piped up. “Grandma! We have a Chamber of Secrets too! In the basement!”The words caught me off guard. I paused, glancing down at my grandkids. “Oh, you do?” I asked. John’s eyes widened in panic as he elbowed Eric in his side. “Eric! Shush! Grandma, he’s kidding. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” “I’m not kidding!” Eric said, adamant. “I’ll show it to you, Grandma, come!”Before I could stop him, he jumped off the couch and grabbed my hand, tugging me toward the basement door. “Eric, wait,” I called. “We’re not supposed to be going down there!” But he was already pulling me down the hallway. “Grandma, it’s right here,” he insisted, pointing at the door to the basement. His small hand wrapped around the doorknob, turning it with a surprising amount of strength for a four-year-old.The door creaked open, revealing the dark stairs leading down to the basement. “Eric, we shouldn’t go down there,” I said. But, of course, he wasn’t listening. “It’s okay, Grandma. I’ll show you,” he said confidently. And I before I knew it, I was following my grandson down into the basement.The air was cool and had a faint musty smell, as though it was in the process of being aired out. When my eyes adjusted to the low light as we reached the bottom of the stairs, I tried to watch my step. A fall here would send me to hospital, for sure. But the basement was larger than I’d imagined, with boxes and old furniture pushed up against the walls, leaving a wide space in the middle. It only just occurred to me that I hadn’t been down here before.“There it is!” Eric exclaimed, pointing toward a door that I hadn’t seen because it was hidden behind a large sheet of plastic. “Darling, I don’t think we should open the door,” I said. “Grandma, come on,” he said, pulling onto my hand again. “It’s for you!” “For me? What could possibly be for me down here?” I asked him.But now I was curious. I slowly walked over, my hand trembling slightly as I reached for the doorknob. For all I knew, it could have been the door to a bathroom. Suddenly, I could hear footsteps coming down the stairs behind me, and I turned to see John running toward us. “Grandma, wait! Mom and Dad said not to come here!”But it was too late, my hand was already turning the doorknob. The door swung open with a soft creak, revealing a room that took my breath away. There, in the dim light, was a room that mirrored my own bedroom from my home. The same pale blue walls, the same floral bedspread, even the nightstand and the lamp that Richard had picked out. But what truly made my heart sing was the photograph on the nightstand.It was a picture of Richard and I on our wedding day, smiling and young, full of life. “Oh, my goodness,” I said, stepping backward, tears streaming down my face. John reached for my hand just as James and Natalie came thundering down the stairs. “It was all Eric!” John said, tears in his eyes for the secret being revealed.James and Natalie rushed over to me, worry and panic plastered all over their faces. “Mom,” James started to say, his voice trailing off when he saw my face. I threw my arms around them both, pulling them into the tightest hug I could manage. “I don’t understand,” I said. “We wanted to surprise you, Mom,” James explained softly. “We didn’t want you to feel like you had to go back to your old house. We wanted you to have a space that felt like home, here with us.”Natalie nodded. “We know how much you miss Richard,” she said. “Stay here with us. Not as a grandma to just babysit or cook or clean, but to be part of the family. Just be here and be happy and comfortable.” I looked around the room again. “The area out here,” James gestured. “We’re going to turn it into a little reading area for you. We know how you love your book club.”“Everything is here,” I said. “But you did all of this… for me?” James nodded, his own eyes shining with tears. “Mom, we love you. We want you to be happy and know that you’re not alone.” I didn’t know what else to say. I had loved being with them for the past few weeks, but I was beginning to feel as though maybe I’d overstayed my welcome. But they wanted me here. My family wanted me, chamber of secrets and all.
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