Pain can blur the line between reality and memory, but what Kelly experienced was something entirely different.
She knew her husband’s voice. She had memorized every inflection, every tender sigh. But Jeremy had been dead for two years.
Then, when she suddenly heard him speak from her daughter’s room, she got goosebumps.
A chill ran down her spine as she stood still, her heart pounding in her chest.
She forced herself to move forward, opening the door with trembling hands.
There was Sofía, sleeping peacefully in her crib, holding her teddy bear.
But the moment Kelly stepped inside, the voice spoke again, as clear as day: “I will love you forever.”
Panic washed over her. She looked around. There were no open windows, no hidden speakers.
Am I going crazy? Has the grief finally broken me?
With shaky fingers, she reached for the teddy bear and gave it a gentle squeeze.
The same phrase repeated once more. “I love you forever.”
Then, a memory surfaced. A birthday gift. A teddy bear from her mother-in-law, given to Sofía just a few days ago.
Kelly had barely registered it at the time, too distracted by the weight of another birthday without Jeremy. But now, she needed answers.
When she confronted Gloria, the heartbreaking truth was revealed.
“I took his voice from your wedding video,” Gloria admitted. “I wanted Sofía to know her daddy’s voice.”
“I just wanted him to have a part of her.”
Tears blurred Kelly’s vision as the weight of it all pressed down on her chest. Sadness. Love.
She wasn’t sure whether to be angry or grateful, but as she sat that night watching her daughter sleep, she knew one thing for certain: Jeremy was not gone.
He lived in his daughter’s eyes, in her laughter, and now, in the voice of a teddy bear.
As Kelly gave the bear another gentle squeeze, her husband’s words filled the room once more.
“I love you forever.”
Tears streamed down her face, but for the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel so alone.
