Chapter 327 The Hug

Chapter 327: Chapter 327 The Hug

Talia’s POV

I stood there, watching Grandfather Aldric and my mother stare at each other.

The silence stretched between them, heavy with years of grief and loss and hope. I could see the tears streaming down both their faces, and I felt like I was intruding on something sacred. They were lost in each other, and the rest of the world had faded away. It was like watching two people who had been separated by a lifetime finally find their way back to each other.

Then Grandfather Aldric moved.

He stepped forward, and he pulled my mother into his arms. I watched his old, frail body wrap around hers, and I saw the way his hands trembled as he held her. He was shaking, and I realized that he had been waiting for this moment for fifteen years.

All that time, he had carried the weight of her loss, and now she was finally here.

"Seraphina," he whispered, and his voice was broken. "My dear, dear girl."

My mother pressed her face into his shoulder, and I heard her sobbing. "Aldric. I never thought I would see you again."

He held her tighter, and I saw the tears streaming down his weathered face. "I never stopped believing you were alive, Seraphina. I never stopped hoping."

I stood there, frozen, and I felt the tears streaming down my face. I had never seen my grandfather like this. I had never seen him so vulnerable, so raw, and so unguarded. He had always been the stern, wise elder, but now he was just a man holding onto someone he had loved and lost.

Kaelen walked to me, and I felt his hand on my shoulder. "Talia?"

I turned to look at him, and I saw the understanding in his gray eyes. He had known Aldric his whole life. He had seen the grief his grandfather carried, even if he had never spoken of it.

"Kaelen," I said, and my voice was barely a whisper. "Did you know? Did you know how much he loved her?"

Kaelen was quiet for a moment. "I knew he carried a loss, Talia. I knew there was someone he had mourned for years. But I did not know it was your mother until now."

I looked back at my grandfather, at the way he was holding my mother like she was made of glass. "He never told me. All those years, and he never told me."

Kaelen squeezed my shoulder. "Some grief is too heavy to share, Talia. You carry it alone because you do not want to burden the ones you love."

I shook my head, and my voice was thick with emotion. "I did not know, Kaelen. I did not know they were this close."

Kaelen squeezed my shoulder again. "It is obvious that your mother was like a daughter to him, Talia. He loved her like she was his own."

I watched them, and I felt the tears burning in my eyes. "Why did he never tell me?"

Kaelen was quiet for a moment. "Because sometimes the pain is too deep to share, Talia. Sometimes we carry things alone because we do not know how to let anyone else carry them with us."

I nodded, and I turned back to watch them.

Grandfather Aldric pulled back, and I saw the tears on his age-stricken face. His hands were still gripping my mother’s shoulders, and I could see him drinking in every detail of her face like he was afraid she would disappear if he looked away.

"I should have done more," he said, and his voice was raw with grief. "I should have searched for you myself, Seraphina. I should have never given up." ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

My mother shook her head, and I saw the tears streaming down her face. "You did not give up, Aldric. You kept Talia safe. You gave her a home. You gave her a family."

Grandfather Aldric looked at me, and I saw the love in his old eyes. "She gave herself a home, Seraphina. She fought for it, and she earned it."

My mother looked at me, and I saw the pride in her tired eyes. "Yes," she said. "She did."

I watched the way my mother looked at him, and I saw the gratitude and the love in her eyes. She had lost so much, but she had never lost the memory of the man who had been like a father to her.

"Mother," I said. "You never told me about him. About you and Grandfather."

She looked at me, and I saw the tears in her eyes. "There was so much I wanted to tell you, Talia. So much I wanted to share. But I did not know if I would ever see you again, and I did not want to fill your head with memories of a life you could not have."

I squeezed her hand. "You can tell me now, Mother. You can tell me everything."

I felt the warmth spreading through my chest, and I felt the tears burning in my eyes. They were both looking at me like I was the most precious thing in the world, and I did not know how to carry that kind of love.

"Grandfather," I said, and my voice was soft. "I did not know you loved her like this."

He looked at me, and I saw the grief and the love mixing in his eyes. "She was like a daughter to me, Talia. I watched her grow up, I watched her fall in love, I watched her become a mother, and... I watched her disappear."