“Lily. That’s… that’s really beautiful.”
“¿Crees que le gustará?”
“Creo que le encantará”.
Then she went to the hall closet and took something off the hook. She folded it carefully and put it in the bag on top of the dress.
It was the blue cardigan.
Michael lo compró para ella la Navidad antes de morir. Lo había escogido él mismo, lo que nunca hizo. Por lo general, me dio dinero y me dijo: “Consíguele algo bueno”. Pero ese año fue al centro comercial por su cuenta y llegó a casa con ese cárdigan en una bolsa de regalo con demasiado papel de seda. Lily lo usó hasta que los codos se adelgazaron. Fue lo último que le dio.
She hadn’t worn it in months. But she’d never let me give it away either. Once, when I suggested we donate some old clothes, she pulled the cardigan out of the bag so fast she almost tore it.
I reached for it now.
“Lily, espera. No esa. Eso es de papá”.
She pulled the bag away from me.
“She can have this, too.”
“Pero cariño...”
“Mom.” She looked at me. There was something in her face I didn’t understand. “It’s okay. I want her to have it. It goes with the dress.”
“Es de tu padre...”
“Yo sé lo que es”.
She said it sharply. Then she softened. “Please. I want to.”
I let it go. I told myself she was growing up. That maybe she was finally ready to let some of him go. I told myself that was a good thing.
I drove her to school. She held the bag in her lap the whole way like it was a sleeping baby. She was so excited to help Annie that she kept tapping her foot against the floor of the car.
When we pulled up, she jumped out before I’d even fully stopped.
“Good luck!” I called.
She turned back and grinned at me. Then she was gone, running up the steps with the bag held against her chest.
That was the last time I saw her smile for two days.
Esa tarde, esperé a que Lily me dijera cómo había ido.
Llegué temprano a casa del trabajo, por una vez. Hice limonada, que fue una tontería, porque era octubre. Me senté en la mesa de la cocina donde todavía estaba la máquina de coser, con algunos hilos azules todavía atrapados en ella, y esperé a escuchar la puerta principal.
