Memories With Love

4 years ago

Juanita

@BlurredLines

Mira walked into the flower shop with a frown. The shop reminded her too much about death. She lost her parents when she was six, her husband when she was pregnant and recently, her Mother-in-law Laura, who had been the one person who had kept Mira from falling apart.

It was an irony that Mira owns a flower shop. She inherited the shop from Laura, and she should have sold it and moved on, but she couldn't do so, not when she knows how much Laura loved her shop or how much memories this place held. The memories where Laura would teach Mira everything about the flowers, and how to take care of them, how Daniel used to bring a carefully picked and handmade bouquet for her every day.

She used to joke, that he was always giving her flowers because they were free of cost, but in truth, it was because Mira adored them. In her small town, the customers were loyal but scarce, so she had too much time to be lost in her thoughts. So, when the bell chimed, she looked up to see an unfamiliar face starring at her.

" Is there anything I can do to help you? May I know the occasion, or your preference so that I can make suggestions? " Mira asked when the stranger looked out of place.

" It is her birthday, she wanted flowers, but I don't know what to get her. As a Father, I should know what my daughter prefers. My wife would have known what to get for Ella; why did she have to go and leave me alone with a five-year-old,. I am a horrible father, " he answered back, clearly upset.

" Did your wife go on a work trip? Maybe, you can always call her and ask ?" Mira suggested trying to be helpful, but when he turned to look at her with sadness, she realized where his wife went and that there was no way to reach her.

" My Mother-in-law who owned this shop used to tell me the best advice I can give to customers is to go with your heart and that all flowers are unique and that each of them is capable of bringing happiness to anyone who holds them. So you can never go wrong with them as a gift " Mira spoke up and felt relieved when her customer proceeded to choose them no longer looking unsure as he did moments ago.

And on the way back home later, the words she used to help the customer stayed with her. It was one of the reasons why her mother-in-law loved the shop; Laura believed that flowers are capable of giving comfort and happiness more than words.

And the knowledge that the flowers would make a little girl happy made her feel content after a long time, and when she stepped inside her house, she was greeted by her son, who rushed to her with evidence that the cookie jar didn't remain out of his reach.

" You brought Roses today," Tristan spoke up as he saw the flowers in her hand. It had become a habit of her to bring some flowers back home every day just like Daniel; because doing so reminded her of her husband. Because bringing home flowers also gave her so much comfort unknowingly that she held on to it subconsciously.

"Roses were your grandmother's favourite, " her father in law voiced echoed in from inside the house. He may be getting on years, but he loved his grandkid and looked after him while Mira worked, even if it was tiring him out. He starred at the flower in her son's hand, probably reliving the memories he shared with his wife.

Mira knew that her father-in-law took flowers to his wife's grave every week. And Mira avoided that because it was too painful. Now looking at the flowers in her son's hands made her remember him, Daniel; that fate may have been cruel enough to snatch her husband away, but through her son, she always sees a glimpse of him.

In her grief, Mira had mistaken the flowers to represent grief and death; but today, she realized that flowers represented memories and love.

And the next day, when she opened her little shop, she let the knowledge settle in as she waited for the customers to step inside to create their own memories. 

P.S : " The End. Thanks Shibu @oye_nakhrewaali for Beta Reading this One Shot :)"