It Happened to Us by François Houle

Author:François Houle [Houle, François]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: family tragedy, fall in love again, losing a child, marriage relationship, personal grief, starting over, marriage breakdown
ISBN: 9780993835100
Publisher: Dawn Rainbow Books
Published: 2017-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

July 2, 2012

4:41 p.m.

The house Mathieu had lived in growing up, his grandparents’ house, was in Orleans, on the east side of Ottawa. He remembered coming here after the death of his parents and feeling uncomfortable at first, not really knowing his grandparents except for the short visits a few times a year. He hadn’t wanted to be there. But his grandmother had been so good and loving, helping him through those horrible first few months, and what he remembered most now was that his childhood had been filled with warmth, love, and plenty of fun times. He could almost hear his grandmother puttering in the kitchen, humming while she baked pies and made wonderful meals, or calling out to him to come and get the garbage bag and take it to the garage. He could hear her throaty laugh filling the house when she was watching one of her TV shows. The small bungalow had always felt just a bit too small, but today it felt big and empty without her.

Mathieu went to the kitchen and took an apple from the crisper and devoured it. Then he cracked open a can of Coke and downed half of it. He heard his grandfather, who had fallen asleep on the sofa chair a while back, stir.

“Mathieu? You still here?”

“Yeah, in the kitchen,” he said and walked back to the living room at the front of the house. “I thought I’d let you catch a few winks. You probably didn’t sleep much last night.”

“I did have a hard time settling down without your grandmother here. That’ll take getting used to.”

Mathieu drank his Coke. “Will you be all right?”

Grandpa stood and stretched. “I’ll miss her. I’m sure some nights will be harder than others. But I’ll be fine.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“I don’t have a choice, now do I? Your grandmother, God rest her soul, is with the good Lord now and not much I can do about it.”

“Aren’t you angry, even a bit?”

“I’m angry that I won’t see her every day, sure, but angry at God? No. He gave her, us, a good long life.”

“He took so much from you though.”

Grandpa looked at his grandson. “I know where you’re trying to get to, but you won’t get there with me. For every test that He put in front of us, we did our best, we kept our faith. In the end, that’s what He’s testing us on. Our love and our faith.”

Mathieu frowned. “I don’t see it that way.”

“I know you don’t, son. Can’t make you believe something you’ve closed your mind to.”

“He took my parents and my little girl. Not sure what sort of faith I’m supposed to show Him. Not a big fan of His methods.”

“Maybe you should come to church with me on Sunday.”

Mathieu shook his head. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

“It might help you let go of your anger.”

“Maybe my anger is what keeps me going.”

“And maybe it’s holding you back.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Sometimes, we just have to accept what is and go on.

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