Chapter 13: A Message From Beyond The Grave (2)

The next morning, Lulu stood outside Elise's house, shifting her weight anxiously from one foot to another.

It was only after she returned here that it crossed her mind how strange it may seem to Elise that this complete stranger keeps butting into her life.

It was a crisp weekend morning, and inside, the muffled sounds of children's laughter echoed from within. Henry, standing beside her, looked nervous—but there was also something else in his expression. Anticipation.

"I never got to meet them," he murmured, eyes fixed on the door. "My grandkids."

Lulu sighed. "Well, today's your lucky day. Let's hope their mom lets me in."

She rang the doorbell, and after a few moments, Elise opened it, looking mildly surprised, and then her expression shifted to a more guarded one. "You again?"

Lulu gave a half-shrug. "Yeah. I, uh, needed to talk to you again."

Elise frowned, crossing her arms while eyeing her warily. "If this is about my father's house, I'm already handling it. If you're a neighbour, don't worry—it'll be cleared out soon, and we'll be finding a buyer."

Lulu waved a hand. "I don't care about that. It's about Henry."

Something flickered across Elise's face. Not quite anger, but something close. "What about him?"

Lulu exhaled. "I was close with him. And I just—I couldn't shake the feeling that you didn't really get to hear how much he loved you. The letter… it didn't say enough. But I talked with him quite a bit, and I know that every day you were at the forefront of his mind"

Elise's expression softened faintly but was still quite guarded, "Why do you care so much?"

Lulu smirked. "Because Henry was never good with words. He was better with his hands—building things, talking to customers. Writing? Not so much."

Elise couldn't resist letting out a snort in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds like him."

Lulu seized the moment. "That's how I found out about his habit of leaving messages for your mom. He told me once—said he never forgot the code."

Elise hesitated, then sighed. "Fine. Come in."

Inside, two kids ran past them—a little girl with Henry's piercing blue eyes and a mop of blonde curls, and a slightly older boy light brown eyes and hair.

John, Elise's husband, leaned against the kitchen counter, arms crossed. He was ruggedly handsome, with tattoos peeking from the sleeves of his t-shirt, the kind of guy Henry might have side-eyed when Elise first brought him home. But the way he gently ruffled his son's hair before scooping up his daughter clearly showed that despite his biker-like appearance, he was a family man through and through.

"My grandkids…" he whispered, a deep sadness and joy mixing in his voice. Lulu watched him, heart clenching.

Elise walked up to John and murmured something in his ear. His gaze flicked to Lulu, assessing, then he turned to his children with a small smile.

"Alright, kids," he said, ruffling his son's hair, "let's go play upstairs while Mommy talks to her guest."

The little girl groaned. "But I wanna stay!"

"Not this time, sweetheart," he said gently, setting her down. "We'll build a pillow fort, how about that?"

That was enough incentive. The kids scrambled upstairs, giggling, and John gently squeezed his wife's hand and gave her a meaningful look before following after them.

Now it was just Lulu and Elise in the suddenly quiet living room.

"So," Elise said, arms still folded, "you're saying my dad left messages? For my mom?"

Lulu nodded. "He never cancelled her number. It was his way of feeling close to her, I think. If you call it and put in the voicemail code, you'll hear them."

Elise's brows knit together. "The code?"

Lulu hesitated, then said softly, "Your birthday."

Elise's expression shifted slightly before nodding silently.

She pulled out her phone and dialed the number, fingers pausing only briefly before she entered the code.

There was a pause, then the automated voice spoke: You have four hundred and fifty saved messages.

Elise visibly flinched.

Lulu couldn't resist nodding in empathy, '450 messages is an insane amount. And to think if he wasn't forced to delete many of them…'

Elise swallowed, slipping an AirPod into her ear. Lulu pulled out her own phone and pretended to be busy on it to give Elise the illusion of privacy, although for the next hour all of her attention was focused on Elise, constantly stealing glances at Elise, watching her lips tremble, her shoulders tense, waiting for her reaction.

She was hearing Henry for the first time in years—from beyond the grave at that.

Elise closed her eyes for a moment, pressing the AirPod deeper into her ear as if trying to bring Henry closer. Her lips parted slightly, her brow furrowed. A sharp inhale. A flicker of something—grief? Regret? Love?

Lulu stayed silent why curbing her burning desire to eavesdrop…