Chapter 7

A week later, Aiden and I divorced.

After that, I quit my job.

I took my daughter’s urn to Gold Coast, Mount Fuji and the Prairie.

These were the three places she had always dreamed of visiting. I had promised her that after her SAT results came out, I would take her to these destinations.

On the Gold Coast, I watched the sunrise over the sea with my “daughter.”

At Mount Fuji, we admired the sea of clouds from the mountaintop. On the Prairie, we witnessed thousands of horses galloping.

After fulfilling my daughter’s wishes, I returned to my hometown of Maplewood and buried her in Maplewood Cemetery, which is surrounded by a maple forest.

She loved the rustling sound of the wind blowing through the maple.

She always liked a quiet environment.

Coincidentally, Maplewood Cemetery was hiring a grave keeper. Despite my impressive resume, the director was puzzled, “With your qualifications, you should be applying to a listed company.”

“I just want to work here.

The director frowned and asked cautiously, “Do you have any ulterior motives?”

“No, I just want to be near my daughter.”

After learning that my daughter was buried there, the director accepted me for the job.

Every day, I cleaned her tombstone and removed the weeds around it. In my free time, I leaned against her tombstone and talked to her.

Sometimes, I would cook a few of her favorite dishes and place them in front of the tombstone.

Days turned into months, and half a year passed quickly.

One day, Lydia called me, crying about Aiden‘ s condition.

After our divorce, he returned to work at the hospital, but his hands trembled so much that he couldn’t hold the scalpel steadily.

The psychological trauma had deeply affected him. He began seeing a psychiatrist, but nothing helped.

Eventually, he took sick leave and returned home, where Lydia took care of him. He was consumed by remorse and pain, and soon, he began to lose touch with reality.

Before long, he began to lose consciousness.

“Clare, Aiden’s mental state is worsening. For the sake of the years you were together, please come and comfort him,” Lydia begged, sobbing..

“I’m sorry, Lydia. I’m still grieving the loss of my daughter. I can’t comfort him,” I replied, and hung up.