The bear.

I dropped to my knees beside her crib, my hands trembling as I reached for it. Pressed the fabric.

“I love you forever.”

Jeremy’s voice.

“Oh, God.” My chest tightened as I clutched the bear to me.

I didn’t remember buying this. Had someone given it to her?

Then, a memory surfaced. Sophia’s second birthday. A gift from my mother-in-law, Gloria.

At the time, I had barely looked at it. Just another stuffed animal.

But now? Now I needed answers.

I grabbed my phone and dialed. Gloria picked up on the second ring.

“Did you know this thing plays Jeremy’s voice?” My grip on the bear tightened.

Silence.

Then, after a long pause, she spoke. “Oh… did it finally play?”

A chill ran down my spine. “Finally? What do you mean finally?”

Her voice wavered. “Kelly, please. Just let me explain.”

Gloria arrived an hour later, shifting nervously as she stood in my doorway.

“I just… I thought it would help,” she said softly.

“Help who?”

She let out a slow breath. “Sophia. And you.”

“Kelly, every time Sophia asks about her daddy… every time I see you struggling to find the words… it breaks my heart.”

“And you don’t think this broke mine?” My voice cracked. “Hearing his voice out of nowhere like that?”

She looked down. “After Jeremy died, I kept thinking about how Sophia would never know her father’s voice. So I took a recording from your wedding video. You remember his vows?”

“I love you forever.”

“I had it sewn into the bear before her birthday,” she admitted. “I wanted her to have a piece of him. To know he’s always with her.”

I exhaled shakily. She had meant well. I knew that. But it didn’t make the moment any less overwhelming.

That night, I sat in Sophia’s room, watching her sleep. The bear rested in my lap. My fingers traced its soft fabric as I gazed at my daughter—the child Jeremy never got to meet.

I missed him.

For so long, I had felt like I had lost everything. But here, in my daughter’s tiny arms, was a piece of him.

Leaning down, I kissed Sophia’s forehead.

The grief still lingered. It always would.

But for the first time in a long, long time… I didn’t feel so alone.