Walking to the bed she sat down, wishing for tears that would not come… anything would be preferable to the cold pain in her chest, and then she spotted something new. Resting on the floor, next to her bedside table, was a wooden frame. It seemed familiar.
She lifted it and turned it over in her hands, discovering it to be a large mirror… a mirror she had thought long gone. She laid it on the bed, and was shocked to discover that, while it appeared the same it had a difference, for a ghostly image stared back at her from the glass. The face it held was her mother’s, from a time when she was young, a time when Penny and Mordecai had been children. Her mother’s eyes seemed to stare into her own, and there was a faint smile on her lips.
How can this be? she thought.
A small slip of paper lay folded on the bedside table. Opening it she read:
Penny,
I am so sorry for leaving this so long. I repaired this almost a year ago, and in the chaos that later ensued, forgot to return it to you. I discovered it in the corner of my workshop last week, and have been looking for a good chance to surprise you. The image in the mirror was almost an accident, a memory that came to me as I was fixing it. I hope you don’t mind. It seemed appropriate.
In spite of our busy lives, you should know that I have always been grateful for your love. You continue to amaze me daily, teaching me new things about myself, and showing me the depths that lie within your heart as you care for our children. Surely your mother must have been an incredible woman to have raised you… and it shows in the way you nurture your own sons and daughters.
Never forget how much I love you in return,
Mordecai
Sorrow found her then and Penny wept, clutching a pillow and shaking the bed with her muffled sobs.