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The party was then put into scope. Fred was excited about the prospect of inviting some of his mother’s dearest pals, especially those family members who hadn’t been able to come in a long time. They spoke of the garden where the event would take place and imagined an intimate, cozy party with little sparkling lights, warm decorations, and flowers that Clara loved, lilies and roses. Zara also came up with some ideas to add a personal touch to the occasion, like putting up a wall of pictures of Clara when she was younger.

While they were creating ideas, Fred’s moments were softer, with a calmness within him. This light, Zara knew, had not been in his eyes in a long while. For an instant, everything was… fine. All the problems going on around seemed to be non-existent, only a common goal of bringing joy and appreciation to his mother on that particular day remained.

A few moments later, Mary appeared again, this time holding a silver tray on which stood a bowl of chicken soup with a st