I was just taking off my warm wool socks — the day had turned surprisingly sunny — when my grandson, Nasan, burst into the house.

No call, no knock. Again.

My wife, Aliza, who these days seemed to live only for her elite tea parties, didn't even stir in the living room. Her cold, distant presence had become quite familiar.

"Grandpa, catch!"

Nasan joyfully thrust a small box into my hands. It was wrapped in a yellowish 1970s newspaper. I squinted, feeling the edges.

"Is this a new Amazon packaging method? I thought they were delivering by drones now, not a time machine."

He chuckled. "No, we found this in Aunt May's attic. She said it was yours. And that you once climbed onto the roof because of it… But that's a long story."

I slowly unwrapped the package. Inside was an old locket, a bit scratched, but inside — a black-and-wh!te photo. A woman with a half-smile, so genuine it made my heart ache.

Thirty-two years had passed… but I instantly remembered her name.

"Susie…"

Nasan craned his neck suspiciously.

"Susie, who? You always said Grandma was your first love."

His tone was slightly offended, as if I had betrayed a family secret.

I swallowed. Aliza was a love, yes, but not the first. And certainly not the one that had left such a deep, burning mark.

My life with her had turned into a dry, empty existence, where money had replaced any emotion. Her cold indifference was my daily reality, one I could no longer tolerate.

"Even a grandpa can have his secrets," I grumbled, but the locket wouldn't let me be.

It held not just Susie's photo, but a promise I had made to her on that rainy day:

"Promise you'll find me someday. Even if it's too late."

"Grandpa. You have the internet. And a grandson who knows how to use it. We can find her."

I scoffed.

"Even if she's still alive, she's probably somewhere in Iceland or married to some astronomer who flew to Mars and forgot her there…"

"Seriously? You don't want to know what happened to her?"

I sighed, and a minute later, I was holding a cup of hot cocoa while Nasan was clicking away on his laptop.

"Here, look. There's a Susie M. from the same town where you once studied. The photo is old, but it looks like her…"

Nasan was scrolling the page. I leaned in. The photo wasn't clear, but those same eyes…

Susie. And next to her, in a photo where she was blowing out candles on a birthday cake, stood a young woman, embracing her. The caption read:

"Happy 30th Birthday, my dear daughter!"

It suddenly h!t me. Thirty years… I quickly started calculating. That was roughly the time Susie and I broke up.

Could she have been pregnant back then? Could this girl be...?

All my life, I had lived in an empty marriage, not knowing that perhaps somewhere there was a part of me I had lost.

"Grandpa, are you crying?"

"My nose is itching. It's allergies."

Suddenly, the desire to find Susie and learn the truth became unbearable. And I already knew I would find her.

There was just one problem – my wife.

***

The following day, my morning began with drawing routes on an old map and an unusual, almost forgotten feeling of freedom.

Aliza was still asleep, probably dreaming of another charity gala, which, of course, she wouldn't take me to.

I quietly packed my things. A small travel bag, in which, besides a few shirts and my eternal socks, lay the old locket. Nasan joined me in the morning.

"Grandpa, are you sure you've got everything? Otherwise, Susie might turn out to be disappointed."

"Shhh!"

I put a finger to my lips, glancing at Aliza's closed bedroom door. "Grandma will hear. And how did you get…"

At that very moment, the door opened. Apparently, "Susie" wasn't the word Aliza's morning should have started with.

"What's going on here? And who is this Susie?!"

I sighed.

"It's a long story, Aliza. I'm going away for a bit. Quite far, but within the state."

"Going away? Where? And why is Nasan here at six in the morning?"

Nasan, sensing he was in trouble but still enthusiastic, explained:

"I quietly stayed the night, Grandma. I heard Grandpa was preparing for some kind of trip, and I couldn't miss it! It's an adventure!"

Aliza's gaze stopped on the locket in my bag. She recognized it.

"You… you kept it? All these years?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to… find out the truth. About what happened then, and about…"

I glanced at Nasan, not wanting to talk about a possible daughter in front of him.

"What truth?!" Aliza exhaled sharply. "You lost your mind?! That woman was my best friend! How despicable must one be to covet her friend's man!"

I was stunned. It was a low blow, but not in the way she intended.

"Your friend? And after all these years, you think you have the right... You!"

"Grandpa, are you shouting?" Nasan whispered.

"I'm shouting, Nasan, because your grandmother…"

"What?" Aliza snapped back, crossing her arms.

"You forced me to go to the ends of the earth with you, promising a new life! I did it, Aliza! I did it because you were there when I was confused, and I believed your lies!"

"What lies?! You were desperate!"

"No! And now I don't even know if I went after that woman, or just ran away from my problems that you created for me!"

Aliza's eyes flashed. Nasan, sensing the tension, quietly slipped past us and ran to the car.

As I opened the car door and leaned in to put the bag in, Aliza suddenly sat down in the passenger seat.

"I'm coming with you."

"Are you crazy? I said I needed to be alone to…"

"You can only carry me out of here by force, darling. But your joints are bad, and I've put on a few extra pounds, so we're going together."

I looked at her, then at Nasan, who was already sitting in the back seat, suppressing a laugh. I sighed.

Well, that trip seemed to be more interesting than I expected.

***

Our journey, meant to be a romantic pursuit of past ghosts, turned into an absurd comedy with elements of a thriller. Aliza, in the passenger seat, became my critical navigator:

"Left! No, right! Overtake that truck, it's going like a snail!"

Nasan, meanwhile, in the back seat, was taking bets on how many times Grandma would sigh and chuckle.

"Grandpa, three sighs before lunch, you lost!"

I tried to focus on the road, but with every mile, I was approaching something that could either heal or definitively break my heart.

Finally, by evening, we found the old house from the photo.

"Grandpa, we're here! This is it!"

I parked. My heart pounded furiously. Thirty-two years.

What will I say to her? What will she say to me?

The house door opened. A woman was older than in the photo, but her eyes… the same ones that made my heart beat faster.

Her face instantly changed: surprise, then sh0ck, and then… pain. Especially when her gaze fell upon Aliza, sitting in the passanger seat of the car.

"Susie…" I whispered.

"James… Aliza…"

Behind her, a boy about Nasan's age appeared.

"Grandma, who is this?"

Susie turned to the boy, then to Nasan, who poked his head out the window.

"Hello, James. You've come with your grandson?" She smiled at Nasan. "You two can go play in the room, there are toys there."

"I am Nasan!" my grandson replied readily.

"And I'm Tim," Susie's grandson nodded.

Aliza and I got out of the car. Nasan and Tim were already hurrying into the house, exchanging some secrets. It was strange to watch their lives intersect so easily, while ours, as adults, had been torn to shreds.

Susie and I silently walked into the kitchen. Aliza entered last, closing the door, and sat at the table.

"James… Aliza… what are you doing here?"

"The locket, Susie. I found it. And the photo. And that woman… in the picture, with the cake."

I pointed to the phone, where Nasan had left the profile open. Susie looked at the photo, then at me, then at Aliza.

"Susie, tell me… this girl…"

Susie sighed, sinking heavily into a chair.

"This is my daughter, Lily. She… she wasn't my biological…"

Aliza couldn't take it anymore. She abruptly stood up, her face distorted.

"You can't! We made a deal!"

"What deal, Susie?"

I looked at her, as I once did, when she couldn't lie.

"I… I adopted Aliza's daughter back then."

"You were always so saintly! So perfect! And now you're trying to make me out to be a monster!" Aliza screamed.

"And you were, Aliza!" Susie's voice suddenly became strong as steel. "Do you remember what happened? You know whose child this is, don't you?"

I felt my blood run cold.

"What… what are you saying?"

Aliza looked away. "What nonsense! I don't know anything!"

Susie walked up to her, her eyes burning.

"I couldn't have children, James. But when Aliza returned from her long trip… she was desperate. She said she was pregnant, but didn't want the child."

Aliza burst out: "Oh, wasn't that when you had an affair with my boyfriend while I was carrying his child?"

"I didn't know, Aliza!" Susie retorted. "You said nothing and just disappeared for seven months!"

I was in sh0ck. "You said we needed to break up for a while, and you went on your retreat!"

Aliza chuckled. "Oh, how foolish men are! Yes, I was three months pregnant and scared. I left to sort it out myself."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I barely managed to utter.

"Because when I came back… You… You were with her!"

Susie stepped back.

"You had already fallen in love with me then, and I… I loved you, but I knew you belonged to her, because she was the first to love you."

Aliza was furious. "Oh, what sentimentality, dear friend!"

My world turned upside down.

"Enough!"

Susie looked me in the eyes.

"We… we made a deal. She gave me Lily, and I… I let you go. We agreed to keep it a secret. Because she thought you would never choose her if you knew the truth about the child, and that I couldn't live with taking her place."

Tears streamed down my face.

It was a tragedy, played out by three people, each trying to do "better," but destroying the lives of others.

Just then, the doorbell rang. All three of us flinched.

"That must be Lily… your daughter," Susie said, looking directly into my eyes.

***

A few hours later, we sat at the large kitchen table. Susie, Lily, Aliza, Nasan, little Tim, dozing in Lily's arms, and I – we were all there.

We were a family. Yes, a family with scarred souls and destinies, with wounds that ran deep inside. But we had found a path to understanding.

Healing might never be fully complete for us. Some scars would remain forever. But in that kitchen, we had each other.

We were no longer alone in our secrets and pains. We began to talk, step by step, carefully, as if on thin ice. And in every word, there was a promise: we would try.