Picture Perfect

shared some details about his courtship with my Gram.
    “Sylvia and I grew up in Boston. I was a steamfitter and my job took me all over the place. I met her just nine days before I was due to leave for a two month job in Arizona.” Grabbing my Gram’s hand, Pop smiled and kissed her cheek before turning back to Tess.
    “I hated the idea of the distance because I knew, literally the moment I laid eyes on her, that Sylvia was it for me. I was afraid that she’d find someone else while I was gone, but it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened. We talked on the phone once a week and wrote letters every day. That time apart let us get to know each other differently than we would have had we been living near each other. It was beautiful. By the time I came home, I knew Sylvia better than anyone in the world, and she knew me the same way. When I was leaving for those two months, I thought we’d never get through it. Fifty-three years later, I see the error of my thinking. We were twenty-year-old kids who didn’t know a damn thing about being in a relationship. That time apart helped us. Six months later we were married, and the rest is history. I love this woman more than life itself, and those three months helped me realize that. I’m one lucky son-of-a-gun.”
    Staring at my Pop I couldn’t help but smile. My dad was right. I had learned at the knee of the master. Pop definitely knew about romance and keeping a relationship alive. My grandparents were in there seventies, but were still frisky. Like, seriously frisky. They cuddled, held hands, kissed in public and had no qualms telling my dad and I not to come over if they were planning to “make whoopee.” No joke.
    Gram basically glowed while Pop spoke. “You really are a silver tongued devil Mason Rand.”
    Oh crap. They were going to get frisky right at the table. While the rest of us were used to it Tessa, Ian and Devon weren’t. I hoped they weren’t going to have an issue with it. Mary used to tell me that my grandparents were disgusting old perverts. It was just another thing that she and I disagreed about. I thought my grandparents were awesome, and I found tremendous satisfaction in how in love they still were.
    Instead of looking disgusted, Tessa was teary eyed. Turning to me, she smiled. “That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
    Reaching under the table she grabbed her little camera from her purse. In seconds she was snapping pictures of my grandparents, and I felt myself falling for her a little bit more. She took pictures of everyone at the table, including some family shots of me with my family and Cole with his. I noticed that she went out of her way to get some pictures of Cole with Devon and Ian, and that touched me as well. Tessa was very, very thoughtful. I liked that a lot. A whole lot.
    Gram asked Tess for her camera and then she took a few pictures of us together. I couldn’t wait to get a look at those. Gram asked Tess to forward the photos to her and Tess took down her email.
    “I’ll get them to you right away Sylvia,” she said with that beautiful smile of hers.
    Gram couldn’t have been more thrilled. “You’re an absolute joy Tessa. I can’t tell you how happy I am to see my Flynny-boy with a good girl. That’s all any of us have ever wanted.”
    Tessa looked like a guppy as her mouth opened and closed and she tried to think of something to say. “Sylvia, we’re not… I don’t know if… Flynn might not want…”
    Grabbing her hand, I pulled it to my mouth before pressing a kiss on her palm. Looking her straight in the eye I told her the absolute truth, and I didn’t whisper. Fuck it all, I wanted everyone to know that she meant something. “I want, babe. Don’t even question that.”
    At that point Tessa just gaped at me and said nothing. It was like she’d been struck speechless. Luckily Gram plowed on.
    “I always wanted a granddaughter. Heck, I wanted a few. I wanted a large family, something really big. Mason and I were hell bent on having a little army of our own. Mason was a twin, but his sister passed away when they were babies and I was an only child, so we both wanted a big family. Unfortunately, there were complications when I had Todd, and it caused me to hemorrhage. Additional children were out of the question, but that was fine because god blessed us with the best son in the world. Then Todd met Rachel. They knew each other for six hours before he came home and