Young girls listen to their grandmothers—even when their grandmothers are rambling nonsense. The nonsense sticks better than the good sense.

“It’s like a whirlwind. It picks you up and carries you where you don’t want to go,” said Nana Mia. She lifted her ice tea that definitely wasn’t only ice tea, and gulped the fire water down. She rocked in her chair on the porch as little Edwina sat on the steps, watched the sun drop below the trees on the horizon, and hung to every word. “Love. All that ever did was let me down,” she continued. She didn’t mean for the girl to take it to heart.

Edwina grew listening to Nana Mia, who found her soulmate young, married, had two daughters, one was Edwina’s mother of course, and settled down in a house at the end of a dirt road. He died soon after. The area had oaks, willows, yews, maples, and any other kind of tree you could name due to Mia and her deceased husband’s love of botany. The trickiest thing to grow was the palm tree, poor thing so out of place.

Edwina came over every day growing up and helped her widowed Nana with the care of the trees, skipping social events like school dances, Halloween parties, and even basic invites by friends to the movies. Every once in a while, Nana said something like, “Don’t you have friends, child?” Edwina would reply by saying, “But you need help here, Nana,” even though that wasn’t the real reason.

When she graduated high school, she got a job at a local library and moved in with Nana Mia to take care of her. Her grandmother’s hair had turned entirely white and Nana slept on the living room futon for convenience.

Nana didn’t mind the help, but told Edwina, “You know, you got someone out there. He, or she, who knows, is waiting for you.”

“Nana, I’ll find him when I find her,” said Edwina with a cheeky grin.

“Wait, what? Which one is it?” said Nana. She’d ask her granddaughter again, but Edwina just smiled.

Edwina would spend as much time at the house as possible. No way to be found if you aren’t out and about she thought. Love just carries you away from what you care about she’d say to herself.

One day, Edwina woke from bed in her little pink room not far from the living room, and walked in to say good morning to Nana. Nana sat still as though her body turned to ice. “Nana? Are you okay?” Feeling her arm tense as Nana didn’t respond, she ran to the landline and dialed 911.

Paramedics came and after seeing Mia, told Edwina they’d have to rush her to the hospital. “A still seizure. You’re lucky. Her vitals are good.”

Edwina hopped in the back of the ambulance with the paramedic as they rushed to the hospital. When they arrived, they told her to stay in the waiting room. Edwina waited awhile and finally a nurse called her into a room where her grandmother laid on a bed set at an incline for her head.

“Grandma!” she said as tears fell from her eyes. She leaned in to hug her.

“It’s alright child,” Nana said.

Coming in behind the two of them, a young man with clip board and white coat started telling Edwina about seizures. “We want to keep her for today to run some tests, then she should be good to go.” The man had blue eyes, dark hair, and skin fair from working inside. His image stuck with her through the rest of day. She stayed in the room with her grandmother all day, staring out the window into a garden with a fountain.

Finally, she turned to Nana and said, “Nana, how do you know if you’ve found your soulmate?”

“Oh, you won’t have to have me tell you. You’ll know and they’ll know,,” said Nana.

She waited in the room until the man with the blue eyes came back. “Everything is good to go as long as she takes this,” he said, handing Edwina a prescription. Then, as he was about to step out, he stopped and turned, “I’m sorry, it’s the wrong time and place but would you like to get some coffee later?”

Edwina had almost asked the same question.

“If she doesn’t, I do,” said Nana with a laugh that put a smile on Edwina’s face.