Grief can blur the lines between reality and memory, but what Kelly experienced was something else entirely.

She knew her husband’s voice. She had memorized every inflection, every tender whisper. But Jeremy had been dead for two years.

So when she suddenly heard him speaking—from inside her daughter’s room—every hair on her body stood on end.

A chill raced down her spine as she stood frozen, her heart pounding in her chest.

She forced herself forward, her trembling hands pushing open the door.

There was Sophia, sleeping peacefully in her crib, curled up with her teddy bear. But the moment Kelly stepped inside, the voice came again, clear as day. “I love you forever.”

Panic surged through her. She scanned the room—no open windows, no hidden speakers.

Was she losing her mind? Had grief finally broken her? With shaking fingers, she reached for the bear, pressing it gently. The same phrase echoed once more: “I love you forever.”

Then, a memory surfaced. A birthday gift. A bear from her mother-in-law, given to Sophia just days ago.

Kelly barely remembered it at the time, too distracted by the weight of another birthday without Jeremy. Now, she needed answers.

When she confronted Gloria, the truth unraveled like a gut-wrenching revelation. “I took his voice from your wedding video,” Gloria admitted.

“His vows. I wanted Sophia to know her daddy’s voice. I just wanted her to have a piece of him.”

Tears blurred Kelly’s vision as the weight of it all sank in. The shock. The sorrow.

The love. She wasn’t sure whether to be angry or grateful, but as she sat that night, watching her daughter sleep, she knew one thing for certain—Jeremy wasn’t gone.

He lived on, in their daughter’s eyes, in her laughter, and now, in the soft voice of a teddy bear.

As Kelly gently pressed the bear once more, her husband’s words filled the room. “I love you forever.”

Tears slipped down her face, but for the first time in a long time, she didn’t feel so alone.