under the willow tree - glenn rhee

part 9

after braking away from the hug, glenn led marcella over to the one large willow tree that stood far from the greene house, yet still on their property. the two sat underneath it, marcella's head on glenn's shoulder as the wind blew lightly.

"can i tell you about her?" marcella questioned.

glenn moved so that he was looking right at marcella and she was looking at him. "i would love to hear about your daughter, el." he assured her, sincerely.

"well." marcella began to think on where to start, moving back to their original position. "her name was willow after her grandma- my mother and well my mom was a big part of willow's life; i had her young so i needed support."

"willow is a beautiful name." glenn smiled down at the girl who looked back up at him briefly.

"i had willow at 17, i was a kid but when i found out i was pregnant i got my life together. i started putting more effort into my work and stopped partying." marcella continued, a small frown on her lips as she thought back to her teen years before her daughter came along.

"el?" glenn began, scared to put his question into words.

"yeah?"

"what happened to willow?" tentatively, the boy asked, knowing that the answer wasn't going to be a positive one.

"health complications." marcella paused for a moment before continuing. "she was only two when she passed- 2 and a bit years ago now." glenn could hear marcella's heart brake as she spoke of the status of her child, the hole in marcella's heart aching harder than ever for someone to fill it.

marcella knew that glenn could fill the hole in her heart, but she was scared that if she let him he would leave too and then the hole would grow even bigger and soon she wouldn't have a heart at all.