Our Long-Distance Love

Epilogue

September 27th, 2018

Dear Derick,

I am writing you as I sit and ponder all the amazing things God has done over the past few years. Your little girl, Holly Grace, will be a big sister in just a few months. And she is every bit as excited as we were when we found out we were expecting her. She still misses you, and asks about you often, but Brandon always tells her what an amazing man you were and shares a wonderful story about you.

I miss you so much still, even as its been over two years since you left us for you heavenly home. It still feels like yesterday that you and I stood in that airport and said our goodbyes, not realizing that that would be the last time we ever laid eyes on each other. I still can't believe God blessed me with such an amazing man to be a husband and father, no matter how short it lasted. You were all I could ever want in a man, and I never believed I could love another...but after your advice and some time to heal, my heart learned to love again...but you still hold a special place in my heart, well really, all our hearts. Brandon is a great husband and provider, and he is doing a great job of being a father to Holly...but he always reminds her of you and what an amazing hero and man of God you were.

I will never forget how you lead me in the Lord and showed me what true dedication and faith looked like. You are the reason all of us, Brandon, Holly, and I are a family now...a growing family. You impacted us in so many ways...And I love you...always have and always will. I'll love you for eternity...

-Marianne

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Marianne stepped back from the gravestone, leaving her final letter on it, and wiped her tears from her eyes. Two weeks, that was all the time she had with him. Two weeks! But the work that God had done, in and through Derick had touched and changed the rest of her life.

As she stood there and stared at his name etched into the stone, she felt her unborn son kick.

"Oo," she said, with a small smile through the tears, "this was your daddy's best friend. They were and are great men. You are so blessed little one...baby Derick..."