Sorrow tricks the brain, but this? This was authentic. Kelly recognized her spouse’s tone, and she’d just heard it… emanating from her child’s bedroom. Fear gripped her body. Jeremy had passed away two years prior. So who — or what — was talking with his voice? Then she walked in… and STOPPED DEAD.

I’m Kelly. I’m 30, and my existence has been a mix of joy and grief. My spouse, Jeremy, perished in an auto wreck two years ago. I was eight months pregnant with our child, Sophia. One instant, I was adding floral designs on her nursery walls, imagining our life together. The next, I got a call that broke my entire world.

I recall that instant perfectly. The brush fell from my grip, creating a pink streak down the wall.

“Miss Kelly?” the phone speaker said gently, with practice. “This is Officer Reynolds…”

“Yes?” My palm went to my bulging stomach. Sophia kicked, almost sensing my dread.

“An accident happened. Your spouse…”

“No,” I said quietly. “No, please…”

They explained the crash was severe — so severe that viewing his remains was not advised. I never said farewell. Just a sealed coffin at the service, nothing more.

“Kelly, dear,” my mom told me at the funeral, embracing me as I wept. “You must remain strong. For the child.”

“How?” I asked through tears. “How can I manage without him? He should be here. He should hold her…”

Two years later, I tried hard to move forward, to stay firm for Sophia. But the void? It always remained.

Then, two days ago, something occurred that made me doubt everything.

It was an ordinary day. I placed Sophia in her bed for a nap and sat on the sofa with a book. The house felt still. Calm.

Until I caught it.

A window closing sound. Not harsh — just enough to catch my notice. Just wind, I thought. But then, my heart stopped when I… Oh God… when I heard JEREMY’S VOICE:

“I love you forever.”

I swear, my entire form turned cold.

It wasn’t a faint memory. It wasn’t hope playing tricks. It was PERFECTLY CLEAR.

I sat still, my breath stuck. My ears buzzed. My heart beat so hard I feared fainting.

“Jeremy?” I whispered into the quiet, my words shaking. “Baby, is that you?”

No. No, no, no. Jeremy was gone. This was NOT POSSIBLE.

But I heard it. Once more.

“I love you forever.”

It came from Sophia’s room.

I stood so fast my book fell. My thoughts raced — was someone there? Was I seeing things?

Was Jeremy ALIVE?

I dashed along the corridor, hardly sensing my soles touch the ground. My palms were frigid, and my gut twisted like nausea might strike.

“Please,” I muttered as I hurried, tears starting to form. “Please, if you’re present…”

I flung Sophia’s entrance open.

She rested peacefully in her bed, folded into a small shape, her small digits gripping a stuffed animal. The space appeared exactly as I had arranged it. No unfastened windows. No dark figures lurking. Nothing.

Yet, I detected it once more.

“I love you forever.”

I believed my pulse ceased.

“Jeremy?” My speech faltered. “Is this some cruel prank? Please… I cannot… I cannot endure this…”

I examined the area, my hands quivering as I approached the windowpane. Something must clarify this situation.

My fingertips touched the surface. It remained closed. Secured. Beyond it, a small limb from a tree leaned against the glass, snapped as if it had dropped onto it.

Fine. That explained the sound. But Jeremy’s words?

My gaze returned to Sophia. She moved slightly while sleeping, embracing the toy tighter.

“Dada,” she mumbled during slumber, and my spirit crumbled again.

Then realization struck me.

The stuffed animal.

I dropped to the floor near her bed, hands shaking as I reached for it. Squeezed it.

“I love you forever.”

My lungs compressed so intensely I feared I might faint.

Jeremy’s voice… It originated from the stuffed animal.

“Oh God,” I cried, holding the toy against my chest. “Oh God, Jeremy…”

I reclined on the sofa, examining the bear as if it might animate itself.

I couldn’t recall purchasing this item. Had someone gifted it to Sophia?

Then I recollected. Seven days ago, we had celebrated Sophia’s second birthday. My husband’s mother, Gloria, had presented her with this toy.

“See what Grandma brought for you!” I had exclaimed, trying to appear joyful despite the pain inside me. Another celebration without Jeremy.

I had scarcely noticed it then. It seemed like just another toy.

But currently? Now I required answers. So I phoned Gloria.

She answered quickly. “Kelly, hello, darling! Is everything alright?”

I clutched the bear firmly. “Were you aware this object plays Jeremy’s voice?”

Quiet followed.

Then, a soft, almost reluctant, “Oh… did it eventually activate?”

My insides knotted. “Eventually? What exactly do you mean by EVENTUALLY?”

Gloria exhaled deeply. “I wondered when you would discover it.”

I straightened my posture. “Gloria. What actions did you take?”

“Kelly, please,” her tone wavered. “Just allow me to clarify…”

“Clarify what?” I insisted, my volume increasing. “Explain why you thought it acceptable to… to…”

I couldn’t complete my thought.

Gloria arrived sixty minutes later, appearing somewhat anxious. She positioned herself opposite me, hands joined, eyes studying my expression.

“I simply… I believed it would assist,” she stated gently.

I placed the bear between us. “Assist whom?”

She released a breath. “Sophia. And yourself.”

I fixed my gaze on her.

“Kelly,” she stretched across the table, seizing my palm. “Whenever Sophia inquires about her father… whenever I observe you attempting to elucidate… my soul aches.”

“And you suspect this doesn’t fracture mine?” My speech faltered. “To detect his tone suddenly, without warning?”

Gloria gulped. “Following Jeremy’s passing, I continually pondered how Sophia would never recognize her father’s speech. So I extracted an audio clip from your matrimonial footage. You recall his pledges?”

My airway constricted.

“‘I love you forever,'” she murmured.

Oh my God.

“I recollect,” I uttered with difficulty. “He… he rehearsed those pledges for numerous days. Claimed he needed to render them flawless…”

She linked her hands together. “I arranged its insertion into the toy prior to her anniversary. I desired her to possess a fragment of him. To understand he perpetually accompanies her.”

I blinked forcefully, gazing at the surface, my thoughts whirling.

She harbored good intentions. I comprehended that. But I felt so unprepared.

“Gloria,” I stated, my tone scarcely audible. “You ought to have informed me.”

“I understand,” she confessed with a delicate smile. “I merely… I wished to avoid distressing you.”

“Distress me?” I laughed sharply. “I believed I was losing sanity. I imagined… momentarily, I imagined he remained…”

“Living?” Gloria concluded gently. “Oh, darling…”

She shifted around the table, enfolding me in her embrace as I collapsed emotionally.

“I yearn for him intensely,” I wept. “Every individual day…”

“I comprehend,” she caressed my locks. “He would feel immense pride in you, Kelly. Such pride regarding how you nurture Sophia.”

I lacked appropriate words.

I wasn’t irate. I wasn’t alleviated. I was simply… inundated.

That evening, I sat in Sophia’s chamber, monitoring her slumber. The toy rested on my thighs. My digits traced the smooth material while I observed my small girl — the daughter Jeremy never encountered.

She resembled him greatly. The identical contour of her nose, the same indentation when she grinned, and identical glittering azure eyes.

“You would have cherished her immeasurably,” I whispered into the darkness. “She’s immaculate, Jeremy. Absolutely immaculate.”

I compressed the bear once more as a familiar voice saturated the room and my heart:

“I love you forever.”

A knot developed in my throat. I dried my eyes swiftly, suppressing the discomfort.

I longed for him.

Sophia stirred, her eyelids opening slightly. “Mama?”

“Hello, little one,” I whispered, extending to stroke her visage.

“Bear?” She reached toward the stuffed toy.

I delivered it to her, observing as she pressed it against her torso. Jeremy’s voice permeated the room again.

“That’s your father,” I informed her, my speech dense with tears. “He adores you tremendously.”

“Dada?” She examined the bear with expanded eyes, then back at me.

“Yes, darling. That’s Dada.”

She clutched the bear tighter, shutting her eyes. “Love Dada.”

And for an extensive period, I believed I had forfeited everything. But here, within my daughter’s embrace, existed a fragment of him.

I bent forward and planted a kiss on Sophia’s brow.

“You’ll constantly have him beside you, my precious child,” I murmured. “Forever.”

The sorrow remained present. It would stay permanently.

Yet for the initial moment in an extended, lengthy period… I didn’t sense such isolation.