Dear Meredith Read Online Free PDF Page A

asks, looking down at Bandit, who is sitting down beside me, her tail thumping enthusiastically as she gazes up at Janet with her huge puppy eyes.
                "This is Bandit, mom. She's around four months old now and she loves meeting new people," I inform her. It is true. While I do as much as I can to avoid striking up conversations with strangers, Bandit is a true people person who loves nothing more than earning a scratch on her ruff and a word of adoration from anyone and everyone.
                Janet bends down at the waist, holding out a closed palm for Bandit to sniff. "Hello, Bandit," she says gravely, and I can see that while Janet is no keen dog lover, she has already fallen helpless victim to Bandit's charm.
                She ushers us into her kitchen, where she pours me a glass of orange juice and sets the lemon cakes out on plates. I miss this place, where Mike and I have hung out so many times. I know some people have trouble with their mothers-in-law, but Janet has always been like a mother to me when I had none before.
                "So tell me," she says, picking up a lemon cake with anticipation, while Bandit sits at her feet, looking hopefully at the treasure in her hand. "How are you?"
                I smile at her. "Better," I say simply and it is the truth. "Mom, there's something I wanted to tell you. Bandit was a present from Mike."
                Her mouth drops into an O of surprise as she sets the cake down again. "From Mike ? But how ?"
                "He left me a letter  about a month ago. And he told me he had a surprise for me, and to visit Old Ned. When I did, he presented me with Bandit," I summarise, suddenly feeling somewhat stunned that a month has already flown by.
                Janet is flabbergasted. "A letter! And Old Ned thrown into it, as well! Oh, that's just like Mike to hatch up such a plan. But who delivered that letter?"
                I realise with a slight pang that she really doesn't know. I guess, secretly, I had hoped she might have been the one. "I don't know. It's a mystery. I went to visit Mike's grave and when I came back, it was there, on the porch floor. And that isn't all. Mike wrote that there would be two more letters coming."
                "Two more!" To my surprise, she starts to laugh softly. "That's just like Mike," she says again, her smile turning wistful and loving. "Did you know, that Andrew did the same thing for me?
                It is my turn to be flabbergasted. "He did?"
                She nods, memory clouding her eyes. "Andrew knew how his death would shatter me. He wrote me a letter, which I found on my pillow about a month after he died. His words kept me going at the darkest point in my life. It was as though I had suddenly seen a light in the distance, and it was just enough to keep my head above water."
                I couldn't breathe. "Did you know who had placed the letter there?"
                "Oh yes, in my case it was no mystery. Andrew had told Mike to do so. It was such a difficult time for him, losing his dad at fifteen and seeing his mom turning into a wreck."
                She looks at me. "I know how you feel, and I know how lucky we are that we have this final present from our loved ones. I'm so glad Mike did the same for you, because I know how Andrew's letter helped me, ever so slowly, get on with life."
                "I had Mike to help me through that dark hour. I guess in that same way, so will Bandit."
                My throat has swollen shut and my nose is clogged up as the enormity of what Mike did sinks into me. He hadn't left me after all, despite the awful finality of death. He had tried his best to be there for me for as long as he could, even in those final days when he had been in pain.
                Janet comes around to my side, her own