Little Memories
At some point, Cedric had learned to rely on her afternoon visit. Like clockwork, the door to his study would fling wide open, and a little girl in a violet dress would rush inside.
"Mr. Cedric! Mr. Cedric!" She would call in some excitement, barely containing a hold on her book or some special object as she ran to greet him. As expected, he would turn and greet her with some look or comment, struggling to decide once again whether her visit was welcome at that moment or not.
Those images remained so strongly fixed in his mind that sometimes it was difficult to accept that the child's dress was turquoise now rather than violet and that her curls were much darker. Even harder to accept was that her name for him had changed. Though the little voice piped up in the same, sweet excitement, her greeting for him now was, "Granddad! Granddad!"
Cedric's reaction was what had changed the most, though. There was no more doubt that her visit was welcome, and he gladly swept aside everything to turn his full affection on her. Though his eyes were not the best anymore and his scrawny bones creaked painfully, Cedric still bent to gather her up in his arms and look with care on whatever the little princess had to show him. He had been taught well by that first precious girl, and this little one-sharing the same spirit-had reaped the full benefits.
"How pretty, Sof…Viola," he murmured, once again catching himself with the right name. Though Viola was too young to catch his slip, Cedric knew there would come a day when his memory would finally lapse and there would be no going back.
Perhaps, given the strong memories that surrounded him during her visits, there would come a time when he would forget the right name entirely in favor of the one he had learned to love a long time ago.