Jason looked at the beauty next to him. He smiled as he watched Sam sleeping. He didn't think he'd ever been so completely happy. He had the most perfect wife, an adorable little girl, good friends, and an overall great life.

Jason tilted his head and whispered into Sam's ear, "I love you." He closed his eyes, still smiling.

"Daddy?"

Jason opened his eyes to the now dark room. "Yeah, Sweetie?"

"Where's Mommy?"

Jason sprang up and felt the bed for his wife. Not finding anyone at his side, he sighed. He then remembered.

"Mommy's not going to be here anymore, remember?"

His daughter ran and jumped into bed with him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"I thought Mommy might come back today," she said with a tear already sliding down her cheek and onto her father's shirt.

His eyes began to water. It was almost too much pain to grieve for his loss, but to also grieve for his daughter was unbearable. She had been asking him questions all night about where her Mommy was. And no matter how many times he tried to gently put it in plain words, she still didn't seem to fully understand. But she was only five. To her, Mommy going on a trip far away meant that she was coming back.

Jason had just found out a few hours earlier, and it was hard for him to understand, too. They had just seen her that morning. How could things have gone so wrong?

"So Mommy went to Heaven? When is she coming back?"

Jason carefully tried to explain to the girl looking confusedly up at him from his lap.

"That's right, baby. Your Mommy's in Heaven. But Heaven is a special place. If you go there, you can't leave."

"I'm sorry, baby."

Michelle pulled back and looked at her father with wide brown eyes stinging with tears.

"Are you sure she's not coming home?"

"I'm sure," he whispered, looking into eyes that matched her mother's.

"Never?" Tears now flowed down her cheeks. "I'll never see her again?"

Jason sighed, not knowing yet exactly how to explain the concept of death and the Afterlife to his daughter. If Sam were here, she'd know the right words to say.

"I want to know something." He took her little face—so much like her mother's—in his hand. "Just because your mother isn't here with us physically—we can't see her or touch her—it doesn't mean that she isn't with us. She will always be in your heart, and mine. We will never forget her or stop loving her. Do you understand?"

Her big brown eyes fell. "I think so."

Jason pulled her to his chest again. This was almost unbearable. If it wasn't for Michelle, Jason probably would give up on everything. But he couldn't. Sam would kill him if he didn't take care of their little girl.

"It's not the same if I just think about her. It hurts. It'll always be different if Mommy's gone. Birthdays and parties will be different. Especially Christmas. It's not fair, Daddy."

"I know. It's not fair and it won't be the same. But the only thing we can do now is..." Get over it? Move on? Forget about it? Jason knew none of that was possible. "All we can do is hold on to each other, and hope that the hurt goes away some day."