Leap

"This is where your father proposed to me." Mom said, leaning against the fence as the stars started popping up one by one across the night sky around us. It was that time of day, too late to be afternoon and too early to be night, where the sky was dark but not enough to give the city purpose to illuminate its lights. We were enveloped in darkness. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
I nodded, imagining a tall, dark haired man whom I'd only seen in pictures with my mother, standing on the edge of this hill at the same time of night. My mom pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and smiled at me, a smile that only few could tell wasn't truly happy. There would always be a hint of sadness underneath her ruby-red lips and perfect teeth.
"Truth be told," she said, turning back to the scenic escape, "I wasn't sure I could handle having you. When your father died, I didn't know if I could really take care of you on my own."
I sucked in a tight breath.
"But now that I have you, Maude," she continued, "I could never give you up. You're the only part of your father that I have left."
I knew all this. I knew she only loved me for my resemblance to my father, that I was only special to her because I reminded her of him. I knew that I was the only thing that had kept Mom from jumping off that bridge after him.
"What was he like?"
She paused for a second. "When I met your father, I knew… he was just the kind of person, everyone could see he was going somewhere. And he was just going there so fast, like he had his own speed limit, you know?"
Mom wrapped her hands around the railing, leaning back and letting the wind rush through her hair, closing her eyes and letting out a deep breath, "I just didn't know that place was no where."