Gemotions

He’d always heard the tale of his grandfather, a war hero, brave and unflinching. Now, Michael stared at the pictures, the stark black and white images a jarring contrast to the stories. One photograph showed his grandfather, young and gaunt, leaning against a tree, his arm around a woman he'd never mentioned. A woman with a cascade of dark hair and a faraway look in her eyes. Another, taken in a sun-drenched cafe, revealed his grandfather’s hand resting on the woman's, a tenderness that felt alien to the stern figure he knew. He felt a peculiar heat rising in his chest.