The badge stayed in its velvet box on the mantle for almost the entire project. It wasn’t his real one. That had gone back to the department after the funeral. This one was far more special
“Of course, I’m okay with you honoring your father.”
I remembered the night he gave it to her.
Wren had been three, sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, when Matt came home and crouched beside her.
“I’ve got something for you.” He pulled a small object from his pocket and held it out.
A badge.
Not an official one, but a carefully shaped piece of metal polished like the real thing.
His number was written neatly across the front in black marker.
“I’ve got something for you.”
“I made you your own so you can be my partner.”
Wren took it with both hands. “Am I a police officer too?”
Matt smiled. “You’re my brave girl.”
***
One night, when the gown was almost finished, Wren walked over to the mantle and fetched the box. She opened it and stared at the badge.
Then she turned to me.
“I want it here.” She pressed her palm over her heart.
“I made you your own so you can be my partner.”
I stared at the badge.
People would judge it, they’d misunderstand, and that might be too much for her.
But she was 17. She knew that already, and she wanted to wear it anyway.
“I think that’s a beautiful idea,” I said.
***
When Wren came downstairs on prom night, and I saw her for the first time, my eyes filled with tears.
The lines of the original uniform were there, but softened into something elegant and graceful. And over her heart was the badge.
She wanted to wear it anyway.
When we walked into the gym together, heads turned.
