I’d been saving those videotapes for almost sixteen years. They were the only record Amber had of her mother, Nicole—her voice, her laughter, our whispered promises to our unborn daughter. I’d tucked them into a cardboard box on the top shelf of the closet, waiting for Amber’s eighteenth birthday to hand them over. But when I went to retrieve them, they were gone.

I found Lauren in the living room, flipping through a magazine. “Have you seen the tapes?” I asked. She looked up, eyes cool. “I threw them away,” she said simply. My heart stopped. “You what?” “I did. It’s time to move on, Nathan. Those tapes were holding you—and all of us—back.”

I felt as if the floor had dropped out from beneath me. “Those belonged to Amber. They were her mother’s.” Lauren’s expression hardened. “I’m her mother now,” she said. “I won’t live in Nicole’s shadow.”

I searched the house, then the neighborhood bins. By the time I realized the garbage truck had already come, I knew the tapes were lost forever. Lauren’s tears were loud, desperate sobs; mine were silent and stunned. I drove aimlessly, then returned to an empty house. Lauren left a note that she was staying with her sister to give me space.

When Amber returned from her school trip, she found me cradling that empty box. Her concern cut deeper than any betrayal. “Dad, what’s wrong?” she asked. I swallowed hard. “I had something special planned for your birthday—something of your mom’s. But the tapes…they’re gone.”

Amber’s eyes filled with tears. “She’s never known anything of Mom,” she whispered. “How can I move on from someone I never knew?” Her words broke me. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I failed you.”

That night, Amber asked, “Where does our trash go?” When I told her the city dump, she said, “Then that’s where we need to go.” At the gate, I slipped the attendant a fifty‑dollar bill. Under the harsh floodlights, we dug through piles of bags. The stench was overwhelming, but we kept going until Amber’s hand closed around a single tape labeled “Baby’s First Kick.” Then another, and another—four in total. It wasn’t the whole collection, but it was something.

Amber pressed the tapes to her chest. “Thank you for not giving up,” she said. I hugged her tightly. “I would never give up on you…or on your mother’s memory.”

We spent the next days digitizing what we found. Amber watched Nicole’s radiant face on the screen, soaking in every detail. “She had my laugh,” Amber observed, voice soft with wonder.

When Lauren returned, the house was tense. She apologized, but Amber’s disappointment was clear. “You can’t erase her,” Amber said. “Those tapes were all I had.” Lauren’s plea for forgiveness rang hollow. I realized some wounds can’t be undone.

I met Lauren at a café and told her I couldn’t continue. She begged for another chance, but I knew love alone wasn’t enough. We divorced six months later. Lauren moved away, and our home finally felt peaceful again.

Amber thrived in her first year of college, studying film inspired by her mother’s tapes. One evening she sent me a link to her latest project: a montage called Echoes, weaving clips of Nicole with new footage of Amber in the same places, echoing her mother’s smiles across time. As I watched, I felt a quiet warmth. The tapes themselves were just objects, but the love they held—that was something no one could ever throw away.