Piglet: “Pooh?”

Pooh: “Yes, Piglet?”

Piglet: “How do you know when someone loves you?”

Pooh: “Oh, that’s easy,” said Pooh, resting his chin on his paws. “It’s in the little things. When they listen, even when you don’t have much to say. When they wait for you to catch up, even though they could walk faster. When they remember how you take your tea, or hold your paw when the world feels too big.”

Piglet: “So… you don’t have to say it?”

Pooh: “You can,” said Pooh softly. “But sometimes you don’t have to. Love doesn’t always talk. Sometimes it just stays.”

Piglet smiled — that small, quiet kind of smile that makes everything feel safe. “Then I suppose,” he whispered, “I must be very loved.”

Pooh: “You are,” said Pooh, “and I am too.”

And for a long while after that, they just stayed there — no words, no hurry, just the kind of love that doesn’t need spelling at all.