“This is for you,” he said excitedly.
The card was bright pink and covered in glittery flowers. A drawing decorated the front—two women, a boy, and a baby.
Mama. Geeta. Lucas. And Emma.
Tears filled my eyes as I looked at it. “Thank you so much,” I said, pulling him into another hug. “This definitely goes on the fridge.”
We got out of bed and walked to the kitchen, where Geeta was already preparing breakfast. At some point, she had quietly become part of our family. Even though she had originally been a temporary guest, her arrival in our lives had come at exactly the right time.
“Good morning,Didi! Happy birthday!” she said cheerfully. “Pancakes and bacon ready for your birthday breakfast.Chaigetting ready, too.”
Lucas pulled out a chair for me, and I sat down.
Just then, a knock sounded at the door.
All three of us turned toward it.
Geeta walked over and opened the door. “Bhaiya… so early!”
Cole? What was he doing here so early?
Geeta called him “Bhaiya,” which meant brother.
“I came to wish the birthday girl,” Cole said as he walked toward the kitchen.
“How did you know?” I asked.
“Lucas told me a couple of days ago,” he replied with a smile as he handed me a gift.
At Lucas’s insistence, I opened it immediately.
Inside was a beautiful picture frame.
When I turned it around, I froze.
One photograph showed me looking down at my pregnant belly, my hands resting gently over it. The second photograph captured me looking directly at the camera.
Both pictures were stunning shots captured by Cole.
“This is beautiful, Cole. Thank you,” I said.
He had returned from the detox centre around mid-January, and the very next day, he stopped by my house to give me the photographs he had taken during the restaurant’s opening ceremony.
I remembered standing by the window that afternoon when I first noticed him outside. Lucas had been playing with the other children in the yard, and Cole had somehow ended up in the middle of their game. Watching him crouch down and laugh with them had surprised me. The man who had once looked so broken and lost now seemed lighter somehow, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
A professional camera seemed to be permanently attached to him. Wherever he went, the camera followed. I often saw him driving around the village in his red two-door Maserati,sometimes stopping near the restaurant, sometimes parking by the park, and sometimes wandering down the streets or along the waterfront. Almost every time I spotted him, he had that camera in his hands, lifting it to his eye as he captured something that had caught his attention.
It fascinated me how completely photography had become part of his life.
On one occasion, when he stopped by the restaurant to speak with Jack, I found myself approaching them and joining their conversation. I had not planned it. Something about the ease with which he had begun interacting with people again made me curious. That brief exchange turned into a longer conversation, and that conversation birthed the beginning of a friendship between us.
One evening, a few weeks later, Cole joined Lucas, Geeta, and me for dinner at the house.
“My therapist is really good,” Cole said as he sat at the table with us. “She has a clinic at the hospital, and she comes twice a week.”
“That’s good,” I replied. “You seem to be doing really well. I’m so proud of you.” I paused before asking, “How are the photo sessions going?”
A small smile spread across his face.
