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Then I stood up, picking up Kate in the process, and carried her upstairs to our bedroom.
Monday was a blur, with Kate and I taking turns looking after Sophie while we finished preparations for our trip. The movers came and took the rest of the boxes we were shipping out to the West Coast. We checked our bags and carry-ons, and made sure we had the thermostat turned down low enough to save on energy while keeping the pipes warm.
I left one light on in the living room. One of the real estate agents from the company I used would come by and check on things on a regular basis, to keep with the terms of our home insurance.
Finally, with the limo waiting outside, we left the apartment and as I closed the door, I wondered when we’d return, and whether it would be to finish packing because we were selling or returning for good.
It was all up in the air at that moment but the prospects of starting over in Monterey felt right to me. This apartment had so many memories. It had been my father’s gift to me when I was a student and needed a place to live. It had been Kate’s and my first place together as a couple. It was where we welcomed Sophia into our lives. It would still be here if we wanted to return.
When I got to the bottom floor of the building, I stepped out into the cool late afternoon air and took in a deep cleansing breath. The first pink and orange rays of the sunset filtered down through the tall buildings surrounding us.
I glanced back at the apartment. As much as I loved this place and our life here, the past year had been one filled with so much stress – my fear about Kate and Sophie almost being taken from me, worry about the police case going awry and being kept on the suspect list, Kate’s PTSD and postpartum depression. My reputation was tarnished in the eyes of some of my colleagues due to the publicity surrounding the case and I had to pull back from involvement in my foundation and the corporation.
Moving to Monterey and starting over there gave me hope. While our old life was ending, our new life, filled with plans for the future, was just beginning.
I picked up Sophie’s car seat and took Kate’s hand, leading her to the limo where the driver stood, the passenger doors open and waiting.
“Let’s go.”
Epilogue : Kate
California was just as I remembered it as a child – warm, sunny and most of all, laid back.
As soon as we arrived and left the plane, once we were on the road to my father’s place in Monterey, I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders. Leaving Manhattan, while hard, was the best decision for us at the time.
The first week after we arrived and were settled in at my father’s beach home, I sat beneath an umbrella and watched the surf. Sophie sat at the edge of the surf on the sand surrounded with beach toys – green and pink buckets and tiny shovels in bright pink and yellows. A tiny floppy beach hat was tied around her chin to keep it from blowing off and a mini pair of heart-shaped sunglasses, which perched a bit unevenly on her cheeks. She wore a one-piece hot pink and green pair of shorts and t-shirt for while the weather was warm, it wasn’t yet warm enough for swimsuits. She was busy digging in the sand, generally throwing the sand around her, laughing as she did.
Drake stood beside her and watched, laughing when she did, not caring that the sand was going everywhere except in the bucket. She was still too uncoordinated to be able to dig with any success.
Liam ran in the surf with a boogie board in his hands. He had on a kid’s sized wetsuit and was undeterred by the temperature of the water. Instead, he jumped on his board eagerly when a wave broke in front of him and rode it onto the sand near Drake’s feet. Up on the cliff behind us sat my father’s beach house. Huge, with a wall to wall deck, hot tub and full dining table under a broad awning. Beneath the awning sat my father and Elaine watching us. My father was in his wheelchair and was wearing a sun hat and glasses.
He waved when he saw me glance back.
Drake was so happy, standing there with his two children at his side. While I had been a bit homesick for the first few days we were in Monterey, feeling out of sorts due to the change in our lives, I was glad to be closer to my father, and of course, couldn’t be happier that Maureen had a sudden change of heart and agreed that Liam could come to stay with us for the day at Ethan’s house.
I guess it worked out well with Maureen’s and Chris’s plans to do some shopping for the day. Otherwise, who knows if she would have agreed?
I hoped that Drake would be able to show her, over the coming months, that he was as safe as anyone with Liam. Drake was a loving father, eager to establish a close relationship with his son. There wasn’t anything Drake wouldn’t do for Liam. He’d saved the boy’s life, after all. Maybe slowly Maureen would realize that and agree to some kind of shared custody arrangement.
On Liam’s part, he seemed such an easy-going boy. He never questioned anything and seemed only too glad to fit into our family, especially liking that Sophia was his little sister. He rode wave after wave in on his tiny board, the smile on his face broad. He looked so much like what I imagined Drake looked like when he was a boy. I only wish Drake could have remained that happy, but at least now, he could see his own son that way.
Drake plopped down on the beach beside Sophie and helped her fill up a bucket with sand. On my part, I went over to them and sat down on the other side of Sophie.
The three of us built a small sandcastle, and laughed as Sophie happily crawled into it, knocking down the battlements.
“Look what she did!” Liam called out when he saw her sitting in the middle of the fallen castle, her tiny fists filled with sand. “She destroyed it.”
He ran over and sat beside her, laughing as they both knocked down one more turret Drake had so carefully constructed.
Drake turned to me and smiled. He glanced around at the beach, then up to the house behind us, waving at my dad and Elaine the way I had.
Then he turned to me, his smile fading into an expression of pure contentment.
He leaned over and kissed me, then turned back to his two children, who were busy patting down the sand around them in preparation to make another castle.
I could get used to this life. It felt good here. It felt like it could be a place I could call home.
Manhattan would always have a special place in my h
