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“Oh no, no,” Kathleen laughs, pulling away from me easily. “If you start that right now, we’ll never get the candy to the trick or treaters. It’s Halloween tomorrow, baby.”
I go ahead and slip my hands into Kathleen’s back pockets, my voice low and sweet, “Well, maybe we can pretend we’re not home then, hmm? How about that?”
“And deny these kids their candy bars?” Kathleen asks with a laugh, kissing my forehead. “Come one, baby. We’ll have plenty of time for all of that later.”
I sigh without any real sort of annoyance with her, letting out a laugh as I agree with my wife. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m pretty sure we will never be forgiven if I can’t provide candy to the locals. We can’t be the new house with no candy,” I tell her. “Also, I think the town is doing a hayride today too. They usually take the kids all around town for candy and through the woods and stuff like that. I used to go when I was a kid, and we lived in the country for years before we moved to the city.”
“Well, hell, let’s go then!” Kathleen’s eyes are wide with excitement, and I snort a laugh. I love to see my girl looking so damn happy.
“I thought we had to get ready to give out candy?” I ask her, raising an eyebrow and watching her grow more eager as she keeps thinking about it. “You called it tradition, baby.”
“We can take it to the kids on the hayride if you want to, and I’m sure that lots of people will be there, leaving fewer children to come by the cabin later,” Kathleen tells me, nearly bouncing on her feet and speaking in a needling sort of voice.
It’s so very adorable to watch my wife grow so happy just to go into town for a children’s hayride. I know that she’s most likely never been on a hayride other than the one we went on with her brother a few years ago, and I’m happy that I can provide that sort of new excitement and the life that she deserves for her. Finally, it’s all ours.
“Come on, Eddie, let’s go then,” Kathleen urges, grinning as she grabs my hand.
“Where are you going now?” I ask her, laughing as I sit between my little daughters on the couch. They snuggle in close, still sleeping, and my heart is entirely full.
“Costumes,” Kathleen calls as she digs around in the chest under the edge of the couch, pulling out butterfly wings and a fake, orange-looking lion’s mane.
I almost can’t believe that we are actually here now. We’re together in our cabin, and I know we will always be.
I can’t help but laugh in my happiness as I pull a quilted blanket from the back of the couch and let Kathleen pull me through the cabin with the babies in tow until we reach the edge of the doorway. Lily is in my arms, looking around with her big, hazel eyes, and Poppy clings to her mother’s chest, trying to reach back and grab at her butterfly wings.
I know that Kathleen likes the way the mountains look in the moonlight, though it’s really not late at all, and I let her go start the car under the soft melody of the ancient, shifting oak trees above our beautiful cabin. I stand in the doorway and glance back into the big cabin behind little Lily and me, taking in the familiar smells of what is now my home, for now, and forever. I can happily remain here for the rest of my life.
Bright, slanting moonlight covers the original, polished wooden floorboards and the full-to-bursting bookshelves that Kathleen has filled with all of her favorites. The light curls in through the curtained windows, shining over the entire big, open beauty of the cabin. The brick fireplace is just waiting to be lit again, and I can’t wait to get back and settle into our little slice of heaven with the people I love the most.
We’ve come such a long way from where we once began back in that club, and it’s true too that we are both different people than who we had been before. This version of me loves the new and improved Kathleen even more than I did before.
I can hear my Kathleen hummingMonster Mashin an off-tune sort of way from the car, and my heart swells with contentment and peaceful happiness.
For a long time, I didn’t know what I wanted from my life. I had never been sure about where my heart felt most at ease, at least not enough for it to matter much. For me, a home was supposed to be a house. It was a few walls and a bathroom, and maybe a bed. I realize now that home is not a place, but it’s the people you love.
Because of that, I know I will always be happy here.
I know that everything I have ever wanted is right here, tucked into the hills of a mountain and sitting in the car waiting for me outside. I can’t believe that I’m finally here in this place. I always wanted and hoped for this part of my life.
There’s a honk from behind me, and I grin, turning and walking to the car as the chill of fall descends over the early night air. Later, the girls will sleep between us on the couch, and we will eat candy until neither one of us can stand, content and happy.
EPILOGUE
ANOTHER ONE YEAR LATER
Kathleen
I stand on the soft grass of the university, and I marvel at how I got here.
For so long, I had been drowning in my life, stuck underwater without hope of escaping with my wits intact. I didn’t even know who I was or who I wanted to be. I was floundering with nowhere to go and a sea of choices.
Eddie came along and wrapped his arms around me to keep me safe. He’s still doing that now, and when I look at him, I can only see his love for me, growing and glimmering in his gaze. He keeps me warm when I feel I’m at my lowest.
If he’s the sun for me, then I’m the moon for him, always chasing him and forever reaching and shining with the light he freely gives.
In the stands, I see my love's waiting and watching me succeed. I’ll lose sight of them when we walk, but at least I know they’re actually there. I’m never alone, and I know that now. I always have someone at my back, fighting for me and loving me without restraint.
Graduation day has finally arrived, and here I stand, in line to receive the one thing I have been working towards for a little over four years.
