AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lost my way, but then, I think if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be where I am tonight. Here, in the arms of the man I love—in the arms of a man who loves me more than I will probably ever understand. I wasn’t sure where our lives would go when I first met that blue-eyed, long-haired man of mine. I could have never dreamed this up, though.
I won’t die an old cat lady like my mother thought I would. No, I’ll die a woman who loved and was loved. I think that’s the benefit of life.
Epilogue
It’s been nineteen years since I came home, back to Tybee and back to J.R. I’ll never forget the day, the year, or the way J.R.’s icy blue eyes looked at me on that hot summer day I returned. I look at J.R. now, and he still makes me smile. He still makes my heart pound, and he still makes my stomach flip.
Today, the sun is warm against our skin as we sit on our back deck, enjoying a cup of coffee together. We are settled in our old swing—the same swing that has been with us since we first hung it so many years ago. J.R.’s hair is still long and thick, but today, he wears it with strands of gray. His beard is mostly gray, too, but his blue eyes are still bright as ever.
We’re older, wiser, calmer. We have a good life, and that hasn’t changed over the years. Even raising two daughters wasn’t enough to bring us down. It’s been an adventure, to say the least. Knox is twenty-five, and Amia just turned eighteen. Still, it seems like it was only yesterday when I was holding them in my arms. Time flies.
“It’s quiet this morning,” J.R. says to me. He holds my hand in his, and he pushes the swing into a slow motion with his feet.
“It won’t be long before the tourists are back,” I say, and I gaze out into the trees ahead of us, peering out at the sliver of ocean on the horizon.
I love the way early morning sounds on the island. The ocean rolls softly in the distance, and above its low hum, the gulls squawk as they dive into the water for breakfast. It’s peaceful, and it’s the best way to begin a day. We sit here in the mornings the way we used to do at night—quietly, just listening to nature around us. Every now and then, we exchange words, but being close to each other is enough, too.
“Amia said she would swing by before she heads back to the Upstate,” I tell him.
Our sweet Amia graduated high school a year earlier than we anticipated, and she enrolled into a university in the Upstate that specializes in agriculture. It nearly broke J.R.’s heart when she told us that she would take over the old farm in Tennessee. The same farm J.R. worked so hard at forgetting now beckoned to his daughter, who fell in love with it. We didn’t argue with her. We couldn’t. We had always agreed that we would let Knox and Amia choose their own path. So, Amia left us. She moved to the Upstate right after graduation, and she’s spent the last two summers on the farm in Tennessee. We don’t see her much, but sometimes, she does drop by to say hey when she’s in town. I think, in a lot of ways, J.R. is happy that Amia loves the farm. Ellie is much older now, and she needs Amia’s help and dedication. When Amia is in school, J.R.’s cousin helps with the farm. I think Roger would be proud of how his family has banded together to ensure that the farm never dies. I do wish Roger were still alive to see that a woman can, indeed, run a farm.
J.R. rolls his eyes. “I still don’t understand her infatuation with the damn farm.”
“She was born there. It’s in her blood.” I smirk. “Your dad would love it. He was so upset when we found out that Amia would be a girl. He didn’t think a girl could run a farm. He would be impressed.”
“I doubt it. Nothing was ever quite good enough,” J.R. says, and then he looks at me. “But I’m proud.”
I smile at him. “Amia.”
“Sweet Amia,” he says, and we go back to sitting quietly in the swing.
I kind of like this life. There’s peace, not very many responsibilities, and not a whole lot to say. I’m told its empty nest syndrome. Some parents get depressed; others thrive. We’re thriving, I think.
J.R. and I are out on the dock when Amia stops by after lunch, just as she promised she would. She walks down the old boardwalk toward us, and for a moment, I see her as my feisty, little two-year-old with long, bouncy, dark curls. Today, she’s tall like her daddy and fit. She’s got long hair, but she keeps it under a baseball cap most of the time with a ponytail pulled through the back. It suits her. Amia has the bluest of blue eyes, and today, those blue eyes greet me before she does.
“I’m heading back,” Amia says, approaching me. She leans into me for a hug before propping herself against the railing of the dock. She’s been on the island for a few days with a group of friends. I tried to get them to stay with us, but they rented a house closer to town. She swore we didn’t have enough room for all of them, but I would have made room. I just think she didn’t really want to hang out with her ma and pa.
“Just let her do what she wants to do,” J.R. had said to me. So, I conceded.
“Well, it was nice to see you for all of two minutes,” J.R. remarks sarcastically. He doesn’t look up at her as he throws some rope into the boat, but I know that he’s only kidding.
“Dad.” Amia sighs, and she adjusts the bill of her cap. It’s a nervous habit of hers. She nearly folded the bill in half the day she told us she would be moving away. She’s always been stuck between wanting to make us happy and keeping herself happy in the process. We’ve tried to assure her that her happiness is what creates our happiness.
J.R. looks up at her and steps out of the boat. “I’m only kidding.” He smiles at his daughter before pulling her into a hug and kissing her cheek.
“Drive carefully,” I tell her. “People are crazy on the roads.” I’ve feared a lot of things in my lifetime, but nothing is scarier than having your kids driving unsupervised. Knox and Amia aren’t really kids, though, are they? I think I’ll never not worry about them.
“I’ll be fine, Mama,” she says. “I’m stopping in to see Aunt Kelley. She said she would kill me if I came through town again without seeing her.”
“And she probably will.” I laugh. “Give her my love.”
“You’re coming to your sister’s show next week, right?” J.R. asks.
Amia rolls her eyes. “Knox won’t miss me. That’s not my thing, Dad. You know that.”
“Oh, come on. This one is important. She’s playing in the same venue where your mom and I met. Do it for her, and if not for Knox, then us.”
“We’re making an entire event out of it,” I add. “A reunion of sorts. Kelley will be there, and you’ll get to meet my friend Chels, too. It will be fun.”
