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It was more than beautiful, more than picturesque.
It was life in all its outstanding glory. The mountains had developed over millions of years. They’d begun flat and gradually rose from the earth. The clouds dipped down from the skies above as though caressing the tops, a gentle hand that stroked them. The valley had hollowed out and formed a home for the humans who came so much later, but they were here. They had sacrificed and built these homes.
“I will never get used to this, Dad.”
He stood beside her, his hands on the railing. “No. No, you won’t. Elisa, I know I can be a bit much to take, and most people don’t believe me about the stories I tell. That’s okay. I still love every one of them. This is my home and I’ll always protect it whether or not its citizens ever understand the danger. But I want you to take what I’m about to say seriously. You did not deserve to get cancer. You didn’t get it because you should have exercised more or taken more vitamins. The universe did not punish you. It was something that happened. Not something you earned. People like your momma, they need to feel like they’re in control, but the truth is there’s so much we can’t control. Things happen. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad. How we handle the outcome is what makes us who we are. You are handling it with grace, daughter. You are building a new life and you are opening yourself up to new people. If Van leaves, you didn’t deserve that either. Make a home with Hale if you fall in love with him. But always know that I love you and will stand by you through everything. I think once we accept that we can’t know what the future will bring, the next more important thing is to not let that fact stop us from trying.”
Now she couldn’t stop the tears from falling.
It felt like things were changing so fast, but hadn’t it taken years to get here?
What if she’d never gotten cancer? Would she have gone to the therapy that led her to accept this amazing, kooky, wonderful man as her dad? Or would she have written him off as a mistake her mother had made?
Maybe he was right and the past was the ground they stood on, the one from which they made each choice that brought them to the future. Her ground had shaken eighteen months before, but when it had settled, she’d found herself in a new place, with a new perspective she might never have considered before. She’d been forced to change—careers, her body, her thought processes.
What if what her mother considered tough was nothing more than stubborn? Was nothing more than fear?
What if she wasn’t getting soft here in Bliss? What if what she called softness, what her mother would have scoffed at, was actually resilience. Was the ability to be hurt and still try again, still get up from the ground and open her heart again?
Her dad slipped an arm around her shoulder. “It’s good to cry sometimes, honey. I do it myself. We can just stand here for a bit. Work can wait.”
She stood there with her father, looking out over the paradise she’d found. She let the tears fall.
And for a moment was completely content.
* * * *
Hale walked into the Elk Creek Lodge with his toolbox in hand.
He might have left his job as handyman here, but they still called him when the task seemed too much for the new guy.
“Hey, thanks for coming up.” Lucy Carson stood outside the door to the back entrance of the lodge. The front was a magnificent lobby decorated in what he’d heard called rustic elegance. The back was purely functional. “The water heater for the third floor is giving Hank hell again. I know you showed him how to do it, but he’s not getting it right. Surprisingly enough when you pay for an expensive hotel room, you tend to want hot showers.”
“No problem. It’s tricky.” He’d gone many a round with that water heater. “How are you doing?”
Lucy stopped, staring at him like he’d grown an extra head.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No,” she insisted. “It’s just you’ve never asked that question before. You are all business. But I’m great. I love working here at the lodge. Ty and Michael are doing well. Moving in together hasn’t been as weird as I thought it would be. How are you? I heard you and Van are seeing someone new. Is it true she’s Mel’s daughter by an alien queen and she was dropped off via spaceship?”
He hadn’t heard that one. “No. No spaceship. I think she took a plane and then rented a car. We took it back a couple of days ago. And I’m sorry for not asking. I forget. Also, her mom was definitely not an alien queen. She was in the Army. Max has been telling me I need to ask more questions. Apparently people like it when you ask them questions about themselves. I’m glad you’re doing all right.”
