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“Had to stop for a pack of smokes.” She pulled out a cigarette and lit it before turning to me. “Sorry, doll. You sayyes?”
I scowled at her.
Gray squeezed my hand. “I know it isn’t a cabin, and we didn’t get to build it ourselves, but I hope you like it all the same.” He looked down at me and cleared his throat. There were beads of perspiration forming against his brow and he looked like he might faint from fright at any moment. “Please don’t be mad at me.”
“What am I not allowed to be mad at you over?” I said. He nudged his head toward the tiny little enclosure. I stared at it, trying to understand what the hell he was trying to show me, and then it clicked. “Is that a house?”
His cheeks flushed, and he stared at his shoes. “I know it isn’t a mansion or anything, but it’s a start. Our start. I spent all my savings on it, that’s why I couldn’t get you a big ring. I should have asked you first, and you’ve got every right to be angry with me, but I really hope you’re not.”
I leaned in, wrapping my arms around his waist. “That was your money, Gray. You didn’t have to—you shouldn’t have ...” I pulled away, wiping my wet eyes once again. “No one has ever treated me the way you do. No one. How could I ever be mad at you?” A thought crossed my mind that left me with a general feeling of unease, and I began to worry that he’d just done all of this in vain. “Where are we going to put it? I don’t think Mom’s HOA is going to be cool with a shed parked on her front lawn.”
“I think that’s my cue,” Marty said. He stepped forward, holding a handful of papers. He stared across the clearing, toward the lake, and motioned at the scenery ahead of us. “When we moved here, I didn’t even know this was part of the property. A month ago, Grayson brought me out here. Told me what this place meant to you boys. What you shared at this lake. What my son took from both of you. I’m just happy that I can help make this a place of hope and maybe get rid of some of that hurt.” He handed the papers to me. “This plot of soil, this place, it’s yours now.”
“He’s signing over twenty acres to us.” Gray pointed at the oak tree. “I thought we could put the house there. We can make this a happy place again. Like it was before. I know that there’s been a lot of hurt here—because of Trevor, and because of me and that ring—but you said you wanted this. For us to build a home here. Just you, me, and a little dog.”
Dog-Dog yapped in approval.
“You mean it? We can live here?”
“It’s ours if you want it. Already have the electric set up and everything,” he said, pointing to a newly erected power pole that I hadn’t even noticed.
“You bought us a house.” I pressed my head against his chest, breathing in his scent. “I can’t believe any of this is real. When I came home, I only thought I’d be here for a few weeks, and now you’re giving me forever.” I turned to Marty. “We can’t accept this. It’s too much. This is your land, Marty.”
Marty pointed at Gray. “You’ve given my boy his smile back. You didn’t see him when you were gone. Kent, you didn’t see him walking around miserable all the time. I haven’t seen him this happy in two decades.”
“Daddy,” Gray warned.
Marty flung his hands in the air. “No. I stood by in silence for years. Never again. For twenty years, you were just skating by. I was a part of that. A big part of it. I dragged you back here when you were just getting your singing career off the ground. I took that dream away from you because I thought it was the right thing to do. Because I thought it would‘make a man out of you.’” He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. “I didn’t know the weight those words carried when I’d said them. It must’ve made you feel like you couldn’t be yourself. That I’d do to you what Kent’s dad did to him. It kills me to know you were hiding yourself away all this time. This is my way of making amends. For my actions. For Essie’s. I want to do this. I need to do it. You are just as you’re meant to be. The way God made you to be. I would have accepted you if I’d known. I would have fought for you. I didn’t get to back then, but I can now.”
I shoved Gray’s arm and choked back a sob. “Oh my God, Gray, go hug your dad.”
“And as for you, Kent—”
“No. Don’t you dare. I don’t have any tears left to cry. If you start in on me, I might just melt into a puddle.”
“Melt away, kiddo. I’m saying this. If I’d known what happened at the lake that night, I would have tanned Trevor’s hide so hard he wouldn’t have walked right for years. You were like a son to me, just as much as my own boys. You might not be mine by blood, but you’re still mine. You hear me? You’re family now. Thank you for loving my son. Thank you for giving him back to me.”
Gray still hadn’t moved a muscle, and Marty looked like he was going to break at any moment. I was right there with him on that ledge of emotional instability, so I made my way to him and scooped him into my arms.
“I’m calling you Dad from here on out.”
His grip tightened around me. “I’d love that, son.”
***
Once the sun had set, Gray and Christian constructed a campfire. Gray said it was because the air was chilly, but I knew what he was doing. It was his way of reclaiming this place for us. The last time there had been threats of flames, we’d just been ripped away from each other. With that campfire, the flames would forge us together. When the smoke cleared, the past would be burned to ash.
I stood next to them, listening to Gray and Christian shoot the shit. Mom was at my side, her arm clinging around my waist.
“I sure am going to miss you, baby,” she whispered. “Having you come back—getting to finally make things right—well, you don’t know how much it’s meant to me.”
“I’m the one who should be thanking you. You let me come home. You didn’t have to do that, Mom.”
She shook her head. “Of course, I did. I owed you that much. You don’t know how much it kills me that I let Joel send you away. You were my baby and I just let him throw you out”
“I don’t blame you. Not anymore. It hurt at first, but he always had that hold over you. After he died, you came alive. You came into your own.” I pointed at the debs, standing by the shore. “You and those women are what Christians should strive to be. You don’t just cast people aside. You guys scooped me up with open arms. I wish you could’ve been at church that day. The way they stood up for what was right—the way they stood up for me—I might not believe in God, but I believe in them.” I squeezed her hand, maybe a little tighter than I deserved. “I believe in you, Mom.”
“I’ve always believed in you, Kent.”
