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We walk through a simple, yet elegant dining room with white linen table cloths and pristine place settings, and large picture windows give a beautiful morning view of Lake Huron. We make our way to the other side of the large, spacious room to a set of French doors that open up onto a wide, yawning deck with more dining tables and a crisp morning breeze coming off the water.
I look up at Ben who’s standing at my side to see a look of recognition, quickly followed by a joyfully content smile on his face. I follow his gaze to a corner table where two people, a man and a woman stand, their eyes on us, with tentative but excited smiles on their faces.
As I watch them stride briskly towards us, I feel it in my bones. I know by the woman’s brown eyes and the strong features of the man who they are. I draw in a sharp breath that seems to get caught between my chest and my throat. My heart flutters like butterfly wings as they get closer, and I realize what’s happening.
Before I know it, I’m wrapped up in the woman’s arms, and I catch a whiff of what is definitely an expensive, but pleasantly subtle perfume.
“I’m so happy to meet you, Kasey,” she says in my ear, with happy tears in her voice before she pulls away and turns to my daughter.
“Oh Luna, you’re so beautiful,” she swoons, cupping Luna’s cheeks in her delicate hands while Luna responds with a smile that speaks all kinds of shy, confused, but excited. I barely have time to absorb it before the man I presume as Ben’s dad is shaking my hand and pulling me in for a hug.
It all seems like a swirly blur, like a high without the drugs, as Ben joyfully hugs his parents before the five of us find seats around the table, and his parents fawn over Luna as she goes to town making a picture with the provided crayons. I just bask in the delightfully chaotic scene until Ben brings me back down to Earth by grasping my hand, right on the table, his thumb fiddling with the ring he put on my finger last night. Just in case last night didn’t make it official enough, here it is: We’re a part of Ben’s life.
Ben
After everything Kasey has done for me and my healing, I decided to waste no time proving to her that I don’t only intend to marry her and adopt Luna, but I’m letting them in all the way. I’m getting back to living my life; a great life.
Ours.
Nothing feels hesitant or foreign anymore. Everything feels exactly as it should be - only better.
“I’m so surprised to be meeting you,” Kasey exclaims to my parents after a good twenty minutes of being bombarded by said surprise, immediately followed with all the attention they’re heaping on her and Luna.
“We’ve heard so much about the two of you,” my father answers kindly, “and how you’ve helped our son find himself again.”
“He told us what he planned,” my mom chimes in, her eyes falling jubilantly on Kasey’s ring finger briefly before glancing back up to her face, “and he flew us in last night.”
Kasey looks between me and my parents, clearly at a loss for words, but her face shows overjoyed disbelief. It’s like she can’t believe this is really happening, and I give her hand a squeeze, letting her know she’s awake.
“And while we’re here, we figured we’ll take a look at some real estate,” my dad says cheerfully, glancing around. “I’ve never been to Michigan before now, but this lake sure is something, and there’s certainly more sunlight around here,” he jokes.
“Really?” Kasey asks, still apparently not believing what’s going on around here.
“Well, this is where our son’s new life is,” Mom reasons, “not to mention our new family,” she adds as Kasey’s eyes widen.
“Oh my God,” Kasey muses, resting her forehead on my shoulder like this is just too much happy news to handle all at once. She’d better get used to it, though, because I plan on making her feel this way for the rest of our lives.
Epilogue
Kasey
Two Years Later
“Luna!”I call from by the front door, my arms full of precious cargo. When I hear no answer, I only need one guess as to where my now eleven-year-old is. I march through the house to the back deck, that like the last place we lived, has been done up with cozy furniture, a fire pit table, and fairy lights. I have my little happy place, and now Luna seems to have found hers.
The apple tree which I decided I wanted to plant shortly after we moved into our modest but more spacious two-story house in memory of Jamie, is where I can often find my daughter, either picking the ripe apples in the hopes of me making fresh cobbler for her and her dad, or simply climbing the branches.
“There you are,” I give an exasperated sigh as if I’d just searched high and low before finding her sitting on the grass with her back to the trunk. Sure enough, she’s dinking around on her tablet that we have about five thousand parental controls on, and blowing bubbles with her pink gum. Thank heavens she’s at least ready to go in her kicks and basketball jersey. When I look at her eyes now, I think more about the brown in Ben’s eyes than I do of Evan’s.
I saw an article of him in my news feed. Turns out, he lost his baseball career when he was busted for abusing not only Oxy, but steroids as well, which would explain the change in his personality all those years ago. To be honest, I still want the best for his life; he just has no place in ours.
“Time to go,” I announce to my kid from beside my ice tub. “It’s almost game time, and we have to pick up the coach,” I remind her as she lurches to her feet and her full height, and I still can’t get over how tall she is now. Her legs are long and slim after a growth spurt, leaving her with the same square-ish knee-caps I had at her age. Thankfully, her cheerful and sweet personality hasn’t changed as she shows when she smiles at me and my full arms, swinging her arms as she comes up the porch steps and follows me into the house. She picks up Buster to give him a snuggle that he welcomes with a purr and grabs her duffle. She takes the tote full of snacks off my shoulder for me before I lock up with my free hand and we make our way to the driveway and to our beloved blue truck.
Ben
Another gratifying day has come to an end, and I take my stethoscope off my shoulders and lay it carefully on my desk. I log into the electronic medical records database to do my charting on my last patient, and as always, it takes me a little longer than it should due to being distracted by the heartwarming photos that grace the top of my desk.
I smile to myself as I take in the one on the far left of Kasey and me slow dancing at our wedding; her in her beautiful white gown that made her look like a princess, and me in my button-down shirt and tie that I’d loosened and unbuttoned for the festive soiree that was our reception. To us, it looks like there’s no one else in the room as we gaze into each other’s eyes. It was truly a day of laughter that even Jamie’s parents graciously flew out to attend, which meant the world to both me and Kasey.
