Page 30
Josh smiles slightly. "Unlike some people I know."
It's a gentle jab, one I can take now without defensiveness. "I'm working on it."
And I am. For James's sake, if not my own. I don't want my son to learn loneliness from me, to inherit my tendency to withdraw from the world. So, I've been making efforts—attending town events, joining the volunteer fire department, even hosting this birthday party instead of letting Lucy arrange it at the community center as she'd initially suggested.
Cedar Falls has slowly begun to feel like home again, in a way it hasn't since I was a child. Not the same home—I'm not the same person—but a place where I belong nonetheless.
"Elisa brought her famous potato salad," Josh says, retrieving a covered dish from the truck bed. "And Mom's recipe for coleslaw."
This is another peace offering. Our mother died when we were young, but Josh has kept her recipes and preserved that part of our history. Sharing it with me, with my family, is his way of bridging the gap between our past and present.
"James will probably just smear it in his hair," I say, "but everyone else will appreciate it."
We walk together toward the cabin, where Lucy is now surrounded by arriving guests. She's in her element, laughing as she introduces James to each new arrival, accepting gifts with genuine thanks and directing people toward the food and drinks.
I still can't believe she chose this life—chose me. After her car was fixed, I expected her to have a sudden revelation and continue her exploration of Cedar Falls without me. Instead, she dove deeper into the town's history and deeper into my life. She moved into the cottage for six months, completing her novel about the town's founding while we carefully navigated our new relationship. Then one evening, as we sat on my porch watching the sunset, she said, "I think I'd like to wake up to this view every day."
She moved in the following weekend.
A year later, we married in a small ceremony by the falls. Two months after that, she told me she was pregnant. Each step seemed both inevitable and miraculous as if we were always meant to find each other, to heal each other's wounds, to build something new from the broken pieces of our past.
She now manages the town's hardware shop three days a week, writes in the mornings before James wakes up, and has somehow become one of the most beloved residents of Cedar Falls. Everyone from the mayor to the high school janitor knows Lucy Carter, with her warm smile and genuine interest in their lives.
"Earth to Riley," Lucy calls, breaking into my thoughts. "Come help with the cake!"
I hand Josh a beer from the cooler and make my way to my wife's side. James reaches for me immediately, his chubby hands grabbing at my shirt.
"Dada," he says decisively, one of the few words in his growing vocabulary.
I take him from Lucy, settling him against my chest where he contentedly plays with the buttons on my shirt. Lucy's hand rests on my arm, a gentle anchor.
"Everything okay?" she asks quietly, her eyes flicking toward Josh.
"Yeah," I say, and mean it. "Everything's good."
Her smile tells me she understands all I'm not saying—that each interaction with my brother gets easier, that the weight I've carried for decades continues to lighten, that the life we've built together exceeds anything I thought possible for myself.
"Time for cake!" she announces to the gathering crowd. "Everyone gather round!"
As our friends and neighbors—my family and hers now intertwined in this small town—cluster around the picnic table, I hold my son and stand beside my wife, watching Josh and Elisa join the circle with their children.
The feud that separated Carters and Mitchells for over a century has ended, not with dramatic confrontation but with quiet healing, with new beginnings, with a child who carries both bloodlines and knows nothing of the bitterness that once divided his family.
Lucy catches my eye over the candles she's lighting on James's cake, and the love I see there still takes my breath away. Threeyears ago, her car broke down at the Cedar Falls town line, and my life changed forever. Some might call it coincidence. Others might call it fate.
I call it coming home.
It's a gentle jab, one I can take now without defensiveness. "I'm working on it."
And I am. For James's sake, if not my own. I don't want my son to learn loneliness from me, to inherit my tendency to withdraw from the world. So, I've been making efforts—attending town events, joining the volunteer fire department, even hosting this birthday party instead of letting Lucy arrange it at the community center as she'd initially suggested.
Cedar Falls has slowly begun to feel like home again, in a way it hasn't since I was a child. Not the same home—I'm not the same person—but a place where I belong nonetheless.
"Elisa brought her famous potato salad," Josh says, retrieving a covered dish from the truck bed. "And Mom's recipe for coleslaw."
This is another peace offering. Our mother died when we were young, but Josh has kept her recipes and preserved that part of our history. Sharing it with me, with my family, is his way of bridging the gap between our past and present.
"James will probably just smear it in his hair," I say, "but everyone else will appreciate it."
We walk together toward the cabin, where Lucy is now surrounded by arriving guests. She's in her element, laughing as she introduces James to each new arrival, accepting gifts with genuine thanks and directing people toward the food and drinks.
I still can't believe she chose this life—chose me. After her car was fixed, I expected her to have a sudden revelation and continue her exploration of Cedar Falls without me. Instead, she dove deeper into the town's history and deeper into my life. She moved into the cottage for six months, completing her novel about the town's founding while we carefully navigated our new relationship. Then one evening, as we sat on my porch watching the sunset, she said, "I think I'd like to wake up to this view every day."
She moved in the following weekend.
A year later, we married in a small ceremony by the falls. Two months after that, she told me she was pregnant. Each step seemed both inevitable and miraculous as if we were always meant to find each other, to heal each other's wounds, to build something new from the broken pieces of our past.
She now manages the town's hardware shop three days a week, writes in the mornings before James wakes up, and has somehow become one of the most beloved residents of Cedar Falls. Everyone from the mayor to the high school janitor knows Lucy Carter, with her warm smile and genuine interest in their lives.
"Earth to Riley," Lucy calls, breaking into my thoughts. "Come help with the cake!"
I hand Josh a beer from the cooler and make my way to my wife's side. James reaches for me immediately, his chubby hands grabbing at my shirt.
"Dada," he says decisively, one of the few words in his growing vocabulary.
I take him from Lucy, settling him against my chest where he contentedly plays with the buttons on my shirt. Lucy's hand rests on my arm, a gentle anchor.
"Everything okay?" she asks quietly, her eyes flicking toward Josh.
"Yeah," I say, and mean it. "Everything's good."
Her smile tells me she understands all I'm not saying—that each interaction with my brother gets easier, that the weight I've carried for decades continues to lighten, that the life we've built together exceeds anything I thought possible for myself.
"Time for cake!" she announces to the gathering crowd. "Everyone gather round!"
As our friends and neighbors—my family and hers now intertwined in this small town—cluster around the picnic table, I hold my son and stand beside my wife, watching Josh and Elisa join the circle with their children.
The feud that separated Carters and Mitchells for over a century has ended, not with dramatic confrontation but with quiet healing, with new beginnings, with a child who carries both bloodlines and knows nothing of the bitterness that once divided his family.
Lucy catches my eye over the candles she's lighting on James's cake, and the love I see there still takes my breath away. Threeyears ago, her car broke down at the Cedar Falls town line, and my life changed forever. Some might call it coincidence. Others might call it fate.
I call it coming home.