Page 49 of Trees Take the Long View

I left them to it, and took Dean gently by the elbow, steering him away from that person. "Don't worry about him. Sahil's handling it."

"I'm sorry you had to see that."

"I'm sorry you had to live with that. You do know there's nothing wrong with being the way you are, right? He was wrong. Probably about a lot of things." Someone who went out of their way to be nasty like that surely had a warped view of life in general.

He nodded, but he looked rather stunned, almost as if he was in shock. I hoped it hadn't affected him that strongly.

"Don't worry, your bosses have it under control now. Okay? You want to go inside?"

"Um...sure. Yeah. Let's..." He looked at me, a strange expression on his face. "Did you really mean that?"

"What?" I usually meant what I said. Why was he looking so surprised?

"What you said...about this being our happy ending." He was getting choked up.

"Yes. Of course. Didn't you know that?" I put an arm around his middle and held him against me as we walked away. Behind us, Carl was protesting that he'd done nothing wrong, but I didn't care about him. I hoped I'd never need to spare him another thought.

Dean said quietly, "I keep expecting you to change your mind. But...you're not going to, are you? This is for real."

"This is for real, and I'm not going to change my mind. I love you, Dean. That's just how it is. You're my happy ending—always."

"Thank you. I can't even wrap my mind around that. But—thank you."

"Someday it'll be easier," I promised. "You just need time."

"Yeah. I guess so."

"And we have it. All we need."

"Yes," he said, sounding more sure of himself and less uncertain now. Getting away from that ex of his probably helped. We walked indoors, away from the scene, and back to the bedroom we were currently occupying.

And the rest of our lives together—wherever we went, whatever we did, in whatever ways we changed. Just us. Him and me, forever: mates, lovers, friends, partners, and travelers. On our way, into the future. Our happily ever after was now.

Epilogue

The feeling of dirt beneath my fingernails was a good one. It felt good to put my back into it, bracing myself against the hard earth, my shirt wicking sweat from my back as I pulled weeds.

Inside, Dean was still talking to him, to Terrance Jones, the man whose face had haunted me. It had been so hard to say what I needed to say, yet it had been right to get the words out, finally, halting and poor as they were.

Terrance had been a lot more forgiving than I'd have been. "I knew you were a rookie from the look on your face," he'd said. "But I was surprised when you testified against your own partner."

Terrance didn't want anything from me. Maybe Dean could find out if there was more we could do. But right now, I was pulling weeds. Terrance hadn't been able to get to any of his usual gardening this year.

I welcomed the ache of muscles. The dirt was so hard here, so parched and rough. But it wasn't beyond life. A rough-stemmed weed came up hard and sudden as I tugged, and I tumbled backwards in a spray of dirt from the roots, stumbling, landing hard on my backside.

That will teach me not to pay attention!

I heard a laugh. I looked up in time to see them both coming out onto the back porch, iced tea in hands, smiles on their faces: the man I'd failed, and my mate, who would help me make restitution in whatever way I could.

Terrance walked out and held a hand down to me. His smile gleamed, two teeth gold now. I took his hand, and he pulled me up. "Here." He pushed the tea into my hand. "You don't have to do it all in one breath."

My throat was too tight to say anything. I nodded. He turned and walked back into his house, slowly. The screen door creaked behind him.

It was the last of the warm weather. Autumn's colors would soon find the trees, and then winter's rest would be next. I looked up at the sky, and breathed, till the pricking of wetness left my eyes. I didn't deserve to be forgiven. I didn't deserve another chance. But oh, it felt good.

My mate came and stood beside me. "There are medical bills we can help with," said Dean quietly. "They should have been covered, but weren't."

I nodded. "Of course."

"It'll be the both of us paying, just so you know. I don't expect you to carry any burden without me. But it's only right we help."

I nodded again. Of course anything we did would be together, as a team. Dean steered me towards the porch, where we sat on the step. Side by side, as we nearly always were these days. In the kitchen, I could hear Terrance pouring another glass of tea.

I felt very full, as if there were a million words inside me, bursting with the things I was learning, who I was growing into, the fulfillment and healing of a life aimed for better things, doing all I could to help, to make a difference, to make amends. But at the same time I didn't need to say them. Peace filled me, and Dean understood already.

"It's a beautiful day," I said at last, looking at the sky, breathing deep.

"Isn't it?" The ice clinked in Dean's glass of tea as he tapped it against mine.