Chapter 56
I turn onto my street an hour and a half later, and it’s a wonderful feeling being back in my cozy neighborhood. I can’t stop
thinking about Theo, but the way he exists to me, he can come with me wherever I go. He’s portable in the most delightful
way, one that could only come as a by-product of my past suffering without him. I smile at the revelation.
I feel so ready to talk to Lincoln because I’ve never before known how powerful it can be to set the truth free. I am outrageously
(embarrassingly so, by the standards of some) in love with him. I’ve known it for a while now, and frankly it’s lived inside
my bones for years, though I was unwilling to admit it. My feelings are far too big, and far too bulky, and inescapably loud , to keep them in. And even if I could, I don’t want to play it cool because I am not cool. Not at all. I am all in and ready
to get down in the mud for us.
When I approach the driveway, the first thing I notice is that the blinds in my front sitting room are still open, and I can
see into the lit-up house. As I get closer, I see what looks like a downed tree in my front yard and a figure moving around
it.
I park, climb out, and jog over.
On closer inspection it’s not a full tree but a large limb lying across the lawn, and it’s Lincoln, chain saw in hand, moving around it in the near dark. He quiets the whirring saw when he spots me.
“You know, I think this is what a modern-day knight looks like,” I say.
He sets down the chain saw. “A summer storm ran through with some big gusts. Took down this limb. I figured you were having
a hard enough time as it was, and I could just take care of this for you.”
I look at him, and the feelings vibrate inside me. “I’m so lucky. And honestly, the day, it... It was... It was not
as awful as I expected.” I let out a puff. “It was bad at times, and still is in parts, but it was also really, really great
in a lot of other ways.”
Lincoln reaches out and places his hands gently on my shoulders.
“I just booked it home from Beaufort— at Magnolia’s request —to make a big romantic gesture. Or something like it, my best shot at it. Definitely to make it clear how much I love you.”
His face leaps. “Now this is going to be a story.”
“Yes, that’s what I’m saying. And so much more. So much more. Lincoln, she told me about my dad .”
His brows shoot even higher.
I nod. “Yeah, and I found out a lot about what happened between them. There was a whole mess with Delta Suffolk keeping stuff
from Magnolia, and I’ll fill you all the way in, but”—I step closer and take his hands—“I need to talk about us first. You are my priority.”
Lincoln runs his hands from my shoulders down my arms and takes my hands in his. His touch steadies me and quiets the world
around us.
I look into his eyes. “I’m sorry it took me so long to figure this out. That for so many years I let her waltz around my life,
and that she ended up hurting you as a result.”
“You’re kidding, right?” He chuckles quietly. “The person who was most hurt by her was you, Mack. I got over her dinner insults years ago.”
“This Marcus Wilson thing is new. Well, kind of.”
“I don’t blame you for it, Mack. That was your mother.”
“I just want us to...” I roll my lips for a pause. To make sure I get this out right; it’s important. “I want us to have
a real shot at a future. Missing out on you is probably my biggest regret. I know there aren’t any guarantees, and maybe we
won’t work out in the long run, but this time, I can’t let my family chaos be the reason for it. I would walk over hot coals
to make the goodbye from our history disappear. And no amount of money in the world can buy a talent like yours, Lincoln.
Nothing close. Even with a Polaroid camera you make actual magic. You wouldn’t have made it past week two in the studio if
you weren’t cut out for it. And if I have to spend every day of the rest of our lives together proving to you that you are
worthy of everything you’ve built and more, then so be it. I love you, Lincoln Kelly. Then and now.”
Lincoln releases my hands and wraps his arms around me, pulling me in. He lowers his mouth to my ear. “I can’t bear the thought
of your adorable little toes on hot coals,” he says, then leans back to look me in the eyes. “I’m all in, Mack. All the way.
I love you more than I could ever explain.”
“I promise she won’t be a problem. Truly. You’ll need the rest of the story before it makes sense, but she’s sorry for it.
She realizes how bad she messed up, and she won’t be an issue going forward.”
“I like the sound of that.” Lincoln runs his thumb tenderly along my jaw.
My insides sizzle, and I raise myself onto my tiptoes to put my mouth on his. Lincoln runs his hand through my hair as he presses in to deepen the kiss. We stay there as long as we can before we catch the attention of the neighbors, and eventually we come apart.
“I guess I have some things to tell you as well,” he says, and I lean back to look at him. “I started on my own repairs while
you were gone. Figuring out a way to make good on the freebie Magnolia gave me so it doesn’t eat up my soul. I tracked down
the three people I cut in line—so I could make amends.”
“The photographers who applied to the studio?”
He nods. “One of them is a top surgeon in the city. When I emailed him, he replied right away. He actually thanked me, said
missing out on that spot opened the path for him to go to medical school.
“Another is a fine arts professor at Columbia. She agreed to forgive me if I guest-lecture a class and critique photos for
her students.”
“And the third?”
“The third will be interviewing with Marcus next week—for a spot in the gallery.”
I wrap my arms around him and hang myself on his neck. “You’re the best man I know.”
“There is one thing I was hoping you’d help me with,” he says. “I’m opening a studio here, and I’ll need a designer to help
me find a place and put it together.” He nuzzles into me. “If you know anyone, that is.”
“You betcha.”
“I had a good feeling.” He lifts me into a basket of his arms.
“You know, I can’t help but wonder if maybe we are a little bit meant-to-be, Lincoln Kelly. Considering we’ve failed miserably,
the world just keeps helping us put ourselves back together.”
“But I will fight for you and chase after you every time,” he promises.
“We are all things magic that I never believed in until I met you,” I say.
“You’re saying it’s unicorns and rainbows?” His delight covers his words. “After all these years?”
“I’m saying there might be a dash of it.”
And I mean every word.
Despite myself, I’ll admit that it feels like fate is on our side. Like she’s kept nudging us toward each other and back to
our senses.
Perhaps I owe a bit of gratitude to that unicorn Lincoln tied up under the rainbow when he stepped into my life and saved
me that night in the bar. And to the leprechaun willing to part with the gold coins that bought those very first drinks.
A salty breeze rushes in from behind Lincoln, covering me in the smell of him, and I am grateful to have a love as deep and
as real as the one Lincoln Kelly brought into my life. I know now that the fierce flames we sparked a decade and a half ago
have always been real. That when I fell in love with the ease of switching on a light, I wasn’t wrong. I wasn’t only young
and naive. Now, years and a lifetime later, I see it and feel it so deep in my bones that I forget how I ever could have questioned
it at all.