Chapter Thirty #2
"We asked Harper if she's going to stay now that she's already here. There's no point in her going back to the cottage for one more week. That'd just make us all miserable."
Harper's heart squeezed at the smile that spread across Emmett's face.
"Do you want to?" he asked.
"Do I really need to answer that?"
He chuckled. "You do, but only because I want to hear you say it out loud."
"Then yes, I want to stay here. I don't want to go back to the cottage. I want to be here with you guys."
"And we want you here." Tanya ran around in a little circle doing a happy dance.
Emmett chuckled and caught hold of her hand.
"Tell you what, Button, why don't you come inside with me for a minute? We need to check how much ice cream we have left for the movie tonight."
As they watched them go, Alana said to Harper, "I think he's giving us a minute alone together. Do you?"
Harper chuckled. "Yeah, I think so. Do we need one? Is there anything we still need to say to clear the air?"
"I don't think so," said Alana. "I've said I'm sorry a bunch of times."
"And I've told you that you don't need to apologize a bunch of times."
Alana laughed. "Then I guess we're good then."
"I hope so. But if ever we're not, you must tell me, okay?"
"I will. You've got no worries there." She dug in her jeans pocket and pulled something out. Then she looked down at her closed hand before looking at Harper.
"I'm not a teddy bear kind of person."
"That's okay," said Harper.
"I know, but Dad gave you the bear, and then Tanya gave you another one and..." She held her hand out. "This is more my style."
She opened her palm to reveal a small silver bear on a keychain, and handed it to Harper.
"It's not a teddy bear, but it's a way-to-say-I-care bear."
"Oh my gosh, Alana, this means so much."
Alana nodded solemnly. "It does."
Then her face transformed as she chuckled. "And besides, if you see a reminder of me on your keys every time you get in your truck, you might be more inclined to let me use it when I start driving."
Harper laughed out loud at that. "You and I are going to get along just fine. And I've already told you, I'm happy for you to learn to drive in my truck. And until you can drive yourself, I'm happy to give you rides in it."
"Thanks, Harper." Alana leaned in and gave her a quick hug. "We should get inside and check on them. Tanya's probably persuading Dad to eat half the ice cream now."
Harper laughed, she might be right. Tanya was an ice cream fiend. And lately she'd been noticing that Emmett had something of a sweet tooth himself.
~ ~ ~
Emmett sat back in his chair and took it all in. They were out on the deck again. They’d spent most of the afternoon out here, hanging out, the girls coming and going. He was content in a way he couldn't remember feeling in a long time.
He inhaled sharply when it hit him.
They were having a family day.
Harper turned to him. "Are you okay? Was that hiss because you're in pain—your ribs?"
"No, it's all good."
He was about to tell her what he was thinking when Tanya called from the front yard, where she'd decided she was going to build some vegetable beds and was marking out the spaces.
"Auntie Libby's here."
He exchanged a glance with Harper. "Are you expecting her?"
"No, although if you're not, she might be here about last night. I imagine she'll have heard how I reacted when everyone seemed to have disappeared. And since I thought I'd be riding home with her and Cash, she might feel bad about it."
He didn't comment. He understood what she meant, but he doubted Libby would feel bad. She expected people to roll with the punches, just like she did.
He got to his feet when she parked her truck around the side of the house and waved at them.
"Come on up," he called.
"Do you want a drink?" Harper asked.
"I'm good, thanks."
Libby looked... nervous.
It took him a moment to name it because nervous wasn't a state he associated with her.
"What's going on, Lib?"
She blew out a sigh and dug a couple of envelopes out of her purse. "I've been debating with myself for a few weeks about this. But..." She thrust one of the envelopes toward him. "I decided last night that it's time."
She turned to Harper. "This one's for you."
Emmett could only stare at the handwritten envelope in his hands. He'd know that handwriting anywhere.
It was Emily's.
The front bore only his name.
"What... what is this, Lib?"
"It's part of my promise to Em."
She turned to Harper. "I don't know if you're aware, but she made us all promise her that we'd take care of him the best we could."
He swallowed when Harper smiled at him.
"Emmett told me—and Blane did. She made Blane promise that he'd have Emmett's back. She made Cash promise that he'd push him beyond his comfort zone."
She smiled. "She made Emmett promise that he'd love again someday."
"Right," said Libby. "She wanted to make sure that everyone who loves him looks out for him and the girls, and that's why there's a letter for you."
Emmett's gaze flew to the envelope Harper was holding.
For the woman who'll love Emmett.
Harper looked down at it and then back up at him and held it out to him.
He shook his head.
"If Em had wanted me to read it, she would have left it with me. It's for you. She wanted you to have it."
He turned to Libby. "You've kept these letters all this time?"
"Guarded them with my life." Libby gave him a sad smile. "I didn't know if I'd ever have to give them to you, but..."
She smiled at Harper. "Here we are."
Then she waved a hand at them. "But listen. I'm going to scoot now. Those letters are personal and you guys need space, so I'll be on my way."
"Thanks, Lib."
Harper looked up at her. "Yeah. Thanks, Libby."
"Don't look so scared," Libby told her. "The only reason you're holding that envelope right now is because Em made me promise her that if Emmett met someone, loved someone, who I knew loved him back and I thought he was going to spend the rest of his life with her, I'd hand that letter over."
She shrugged. "I have no idea what it says."
She glanced at Emmett. "But I know Emily, and..."
She pointed toward her truck. "And I'm going."
He nodded. "Thanks, Lib."
"Yeah. I'll give you guys a call tomorrow, okay?"
He smiled. "We'll give you a call later." He knew she'd be worried until she heard from him.
"Are you sure you..." asked Harper.
He smiled. "I am. But even if I weren't, it's not my call. Em gave that letter to Libby to give to you."
"But Emily didn't... I wasn't..."
"But she believed in you." He nodded at the envelope. "She wouldn't have written to you if she didn't."
She looked at the envelope he was holding. "Sorry. I'm going on about my letter and you... you have your own. After all this time..."
He nodded but didn't trust his voice. She came and rested her hand on his shoulder.
"I'll take my letter and..."
"Don't go!"
"I'm not leaving. I just want to give you some space. After all these years, you'll get to hear her voice again. Well, to read it. I want you to have all the space and time you need."
He reached up to give her hand a squeeze.
"Thank you."
She walked down the steps from the deck and kept going all the way down to the creek. He squeezed his eyes shut when she sat in Emily's favorite spot. She didn't open her letter yet. She just sat there looking thoughtful.
Emmett opened his envelope carefully. He knew he'd want to keep it forever.
On the front, she'd written his name.
Emmett.
On the sheet of paper inside she'd written:
Hi Mitty.
I imagine I'll have been gone for a few years by the time you read this. Haha, but if you met someone new and married them right away, good for you. I'm not judging!
But I know you, Emmett. You've locked yourself away for a few years.
Maybe not completely. People will see you out in the world and think you're okay.
You'll do a great job of raising our girls, and on the surface you'll seem fine - capable, dependable - but you'll also be the one thing I don't want you to be, and that's lonely.
You're so damn capable that you'll do everything yourself and close the world out.
I hope you haven't. I hope you're still close with all the guys. I know Blane will have your back - if you're reading this, then I'm sure he's told you by now that I made him promise to.
But look at me talking about everything except the one thing this letter's about.
I asked Libby to only give it to you when you met the one - the new one. The woman who'll be by your side for the second half of your life.
So, if you're reading this, I guess you met her.
I'm happy for you. I want you to know that - need you to know. I'm happy, Emmett. Happy knowing that you love someone else.
Of course, if things were different and I could have stayed, I'd never let another woman near you!
But I'm dying, Mitty.
I've faced the fact that I won't be here. You'll have a life that I won't be in, and you need to love and be loved. It's who you are. I know that better than anyone.
I wrote her a letter. That's between me and her.
I hope the girls love her. I know you wouldn't be with her if they didn't.
But this letter? This is just me, asking you, begging you, to love her with all your heart.
I'll be mad at you if you feel any guilt over me. There's no need. God, I hope you understand that.
I won't say let me go, because I'll always be with you and the girls - in your hearts, like we said. And whenever a star shines a little too brightly at you, that’s me, checking in.
But please, please, please, Mitty, don't make me a reason that you don't love her fully. She deserves your whole heart, and so do you.
Give the girls a big hug from me. Probably best not to tell them I said hi - Tanya would start looking for me with the fairies down by the creek and Alana would freak out.
Just give them a hug, and you and I will know it's from me.
I love you, Emmett. Even from the beyond.