Epilogue
Five Years Later
The engine's rumbling drowned out anything Warren Atwell would say to his wife, Avery Hunter. He had diligently fought his fear of heights, but this was the ultimate test. Following her out of a perfectly moving plane to skydive.
She stood tall and proud in her colorful jumpsuit, beaming at him. Avery planned a jump after baby number two stopped nursing and was delighted that she could still fit into her original suit.
“You doing okay there?” Avery asked Warren.
He gave her a thumbs-up but checked his harness one more time. He would be in tandem with the experienced skydive instructor, while Avery would jump solo. Warren insisted he could do it himself, but she asked him to compromise - for their children.
That did him in. How could he deny her that?
“This was a great idea!” Irv shouted over the rushing wind of the open door in the plane.
“I can’t wait to take the leap!” Eula shouted back.
Like Warren, Irv and Eula were attached to instructors. When they heard how Warren and Avery were celebrating five years of marriage, they also decided that sounded like a good time and signed up.
Warren’s stomach dropped as the light inside the cargo bay flipped from red to green. It was go time. Sweat trickled down his back. An itchy sensation started up in his legs. He was not ready.
Avery grabbed his face in both of her hands. “It’s okay if you want to sit this one out.”
She always knew how to get Warren to focus on living in the moment and not the “what ifs” of what could go wrong. When baby number one had colic, Warren worried he was dying. It took Avery’s calmness to get him to focus on what the doctors said it would take to fix it.
Her going with the flow began to rub off on him as their family grew, along with the messes in the house.
Warren’s pristine house was night and day different from when he met Avery.
It had more color, more life, and absolutely more clutter.
He learned that being a good husband and father meant being a good partner and tidying up the messes his family was blind to.
There was no way he would return to the ground via the plane. “No way,” he yelled. “I love you. I promised to try. This is trying. Am I scared shitless? Yes. But I will be following you out of this plane.”
She pressed a hasty kiss to his lips. “I love you, Re-Husband. I’ll see you on the ground.”
With that, she hopped out of the plane, and Warren heard a “Whoo-Hoo” as she sailed through the air.
“We’re next,” his instructor said from behind him.
Warren nodded and gave the thumbs up that indicated he was ready to go.
Five years ago, if you had asked Warren Atwell if he would ever jump out of a plane, he would have given you a look that would level lesser men. At that time, it was the scariest thing he could think of.
But after finding his true love and nearly losing her, jumping out of a plane was chump change. They built a home, grew their family, and strengthened a close friend network. Their two sons waited on the ground with Uncles Thorn and Tyson.
When their oldest boy, Gerry, asked why they did this, Warren told him the truth: “I will follow your mother wherever she goes, even if that means leaping into the unknown, because we will always be there to catch each other.”
With that thought, Warren stepped out of the plane with the biggest smile on his Viking face.