Two Years Later
SILAS
My wife really was incorrigible.
She had left me a note with the symbol of our grove on it, and while I knew what it meant, I had no idea what it actually meant.
Our grove was something we hadn’t gone back to in years. So why would I randomly assume that’s what she meant?
Still, after a hard day’s work with the lemons, and the crop across the way with apples, I was tired. All I wanted to do was shower, eat something and then play with my son outside. Just like I did every night.
But every now and then our lives interconnected with those Natty deemed as necessary friends. We’d go to Penelope’s house, or Laura’s, and sometimes for big dinner parties, Callie’s, but rarely did we go off book to some random location.
I assumed she had our son with her, which made me even more nervous. So, pushing away all my reservations, I got into the car and I traveled the half hour to the outskirts of Pyle and parked along the upper bank.
Walking through the trees, I heard laughter and splashing. Then as I cleared the grove and found my way to the pond, I saw her, sitting there on the dock.
Her golden hair was pulled to one side. She wore her one-piece bathing suit, which left her back bare, so I could see her tattoo. She’d gotten the sun being swallowed by darkness with a few lines of script from one of my poems.
She wanted me to publish them, and while I didn’t mind it, I also didn’t give a fuck.
It was just poetry, all of it inspired by our love story.
My boots hit the dock, and a memory of doing this when I was just fifteen surfaced, making my breath hitch. I’d loved her my entire life, and there was no sign of it getting lesser, or waning in any capacity.
Our two-year-old son was in her lap with goggles on and a pair of water wings.
“Caelum.”
My wife turned her face, a smile already beaming on her beautiful face.
“Yay, just in time.”
“Time for what?” I took Rook from her, loving how he giggled when he saw me.
“Daddy!”
He had a shock of black hair, eyes that matched mine and his mother’s features.
“We’re going to teach our son how to properly frog hunt. I hope you’re ready, Silas, because a lot of this rests on you.”
I let out a laugh as I smiled at the pond below us.
“What rests on me?”
“How quiet you can be.”
This was ridiculous. “I’m so much better at this than you are, I don’t need to—”
Natty placed her palm over my mouth as a loud croak emanated from below the dock.
“He’s down there. You need to get in the pond and swim below the dock.”
I shook my head as Rook pulled my lips up and laughed when he finally saw my teeth.
“I’m not swimming down there.”
Natty’s mouth dropped open. “You have to.”
“Why me?”
I hated the pond water. Especially this time of year, there was way too much algae.
My wife scoffed, while crossing her arms, which pushed up her cleavage.
“You can—” She glanced at Rook and then covered his ears. “Fuck me in a cornfield, but not swim in this pond?”
She removed her hands, but Rook started reaching for her again.
“How else are we supposed to teach him how to properly hunt for frogs?”
“Maybe we can make a pond on a much smaller scale at home, like in a kiddie pool.”
Natty looked away for a second, listening most likely to another bullfrog when suddenly Rook ran out of my arms, darting behind us.
We both turned, and I jumped up, but Rook was crouched down next to a little frog. His little hands reached down, pulling it up, and both Natty and I were so excited when all the sudden he tossed the frog as hard as he could into the pond.
“Rook Alec Silva,” Natty yelled, coming over to scoop him up.
I tossed my head laughing and feeling a tightness in my chest at the reminder of my brother. Funny enough, tossing a frog into a lake was something he’d do.
I watched as my wife picked up our son, and she soothingly talked to him about being gentle with the frogs, and my heart felt like it shifted. I’d been removed from the darkness my life seemed to carry for so long, for two long years. I was a peaceful farmer now, with a wife and son at home.
Our evenings consisted of taking walks through the orchard. Reading poetry by the fire. Knitting squids that still resembled penises, and baking while listening to loud music. Our home was full of laughter, happiness and joy.
It was more joy than I could have ever imagined.
I thought back to what Natty had said to me when I asked what I could do to help get past the idea of her being hurt by Dirk all those years.
Natty had told me to dig for my own sunshine and to let it come through.
I took that seriously and have worked every day since on making sure my wife sees that brightness in me.
I felt like perhaps I had finally buried my demons, since there was no longer any reason for me to live in that fear that had outlined so much of my life.
“Okay, I give up. This was a terrible idea. I keep panicking about him jumping in and landing on a log that’s underwater. I’ll just teach him in Pen’s pond where it’s much less natural.”
I picked up my son, who had two rocks he was clicking together, and started walking back through the grove.
“We have to get back anyway and prep for dinner with your mom. She’s coming over before she leaves for Alaska.”
My mother and I had come to an elusive understanding. Some part of me would never completely forgive her for keeping me from Natty for two years and for not telling me about Dirk, but she was still my mom, so I made sure she was welcomed in our lives.
She was an amazing grandma to Rook, and to Ford, Callie’s little guy. After Simon passed, she remained planted in all our lives, as if he hadn’t. We all saw the grief she processed and worked through, but Dempsey found his way back into her life, and Natty and I both couldn’t be happier for her.
He informed her he was heading to Alaska on a road trip and offered her a spot on the back of his bike.
She had plans to leave in a few days, and while I knew there were unspoken things between us, I was relieved that she’d found another good man to care for her.
Another second chance at love within this lifetime.
I knew Simon would be the great love of her life, but perhaps Dempsey would be someone that kept her company.
He seemed to know her, and respect what lengths she had to go to in order to survive.
She needed someone like that in her life as this next season of her story started.
“You were baking a shit ton of food, are we having more than just my mom?”
“Oh yeah…forgot about that.”
“About what?” I shifted Rook in my arms, so I was a bit more comfortable.
Natty smiled up at me.
“I sort of invited the club.”
“The entire club…as in the Stone Riders?”
She laughed and tugged on my hand.
“Sadly no, they wouldn’t all fit in our little cottage, babe. I invited our friends.”
I stared at her as if I had no idea what she was talking about.
She swatted my stomach. “Killian, Laura, Jamie, Pen…Wes and Callie….”
“Ohhhh right…yeah them.” We still weren’t friends.
Her eyes narrowed on me like she had read my thoughts.
“And be sure to wear your property patch, so everyone knows exactly who you belong to.”
She never tired of cracking a joke about that. I sat Rook in his car seat and let my wife think she got away with it then once he was secure, I gripped Natty by the throat and pulled her closer to me.
“You’ll pay for that comment tonight.”
She let out a breathy moan.
“Promise?”
I chuckled and kissed her, hard.
“I fuckin’ swear it.”
You aren’t going to want to miss this book’s bonus content…trust me.