I’m sorry we weren’t there for it.”
Angel got up from the bed, and walked over, and hugged her aunt. “Thank you.” Tears filled her eyes.
“Maybe…maybe we’ll be there for next year’s event?” Natalie pulled back, looking hopefully into Angel’s eyes.
*****
There was now a chain link gate at the end of the drive that Cole had installed so the kids could play without him worrying they would get out into the street. The kids were both riding their new tricycles around the driveway. Cole was out in the driveway in front of the garage, where he was changing plugs on his bike.
He was bent down next to the bike, but he was still keeping an eye on the kids. They were racing each other back and forth from where Cole was, up the long drive, down to the gate, and back again.
Angel and Natalie pulled up to the house. Natalie looked over, and saw Angel studying the quiet, tree-lined neighborhood and the house with the white picket fence. She smiled, and murmured the same words that Cole had said to her not too long ago, “Not what you expected?”
Angel looked over at her, and shook her head.
Natalie pulled off the street, and stopped at the gate.
Cole heard the car engine, and glanced up just as they were getting out of the vehicle. They approached the gate, and Cole rose slowly to his feet, dropping the rag in his hand. He watched as they opened the gate, and entered. The metal clanged as they shut it. About that time, TJ and Melissa looked up, and spotted their mother. Cole watched as they scrambled off their bikes, and ran to her.
Angel dropped to her knees, and gathered them in her arms, holding them close.
Cole stood motionless, watching.
TJ broke from his mother’s hug, and turned to his father, and yelled down the length of the driveway to him, “Daddy, mommy’s home.”
“I see that, son,” Cole whispered. He wondered why he suddenly found it hard to remember to breath. He watched as Angel slowly stood up, her gaze finding him. Then she pushed the children toward Natalie, who hugged them fiercely, and Angel started walking towards Cole.
Here it comes, Cole thought. Would she be angry with him for taking the children? He tried to read her body language. She was still a bit too far away for him to clearly read her facial expression. Was she here to take the children away from him, and back to Arizona? Or something more? Cole was afraid to hope. He took in a deep, shaky breath, trying to prepare himself for the worst.
She got about half way down the drive, and then something he never expected, happened. She began running to him. Cole was stunned, but he had the good sense to open his arms as she vaulted herself into them. Her arms came around his neck, and suddenly he found himself holding her tightly to him.
His eyes slid closed. Thank you, God.
It was all he could do to whisper the words in her ear, “You better come running.”
Epilogue
Angel
I picked my camera up off the mantel, and crept toward the plush sofa pit group that we had gotten for the new house. It was a slate gray micro-fiber that was soft and comfy. We had a kick-ass coffee table and matching end tables that Cole had built himself. He’d started making furniture, wooden pieces, tables, mostly, as a business. He’d converted the large outbuilding behind the house into his workshop. He was really talented. His stuff was awesome, and I loved every piece he made. I wanted to put every one of them in our own house, but he persuaded me that he had to have some pieces to sell, otherwise he wasn’t going to be able to send our kids to college.
I knew this wasn’t exactly true. He’d told me about the money, and he’d been smart with it. There was a good chunk set aside for the kids. But, I got his meaning. He wanted to make his business a success, with an actual income. So, he told me, ‘No more pieces for the house, baby’.
Crash had thrown into the business with him, although his area of expertise was wrought iron. Turns out the kick-ass wrought iron candle sticks and barstools at Cole’s house were the work of Crash. He had a ‘flare for metal’ he’d told me with a smile. His stuff was awesome, and some of our biggest sellers.
I, on the other hand, it