Page 124 of Where We Ended

His laugh made my smile stretch. I was so convinced at fifteen that he would never want to keep me because of the dysfunctional life I lived, the biker princess with no money and no hope to ever leave this place.

Wes continued, “You said you’d be just like one of the fish I hooked and released back into the sea. I told you that if you wanted to use a fishing metaphor then you’d be the river, not the fish. Same always went for your dad…he loved you, Callie. While this club was his world, you were at the center.”

Resting my head against Wesley’s shoulder, I stared at the lettering across my father’s headstone and instead of a fresh wave of tears, I smiled feeling fresh hope fill my chest.

Simon Earl Stone

Beloved President of The Stone Riders

Eternity may have claimed me, but I forever lay my claim on you:

Callie ~Wes ~Ford

& my Chosen Old Lady, Sasha

When you feel the wind, look up. I’m there.

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.”

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