Page 75 of Shadow and Skulls

When he finishes, we sit quietly, enjoying the view as the sun disappears.

“I was so sad at the beginning of this year,” I tell him. “Things were changing, and I realized that even though I was healing, I was still holding back. Unable to show the world all of me. I felta bit lonely in that.” I pause, struggling to put my thoughts into words.

I love that my dad doesn’t try to fill in the blanks when I’m talking. He’s not afraid of awkward silence. He allows me the time I need.

“When I met Tank, it was like the sun came out from behind the clouds. I had gotten so used to them; I didn’t even know they were there blocking out the light.”

Again, he doesn’t say anything, but I can see he’s uncomfortable with my turn of conversation.

“I never would have raised my face to see where the warmth was coming from if it hadn’t been for you. You showed me that there are men in this world that are safe and trustworthy.”

He sits back when my mom joins us. I smile when he tries to hide his tears from her as she lowers herself onto his lap.

“Everything okay?” she asks.

I answer for him. “Yeah. Dad was just telling me the sunflower story.”

This turns her frown upside down, a smile lighting her face. “I fell in love with your father even more after he told me that story for the first time,” she says quietly, running her fingers through his beard.

“Anyway, I’m glad I’ve got you both here. I’ve been thinking about going to visit my mom in Iowa.”

Both of their faces snap my way.

I laugh. “I figured you’d be happy. You’ve been trying to get me to go visit her for the past year.”

My mom reaches over and cups my cheek. “Oh, baby. I’ll make the arrangements for the three of us to go next weekend.”

“Next weekend?” I swallow hard.

“Is that too soon? I just don’t want you to fret over it longer than necessary.”

My dad raises an eyebrow, waiting for my response.

“No. Next weekend is good. I … I just want you to know that seeing her won’t change my feelings about you. I want you to know you will always be my mom. I’m just visiting the woman who gave birth to me.”

“Kelsie, it’s sweet you’re worried about my feelings but don’t be. This trip will bring you peace. I know it with my whole heart.” She places her hands over her chest. “I didn’t want to tell you with everything else that’s been going on, but your mom’s health has been slipping. I was going to wait until we were home to talk to you about it. But I think maybe your soul knows time is running out. I’m going to make some calls right now.”

She jumps off my dad’s lap and walks down the path, bringing her phone to her ear.

“You sure about this?” he asks.

I nod, blinking back tears. “I feel like everything is falling apart, yet …”

This time he doesn’t let me flounder in awkward silence. “Yet it’s taking you right where you were meant to be?”

“It’s scary.”

He hugs me. “We’ll be by your side. You’re not alone.”

I wipe my eyes on the bottoms of my sleeves, needing to change the conversation away from my mother. “We should go see if the boys need help.”

When we get to the front gate, the boys are just coming back with Mom. “We got everything loaded up,” they tell our dad.

He gives them a stern look. We all know they picked the biggest pumpkins in the patch.

“You know, if you’ve got twenty-pound pumpkins in there, I’m not helping you clean them out.”

They both laugh. “Mom will help us,” they joke.

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