Page 20 of Red River

The vast house would still feel like Archer's domain—an unexplored territory for Igor.

During the trip, my other sons had talked endlessly about finally having their own rooms. Until now, they’d shared—Van with Igor and Lake with Aiden. The idea of separate rooms was thrilling for them.

Instead of leading us to the front door, Archer took us around the house to a spacious yard that extended into a large, meticulously maintained garden. I noticed a chicken coop and a greenhouse—both reminding me of the ones my dad had maintained back home.

But the kids’ attention was immediately drawn to the pool.

"Wow!" Aiden shouted, running to the edge. "I didn’t know you had a pool!"

"Of course, I do. Hope you all know how to swim?"

"We do! Dad taught us!" Aiden said proudly.

Archer glanced briefly at me before replying. "Since you know how to swim, you can use it anytime—but only when an adult is around. And one rule: always take a shower before getting in the water. Got it?"

Aiden nodded eagerly, his eyes sparkling as he stared at the pool’s surface.

Lake also stepped closer to the edge and asked shyly, "Can I swim here too?"

"Of course. The pool is for all of us now."

Van stayed quiet, though I could tell he was also curious about the pool. His real passion was bouldering, and he was probably already wondering if there were good climbing spots nearby. But he was still a kid, and the prospect of having a pool made his face involuntarily light up.

"And over here is my chicken coop," Archer pointed to it. "I only recently got chickens—five of them. They started laying eggs about a week ago. I haven’t named them yet, so maybe you guys can help me with that."

"Why aren’t the chickens outside?" Lake looked around as if searching for the birds.

"They’re already asleep. It’s too dark for them now. You can check them out tomorrow; they’re pretty cool," Archer explained.

"Five chickens isn’t much. I eat two eggs just for breakfast," Aiden declared gleefully.

"If you help me, we can get more chickens." Archer patted Aiden on the shoulder. "But you’ll have to care for them. We can also easily expand the coop. Do you know anything about DIY?"

"I do! And we’ll help!" Aiden exclaimed, puffing his chest out proudly.

"Great. And over here is my little greenhouse." Archer gestured toward it. "Honestly, I kept it because my uncle built it, but I have no idea what to plant in there."

"Dad likes to plant things. We had a tiny garden at our old house, and it was always full of vegetables," Lake said shyly. "I helped him weed a little."

"Then the greenhouse will be your dad's," Archer concluded firmly, giving Lake a wink. "And maybe you’ll help him here too?"

Lake nodded with a happy smile.

Archer’s natural way of interacting with my boys caught me off guard. I hadn’t expected him, with his authoritative personality, to connect so easily with small kids—after all, he didn’t have children of his own. But here he was, engaging with the younger two like it was second nature.

Sam once told me that Archer wanted to have a big family, wanted to be a father. Maybe he knew something about himself that wasn’t so obvious to outsiders?

A small spark of hope flickered in my chest—perhaps this move wouldn’t be the total disaster I’d feared?

"Let’s head inside through the patio. I’ll show you the living room." Archer motioned for us to follow.

"Whoa, cool patio!" Aiden’s eyes widened as he took in the space. "And look at the grill! And that table—it’s huge!"

I couldn’t help but smile. Aiden’s bright, outgoing personality was exactly what we needed to smooth over the awkwardness of this transition. He always managed to bring some lightness into any situation, and I was grateful for it now more than ever.

"We can have meals out here when the weather's nice." Archer gestured toward the edge of the patio. "And there’s a view of the lake."

"Can we see it from here?" Aiden seemed eager to check everything at once.

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