Page 106 of Finding Home

“There was a minute I thought about opening the fridge to make sure it wasn’t like the wardrobe inThe Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobebut instead of ending up in Narnia with Mr. Tumnus, it would take me to a land of never-ending cupcakes.” He laughed, pointing to the fridge. “Well, just to be sure…” he opened the fridge door. “…phew! Normal fridge.”

“I thought of it as a clown car fridge.” Laughter lit her face.

“Good image.” He placed his hands on the kitchen island’s surface, his eyes gazing at the tray. “Nice work. I love the swirling patterns of functionality. Like you have everything that would go together…well… together.”

“Thank you.” Elle smiled, peering down at her tray. The circular parallel rows of corresponding food pleased her. It was both pretty and practical. “Thanks for helping with the cupcakes.”

“To be of service is to love,” he said, the green in his eyes seemed to sparkle, making Elle think of Santa. This man looked nothing like Santa with his tall broad form and face clean of any whiskers or even a whisper of stubble. But he had a cheerfully generous energy radiating from him as if any minute he’d pull out a big bag of presents.

“I like that. It sounds like something that would be stitched on a pillow.”

“Fun fact, that’s where I saw it. It was on a pillow at the house of one of my buddies from Fort Knox. His wife had made it. It just always stuck with me.” His long fingers tapped against the metal counter, drumming the beat of the song vibrating from the other room.

“Pillows can be very profound.”

“I’ve got some of my best advice from them,” he said with a self-deprecating chuckle.

“Fort Knox? You were in the service?”

“Yep.” He straightened as if his commanding officer had walked into the room. “I retired from the Army after twenty years. Now I work at the VA in Buffalo.”

“Wow. You retired to work more? You must really enjoy being of service.” Elle joked.

Smirking, he shrugged.

“Seriously though, that’s great. I’m in healthcare too. What do you do at the VA?”

“I’m the Chief of Chaplain Service. I was an Army Chaplain and I’ve continued the work once I retired,” he explained.

Elle’s eyes grew wide.Chaplain? Pastor?

“Pastor Danny?” It was less of a question, more of an accusation.

“That’s what they call me, but I prefer Daniel. I’m Daniel Kwon.” He extended his hand. “I’m not going to pretend to not know who you are or that you don’t know who I am. It’s an honorto meet you, Eleanor. Your mom has told me so much about you.”

She hesitated but took his hand. The open kindness in his demeanor overtook the sting from the relationship with her mom and interactions with her mom’s past boyfriends. Her hackles didn’t rise in his presence. Her gut kicked back, waving its hands for her to proceed.

“I promise you I wasn’t trying to ambush you. I was at the refreshment table when Janet appeared. When I saw you in here, I debated introducing myself. I didn’t want you to feel cornered, but I wanted to meet you. Your mom has told me so many stories about her amazing daughter and when we’ve been with your aunt and uncle, they talk a lot about you. You’ve kind of become like a mythical being. I think I needed to talk to you to make sure you truly existed.”

“Well…I’m real. Just an average woman.” She turned, washing her hands in the sink after placing the last fried mushroom ball in the center of the second chance tray.

“Definitely not average.”

“So, you’ve been with her for four years?” Elle said, her back to him as she allowed the lukewarm water to run over her soapy hands. She should politely excuse herself and rejoin her people in the other room instead of standing here talking to yet another one of her mom’s doomed relationships. No doubt he’d leave soon, just like all the others.

She idly wondered how many boyfriends there had been between Jamie and Daniel. Her mother had never been okay with being alone, always in search of something to quell the loneliness that plagued her. Never realizing that she wasn’t alone, she had Elle. She had herself.

“Yeah. We met at the nursing home where she works. I visit veterans living in the Assisted Living and Nursing Homes across the area.” His eyes grew wistful with memory. “During herbreaks or after her shift, she’d read to some of the residents. I kept seeing her sitting in different rooms. After a month of just noticing her, I walked into one of my fellow veterans’ rooms and found her sitting beside him reading aloud. I finally talked to her.”

“What was she reading?”

It was a silly question, but the need to know nibbled at Elle. Her mom had never been a big reader. She wasn’t sure where her love of books had come from. Reading had dominated her first friendship with Summer as little girls, then bonded her to Carmen and Beth in high school, and now fueled her love with Clayton.

“Sense and Sensibility,” he replied.

“What?” Elle whirled around, her wet hands dripping onto the brown and gold tile floor.

“Yeah. I hadn’t read it. She said it was her daughter’s copy. I guess you had left it behind.” The cadence of his words was cautious. “Your mom reads that book at least three times a year. Our first conversation was about you. She talked about how smart you were and how your nose was always stuck in a book. She talked about how talented you were with your French horn. She talked about how kind, strong, smart, and beautiful you were. She always said ‘were,’ making me think you had died. It was always in the past tense.”

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