Page 144 of Love Me Steadfast
“Thanks for including Crosby in your birthday cookout,” Charlotte says to me in a quiet voice after the conversation has moved on.
I hug her closer to me on the bench and kiss her temple. “Happy to.”
She rests her head on my shoulder.
Once Charlotte filled in some of the gaps, it was clear I’d been holding a grudge against Crosby for a reason that my broken heart had manufactured. Though their friendship suffered because of the secrets Charlotte was bound to keep, Crosby never gave up on her, and I can’t help but respect him for that.
So after Henrik passed last fall, and Charlotte decided to rekindle the summer youth symphony, with Crosby’s help, I was all for it. He’s great with the kids.
I’m not so generous when it comes to his mom, Sally. Though I believe her intentions were pure, the burden Morgan and Charlotte were expected to carry as a result of her plan was impossibly heavy.
“What are you guys gonna play tonight?” I ask, forking up a bite of Barb’s potato salad.
“Besides Happy Birthday?” Charlotte teases, cutting a bite of her grilled chicken. “Skye and Mo are going to sing something.”
Skye helped out at Thunder Mountain all summer, and she and Morgan have become close. Almost as close asJesseand Morgan, but from what Charlotte tells me, they’re taking things slow.
“…and Mo and I have been working on something with Crosby,” Charlotte adds with a sparkle in her eye.
“Any chance this is the first stop on Boxcar Doves’ reunion tour?” I tease.
She laughs. “It’s theonlystop.”
I was fully prepared to support her auditioning for the Seattle Symphony like she planned, but she declined.What matters to me is being with you, and helping my family heal. We’ve all lost so much time already.
Since we returned to Finn River after Henrik’s service, she and Mo have been playing plenty of music together while also managing The Limelight’s music scene. We partnered with Mike Meekin to manage the bar and restaurant so the girls can focus on what they do best.
After the party winds down and the littles have all been packed into cars and the rest of us are doing the final clean up, Zach and I head to the creek to get water for the campfire.
“Salazar took the plea deal,” Zach says once we’re alone. “And Eric Rafferty got twenty-seven years for doing Nic’s dirty work.”
Relief floods me so fast I have to set down my bucket on the creek’s edge.
Zach walks over and pulls me into a firm embrace. My eyes blur and tears sting my nose.
“It’s over,” he says.
The tears I can’t hold back leak from my eyes as I hold my brother tight. The federal prosecutor offered Salazar life in prison with no possibility of parole instead of risking the death penalty via a trial, which would have forced Charlotte and Morgan and several other survivors to testify.
“Thank fuck,” I manage, reeling in my emotions. A laugh comes out of nowhere, and Zach gives a hearty chuckle in response.
“Now you can put it all behind you.”
“Thanks for being the best big brother,” I say as another rush of hot tears sting my eyes. “I mean it. You’ve always been there for me. Helped me do what’s right.”
“I’m proud of you, brother.” He cups the back of my head, sniffling.
I hug him tighter. “I think Dad’s looking down on us right now, proud of us both.”
“Yeah,” Zach says, his voice cracking. “He is.”
When he steps back, his dark eyes are glossy with tears but he’s grinning. “Happy Birthday.”
With a laugh, I brush my cheeks dry. “Yeah.”
Back at the picnic site, I wait for a quiet moment to share the news with Charlotte, then I hold her as she cries. “He’ll never hurt anyone again,” she says as stroke down her silky hair. “I hope this helps the others heal too.”
I kiss the top of her head. “If they’re half as strong as you, they will.”
