Page 109 of The Summer We Mended
Saturday mornings at the studio were sacred.Lily kept the door propped open, the salty ocean breeze dancing through the air as the familiar smell of clay and kiln-warmed air filled the space.Sunlight spilled in through the high windows, golden and warm, as if the day itself was joining in the celebration.Blaze and Nora were already smocked and elbow deep in clay, their excitement practically vibrating through their little bodies.
“We want to make something for Dad!”Blaze declared the moment they walked in.He spoke the words with more confidence than he had in weeks, and Lily’s heart melted.
“Yeah!A surprise,” Nora added, eyes shining.
Lily smiled.“Then let’s make it special.Something he can hold onto, always.”
Anna was there, too, more alive than Lily had seen her since she’d been notified Luke was missing.She was practically vibrating with happiness.Her daughter moved between tables with a lightness that had been missing for far too long.Lily watched her from across the room, her own chest swelling with something like pride.Or maybe it was just relief.Joy.Both, maybe.
Margot sat perched on a stool near the back, helping two young students roll out slabs for mugs.Tom leaned against the doorframe, his usual quiet presence anchoring them all.He sipped his coffee, watching the kids with a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“He’s going to have one heck of a story,” Tom said when Lily passed him a second mug.
“You think he remembers everything that happened?”Lily asked, her voice hushed with wonder.
“He’s alive.That’s enough story for now,” Tom said.“The rest will come in time.”
Blaze and Nora were giggling at the wheels now, clay spinning under their fingers as they shaped an anchor together.Blaze had insisted on carving their initials into it.Nora had made a heart around their initials in the middle.
“Can we glaze them blue?Dad’s favorite color,” Blaze said, cheeks smudged with clay.
“We can glaze them any way you want,” Lily replied.“This is your gift.”
Anna joined them then, crouching down beside Blaze to help smooth the edge of the anchor.Her hair had been pulled back in a messy bun, a streak of clay across her cheek.She looked young.Happy.
“You’re doing such a great job,” she told her son.Then she glanced at Lily.“Luke’s going to love this.”
Lily nodded.She was glad that she was no longer in her depressed funk and that she could give this moment to her daughter, her son-in-law, and her grandkids.Had she not come out of her grief, the kids wouldn’t even know how to make an anchor or do any of the things to it that they were now doing with their own hands.
That was something to be grateful for.
The rest of the morning passed in a hum of activity.Kids came in with their parents; friends stopped by to offer hugs and warm wishes.There were pastries on the front table that someone had dropped off anonymously and a card signed simply: The island is with you.Lily had to blink back tears when she read it.
At some point, the bell above the door jingled, and Lily turned instinctively to greet whoever had arrived.She expected another neighbor, or maybe one of Anna’s old high school friends who had heard the news and wanted to stop by.
But when she saw him, everything stopped.
Luke stood in the doorway, dressed in fatigues that looked too big on his lean frame.He had a cast on his left arm, his right shoulder bandaged.There were stitches above one brow, and a healing bruise across his jaw.But he was there.Real.Alive.
“Dad?”Blaze’s voice was small, like he was afraid to believe it.
Luke smiled.“Hey, buddy.”
A bowl Blaze had been working on slipped from his hands and shattered on the floor.But no one cared.Blaze ran first, nearly tripping over his own feet, arms outstretched.Luke dropped to one knee with a grimace and caught him, pulling his son close as Nora followed, flinging herself into the hug.
Anna was frozen, hands pressed to her mouth, eyes wide with disbelief.Then she moved.
She crossed the studio in seconds, her arms wrapping around all three of them as tears fell freely down her cheeks.She kissed Luke’s forehead, his jaw, his mouth.She touched his face like she still didn’t believe he was real.
“I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again,” she whispered.
“I promised I’d come home,” Luke said, his voice rough with emotion.
Lily stood there, watching them, tears slipping down her face.Margot was crying, too, and even Tom had tears in his eyes.The entire studio had gone still, every eye on the miracle in front of them.
“I…I don’t understand.How did you…The soldier said that you were in surgery and that they would call us.No one did, no matter how many phone calls I made, but…how are you here?”
“There’s a little lag time between my rescue and the notification,” Luke answered with a chuckle.“More than likely, when you learned I’d been found, I was already released from the hospital and boarding the plane home.”
