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“It doesn’t bother you?” I asked him. “To see me with someone?”
He turned and gave me a serious look. “It might have when I was a little kid. When I thought that if you and Mom were together, my world would be perfect. Now I know it doesn’t work like that. And Mom could never make you happy, not like Addie does. You guys are good for each other. I think you make her happy too.”
“I hope so.”
* * *
Addie returned three days later,after meeting with Luke to retrieve some of her things from storage and giving her final notice at work.
And when she pulled into the driveway in a little U-haul truck, I felt my heart grow wings and do its damndest to escape my chest.
We moved her things into the house, making it feel even more like home to us all. And then Daniel, Addison, and I watched a movie and ate pizza, enjoying the warmth of a fire in the grate and the feeling of things being complete and whole.
When we said goodnight to Daniel, there was no pretense. We went together into the master bedroom and shut the door. And when I took Addison into my arms in our house, in our room, and made love to her over and over in our bed, I felt the circle of my life close with a resounding click.
This.
This was all I needed. All I wanted.
This was completion.
Epilogue
Addison
Thanksgiving
Michael and I had the biggest house, so we agreed to host Thanksgiving for both families. It was the same crowd we’d come to expect for Sunday dinners, which had become a tradition at the house too. Only at this dinner, we welcomed Shelly and her new boyfriend Liam, who possessed unusual expertise and knowledge of the world of raccoons.
Thaddius had appeared in the garden Thanksgiving morning, and it felt like the exact perfect thing, given the combination of Tuckers and Tanners we’d be hosting.
We all sat around the table in the dining room, with a few folks around an extra table Michael had made for the occasion. His custom-furniture efforts had expanded, and he’d dedicated a full half of the farm supply store to building and selling custom items. We’d set that smaller table up next to the main one, and Michael stood between them to make a toast.
“I’d like to thank everyone for coming tonight,” he said. “This year, I think we all have a lot to be thankful for, mostly the fact that we get to share time like this together. We’ve put aside differences and painful feuds and realized that the Tanners and Tuckers are more family than we are anything else. We have common roots, many of them planted right here in this house. And all of you are welcome here any time.”
“Thanks,” Liam said, and Shelly elbowed him in the ribs.
Michael sat, and Daniel said, “I think we should all be thankful that Dad didn’t tell a joke this year.”
Michael stood back up. “I almost forgot.”
I rolled my eyes, but inside I was giddy with love. The dad jokes were corny and awful, but they were so much a part of the man I’d fallen in love with. “Go ahead,” I said.
“I almost forgot to tell you about when I was buying the turkey for dinner. There was this lady at the store with me, and she kept saying she couldn’t find a bird big enough for her family,” he said, looking around at the family. “A stock boy wandered by, and she goes, ‘excuse me, do these turkeys get any bigger?’ And the stock boy said, ‘no ma’am. They’re dead.’”
Daniel beat a little da-da-dum on the table as Michael sat down.
“Terrible, as always,” Shelly said, but even her jab felt good natured.
“Addison, how is business?” Victor asked as we served ourselves from the heaping plates in the center of the table.
“Just getting rolling really,” I said. I was finishing the interior design degree I’d started, but Michael had agreed to let me set up a little office in the front living room of the house, using it as a showroom and a client meeting space. I was going to be designing interiors for other people. “Helen Manchester dropped by, asking if I could give her a better gaming space.”
“Oh my God,” Mom laughed. “She is addicted to that game she plays!”
“Seems to be keeping her young,” Victor laughed.
So my first client was a video-game-playing grandmother, and I was thrilled about it.
