epilogue 2
Lincoln
I tooka healthy chug from my beer and settled back on the patio chair Joy had insisted on us buying.
Like usual, my wife had been right. The furniture was the shit. Comfortable, especially after the long day I’d had.
The tree house had been a pain in the ass, but it’d been built thanks to my brother and brothers-in-law.
The kids would be pitching in and painting tomorrow. Another thing Joy had insisted on letting them do. I’d tried to talk her out of it, but the moment the kids caught wind of it, there was no way I could have told them no.
Which only meant one thing—the grass below the tree house was fucked.
My lips twitched upward. I didn’t mind.
Life was messy.
But some messes were worth it.
I knew that firsthand. I looked at my cell phone. The date had me smiling.
It had been ten years to the date since I had received that first letter from my pretty wife.
Ten years.
Fuck. A whole decade. I shook my head with a smirk on my face. The saying ‘Time flies when you’re having fun’ was not wrong. It felt like I had blinked when I finally claimed my girl and asked her to marry me. Then I blinked again, and we were expecting our first and then our second.
Now I was staring at a tree house I’d helped build.
Ten years since a letter had changed the direction of my life for the better.
Thinking back, I couldn’t believe how broken I’d felt even though the doctors had reassured me time and time again that I would physically recuperate.
But back then, on the inside, I’d felt messed up, more than chipped.
Joy’s letters had given me so much. Unknowingly, she had helped change the way I looked at life.
I had lost and had to deal with a lot. More than a kid at any age should have to face.
But with Joy’s love, I had also been able to see I’d had a lot, too.
A career I loved and a woman who looked at me like she really believed I was able of hanging the moon regardless of what I was doing.
And that included a tree house for our kids and their cousins.
In the light of Joy’s love, I’d been able to break the seal on life. I felt more alive than ever. Every day that passed was brighter and better than the last.
Not that shit didn’t happen.
It did.
We had our share of tough times.
Highs and lows were a given when it came to life. But I was able to see the beauty in every season, and I couldn’t wait to see what happened in another ten years.
“Hey, babe!” Joy called out. “Can you grab the mail before you come in?” she asked, and I nodded. I was exhausted and more than ready for a shower, but the mail was an easy way to help my wife. I walked out to the front of our house and grabbed the mail.
I looked through it. Mostly ads and junk, but my body froze at an envelope in my hands.
Joy’s familiar handwriting on an envelope, addressed to me. With a stamp and everything.
I opened it and started to bark out laughter when glitter and confetti fell out.
Fuck, my wife was amazing.
Yeah, this was one mess I seriously didn’t mind. With a shit-eating grin, I glanced back at the house she’d helped make a home.
I wasn’t broken anymore.
With Joy, I was whole.