The wall between them was suddenly gone, and he smiled as he listened to her wail along with the radio as the houses outside the car got further and further apart.
When they finally arrived atthe park in tiny East Washburn, Grayson looked around, trying to figure out what was so special about the place.
Evangeline carried Leo in the front carrier on her chest, and she was fussing with his hat, which kept trying to fall into his eyes.
“Easy does it, wiggly boy,” she murmured to him, smiling.
The park was spacious which made it picturesque. But out in the country like this there was acreage to spare, so it probably wasn’t a bit unusual. The entrance was at the top of a rolling hill with a meadow below that had picnic tables, and beyond those there were swing sets, slides, and a set of monkey bars—all pretty normal fare for a park.
“It’s nice,” Grayson said politely, turning to Evangeline to see which part of the park she was focused on, hoping for a clue as to why she wanted to come all this way.
Her eyes were on a family below. There were two tiny girls on the swings, both with dark brown curls. A woman with the same hair sat on a bench sipping coffee, and he figured that she must be their mother.
A man pushed each little girl in turn, much to the girls’ delight.
There was something familiar about him…
“Ellis?”he heard himself murmur.
The past and the present faded in and out for an instant as he remembered the laughing young man who had once been in his unit, and the impossible weight ofhim as Grayson dragged his unconscious body away from the burning wreckage that awful day.
And here he was now, a broad-shouldered young father, pushing his daughters on the swings as they squealed with delight and his wife smiled up at him.
“He’s here because of you,” Evangeline said softly.
Grayson shook his head automatically, but his eyes stayed on the family below.
“Those little girls are here because of you,” Evangeline said more firmly. “Their whole family exists because of you.You did that.”
Grayson gazed down at Calvin Ellis and his family. It didn’t make him feel any better about Isaac Jones. But something unlocked in his chest, and it made the weight he carried feel a tiny bit lighter.
“You know how many lives you saved,” Evangeline said quietly. “But I thought maybe it would be different to actually seeone of them living that life.”
“You set this up,” he realized out loud, turning to her. “You knew he would be here?”
She bit her lip, but she nodded without breaking eye contact.
Knowing how he’d reacted to seeing those medals, he had to respect her courage.
“It… it is different,” he said after a moment, his eyes straying back to the family below.
Just then, Ellis noticed them and waved, a big smile stretching his face.
Grayson was waving back before he could overthink it.
“Do you want to see them?” Evangeline asked himsoftly.
“Yeah,” he said, nodding. “I think I do.”
“Let’s go,” she said.
He wasn’t sure why, but he reached for her hand as they headed down the hillside. Her fingers slid between his as if they had been made to fit together.
By the timethey headed back toward Trinity Falls, the afternoon sun was at their back, casting shadows and lighting up the fallen snow with a golden glow.
“That was… good,” Grayson said.
“I’m glad you didn’t mind,” Evangeline said after a moment. “He was so excited when I reached out.”
