“Ellis is a good guy,” Grayson said, smiling. “But how did you find him? How did you know?”
“Oh, I can’t take credit for that,” she said. “I asked Sam for help.”
“You asked Sam to find my unit?” he asked her, amazed that Evangeline had thought of it, or taken the time when he’d kept her so busy with Leo.
“She was happy to help,” Evangeline said. “And when she told me Calvin only lived an hour and a half away I knew I had to try reaching out.”
“I’m glad you did,” he told her, glancing over at the young woman who had quietly come into his life and made so many things better.
“I have to tell you something,” she said, her eyes on the fields out the window.
“Okay,” he said.
“I know you overheard my conversation with my brother,” she said.
There was no point in denying that.
“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” he said.
“I know that,” she told him, glancing over. “Anyway, I’m sure you’re trying to figure out a lot right now, but I just need to say one thing. My brother is a good man. He sacrificed everything to protect me when our grandpa died. He left school and started working in the shop full-time so we wouldn’t end up in the system. What you overheard, that decision he’s making now? I wouldn’t want that to be the only thing you knew about Rory.”
“You’re not responsible for his decisions, Evangeline,” Grayson told her.
“Well, he’s at least partly responsible for allmybest ones,” she replied. “I wouldn’t have had any choices at all in my life if not for my brother. Any opportunity I’ve ever had has only been because of his sacrifices.”
Grayson nodded, and thought that over as they drove on through the sunny afternoon countryside and offered up a silent prayer.
Please let her brother make a good decision now.
22
GRAYSON
Grayson spent the next two days in a haze of peace he hadn’t felt in years. When he closed his eyes now, there were no painful cries, just two toddler girls laughing on a swing set.
Seeing Calvin and his family seemed to have changed something in him. Just that slight shift in perspective had allowed him to sleep through the night for two nights in a row.
And he was waking up feeling eager to meet the day, not just relieved to leave the bed where he’d feared the nightmares that woke him up drenched in sweat.
Evangeline would never know how much hope she had given him—hope that he might actually be equal to bearing the weight of the tragedy that dogged him, and that he might find ways to contribute to the world so that his time here could be judged on more than just the one failing that had cost a young man his life.
It was like waking up after being asleep for a century.The sunlight felt warmer on his skin, colors were richer, and food tasted better.
His only regret was that he had signed up for so much time volunteering at the center for today’s big activities. Not because he didn’t want to help out—he did. He felt an incredible energy and a desire to help. It was because he wanted more free time to explore the growing feelings he had for Evangeline.
As he drifted off to sleep at night he thought about the way it felt to hold her hand in his, and the strength he felt when he looked in her eyes, like finding himself again was worth whatever he had to do to keep her close.
He’d left for volunteer work right after breakfast yesterday and came home for dinner and to get the baby ready for bed only to go back out again to help Captain Anderson with a few last details.
Today was the same. He’d left early in the morning, and he hadn’t had a chance to see Evangeline again all day. He was thankful that his workday was finally over and that she and Leo would be getting here soon for the sing-along and s’mores.
Leo…
The other thing keeping him preoccupied was his son.
He still didn’t know where he stood with the boy, legally speaking.
Grayson trusted that Levi Williams would do all that he could to help him hold onto Leo in a way that was legal and ethical. But now that the darkness was finally lifting from him, Grayson felt his love for his son growing more every minute.
