I grabbed an extra cup for him, and we made our way out to the rail house to set up Stella’s surprise.
“Oh, man, am I ever glad you convinced me to keep all these,” I admitted to my brother.
“Well, you can thank me by helping to unload. These are fucking heavy, man!”
Didn’t I know it. I had loaded them all myself when I grabbed them from Garrett’s storage locker in Toronto. I hated that, when I picked these up, I had left Stella alone to deal with the aftermath of a fire set to her dreams. Her resilience wasundeniable, especially when you looked at the space in front of us.
She may not have been able to do much of the work herself in the last six weeks, but she made up for that by hiring anyone she could find for the jobs that needed to be done.
There were still some finishing touches to be placed, but most of the rail house had been transformed. Stella’s vision was incredible, and she had executed it perfectly, creating a rustic yet elegant space to host weddings. She kept everything as true to the original structure as she could, but added her own beautiful elements like the sheer curtains that blew in the breeze of the open windows and the sparkling chandelier that dangled from the ceiling and sent rainbows of colour throughout the space as the sun shone on it. She and Gloria had plans to make the entire yard surrounding the rail house a field of wildflowers. The only thing she hadn’t been fully happy with in her searches yet was the seating arrangements, and as we finished setting things up, I hoped that my surprise would make up for that.
“Thanks for your help, guys. I’ll go get Stella now,” I said.
“Okay, we’ll be here. But, like…not here, too.” Garrett winked at me.
I couldn’t tell if his excitement was contagious, or if my own was leaking into him, but I felt like I was buzzing as I drove back to my house to pick up Stella.
I had one surprise for her, and another that would give her the power to make me the happiest man alive.
“Why did you have to blindfold me? I can already tell we’re driving toward the rail house.” I laughed at Calvin. It was like he thought I wouldn’t know the road I had gone down countless times, as familiar as the veins in my own skin.
“Shush, it’s more fun this way, okay?” The giddy excitement in his voice was a sound I wanted to bathe in. It was brighter than the sun sparkling off the lake on a hot summer’s day. It was warmer than a blazing fire in the middle of a January snowstorm. He was that morning moment of bliss before you first opened your eyes each day, but instead of escaping me once the call of reality hit, he lingered until I softly fell asleep every night.
He put the truck in park, and I heard him open his door so I reached for my handle, too.
“No, just wait,” he said. I heard him close his door, and moments later he was opening mine, grabbing my hand and leading me out of the cab.
As he gently led the way, I couldn’t help but recall all the other times I’d travelled through darkness before. It feltnothinglike this. This was like the comforting darkness you needed to be able to experience the beauty of the sparkling night sky, or thegorgeous Northern Lights. This was the darkness that was necessary for Santa to visit and bring gifts. Not all things were best seen in the light.
“Careful, watch your step,” he said as he guided me up the rail house stairs. “There we go.”
He took in a shaky breath, and it made me giggle.
“Calvin, what’s going on? You’re making me nervous.”
“Okay, okay.” He turned me around to face inside the rail house while he stood behind me and slowly untied the blindfold.
“Surprise.” His voice was whisper soft, and my breath was completely stolen from me.
He had set up the gorgeous open space inside the rail house like it was ready for a wedding, complete with benches. They were stunning. A raw wood that had a slight charred look to them. They were rustic and gorgeous, but they also looked solid and sturdy. We could move them around to change layouts, host weddings indoors or outdoors, or move them completely to create the dance floor. They were better than any bench or chair I had been able to find. They fit the space more perfectly than anything I could have imagined.
“Calvin! Where did you find these?”
“You like them?” He was nervously wringing the blindfold in his hands as he awaited my response.
“Ilovethem.”
“They’re what I had to pick up from Toronto. My grandpa made them, but after a while they were just taking up too much space on the farm. Since Garrett already had a storage unit there, he convinced us to ship them and store them instead of selling them.”
“Wow. They’re stunning.” As I got closer, I truly noticed how beautiful the craftsmanship of them was. The knots and lines in the wood had been preserved and showcased like each bench was its own unique work of art.
“Stella, he made them out of the wood he salvaged from theold chapel. He always wanted to create new life out of something that had been left behind or forgotten about. They were the last thing he finished before he passed.”
I whipped around to face Calvin and saw the unshed tears glistening in his eyes.
These benches were not only made by the hands of his beloved family member, but they held history. They held stories and memories, and they heldlove.
“Oh, Calvin. Thank you. They are so perfect.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him tight.
