Page 129 of River & Rue

“You stayed in the house?”

I glance up, catching the horror on his face before he masks it.

“Technically. I mostly slept at Ms. Lakin’s. She offered to petition for guardianship of me, but I declined. I guess… I wanted to hold on to the last place Teddy had been for as long as I could. I threw myself into school, got my scholarship, and left the day of graduation. I haven’t seen or spoken to my parents since that day. I’ve never regretted it. Not once.”

I pause for a breath, then finish it.

“Last year, a doctor asked me about family medical history. And it chewed on me. Not enough to call them, but enough to search up news from my hometown. Maybe it was a sixth sense telling me there was something I needed to know. And, um…” A humorless laugh leaves me. “They’re dead. A hit-and-run a few years ago. Their joint obituary said they’d been preceded in death by their two children. Their daughters, Prudence and Theodora. Reading that… it fucked me up, brought everything back. All the anger and grief. I didn’t give a shit about them killing me in absentia—that was fitting. It was the injustice of it.

“Even in death, they’d tried to erase Teddy. He was the brightest light in the world, and they snuffed him out simply because his light wasn’t the color they wanted it to be. Instead of their deaths bringing closure, the news tore me open again. The flashbacks, the nightmares, the guilt. I couldn’t bring myself to tell Ivy. I didn’t want to burden her; she’d already put me back together once. I’ve… I’ve been trying to find my way since, but I’m so tired. So fucking tired.”

River’s breath warms my ear. “I know you are, and I know it’s hard to lean on people, to trust, but I’m here. You have me, Ivy, our entire family. We’d do anything for you.”

“That’s the problem. I don’t know if I deserve a happy ending. Or maybe I just don’t want one without Teddy.”

“What do you think Teddy would say about that?”

I look up. River’s eyes are as wet as mine, but they’re calm. Golden pools of gentle conviction. I’m surprised again when my lips curve.

“He’d tell me to stop being a whiney wuss.”

He smiles softly. “Thought so. I bet Lucky St. James was tired at times too. Did he ever give up searching for a new home?”

My heart kicks my ribs, a forceful reminder that this is real. I’m not dreaming. I’m here. Safe in the arms of someone who sees me—a man with probable, implausible magic.

“No,” I whisper.

“And? Did he find it?”

I laugh as I sniff back more tears. “He did. He found a big beautiful family who loved him, and he… he shared stories of his old world so it wouldn’t be forgotten.”

River lifts my chin, teasing the tip of my nose with his.

“Welcome home, Rue and Teddy.”

42

river

​. . .​

no rain in the forecast

We sleep for ten hours, deep and dreamless, and I hold her every second of them.

Our morning is soft and quiet. A shower full of yawns and slow, exploratory touch—connection without agenda or progression. After we dry and dress, we take instant oatmeal and coffee to the porch steps.

Tendrils of fog cling to the borders of the dew-damp clearing. Misty beams of sunlight stretch through the trees, reaching for drowsy flowers. Even the squirrels I’ve named Phil and Burt are less raucous than usual. Instead of waging war over the nuts as usual, they’re sitting like little gentlemen, politely chewing as they watch us.

Rue’s storm is different too. The ice in its depths has thawed, the chaos passed. She’s high clouds and gentle rain. Still wild, but no longer destructive.

She’ll always carry the wound of Teddy’s death, just like I’ll always carry Caleb’s, but the poison infecting her grief has been purged. Now all the good memories have space to flourish.

When our bowls are empty, I take our dishes inside, then return with refilled mugs. Rue accepts hers with a smile so real the sun shines brighter.

“Are you going to be in Seattle before you leave for Copenhagen?”

I quickly swallow the coffee in my mouth before surprise can send it in the wrong direction. Given the conversation that triggered everything last night, this is the last topic I expected to come up today.