Happily Ever After (21 page)

The Saturday morning sun was barely peeking above the trees when Joe drove up to the Garden. The lodge emitted a peaceful
stillness, and for a moment, Joe thought he’d arrived too early. Then the porch door banged open, and a pretty redhead grinned
at him. “Hiya, Joe.We’re eating breakfast. Want some pancakes?”

Her pleasant smile warmed Joe, as did the way she hunkered down and hugged an ecstatic Rip. The dog bathed her face in kisses
as she giggled. Joe grimaced.“C’mon, Rip. Settle down. I know you like this place, but you’re overreacting.”

The redhead giggled again, then stood and led them both to the kitchen. The residents looked up from their pancakes to greet
him in a cheerful chorus. Joe waved sheepishly. Gabe jumped to his feet and wrapped Joe in a hug that left him unraveled.
Their hospitality overwhelmed him, especially in the wake of his horrific behavior the last time he left the Garden. The memory
of him slamming the screen door and roaring down the driveway in response to Ruby’s probing words made his face flame.

Joe certainly didn’t deserve the chair they dragged up to the table nor the plate of steaming flapjacks Ruby set in front
of him. She must have guessed his shame, because the housemother leaned over his shoulder and spoke gently into his ear. “Welcome
back, Joe. We missed you.”

Joe’s guilt eased into gratitude as he sat next to his grinning brother and listened to the Garden family tease one another
and plan the work for the day. Joe scooped the hotcakes into his mouth, enjoyed the real maple syrup, and knew his brother
had something special going at the Garden. This was his family, his brothers and sisters. Gabe had what Joe had never given
him—total acceptance. Unconditional love. The pancakes began to stick to the lump in Joe’s throat. He swilled a cup of coffee
and asked for another.

“Where’ve you been, Joe?” Ruby asked as she filled his cup.

All eyes turned to Joe.

“I’ve been working in town as a handyman.”

Ruby arched her eyebrows. “Really? You’re a man full of surprises. It’s amazing how you always seem to find a niche.”

Her knowledge of his life piqued him. “What do you mean?”

Ruby gave him a knowing, kind look. “You’re always filling a need, blessing people. That’s how God uses you.” She cleared
her throat and smiled. “And it hasn’t hurt you in the least, either, has it?”

Joe stared into his coffee, turning over her words. Was he blessing Mona? She seemed to have enjoyed their date last night.
Slowly, she’d discarded her mantle of stress and relaxed. He warmed at the memory of the way she’d looked at him when he’d
wrapped his arm around her. Her green eyes had filled with wariness, but the fear had dissolved as their evening unfurled.
A jolt had rippled through him when she finally leaned her head on his chest. She’d hummed to a Statler Brothers’ tune, poked
fun at the garbage-picking bears, and let him charm her with a few stories. Never had he felt so alive, so willing to open
his heart to a woman. She asked nothing from him, fiercely demanded to carry her own weight, and resented his intrusion into
her life. Unfortunately, this only awakened all his protective impulses.

He had desperately wanted to kiss her. The feeling nearly overpowered him, but he fought the urge, as much for his sake as
hers. He didn’t want to lead her down a path he couldn’t follow, and alarms blared when he nestled her close. He needed time
to figure things out before he surrendered to the desire to touch those enchanting lips. His first kiss had been impulsive.
His second would be planned and offer them more than just a moment of delight.

For the first time in his life he was dreaming of putting down roots. He found his thoughts drifting into a life with Mona,
wondering what it would be like to work side by side with her at the Footstep, to wake up to her beautiful emerald eyes each
morning. The thought turned him to putty. There had to be a solution, a way to carve out a future.

Thankfully, he had time. The Footstep was on the mend, and no one expected him for a couple of weeks. Maybe God could work
it out . . . maybe the Almighty’s plan went beyond using Joe to bless Mona and help fulfill her dream. Joe smiled at Ruby
and responded to her comment. “No, I can’t say it’s hurt me.”

Ruby gave him an odd look, as if sifting through the meaning of his words.

“Joe’s goin’ fishing.” The redhead piped into the conversation.

Joe shot her a quizzical look. “How do you know that?”

Her almond eyes curled when she smiled. “You have fishing poles in your truck.”

Joe held up his hands in mock surrender. “Guilty. I was hoping Gabe could get some time off today to go fishing with his big
brother.”

Ruby crossed her arms. “Well, he is the foreman of the garden this year, and we have a full agenda today.”She scanned the
group with her gray eyes, as if to assess their opinion.

Joe’s heart fell. He’d come upon the idea a few days back, and his excitement since then had built to a pinnacle. He’d be
crushed if Gabe couldn’t go, especially since he doubted they would get another chance in the near future.

“Let him go!” Joe recognized Daniel and gave the older man an appreciative smile. “I’ll fill in for him today,” Daniel added.

Ruby drummed her fingers on her arm. “Do you want to go, Gabe?”

Gabe nodded like his head was on springs.

Ruby waved at them, beaming. “Get out of here, you two.”

Bearskin Lake was a sapphire. The sun skimmed it and refracted the blue in jeweled clarity. Observing the green backdrop of
woods and the turquoise, cloud-scattered sky, Joe knew God had created a masterpiece when he made the Northern Minnesota Boundary
Waters Canoe Area.

Joe deposited the tackle on the beach. “I’ll be right back,” he said to Gabe, who appeared every inch the hopeful fisherman
with a thin-brimmed, floppy hat and a standard orange life preserver. Joe had tried to talk him out of the rain poncho, but
Gabe was insistent. “I always bring it!” he’d said, as if he were a pro.

Joe rented a canoe from Bearskin Lodge and returned to the lake, canoe balancing on his shoulders. He flipped it easily against
his thighs, then lowered it into the water. “Climb in.” He held the canoe steady. “And make sure to balance yourself on both
sides,” he added, picturing Gabe flipping into the water and Ruby’s subsequent fury. She’d pulled Joe aside as Gabe changed
clothes and gave him a rundown of rules—life preserver at all times, no loud motors, and no handling hooks.

Gabe picked his way to the front of the canoe and sat down on the bow seat. Joe loaded in the tackle box and fishing rods,
then eased the canoe into the glassy waters.

As Joe paddled, searching for the perfect patch of weedy shoreline, the song of a loon echoed across the watery landscape.
The drip of water from his paddle as he drew it forth and the bump of the canoe splicing waves played in perfect harmony with
the whisper of wind through the forest. The sun had cleared the treetops and winked full in their faces, promising a warm,
clear day. With Gabe sitting expectantly in front holding the gunwales, Joe felt an unfamiliar swell of contentment.

Gabe cast him a glance over his shoulder. “Do you think it’s a nice day, Joe?”

Joe guided the canoe toward a small, grass-lined inlet. Tucking the paddle inside, he grabbed a fishing pole. The drugstore
in Deep Haven, stocked for the tourist trade, sold just about everything, including Navaho blankets and fishing tackle. Joe
checked the fishing line for tangles one last time, then tied on a weight and a lure. Reaching into the minnow bucket, he
snared a slimy, finger-length fish. He hooked it on and handed the outfit to Gabe. “Can you cast?”

Gabe nodded, but when he nearly took off Joe’s right ear with the first attempt, Joe decided he wanted to keep his appendages.
So he took the pole from Gabe and landed the lure himself in a nice patch of clear water, several feet from the nearest weed.

Gabe grinned wide, eyes hopeful, as Joe handed back the rod and reel. “Catch me some supper,” Joe said, winking.

Gabe hummed a familiar tune as Joe baited his own hook. Casting to the opposite side, Joe joined his brother’s off-melody
hum of “Amazing Grace.” Bugs scurried across the surface of the water, and a fish jumped far from his line. “C’mon, smallmouth
bass, I got something more delicious than a water bug,” Joe purred to the cloudy water.

“Help!” Gabe’s cry ripped him from his peaceful reverie. “Help, help!” Gabe’s pole curled like a finger, dipping into the
water. “I got something!”

“Hold tight!” Joe wedged his pole into the space in his seat and leaned forward on his knees to help Gabe set the hook. “Give
me your rod.”

Gabe surrendered the pole. Joe yanked it hard and felt the fish dig in for a fight. “I think you got a trophy. Reel her in!”
He handed the pole back to Gabe, who set his jaw and began to reel. Joe watched with pride as his brother fought, grunted,
and reeled in the monstrous fish. The catch played hard, sometimes swimming close, other times jerking until the tip of the
pole disappeared into the water.

“Hold it up; keep the line tight,” Joe coached.

Gabe followed his every instruction. He gritted his teeth and fought the fish.

Joe saw a silver gleam skim the surface of the water.“It’s a walleye!” he whooped. “Maybe five pounds!”He scrambled for the
net. “Bring him by again, and I’ll net him.”

Joe dipped the net low in the water. Gabe was laughing and straining to turn the reel. The fish swam close. Joe leaned out
and scooped him into the net. The frame strained as he hauled it aboard. He let the fish flop in the bottom of the canoe,
securely meshed in the net, as he hugged his brother. “You did it, Gabe! It’s a beauty. I almost hate to eat it.”

Gabe looked horrified. “Eat it? Why? Dad and I always throw them back.”

Joe’s jaw dropped. “You throw them back? You can’t be serious.” Gabe flinched at his words, and Joe immediately schooled his
tone. “This is the best-tasting fish in the entire world, Gabe. Trust me, I know. You don’t want to throw a walleye back.”

But he saw the horror in Gabe’s eyes. Gabe couldn’t kill the fish.

“It’s just a fish,” Joe mumbled. Gabe stayed silent, his lip quivering as he stared at his catch. Joe quietly unhooked the
fish, holding it down with his foot. He was careful not to rip the walleye’s mouth as he eased out the hook. Then, with a
moan, he dropped it back into the water. The fish swam away faster than a U-boat on nuclear thrust.

“Look at him go!” Gabe exclaimed, thrilled.

Joe rolled his eyes.

“Let’s catch another one!” Gabe’s eyes glowed.

Joe gave him an exasperated look. “Why? Just to throw them back? What’s the use?”

Gabe’s face fell. “To have fun?”

His answer was so simple, Joe couldn’t deny its wisdom. Despite his dream of a batter-fried shore lunch, he was here to spend
time with Gabe. To know his brother better . . . and maybe let him settle in a place inside his heart.

“Right.” He grabbed Gabe’s pole.

By his count, Joe caught five smallmouth bass, two crappies, a tiny northern he would have thrown back anyway, and a walleye
that taunted him with its bulging black eyes the entire time Joe carefully unhooked him. He tossed the scoundrel back gently.
“Go play with your brother,” he growled to the escaping fish.

Gabe laughed. “It’s nice to have a brother,” he said.

His words were the best catch Joe had all day.

The fuzzy shadows of twilight crossed the dirt drive in front of the Garden as Joe and Gabe pulled in. Rip, an ardent but
brief welcoming committee, tackled Joe as he got out of the car.

“Gabe looks tired,” Ruby commented as her charge trudged past her into the house. Gabe still wore his silly rain poncho, despite
the fact the sun had been a radiant umbrella all day.

The rain from the past week had revived the pine, and the scent perfuming the air made Joe linger on the front steps. He inhaled
deeply, heard the wind comb the fir, and knew it had been a good—a very good—day.

“You don’t look any worse for the wear.” Ruby crossed her arms over her navy blue sweatshirt. “Did you have fun, by any chance?”

Joe pulled off his baseball cap and rubbed the saggy brim. “Did you know he throws back everything he catches, even the walleye?”

Ruby erupted in vivacious laughter and slapped her leg. “I should have warned you! Gabe can’t kill anything to save his life.
He can’t even skin a chicken. It makes him sick.” She cupped her hands over her mouth. “I’m sorry. I’m sure it came as a rude
awakening, huh?”

Joe shook his head and replaced the cap. “He caught a whopper of a fish first thing this morning, and my heart nearly broke
throwing it back. Wouldn’t let me keep a thing.” He smiled at her. “It was a good fishing trip, though.”

Ruby’s laughter dimmed, and her gray eyes were piercing as she stared at him. “Felt good to accept your brother the way he
is, didn’t it?”

Joe considered her a moment, then shrugged. He looked away, preferring the pine landscape to her probing gaze.

Ruby walked over beside him. “That’s how a family is, Joe. Everyone’s different, yet they work together. They give and take
and learn to forgive.” She laid a hand on his arm. “I bet you were hoping for a nice fish dinner tonight, huh?”

Joe grunted in agreement.

“So you had to forgive him for wrecking your plans, stepping on your toes, and not letting you keep the fish, right?”

Joe eyed her suspiciously. “What are you getting at?”

Ruby faced the woods. The wind picked at her graying hair, and Joe saw wisdom edge her eyes. “Even though you had to surrender
a decent shore lunch, you reached out to him and discovered it was worth the risk. Everyone, even within a family, is different.
We all have different needs, different issues we struggle with. Part of being a family is learning to face those differences,
forgive, and accept so that you can move on to love.”

“You’re referring to my father, aren’t you?”

“Not necessarily. I was thinking more about you realizing that you, too, had a hard time dealing with Gabe, and that he has
accepted it and forgiven you. When you forgive someone, it gives you room in your heart to love them.” She turned to him,
and her voice was gentle, despite her iron-grip gaze. “But this does apply to your father, doesn’t it? You might find, after
a day of ‘fishing,’ you can forgive his mistakes and learn to live together as a family.”

Joe met her stare, refusing to run this time. This woman just didn’t understand. “You haven’t had the experience of holding
your sobbing mother or explaining to your little brother why Daddy didn’t love him, why he left.” His voice held a warning
edge.

“No, but I have comforted your brother and explained to him why you don’t visit, why you can’t bother to come home for more
than twelve hours for your mother’s funeral, why you prefer strangers to the company of your own flesh and blood.”

Joe winced and fury coursed through him in tremors. But Ruby’s words, despite their sting, were accurate. He’d betrayed Gabe
as much as his father had betrayed them all.

And Gabe had forgiven both of them.

The realization crippled Joe, and he shrank onto the top step. He cradled his face in his hands. “What have I done?”

Ruby settled beside him. “Coped. Ran. Survived.” She touched his shoulder. “It’s time to come home, Joe.”

“I’ll never have a home, Ruby. Not as long as—”

“Not as long as you wall people out.”

“I was about to say not as long as I have contracts to fill, people to please. Not as long as people know who I am.”

“No, that’s not your biggest problem. You can find a way to deal with the invasion of your privacy. You just don’t want to.
It’s a convenient excuse to hide the real reason you keep running.”

“I don’t think seventeen stitches and a broken shoulder are a convenient excuse.”

Ruby was silent beside him.

“Anyway, I love what I do. And I love my freedom.”

“Sure you do. But you wouldn’t give it up for the right woman?”

Joe flinched.

“You have to stop walling people out. Gabe wants to love you, and he wants to be a family—that means you and your dad.”

“I’m not letting Wayne Michaels within shouting distance.”

“Then you’ll never stop running.”

“Joe! You haven’t lived in one place for over a decade. Running is exactly what you’re doing. You’ll barely slow down to take
your brother fishing.”

“That’s not fair. I’m here because I love him.”

“Of course you are. I’m not disputing your love for him. But you won’t even consider sticking around.”

He made a move to object. Oh, he’d considered sticking around. In fact, that very fantasy consumed his thoughts over the last
week more often than he wanted to admit.

“Don’t you see?” Ruby continued. “You were scared to let Gabe too close, scared to risk getting hurt. But today proved that
yes, love comes with a cost, but it is also priceless. In order to truly love Gabe, you’re going to have to learn to forgive.
And it has to start with your father.”

Joe gave a harsh laugh. “I’ve gone half my life without talking to him,” he said. “Do you think forgiving him is going to
revolutionize my life? maybe erase everything he’s done? Suddenly we’re going to start baking the Thanksgiving turkey and
become the Norman Rockwell family?”

“No. But I do think forgiving him might give you a chance to really let someone inside that locked heart of yours. In fact,
I think forgiving him is the first step to finding what you are searching for.”

“And what’s that?”

Ruby was silent.

“Forgiving him is just going to let him off the hook for completely shredding our family. Why should I forgive someone who
ran at the first sign of trouble?”Joe’s words stuck in his throat.

“Yes, why should you?” Ruby shook her head. “Why should you forgive someone who made a mistake?You’ve certainly never made
any.”

Joe sucked in a sharp breath. “You don’t pull any punches, do you?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to hurt you.”

“I never made the mistakes he did. He doesn’t deserve forgiveness.”

“Does anyone? That’s not your place to decide. God’s forgiven him. Can you do any less?”

Joe’s eyes burned. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”

“This might be difficult for you to believe right now, Joe, but God doesn’t expect you to do this hard thing by yourself.”

Joe frowned.

“God knows how tough it is to forgive, especially when someone has done you wrong. But He does expect you to do it. And He
expects you to be patient and trust Him to work in others’ lives. Psalm 37. It’s one of my favorites, especially when I know
God wants me to do something impossible, like forgive.”

Ruby directed her gaze to the sunset hovering over the far pines. “‘Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently
for Him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.’”

Joe rubbed his forehead with his hand. “I don’t know. I’ll admit, I didn’t realize how much I missed Gabe. But I’m not sure
God wants us to be a family. It might be too late.”

“Did it ever occur to you that God brought you back here precisely because He wants to save your family? I know you’re afraid
to really stick around and love Gabe. The more you love him, the more you stand to lose. The more you’re reminded of exactly
what your father did. Don’t you see how the memory of how deeply he wounded you keeps you on the run? You hold people at a
distance, afraid to let them know you.

“Perhaps, Joe, if you stood your ground, you might find the strength to forgive. Maybe you’d even find that it’s easier than
you expected to trust someone with your secrets.” Her voice gentled. “Maybe, for you, hoping in the Lord means forgiving and
finally finding a place to call home.”

“I don’t need a home.”

“Everyone needs a home. But you’ll never find it as long as you keep hiding. As long as you refuse to let people love the
real Joe. You’ll never know the joy of love unless you risk your heart. And you’ll never be able to risk unless you learn
to forgive.”

Joe took off his cap and scrubbed a hand through his hair, wishing he could put distance between Ruby and her bluntness, but
knowing it was the one thing she expected him to do. Yes, he was afraid to risk, but the risk was more than just letting someone
inside his life, revealing his identity. Gabe was the biggest risk of all. However, jeopardizing his heart had nothing to
do with forgiveness, did it?

He rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.“It’s easier for Gabe to forgive, you know. He hardly remembered Dad. I lived
with him for fifteen years.Then he was gone and my life . . . it just . . . hurts too much.” He winced at the desperation
in his voice, feeling like he’d just carved his heart out of his chest and tossed it flopping and bleeding in front of her.

“I know it hurts,” Ruby said softly. “But I don’t think it is easier for Gabe at all. He knew what your father did to you
and your mother. And he still forgave. The difference is Gabe lets God fight his battles. He lets God work in people’s lives,
and he lets them be human. Trusting God protects him, gives him the courage to risk opening his heart and let out love. He
knows he is safely in God’s shelter. He won’t crumble if your father, or even you, let him down. God will hold him up.”

Her words tugged at Joe’s spirit as he thought about all the times God, indeed, had held him up, given him strength, courage,
answers to problems. Forgiving his father, however, had never been a problem he’d struggled with. In fact, he hadn’t even
considered it.

“I know about the woman in town, by the way,”Ruby said. “I heard about the fire.” She hesitated. “Joe, would you tell me about
Mona?”

Joe’s mouth went dry. “How do you know about her?”

“Oh, Joe, you’re in trouble.” Ruby had a sly grin on her face. “Does she know who you are?”

Joe cringed. “No.”

She obviously understood what his answer meant because she shook her head. “Then I take it she doesn’t know about Gabe either?”

Joe’s chest clenched. “I don’t know how to tell her.”

“Shame on you. I’d try the truth.”

“How can I? You, better than anyone, know what the truth can do. Even if I told her who I am, Gabe just seals my fate. She’s
better off believing I’m a rootless handyman.”

“You ought to give her a chance. You might be surprised.”

“What if I’m not?” His tone revived his childhood betrayal.

Ruby sighed. “Only you can decide to take that risk. But until you do, you’ll never find peace. You can’t run forever. She’ll
eventually find out, maybe not about Gabe, but your face will grace the newspapers in this little town the minute someone
figures out who you are.”

Softly he said, “Maybe I’ll be gone by then.” The sudden stinging in his eye made him clench his jaw. It was painfully clear
that Ruby was right. Eventually the truth would blow sky-high, and it hurt him enough to imagine the shock written on Mona’s
face let alone her anger. He might as well open his chest and let her stomp his heart into a million jagged pieces. His throat
burned.

“It’ll be a lot easier if I just leave.” He winced as the words rose up and nearly choked him. It wasn’t hard to admit, even
to himself, that his choices came with a stiff price. “I can’t stay.” He wanted simpler, easier answers, but there were none.
“Even though she needs me.”

“Or you need her,” Ruby gently corrected.

Joe flinched.

Rip’s sudden appearance soothed the moment. The Lab came bounding from the woods and roared into Joe’s lap, bowling him over.
Covered in burrs, Rip smelled like a three-day-old roadkill. “Yuck, get away from me.”

Ruby laughed. “C’mon, you old dog.” She grabbed his collar, made him sit, and began working the burrs from his fur. “You just
need a good brushing and a bath.”

Joe admired Ruby’s way with dogs and people. Her direct, striking comments wounded, but her manner soothed the pain.

“It sounds like you have two very good reasons to want to put down roots in Deep Haven, Joe. I know Gabe would be thrilled.”