Always For Keeps ( For Keeps part 2)

Forty. Luke.

Song for this chapter:
Joel Adams-Please Don't Go

I really thought her parents would hate me, but they don't. They are surprisingly okay with our situation. Maybe because Scarlett is their only child, maybe because Scarlett has always been different.

She looks well from the pictures her mom sent. There's one in particular of her running. It's like she is in her happy place. She looks so calm and serene, I can't look away.
After she text Cooper and I, the night we left for Alaska, we both cried as we read it. We are a bunch of pussies, but knowing she loves us is all I needed to power on.

Carter is getting big. I have to laugh at all of us: Kare, Brett, Cooper, Paisley, Brady, Mandy, Cam, and myself; it's like that saying 'it takes a village to raise a baby'. The girls have things scheduled out. I laugh as they trade Carter around. They have johns down to a science. Feedings, baths, walks. It's nice. We are a family. We manage to always eat together every night. Always leaving an open spot for Scarlett.

I smile as I talk with Kare. Her belly is growing, and I love seeing how happy Brett gets when their baby kicks. Their baby boy, I should add.

Things are falling into place. The only thing we need is Scarlett, and I have it on good authority that she will be home soon.
I can't wait to hold her, kiss her, touch her skin. She is my happiness, and I need here with me. With us.

It's been raining all day, and Cooper spent the afternoon running in it. He explained that him and Scarlett do it every time it rains, and I have to smile. He feels closer to her while he runs. I feel closer to her when I look at the sky. I guess we both have things that keep us tethered to our girl.

We are having a get together tonight but I realize Carter is getting too big for the diapers he is wearing so I brave the storm to get some bigger ones.

As I head home, I change the radio and freeze when the song Scarlett sang for Brett and Kare's wedding is playing. I wait and the red light, and feel like she is with me. I picture her singing it and feel home.

When the light turns green I press on the gas and follow the line of traffic.
It happens too fast; I hear breaks squeal as a bright light consumes me.
Then nothing.

I'm finally going home. I'm going to where I should have been since that fateful day I lost my brothers.