I Will Love You Forever

Chapter 1, part 1: New Home

Chapter 1: Arrival

The tires crunched on gravel as the pickup pulled into the drive. Ken Winston stopped the truck just into the turning circle in the grass, looking at the front door straight ahead of him. I didn’t think it would hit me like this. He could hear Lu beside him, gathering the closing papers and keys. He took a deep breath, put the truck in park, and turned off the engine. He gripped the wheel with both hands, and looked above the roof of the little ranch house, where dark green leaves could just be seen, below the clear blue Idaho sky.

His grandfather’s voice came back to him as if it had been yesterday. “I sweated blood for every one of those damn trees, boy, and they cheated me out of them! You get them back in the family, you hear me? When you do, don’t you ever let them take it away again. That’s our home, boy. You’ve never seen the place, but that land is where you belong.”

“I won’t, Grandpa,” Ken whispered, as a hand gently laid atop his fist clenching the steering wheel.

“Ready to get out?” Lu asked.

She spoke softly, but he started, blinked, and turned to regard her. Her blue eyes seemed to mirror the pale blue of the sky, but he thought her complexion and chestnut hair fit even better with the forest. She looked both solemn and happy. He thought her eyes would be worried about his being lost in his memories again, but they showed calm confidence. She understands.

“Yeah,” he chuckled, “Let’s do it.” He reached over and laid his hand alongside her face, his fingertip brushing the scar on her cheekbone. He saw her eyes widen as he touched it. Don’t remind her of that now, idiot!

“I was just going to say,” he said as if she had objected, “that your mother must have been a remarkably beautiful woman.”

“Why do you say that now?” Her eyes began to well.

“I don’t know. It just seems right, somehow. You, here, with the land and the trees. You fit. It’s as if she’s here with you.”

Lu had tears brimming, but she smiled and said, “How would either one of us know? My parents died when I was five!” As she said it, she reached up and touched his fingers over the reminder on her face.

“We’ve seen pictures. I don’t know why I said that, babe, but it felt right. You are more beautiful now than you’ve ever been.”

Her smile continued to be a bit uncertain, but she slid her hand down along his, to the stitches marked in the top of his forearm. When she touched the boyhood scar, her smile widened, and she said, “We do fit together, don’t we? I expect you’re right. I don’t really remember her, but this place feels like her.” Then she reached for the door handle. “Come on!”

Grateful that disaster had been averted, Ken opened his own door and got out. The ground was soft beside the truck, and his boot sank into it a bit as he stepped down. As he closed the door, he noticed his footprint, and found it strangely comforting. We do belong here.

They had been there twice before the closing to look over the house and the land, but this was the first time since it was back in the family. Everything seemed more significant, now.

The day was unseasonably hot for early September in Idaho. A light breeze wafted a spicy scent from the trees, and the buffalo grass was still a rich green.

They left everything but the papers and keys in the truck. Hearts thumping, they approached the little ranch house that now was theirs. Theirs! After unlocking the door, Ken made a laughing show of carrying Lu across the threshold, her hair hanging over his arm.