Cole had curled into a ball on the mat. Mrs. D will never spend time with me again. He felt his brain crumble with sorrow. He’d been there a while before he heard her.
“Are you okay, Cole?” She’d walked in slowly.
Cole’s head snapped up so quickly, he didn’t have time to hide the love in his eyes. He looked at the floor immediately.
I hit you. Won’t that make you go away? What else can I do?” he snarled. He’d fallen back on his old standby, anger.
“I’m not going away, Cole, so maybe we can cut out the assaults in the future. You don’t want me to go away. I know that. You love me, Cole. That’s the feeling that makes you so angry.” She’d sighed and looked at the ceiling. “You don’t know what to do with it, because the people you’ve loved in the past caused you pain. That’s what you think love is. Pain.”
She’d looked at his face until he met her eyes. They were still green.
“But, Cole, I love you. Have I hurt you? Ever?”
Cole had to shake his head. She hadn’t. Not once.
“I’m showing you what to do with love, Cole.” She stood and held out her arms.
A hug. A simple hug he didn’t have to earn by throwing a chair. Human contact that wasn’t required because he was trying to hurt someone. She still trusted him. She still saw something in him.
He’d stood like a baby deer. He lurched toward her with no grace at all. She enclosed him in a hug that was so much better than a restraint. She’d patted his head just like a mother. Like a mother who cared.
Cole’s body had heaved with tears. She kept hugging him. She handed his heart back the dreams it had thrown away.
“That’s it, sweetheart. Let it out.” She rubbed his back.
Her shirt was soaked by the time he stopped crying. They sat down together again.
“I’ve read your file,” Mrs. D said. “What your parents did to you was terrible. It was a horrible, horrible mistake. You should’ve been cherished. You should’ve been treated like the beautiful little boy you are. They were wrong, Cole.” She held his hand. “I’m sorry for what they did to you.”
Cole’s mind had flashed with images from his time before Evergreen. The cage. The belt. The drugs. They still made him feel scared.
“You’re going to make it. You’ll be a great, thoughtful, proud man. I can see it. I know it as sure as I know my name.” She wouldn’t let go of his hand.
“I’m always awful. How can you know that?” Cole’s voice remained thick with tears.
“I’ve been doing this job for twenty-five years. I know a good one when I see him.
But then Cole ran for her, sliding on his knees to close the final distance between his hands and her skin. Kyle wrapped his head in her arms, cradling him.
“My sweet Cole. That’s better. That’s better.” Kyle braced her hands on his shoulders and slowly lowered herself to her knees. She put her hands on his cheeks and waited until he looked at her. “You forgot something last night.”
Cole looked puzzled.
“You made me promise you something. Now you owe me a promise.”
Cole nodded somberly.
“Be the real Cole. Promise me you will be you.” Kyle’s voice was strong and sure.
Cole felt his heart soar with her embrace, settling the feelings inside him. “Kyle, I’ve done so much wrong. I think I’m done being the real Cole. How much hurt can I cause?” He could hardly speak through his fear.
She smiled again. “I’ve done my own share of wrong, but look. Look around. We’re in the perfect place.”
The church looked like paradise. A frame of broken rainbows arched above the lovers on their knees.
Cole held her face to his, whispering, “Help me.”
Kyle gave him the absolution he needed with her lips.
When he got to her dress strap, he watched her eyes as he slid it off her shoulder. She smiled her unquestionably Kyle smile. Still present.
“I’m still here,” she said in a playful voice. But she was. She was still there.
“Kyle, will you come to my bed?” Cole would take this so slowly.
“I will.” Kyle followed as he led her to his simple twin bed, covered in a plain tan comforter.
Cole tilted her chin so he could look deeply into her eyes. “Kyle, you are my heaven. Will you come with me?”
“I will.” Kyle snuggled deeper into his chest, gently tracing his Sorry tattoo.
Cole’s heart beat like the pounding of an angel’s wings.
Um…It looks like a—oh! It looks like a bunny. Aww, that’s so stinking cute.”
The sun melted the cloud a bit, like cotton candy in the heat. Eventually, the cloud finished its dance with the sun and escaped as a circular blob.
Livia bit her lip. “Well, that went from a romantic moment to horrifying bunny torture.”
Blake laughed, and she wanted to put her head on his chest and feel it rumble through him like a happy earthquake.
Some days I still miss fumigating. I did get three beautiful children from the process. Fumigation can be wonderful.” She settled back into her wheelchair.
Livia jumped around to kneel in front of her. “Oh, please don’t say anything to anyone. It’s my sister in there with him. I bet he feels so guilty about it.”
Bea gave a delighted cackle. “I’m sure guilty isn’t exactly the right description of Mr. Cole right now.” Her eyes softened. “Sweet Livia, young people can only learn with time, but maybe you can get a leg up. There’s no shame in true love. And if Mr. Cole thinks he has some big secret, he’s wrong. At my age, you can spot a man in love from a mile away. My friends and I probably knew before he did.
Oh, no! The ladies from next door are headed to the church where Cole and Kyle are. What should I do?”
“Assuming they’re being…amorous right now, I would highly suggest a diversion.” Blake sounded amused.
Well, fortunately for me, Mouse’s windows are tinted far beyond the legal limit. It’s like sitting inside a giant pair of sunglasses. I’m wearing the mask as a hat instead.”
“You’re being courageous,” she said. “I think you’re noble.” She felt her heart fill with the picture of his victory in the sun.
“I feel very noble talking on a pink phone.” He gave a self-deprecating chuckle.
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