Until We Fly (Beautifully Broken 4)

“I’m glad you see that,” I tell him. And I mean it. I’m so freaking glad. I know what it’s like to carry guilt for something you can’t control. I don’t want that for Brand.

I snuggle into his side, absorbing his warmth, soaking him in.

“Tell me about her.”

“About Alison?”

I nod.

“Well, she was only four. But she was bubbly and happy all the time. She followed me everywhere. And being the six year-old boy that I was, I’m sure I wasn’t always the most patient with her, but I did love her. I’ll always miss the sister she would’ve become and I’ll always wonder who she would’ve been.”

My belly tightens, because of all of it… because Alison deserved to grow up and because Brand deserved to have a sister who was his best friend, someone to talk to about girls and confide in and torment and tease.

He didn’t get that.

But he did get me. It’s not the same, I know. But I’ll be his best friend, and his confidante, and I’ll never leave him again.

Brand takes the lock from my hands and stands up. He gazes out at the lake, and I see where he’s staring. From here, there is a perfect view of the buoy, the fucking weathered buoy that has taunted him most of his life.

With perfectly strong steps, Brand strides down the path to the beach, stopping when his toes hit the water. With one quick movement, he hurls the lock out over the lake. With laser precision, it hits the bell on the buoy before it bounces into the water and immediately sinks below the surface.

For a moment, the sound of the bell echoes down the beach, haunting and eerie.

Brand climbs the hill and stands in front of me, a strange grin on his face.

“I rang the fucking bell.”

I smile and shake my head.

“Yeah, you did.”

And all of a sudden, the air around us is lighter and I know why.

Because it’s gone.

All of it… the guilt, the hate, the bitterness… all of it is gone.

I press myself into Brand’s arms, enjoying the way they wrap around me and hold me close, the way all is right in the world when I’m here, the way he loves me.

The way he’s mine.

I stand on a wall to protect what is mine.

I’m his and he’s mine.

It’s the way it’s meant to be.

We’ll protect each other forever, for the rest of our lives.

No matter what.

***

Brand

Nora and I ride the old Triumph for hours, and I enjoy everything about it. I enjoy knowing that my grandpa had once ridden this very bike. I enjoy the way Nora wraps herself around me, trusting me to keep her safe. I enjoy the wind and the sun and the sky that is so vast and huge and everywhere.

We ride for hours until we finally ride home, to Gabe’s little cottage. As we get ready for bed, I look at Nora.