Chapter 15 - The Unbroken HomeThat evening, after the festival crowds had cleared and the golden sun sank behind the high peaks of the north ridge, Caleb and I walked up the winding mountain trail to the granite outcrop overlooking the valley.
The evening air was cool and sharp. Below us, the lights of Fairview began to twinkle like fallen stars in the blue twilight. In the center of the valley floor, the windows of the Vance homestead glowed with a warm, inviting amber light.
Caleb wrapped his arms around me from behind, pulling me back against his broad, warm chest as we watched the evening shadows stretch across the forest canopy.
"What are you thinking about?" Caleb murmured into my hair, his chest rising and falling steadily against my back.
"I was thinking about the morning they broke through the door with a crowbar," I said softly, resting my hands over his arms. "I was dripping wet, terrified, and convinced I was completely alone in the world."
"And now?" Caleb asked, kissing the side of my neck gently.
"Now I know that no one can ever make me feel abandoned again," I said, turning in his arms to look up into his clear, loving hazel eyes. "Grandpa didn't just leave me a house or a forest, Caleb. He gave me my life. He gave me my home."
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Caleb smiled—a bright, radiant smile that lit up the dusk—and held me tight against his heart as the first stars of evening began to shine over the quiet, unbroken wilderness of the north ridge.
The trap set by an old man’s love had sprung, the vultures were gone forever, and the girl who had once been called a burden was finally, permanently home.
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