Chapter 15 - THE CLASS PRESENTATIONA week after the blizzard, the town of Oak Creek began to dig itself out. The local elementary school reopened, and Friday marked the annual "Show and Tell: My Family and My Home" presentation for Toby's kindergarten class.
Nora and Adrien sat side by side in the back row of tiny plastic chairs inside the brightly decorated classroom.
At the front of the room, Toby stepped up to the podium holding a cardboard model of the cottage at 114 Willow Lane, complete with a popsicle-stick porch and a glittery paper chimney.
"This is my house," Toby announced proudly to his classmates, his small voice echoing across the room. "And this is the plane I built."
He held up the crude, lopsided popsicle-stick airplane that Adrien had saved in his apartment.
"My mom works really hard at the bakery," Toby continued, pointing to Nora in the back row. Nora smiled, her eyes brimming with happy tears. "And this is Adrien. He knows how to fix roofs and carve cedar blocks."
A little girl in the front row raised her hand. "Is he your dad?"
Toby looked back toward the end of the room, his eyes finding Adrien.
"He's the man who holds the glue when things break," Toby said with complete, innocent certainty. "And he never lets go until it's fixed."
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In the back row, Adrien felt a knot tighten in his throat. He looked at Nora, who reached over in the small plastic chair and took his hand, locking her fingers tightly with his.
Adrien Cole—the man who had spent thirty-eight years owning half the world—finally knew that he was exactly where he belonged.
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