Chapter 7 - Summer by the Lake
Spring turned into summer, and the heavy burden of trauma slowly began to lift, making room for the normal, chaotic beauty of raising two young children.
Drew’s leg had healed completely, earning a clean bill of health from the orthopedic surgeon in early June. To celebrate, Peter packed up his SUV on a Friday afternoon and drove the children to the state park thirty miles north of the city—the very place Reena had claimed the children were visiting whenever Peter asked to see them.
As they walked along the shaded dirt path toward the edge of the sparkling blue lake, Drew ran ahead, his sneakers crunching against the pine needles, completely free of any limp. Lily sat comfortably in a rugged all-terrain stroller, pointing excitedly at a flock of Canadian geese gliding across the water.
“Uncle Peter! Look! A duck!” Lily shouted, clapping her small hands together.
“Those are geese, squirt, but close enough!” Peter laughed, jogging slightly to keep pace.
He watched Drew kneeling near the water’s edge, picking up smooth flat stones and trying to skip them across the glassy surface. One stone skipped twice before sinking with a satisfying splash. Drew turned around, his face lit up with a brilliant, uninhibited grin that Peter had never seen on him before.
“Did you see that, Uncle Peter? Two skips!”
“I saw it! Masterclass skipping!” Peter called out, walking over and placing a proud hand on the boy’s shoulder.
Sitting there on the grassy bank with the warm summer wind blowing through the trees, Peter felt a profound sense of peace settle over his soul. The legal battles were largely behind them now; Reena’s criminal trial was set for the autumn, and prosecutors had assured Peter that the mountain of digital and physical evidence made a lengthy prison sentence all but guaranteed. The children’s trust funds had been successfully frozen and partially recovered through civil restitution orders, ensuring their education and future were secure.
“Uncle Peter?” Drew asked quietly, tugging at the hem of Peter’s t-shirt as they sat down on a wooden bench to watch the sunset.
“Yeah, buddy? What’s on your mind?”
“Can we plant tomatoes in the backyard tomorrow?” Drew asked earnestly. “Dad used to plant tomatoes with me in our old house before... before everything.”
Peter felt a warm lump rise in his throat. It was the first time Drew had mentioned his father voluntarily without crying.
May you like
“We can plant as many tomatoes as your heart desires,” Peter said, wrapping a strong arm around Drew’s shoulders and pulling Lily onto his lap. “We’ll turn the whole backyard into a jungle.”
The sun dipped below the tree line, painting the sky in brilliant shades of amber and violet. For the first time in three years, the Calder family felt whole again.
