Thomas Comes Home
Chapter 15 - Thomas Comes Home
Three weeks after the wedding, Thomas left the hospital.
Not cured.
But stable.
Doctors estimated months.
Perhaps longer.
Eleanor took him to the Vermont lake house.
The property sat beside quiet water surrounded by pine trees.
When they arrived, Eleanor stopped at the porch.
“You remembered.”
Thomas smiled.
The house looked almost exactly like a sketch they had made together when they were young.
Two rocking chairs.
Blue shutters.
A stone fireplace.
Thomas had spent years restoring it.
“For you?” Eleanor asked.
“For the idiot I was at twenty-eight.”
She laughed.
Then cried.
Diane visited on weekends.
Caroline came too.
Even Richard eventually arrived.
He stood awkwardly at the door.
Eleanor let him in.
The family began doing something they had rarely done before.
Talking honestly.
Richard entered a formal repayment agreement.
Diane took control of the estate administration.
Caroline stopped treating silence as loyalty.
And Thomas?
Thomas became weaker.
But happier.
One evening, Eleanor and Thomas sat beside the lake.
“I thought marriage would feel different,” she said.
“How?”
“You know. More dramatic.”
Thomas smiled.
“We already had the hospital wedding.”
“True.”
“And three lawyers.”
“Also true.”
He took her hand.
“I think we've earned boring.”
Eleanor rested her head against his shoulder.
For three months, they got exactly that.
Coffee.
Sunsets.
Quiet dinners.
May you like
Ordinary happiness.
Then one morning, Thomas did not wake up.
