In The After

2.5 CADE

It's working.

I feel like I've won the first prize at life with how well things are working.

I wasn't sure what bringing Adelaide and Tristen back home with me would do to the dynamics all around. It was a leap of faith, for sure. For me, but more for her. This is my hometown. And it's also Eliza's. I was braced for awkwardness and maybe even a little resentfulness.

What I got, instead, was open arms and acceptance. From my family, from friends, from ELIZA'S friends, from the community as a whole.

And instead of coming across as overwhelmed, Adelaide was humble and grateful.

As soon as my mother heard her story, she stepped up as Adelaide's surrogate mom. She invited her shopping, to a movie. She offered to babysit Tristen so we could have some time to ourselves. My brothers were warm and welcoming. Their relief lay in the happiness I had found with this woman and her child. They spent years fearing they'd never get me back...turns out all I needed was Adelaide. And hope.

Alexander and Shaun were happy to include her as well. And, by April, a clean and sober Mandy was back in my life as well. She was the one I expected to have the hardest time accepting Adelaide. I worried that she'd see her a sign that I was moving on and leaving Eliza behind. But when she met her at Alexander's birthday party, she hugged Adelaide hard and thanked her for bringing me back to all of them.

I bought a house near my parents. I have always liked the neighborhood and there was a park nearby- within walking distance- for Tristen. It has four bedrooms, a big porch, a pool. I hesitated about the pool. Adelaide had looked at a dozen houses with me and had said yes to every one. She kept telling me it was MY house. That I should get what I wanted. But I knew, the minute we pulled up to the one we agreed on, it was the one. Her eyes lit up. The big yard. The wraparound porch. The big kitchen. Lots and lots of windows.

"Can he swim?" I'd balked when we opened the slider to the back pool deck. She'd smiled up at me.

"He's a very good swimmer." So I agreed to the house, but was reluctant enough that as soon as the ink was dry I had someone come in and install one of those child-proof fences around it.

The first week of February, we both started bartending at Eliza's Elysium. She picked it right up like the professional she is. The first two weeks we worked together, getting to know the staff and the clientele while either mom or Amy kept Tristen.

It was seamless. It was so seamless I felt like I was waiting for it to go wrong. Like it was too good to be true.

But months- actual MONTHS- have gone by and everything seems...perfect.

My life is perfect. I am in love with Adelaide, I have a really good relationship with Tristen, and I love working with my brother at Eliza's.

Still.

When you have the history I do, you learn pretty quickly to take nothing for granted. I will not go around assuming that I've hit gold this time. I've been taught that nothing is forever. Everyone's life is always in flux. Nothing is guaranteed. I know that better than anyone.

The only thing taking away from my bliss right now is my lawyer actively working on my "Smitty" lead. Though, that's turning into something of a waste of time. I am beyond frustrated with how that has turned out. Multiple convicts have been interviewed, all men that were incarcerated in the year my cellmate mentioned. All links to what happened to Eliza have been denied. And with only the word of a criminal to rely on, there just isn't much we can do. It's his word against theirs. If it weren't for the mention of what Eliza was wearing, I'd be convinced he'd played me for $500. But that knowledge, it plagued me. Someone knows SOMETHING. But some kind of code appears to be keeping the population silent on this one. When pushed, I admitted to the description of the man who spoke with me in jail, and they went looking for him to no avail. He's as slippery as the man who murdered Eliza. All I wanted was for him to look at some mug shots. But he's a ghost.