Coming Home to Greenleigh

Chapter 32

"Happiness Amplified"
(feat. Richard Bedford)

I tried to take a picture
Of the sunlight in your hand
But the tears in my eyes
Make it hard to focus
So I just stand and stare
Through the tears in my eyes

This is the love of my life right here
This is the end of my night of fear
This is the meaning of ever and ever
This is happiness amplified
This is reality starry-eyed
This is the meaning of ever and ever

I came in search of answers
To questions I can't find
But you answered them somehow
Poetry in motion
A melody to find
There's a song in my heart now

This is the love of my life right here
This is the end of my night of fear
This is the meaning of ever and ever
This is happiness amplified
This is reality starry-eyed
This is the meaning of ever and ever

This is the love of my life right here
This is the end of my night of fear
This is the meaning of ever and ever
This is happiness amplified
This is reality starry-eyed
This is the meaning of ever and ever

* Writer(s): Jonathan Grant, Paavo Siljamaeki, Anthony Mcguinness, Andrew Bayer

*****

"You need to trust me."

Trust. He said the answer was trust. And not just trust, but trust him.

It was hard to breathe. Elisabeth took a breath, and another, and another, but her chest wouldn't hold the air.

She remembered that she had accused him of sucking all the air out of the room. She regretted saying it; it had hurt him. But she had blurted it out and at the time, it was the truth. And now, again, she wasn't able to breathe—was it him?

Elisabeth turned the ring this way and that in front of the candle. The little diamonds sparkled, and a deep orange glow leapt from within. It was a big stone, assertive. Not like her. It presented itself with all of its possibilities, and if you took a moment to really see it, it would gift you with that special orange glow. If you didn't take that long, slow moment—it was just a pretty, milky stone.

If you take a long, slow moment with me, I have possibilities. Shawn knew. And Gunnar knew. Good things take time, and careful observation.

This lack of air in the room—was it him? Or maybe, it was them. Maybe it was something combustible, between the two of them. She never felt this with Gunnar. Gunnar was like a clean, cool breeze, like a window left open on the other side of the house. Unseen, but felt.

She put the ring down on the table between them.

She didn't trust Shawn. She looked at him now, and saw the hope in his eyes.

No, this wasn't about trusting him. But only because it had to be about her, not him at all. And he needed to figure that out. For himself.

She knew what she needed to do. Damn it, it was all so complicated. But the answers were clear, and she needed to tread carefully and get them all right. It was important that she not trample on anyone's tender feelings, and it was also important that she remember who she was and why she was doing any of this at all. Once upon a time, she marveled—once upon a time, I was the one with all the delicate feelings. It almost seemed unreal now.

"I can't leave Greenleigh right now. My dad, the factory, this job at Lawson & Lawson—I need to sort everything out. But eventually we can leave together. We can go anywhere you want. The West Coast, Texas—or even New York." Shawn was talking rapidly, gesturing around them. "I didn't burn any bridges when I left. I thought I'd never be back, but—well—I can come back. I made partner when I was here. I could go back to the same place."