On a chilly morning in April nearly two years later, a small crowd dressed in work attire gathered behind Zephyr, Minnesota mayor Eugene McDonald. He held a giant pair of gold-colored scissors in his hand as he approached the red ribbon draped across the front entrance to what was formally a big box hardware store.

Dak bounced his little girl in the crook of his arm and then pulled back the hood of her coat whispering, “Is everything still okay in there?”

Brody huddled with his hands in his pockets and asked, “Can you believe this is happening? Diego’s architect reworked this building in record time. I can’t wait until you see inside, Dak. It’s beautiful. I wish we could make Home Pro look like this.”

Diego stood next to the mayor in an elegant, perfectly tailored charcoal suit. He was grinning from ear to ear. He announced, “I think we’re ready. Mr. Mayor, please do the honors!”

“I now pronounce M-Trak Shipping open for business in the town of Zephyr!” shouted the mayor.

As the scissors sliced into the red ribbon, the small crowd cheered. Diego scanned the faces and picked out his partner, Alan, in particular. He nodded in Alan’s direction and then directed the small throng to enter the building. The architect from the Twin Cities led the way.

While the architect spoke about repurposing materials and using the latest in renewable energy technology, Diego joined Alan. He sandwiched Alan’s Auntie Erin between them.

She said, “Diego, this project is absolutely wonderful. I’ve never been one who suggested tearing down buildings, and you stopped this one from destruction. Good on you!”

“I never could have done it without a whole lot of encouragement from these people.” He smiled at Alan and Rhea and Ross standing near him. “We had the basic ideas, but then we stumbled upon a lot of little problems. They kept poking and prodding at me to keep the project moving.”

Rhea asked, “Will I get to see my office space today, Mr. Flores?”

Diego grinned. “You can see the space for it, but the furnishings haven’t arrived yet. I’ll take you past both your office and the one that Ross will inhabit. It’s not a full wall between the two of you, but you will still have specific, well-defined space.”

Ross smiled. He said, “I know I sound like a broken record, but thank you again for this opportunity.”

“And I have an assistant at last!” exclaimed Rhea.

Ross asked, “Did you say Alan works down the road?”

“Yes,” answered Diego. “Since they switched his department and positioned him as the top manager below Wesley Tarrant, his Tar-Mor office is close. It’s less than a mile away at the company’s main campus in town.” Alan nodded as he listened.

“Does that mean you’ll move down here to Zephyr. We’ll miss the two of you at the Corner Hitch if you do that.”

“Oh, no, we’re not moving,” assured Diego. “We have such a beautiful house and wonderful friends.” He gave Auntie Erin a warm, gentle squeeze and gestured for Dak and Brody to join them.

In the warmth of the building, Dak pulled back the hood so his daughter could see everyone. Rhea leaned in close and asked, “What’s her name?”

Dak said, “We considered naming her Sylvia after Brody’s mom, but we thought that sounded old-fashioned. So then we considered all sorts of names.”

“It was horrible,” added Brody. “I printed out a huge sheet of possibilities and then cut them apart, and we spread them all over the kitchen table.”

“Wow, that’s amazing,” said Rhea.

“We finally settled on naming her after Brody’s mom, but we chose her middle name, Penelope,” said Dak.

“That’s beautiful.” Rhea leaned in close and said, “Hi, Penelope.”

“We’ve been calling her Penny for short,” said Brody.

Ross asked, “When are you and Mr. Flores having a kid, Alan?”

Diego raised his hand. “We’ve got a fifty-pound dead weight of a child named Boomer. I’m not ready for more.”

They all laughed together. Alan whispered, “Give me a month or two. I’m working on it.”

* * *

Thank you for reading Silent Wishes. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it for you.

Please consider signing up for my newsletter at the link below and receive a free story It was one of my inspirations for the River Town series. I never send spam to my mailing list, and you will receive updates on all of my books, free stories, and recommendations for great books by author gay romance authors.