EPILOGUE

A wonderful life.

Leelo

“Mom! Toss me your hammer, mine slid off the roof.”

I look over at Matt who is on his knees, nailing down flashing around the new chimney. Instead of tossing—since that would surely end in two hammers down below—I carefully make my way over to him, my hand on the head of the hammer, tucked in my awesome tool belt.

I’ve been cleaning crap from the eavesthroughs and the top of the downspouts, since yesterday’s unexpected rain caused fucking Niagara Falls to run down the front of the restaurant.

Roar stopped me when I climbed out the bathroom window after my son, demanding I wear a harness. He’s never liked me going up on the roof. Not since that first time he pulled me off last year. To be honest, I don’t like it much myself, still don’t like heights, but that’s why I keep going up there. If this past year has taught me anything, it’s that you have to keep challenging yourself. Keep pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone, every now and then, or you lose your flexibility.

It’s amazing how beautiful things are when you occasionally risk a change of view.

Of course, I put on the damn harness and let myself be latched to my son, because despite the fact he’d rather ban me from the roof altogether, Roar pushes his own boundaries by letting me go up there. The harness is a small concession on my part, and besides, although I’d never admit this to Roar, it makes me feel a little more secure up there as well.

I can’t believe how fast everything is coming together. We were lucky the winter wasn’t too bad, and for the most part, we were able to continue with the work, focusing on the inside. That’s how the beautiful fireplace was built, in place of where the old bar used to be.

That was Matt’s idea, actually. He noticed early on, when the snow started falling, that there were several snowmobile trails running along the highway. Thought I could lure them in with a hot soup and a warm fire so I’d still have some income over the winter months.

Bright kid, my boy.

“Check it out, Mom,” Matt says when I crouch down beside him.

I follow the direction his hand is pointing to a spot at the water’s edge, well south of the dock, where the tree line runs much closer to the shore. A moose cow is drinking from the lake, her front legs slightly spread in the shallow water. Through her tall legs, I can just make out the much smaller shape of her calf.

“This is why I’ll never regret moving up here,” he says softly.

My boy has taken to the life up here like a fish to water. He works hard, he plays hard, and from the impressive collection of girls I saw coming in and out of his cottage over the winter, he parties hard too. I’d wanted to talk to him about that, but Roar shut me down. “He’ll find his way, just like I did and you did.” That shut me up in a hurry.

“Me neither, Bud. Me neither,” I whisper back.

“Have you heard from Grandma?”

I wedge the phone between my shoulder and my ear as I try to finish cutting the bacon for the quiches.

“Last time I talked to her was at Christmas. She called to make sure the self-help book to firmer thighs she’d ordered me had arrived. Why?”

“Because she says she, and whatever husband she’s on now, are moving to Toronto and she wants me to go apartment hunting with her.” The sheer horror in Gwen’s voice makes me chuckle.

“Better you than me, baby,” I tease her.

“Mo-om! She’s your mother.”

“Oh believe me, I’m well aware, but I take no responsibility for her.”

“That’s not fair,” Gwen whines.

“Really? Because not so long ago, I believe it might have been Christmas as well, didn’t I hear you say to that cute young man you were with, that you refused to be held accountable for the behaviour of your mother?” I remind her, grinning.

“That was different. You were doing an impersonation of Tom Cruise in Risky Business while we were trying to eat breakfast!”

“It was a great impersonation, though,” I defend myself, smiling at the memory. “I totally rocked Roar’s flannel shirt, and before you say anything, it so covered all my bits.”

“Mom,” she groans. “This is a crisis in the making. I’m thinking this may be a good time to look at that job opportunity I found in Sault Ste. Marie.”

I walk over to the sink and wash my hands, when suddenly Roar’s arms sneak around me from behind. I must’ve yelped out loud.

“Are you even listening, Mom?”

“Yes, Sweetie, I am. That was just Roar, uh, startling me,” I say, frantically slapping at his large, groping hands that have worked their way under my shirt. “I heard. Grandma moving to Toronto, you’re packing for the Soo. All I can say is; don’t let Grandma chase you off, honey. If you want to stay in Toronto, it’s not like it’s not big enough for the two of you. Hey!” I blurt out when Roar snatches the phone away from my ear.

“Hey, Gwenny.”

I still melt when I hear his deep rumble use that name on her. Since that little tête-à-tête those two had last year on the dock, there’s been something special between them.

“Never met the woman, but from what I hear it’s best to steer clear, so what do I hear about the Soo?”

I turn, lean my butt against the sink, fold my arms over my chest, and watch and listen as my man almost effortlessly calms my daughter down.

Ten minutes later he hangs up, and Gwen is undoubtedly calling Sault Ste. Marie real estate agents as we speak.

Roar

“Peter! Good to see you.”

I smile at the older man coming toward me with a somewhat reluctant teenager in tow.

“Nice place, Doyle. Nice place.” He looks over his shoulder at one of the new cabins.

“Thanks.” I give his offered hand a firm shake. “You actually started this idea. Last year, when you stayed here? It got me thinking it wouldn’t be a bad idea to expand a little. Give people an alternate option. A slight change of view, if you will.”

“Well, I’m glad we get to christen the place,” Peter says, his shoulders slumping a bit. “This might well be the last time we make the drive up here. The grandkids have other things to do with their summers and Margaret—” He pauses, looking over his shoulder at the cabin again. “She’s not been well.”

“Sorry to hear that,” I tell him, clapping him lightly on the shoulder.

“You get to be our age, things start rattling right, left, and center,” he chuckles. “All in the natural order. But I’m glad to see you and the colourful Ms. Talbot have joined forces in every way that counts.”

I grin at the old man’s chuckle.

“That we have.”

-

The brief conversation follows me around all day, as we celebrate the official opening of the new and improved Whitefish Inn. The slight change in name was better suited to the new concept.

Leelo actually cried when Matt revealed the beautiful new signs he made for her. Not that crying is necessarily new, but these were pure and unadulterated happy tears, which got even me a little choked up.

The symbolism of this day does not escape me. There’s a lot in our everyday mundane life that has a poignancy I didn’t recognize before Leelo.

More depth, more nuance, a fuller experience.

Joie de vivre.

Something my Leelo definitely taught me.

“Can I ask you something?”

I flip a log on end and sit down next to Charlie, who is enjoying the bonfire at the water’s edge. She looks up at me with a smile in her eyes.

“Of course you can, my boy.”

“Do you regret that I never gave you grandchildren?”

Charlie twists in her seat and squints her eyes. “Where does that come from all of a sudden?”

I shrug. Hard to say when I started taking stock of my life. My guess is somewhere around the time I was lying in a gully, with a burning tree on my chest, wondering if I was taking my last breath. But my talk with Peter earlier brought it to the forefront.

“I just never really thought about the fact I’m going to leave this life one day with no legacy. Ouch!” Her hands may be arthritic now, but my mother’s sharp smack on the back of my head holds as much bite now as it did when I was on the receiving end of a hell of a lot more of them.

“Didn’t raise you for a fool, Riordan Doyle. You’ve been nothing but a blessing in my life and the life of others, and over the last year you’ve given me even more.” Charlie’s eyes seem to search for Leelo, who looks to be having a deep discussion of her own with Mrs. Zhao on the other side of the fire. “A wonderful woman I couldn’t love more if she were my own daughter, and two fine young people I already consider my grandchildren. Don’t for a minute think that just because you came into their lives a little later, you don’t have a powerful impact,” she says, grabbing my hand and pulling me closer. “I see the way Matt has found his confidence because of the trust you showed him. In the way Gwen knows what she deserves because she sees firsthand from you how a real man should love and respect a woman as his equal.” Charlie cups my face in her hands, like she used to when I was a kid and she needed my focus. “My boy, look around, you’re living your legacy.”

-

“The North Star,” Leelo says, pointing up at the sky.

Quiet has returned with the departure of the last of our guests, half an hour ago, but we weren’t ready to call it a night yet. When Leelo suggested doing some stargazing from the water’s edge, I willingly followed her out there.

The surface of the lake is smooth, the only ripples caused by our movement on the dock.

I lie down on my back and pull Leelo down with me, her head resting on my shoulder.

“It’s a wonderful life,” I mumble.

“I love Jimmy Stewart,” she says and I turn my head to grin at her.

“I love you,” I fire back and soak up the smile I get in response.

“You weren’t talking about the movie, were you?”

I shake my head.

Leelo snuggles back into my side, her hand resting loosely on my stomach as we ride the gentle bobbing of the dock.

“Roar?”

“Mmmm.”

“It is a wonderful life. The absolute best.”