A shadow she fled, hard streets cold and wet.

Alone and afraid, long endless nights,

‘Til pure he came, no malice, just light.

Took into warmth, heart torn and too low,

A smile and a jar, Leander and his Hero.

He gave her the world, a life so unknown,

Heart finding beat, their fate it was sown.

Fear pushed aside, no victim, no choice,

He gave her the moon, her twin soul, her voice.

She gave him the shine, a stitched up heart hole,

The blessing to her, the purest sweet soul.

She, the silent girl, bereft and alone,

He, the silent boy, who through love, brought her home.”

As the poem came to an end, the mic echoed my last word. The house dropped to silence, but then broke into loud claps. My heart slammed in my chest, and I looked up to see Levi pushing through the crowd, tears flooding his face.

I stepped off the stage, my head low, when suddenly Levi was before me, his finger under my chin. I lifted my eyes on a deep breath, and was met with disbelieving eyes. The gray eyes I loved.

“Baby,” he rasped, unable to speak. I watched his mouth work, but he had no words. This time I would be his voice.

“I wanted to show you what you mean to me. And I wanted to do it proudly, not hiding my words.” I brought my hand to my chest. “It came from my heart. I wanted to speak from it too.”

“Elsie,” Levi croaked and pressed his mouth against mine. I could taste the salt from his tears on his lips. He broke away but his hands were in my hair, his warm breath drifted across my face. “I’m so proud of you, bella mia. So proud that I have no words… that poem… your beautiful voice… the bravery to get up on that stage.”

“Was because of you,” I whispered, the tears leaking from my eyes. “All of this. What I am now and who I’ll be one day… is because of you.”

“No,” Levi shook his head. “You don’t understand. You did that for me. I was Leander, Elsie. I was the drowning man. But where he lost Hero’s light in the storm, you let yours shine for me. You brought me from the dark. You brought me home safe.”

Sighing, I fell into Levi’s arms, knowing that I’d conquered my fears. I’d been given my voice back. I had a reason to live.

And live we both would.

One shy lost soul had found one silent lonely heart.

We were both no longer lonely.

We were both no longer lost.

We were found.

And we were blessed.

Epilogue

Levi

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Eighteen years later…

“It’s just through here, come on.”

Jackson and Penelope came barreling through, Penelope pushing her twin brother, Jackson, out of the way.

“Penelope, quit pushing your brother!” I scolded, but it was to no avail as our boisterous six-year-old daughter jumped into my arms, almost knocking me to the floor.

Jackson ran up behind, gripping onto my legs. “Where’s Mommy?” Jackson called, his cute voice just slightly off key.

“I’m here, baby boy,” Elsie called as she came out through the trees. I smiled at my wife, swatting away the mosquitos from her bare legs. She looked beautiful as always dressed in her cute black jean shorts and white fitted t-shirt. Her blonde hair sat on her shoulders, and in her arms, she held a crate of four mason jars.

Jackson ran over to her and held on to her waist. I watched my blond son with blue eyes smile up at his mom, their special bond unbreakable.

When Jackson and Penelope were born, we knew there was a chance that one, or both, would have hearing problems. Penelope came out first and was in perfect health, but it was clear from early on that Jackson had no hearing in his left ear, but luckily, like his mom, he had some hearing in his right, almost one hundred percent.

It made me adore him more if possible, because like his mom, he had a slight inflection to his voice. But unlike his mom, he would never grow up thinking he should be ashamed of it or hide it. Elsie was teaching him to be proud, as the head counselor at Kind, she would ensure that our baby boy never was ashamed to be exactly who he was—without apology.

Jackson was shy and reserved like me, unlike his sister who was as loud as they came. “Papa, look at me!” Penelope demanded and I tapped the end of her button nose.

“Y’all keep shouting like that and you’ll scare them away.”

Penelope’s huge gray eyes widened to a comical size and she pressed her finger to her mouth. “Shh!” she said, just as loudly as she’d screamed, but I laughed all the same, her dark hair all frizzy around her head because of the humidity.

Elsie’s hand pressed on my back as she caught up. Leaning down I pressed a kiss on her lips. When I pulled away, it was to see Jackson pulling his tongue out at his sister behind my back. His cheeks beamed with red when he saw that he’d been caught.

He was completely my son.

“We need to go down near the creek,” I said and pointed toward the sound of the flowing water. “They tend to be near water.”

Holding the net in my hand, I put Penelope on the ground and she immediately put her hand in mine. “Ready?” I asked and they all nodded their heads.

As we walked, Penelope pulled on my hand, and said, “Tell us again. Tell us about the jar you made for mommy.”

I laughed and shook my head. “You wanna hear that story again?” Elsie asked Penelope and our daughter nodded her head.

“I like it. I like hearing about the light, and the shed and all the smiles.”

Squeezing Penelope’s hand, I said, “Okay. When I met Mommy, she didn’t really speak, but she wrote me a note that said she was afraid of the dark.”

“Like me, Mommy?” Jackson asked and Elsie nodded her head.

“Yeah, just like you, Peanut.”

“Go on, Papa,” Penelope pushed.

“Well, in Seattle we don’t get no lightning bugs, at least I’ve never seen them. But because I’m from Bama, I knew how to make lightning bug jars.”

“Because Nonna Chiara used to make them for you when you were little?”

“Yeah,” I said and pointed to the woods. “We used to come to woods just like these and catch the brightest lightning bugs we could find with my net.”

“These exact woods?” Penelope asked dramatically.

I shook my head. “Not these exact one’s, but they look the same.”