Sebastian’s world was right again.
He couldn’t have cared less about the sleep he’d sacrificed last night driving to Misty River and back. He didn’t even feel tired. He’d succeeded at fixing things with Leah, and today, that was all that mattered.
He’d been granted a week of vacation that would start in two and a half weeks. Soon he’d have uninterrupted days in Misty River with her.
While waiting in line for lunch, a text arrived from Natasha to Genevieve, him, and Ben.
I just found out that Luke has a parole hearing today. I’m praying they let him out.
Sebastian grunted skeptically. Luke had been uncooperative with his attorneys when he’d gone to trial seven years ago, and he hadn’t made a good impression the last time he’d come up for parole.
Genevieve immediately responded.
I’ll be praying over it, too.
Then from Ben:
Same here.
Sebastian kept his response neutral.
Thanks for letting us know.
His stance on Luke was complex. Sympathy and resentment. Indebtedness and bitterness.
That evening Natasha sent a follow-up text.
Luke has been released, thank the Lord.
God continued to withhold clarity from Leah regarding Sebastian. But what she did receive—every day, day after day—was the heady delight of dating him.
They talked and laughed on the phone each night and texted each other between calls. On Thursday, they reached the one-year anniversary of the day they’d met. They celebrated by simultaneously watching the first The Fast and the Furious movie—a film in which cars were wrecked in even more spectacular fashion than Sebastian had wrecked his.
He flew to Misty River the minute he got off work on Friday. Dylan had an away game, so the two of them cooked dinner at her place.
They spent Saturday and Sunday fishing on a remote stretch of river and hiking trails carpeted with crimson and yellow leaves.
He flew back to Atlanta, and their texts and nightly phone calls immediately resumed.
He returned the following weekend, which passed just as gloriously. They drove to the lake and rented a boat for the afternoon. When darkness fell, they moved to a lakeside firepit. Holding hands, they watched orange flames crackle against a backdrop of moon-silver water.
They enjoyed Sunday lunch at Whiskey’s restaurant with Dylan and Mr. and Mrs. Coleman. Sebastian’s ease with her brother wooed her far better than flowers or chocolates.
When it came time for Sebastian to return to Atlanta, Leah noted that saying good-bye to him was steadily becoming more difficult.
They picked back up where they’d left off with texts and calls.
Am I veering off track by dating him? she continued to ask God. Please tell me if I am.
But an answer did not come.
On Thanksgiving morning, the day before Sebastian was due to arrive for his vacation in Misty River, Leah slid a green bean casserole into her oven. She had a blessed gap of time before she’d need to transport her casserole and brother to Tess and Rudy’s for the big meal.
She sank onto a kitchen chair and scrolled through new email on her phone. With a jolt, she saw that she’d received two emails in response to her death certificate requests.
She opened the first one. No death certificate for Bonnie O’Reilly had been found.
That might mean that Bonnie O’Reilly was still living, or that might mean that Leah’s lack of details regarding Bonnie had ended in a failed search.
She clicked the second email. A death certificate had been located for Ian Monroe O’Reilly.
What?
She followed the link provided. A PDF of Ian’s death certificate expanded on the screen.
Ian’s mother was listed as Bonnie Theresa Byrne O’Reilly. “Blimey,” she breathed, astonished. Bonnie’s birthplace: Oxford, Alabama. Ian’s father: Malcolm Francis O’Reilly. Ian had been born and had died in Atlanta. Cause of death: overdose from heroin and alcohol. Age: twenty-eight . . . the exact same age that Leah was now.
She blinked at the death certificate. Had Ian’s overdose been the unintentional outcome of mixing too much heroin with too much alcohol? Or had he purposely taken that cocktail with the intention of committing suicide?
At last, she’d found Bonnie O’Reilly. Unfortunately, though, this information had flowed to her through Bonnie’s son’s death certificate.
Leah retrieved her computer and brought up YourHeritage.com. This time, she ran a search for census records equipped with Bonnie’s full name and place of birth.
The site highlighted the Byrne family in the 1940 census.
Bonnie’s parents were named Sean and Ellen. Like Bonnie, Sean and Ellen had been born in Oxford. At the time of this census, Bonnie had been just a few months old. Her elder sister, Orla, had been two. Sean worked construction. Ellen worked as a seamstress.
Additional hunting yielded Bonnie’s marriage record. Bonnie married Malcolm O’Reilly in Alpharetta, Georgia, when she was twenty-two.
Adroitly, Leah ran through the now-familiar routine, looking for Bonnie Byrne O’Reilly and Malcolm Francis O’Reilly via Google and social media sites.
Nothing.
She’d found Bonnie in one sense but still had no idea how to parlay that into a meeting with the woman in the here-and-now.
Sebastian made it to Misty River’s football stadium by halftime on Friday night. He’d been so eager to see Leah that he’d gone to work at five this morning so he’d be able to wrap things up early and arrive in time to catch part of Dylan’s game.
As he maneuvered through the sea of bodies behind the bleachers, he caught sight of blond hair in the crowd.
Leah came into view, walking in his direction, carrying a bag of popcorn in one hand and a disposable cup in the other.
He’d rushed here from Atlanta for her. He’d taken a week of vacation for her. Seeing her proved those decisions right.
When she spotted him, her blue eyes rounded. Smile growing, she neared, then came to a stop before him. “You’re early.”
“I like to be early.”
“I like that you like to be early. I didn’t think I was going to get to see you until after the game. Had I known you were on-site, Connor and I wouldn’t have spent so long in the concession line.”
For the first time, he realized that someone was with her. Connor.
“I just got here,” Sebastian said.
“How’ve you been?” Connor asked.
“Really well.”
Ben hadn’t listed Connor as one of the school employees who had a crush on Leah. But, in this moment, that didn’t put Sebastian’s mind at ease. It could be that Leah viewed Connor as a friend but that Connor, like Ben, viewed Leah as more.
“I was just talking with Ben earlier this week,” Connor said, “about what you guys went through back in El Salvador.”
“He’s a good one to talk to about it.” Unlike me.
“I grew up here, so I have clear memories of watching the news coverage. For days, my mom was either praying about it or sitting in front of the TV set, waiting for updates.”
“Thank your mom for me,” Sebastian said.
“I’ll do that.”
Leah gave Sebastian a questioning look. “Are you going to sit with me this time or with the Colemans?”