“Sensibly, I know not everyone is like him or has done the types of things he’s done. It's just easy to forget sometimes, but I promise, I’m trying to be more aware.”
“Good, you need to be. How do you think it’d look if the owner of a rehab facility thinks all addicts are murderers or hardened criminals?”
I fought the bubble of laughter that had worked its way into my chest. It wasn’t funny, but there was just something about the way she said it that humored me. And I knew that if I laughed, it would only upset her more. “I get it, and I’m sorry. You know that’s not how I really feel. If so, I wouldn’t allow them to come here, would I?”
“I hate it when you say things like that…allow. We are giving them an opportunity to have a better life, which is something I feel everyone deserves. So I don’t like it when you act like you get to decide if they get that chance or not.”
I knew better than to start this up again. The last thing I wanted was to fight with her, but it seemed that was exactly what she wanted to do with me. “Obviously that’s not what I think; I’m not shutting it down, nor have I tried. I know how much this recovery refuge center means to you, which is why I’ve only complained. If I wanted to, I’d have no problem putting an end to this whole thing. I haven’t done that, so there’s no need to try to convince me to be okay with it.”
Truth be told, I could never put an end to this rehab facility of hers. I knew how much it meant to her. What I would do, though, would be to move us away from the center. That was what bothered me the most—being in the woods with a bunch of people whose demons made it extremely difficult to make good choices.
Kenny dropped her chin and kissed the top of our son’s head. She always smelled his blond hair while she was at it. It was something she didn’t think anyone noticed, but I did. Because I always did the same thing. There was something comforting about his scent that calmed the world around me. It was a trait he’d inherited from his mother.
“I’m sorry, Drew, I didn’t mean to say it like that. I don’t want to pick a fight with you; I just wish you’d quit worrying. You were completely on board with the idea initially, so I guess I was hoping you’d come back around. That’s all. But let’s not let it ruin our night. The finale is about to start.” She turned her attention back to the sky and waited for the best part about the show.
In my opinion, being with her was the best part.
But she wasn’t wrong. I had been on board with it at first. Except that was before she was pregnant—or before we knew that she was carrying my child. After that, everything changed. It was a slow process from being a hundred and ten percent supportive to the state of hesitancy I’d been suffering for the last year. Knowing a baby was on the way felt entirely different from how it was when he actually arrived. Kenny disagreed with me, but she was also the one who’d grown him in her belly. I didn’t have the same attachment, simply because she had been literally attached to him for nine months.
Once my dad learned the truth about what really happened to his dad and family, it was as if a door had slammed shut. No longer did we need to keep a safehouse for them. In a way, they did return, only it was their souls that came and stayed. So with the resort’s purpose complete, we’d both decided it was time to do something completely out of the box with the place.
We’d tossed around ideas of how to make it busier and regularly book more guests, but at the end of the day, I think my dad was just over it. He’d spent his entire life here, living someone else’s mission. It was time for him to live for himself. So he basically left the future of Black Bird in Kenny’s and my hands. It didn’t take long before the idea of rehabilitation was mentioned. She continued to take online classes to become a counselor, but in the meantime, she really wanted to do something that would further her purpose. And I was thrilled to be the one to help turn her dream into a reality.
That was when A Crowe’s Song was born.
Kenny had picked the name. She said that when she first heard it in the main house, it’d given her chills—the good kind, apparently. Her connection made sense, too, so I didn’t argue. I thought it was the perfect name for a recovery center.
As she put it…crows were protective, and they fought for their own. She wanted a place where addicts who wanted help could come and feel safe, a place where they wouldn’t have to fight the battle alone. As for their song, she said it was the siren that would lead them here.
And it was.
We opened in less than a week, and we were already booked solid. All eighteen beds were taken. The other two cabins would house our resident therapists when on call, and my dad’s old house was renovated into an on-site medical center and pharmacy. It had all been part of Kenny’s vision. I just followed her direction and made it happen.
All the other names of the buildings remained—The Birdfeeder was now the mess hall where everyone would eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The Birdhouse would serve as the area where guests—yes, guests…Kenny didn’t want them referred to as anything else—would participate in group therapy. The Crowe’s Nest remained the same, the main office where Kenny and I would work. It was also where we would handle the intake forms and schedule the initial assessment to ensure the program was a good fit. And obviously, the lagoon was still the Birdbath.
A loud boom and bright white light startled me out of my thoughts, loudly reminding me of where I was and why. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one it surprised—our baby jumped, too. Except I didn’t cry like he did.
Kenny tried to soothe him with soft shushes and light pats on his back, but it wasn’t working. With every boom, he cried harder, so I reached out to take him from her. He always seemed to calm down in my arms. He must’ve instinctively known that I would protect him with my life.
“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you…your dad called right before we left the house to come out here.” Kenny stretched her arms over her head, probably trying to get the blood circulating again. Holding a sleeping baby used a lot more muscle power than I would’ve ever guessed. “He said Lisa has a late meeting tomorrow, so they might get here a little late. I told him that was fine; we’d wait for them before eating dinner.”
As soon as my dad didn’t have the resort to worry about anymore, it didn’t take him long to find someone to share his time with. He’d met Lisa at the local clinic in town. It was the weekend, he’d had a bad cough that wouldn’t let up, and she was the nurse on duty. Lisa was amazing. She made him smile brighter than I’d ever seen, and his laugh…I couldn’t recall a time when I had ever heard him laugh that loudly.
“What about your mom?” I asked, wrapping my arms tightly around my son.
“She’ll be here around four to help with dinner preparations.”
Rebekah had moved to town—not on the land, but in town—shortly after learning that Kenny was pregnant. She didn’t want to be away from her daughter or grandson, so she packed her things and came here. It was nice that Kenny was able to have her mom so close. As for my mom, I still hadn’t heard from her since my high school graduation. I think it bothered Kenny more than it bothered me. Rebekah had adopted me as one of her own, so I didn’t need anyone else. Our family was small, but the love we produced was bigger than anything I’d ever experienced.