by Kelli Walker
“Oh, so we passed where that turn was for that big house we looked at a while back. You know, the house up on the hill? That just reminded me that I found out how it got there. I knew we weren’t ever going to possibly live there, but it kept eating at the back of my brain - wondering how somebody was allowed to build on refuge land, protected from development.”
I was glad she couldn’t see my face. I wouldn’t have been able to proffer the hidden mistruths any other way. Harley took a deep breath, steadying herself after realizing the scandalous thoughts racing through her mind weren’t going to come true for the time being. “Oh… right, yeah. I’m not sure if I want to hear this… I’m still heartbroken that the place wasn’t the one.”
I grinned, easing the car onto the gravel pathway with a stealth I knew couldn’t be detected. “Yeah, I know, Harley. It really did look like it was going to be the ideal place. It was so beautiful and serene… but, alas, I guess we’ll have to settle for something a little less than perfection.”
I glanced sideways, feeling bad as I saw her frown. “Anyway, are you sure you don’t want to hear the history behind that old place? It’s pretty interesting, even considering we’ll never go back there.”
She sighed but accepted. “Alright, I guess you can tell me. I don’t know why I’m letting you torture me with this, though.” I celebrated silently as, still unbeknownst to Harley, we continued deeper into the meadow.
“Eh, with time, you’ll realize we dodged a bullet. Anyway, let me tell you what I found out. First off, do you know where the town got its name? I actually didn’t know this. In fact, I didn’t know any of what I’m about to tell you.”
She shook her head, but my eyes were focused on the road ahead. “Harley?”
“What? Oh, sorry, I shook my head. I don’t know why it’s called Tyler.”
“Well, let me tell you then, the story behind our sleepy little town. It’s named after a man, Wade Tyler, who was an early industrialist across the Dakota territories, mostly involved in lumber and mineral stripping. Anyway, think about the whole area out beyond the town that we grew up exploring together. Think about where we live… Wade County? Harley, pretty much any place you and I have ever driven to around here used to all be part of one big piece of property. This huge swath of land, all owned by this Mr. Wade Tyler, was used exclusively by his company for its natural resources. The whole county was once full of absolutely nothing but logging crews and mineshafts.”
I paused, focusing on a turn through the meadow. “At the center of it all, Tyler Township started to grow around the railroad - where all of Wade’s resources, materials, supplies, workers, and their families passed through at one time or another. All the action flowed through here, so, naturally, it grew faster than any other place in the county. Most of the people who worked for the Tylers lived here or kept their families here while they worked the hills. Soon, the town had everything they needed: the school, some land cleared for farmland… Even back then, it pretty much looked the same as it does today.”
We pulled into the shade of the covered bridge, and again, the initial impression of the Aspen trees drew my breath away. I cleared the feeling from my throat, refusing to give anything away for Harley to pick up on.
“Anyway, Harley, Wade’s wife - Adaline - well, evidently, she hated her husband’s job. In fact, she hated everything about his whole enterprise. From what I’ve been able to gather, she actually sounds a whole lot like my mother. She loved the wide-open spaces of the Dakotas, finding peace within the wildness here when so much of the world was already being paved away in the name of progress. Adaline Tyler wanted to see the community here flourish, but she couldn’t stand the cost coming from the way it was happening. As the county's natural beauty slowly fell victim to her husband’s machines, she did what she could in the town. The Adaline Library… she was the one who convinced Wade to fund its construction, so they named it in her honor. I didn’t know this, but apparently, there’s an annual scholarship available to be awarded to graduates from our high school.”
I kept us slowly moving through the golden glade, realizing that I was getting close to where I might consider letting Harley remove her blindfold and that I’d gotten off-topic. Wanting to reach the conclusion of the story before the surprise was revealed, I reoriented the story’s position and kept talking.
“Sorry, I’m rambling. Whether he’d grown weary of his wife’s complaints about his business or maybe because he came to agree with her, perhaps just because he loved her and wanted her to be happy, Wade Tyler eventually set aside a sizeable portion of his land that had yet to be intruded upon by his mining and forestry projects. We know this tract of land as the preserve. He made sure that it would be protected, setting it up such that the preservation would persist even if his business funding suffered or his company itself had to be dispersed, which eventually, it did.”
We reached the far side of the trees, and the car rolled back into the sun at the base of the big hill. I looked up and gasped audibly at the sight. Harley heard my change and latched onto it, having access to no other senses to ascertain the cause.
“What? What is it, Ryan?”
I regained my composure, practically vibrating with the anticipation of seeing Harley’s reaction. I slowed us to a stop, reached over, and held her hand.
“We’re here, Harley. You can take your blindfold off now.”
She hesitated at first, trying to decide what she was about to see. Harley unveiled her eyes, and, as her vision adjusted to the light, I watched her reaction with a pride I had never previously deserved.
“Ryan! Oh my god! It’s… No…”
My face hurt from the ferocity of my smile’s permanence. I kept my hand on hers as I slowly pushed the car forward. As we climbed the cobblestone driveway through the meadow, up to the beautiful house born anew, I finished the story of the Tyler family and officially began the tale of our own.
“Wade and Adaline Tyler made one exception for the preserved land before instituting its full extent of protections. Together, they built a home within the pristine wilderness, creating a place that reminded them of what it was like to live in a place where they could grow their family and community with equal affections.”
We reached the crest of the hill, and Harley’s look of wonder only grew.
“Before they passed away, the Tylers passed the deed of the property to their children, who then bequeathed it to their children, and so on. Within the confines of the property’s contract, it remained inclusive that anyone could enjoy its ownership and the natural sanctuary it implied, so long as those who stayed here did so as servants to the natural splendor around them, protecting it for the generations yet to be born while encouraging the town beyond its boundaries - together with its community of friends and families - to continue flourishing in the years to come.”
I stopped the car, shifted it into park, turned, and pulled the key out of the ignition. Without a word, I removed my seatbelt with a click and reached over in front of Harley’s knees. I opened the glovebox and withdrew a small black box.
Before Harley’s mind could entertain conclusions beyond the reality of the contents inside, I opened the little case to reveal a glimmering golden key.
Harley still remained frozen, processing the enormity of how far our present reality together was shifting.
“Ryan… I don’t understand. The house… it looks brand new…”
I smiled, remaining patient but badly wanting to see her fully recognize the situation. I gently removed the key from atop its silk cushion, and, with it in my palm, I again clasped Harley’s hands in mine. I held her fingers, squeezed them for a moment, and then released her from my touch, leaving the golden glimmer behind.
I watched happily as Harley looked down and brought the key into view. Something caught her eye, and she squinted, bringing it even closer to her eyes.
I preemptively smiled, clapping myself on the back for such a brilliant way to etch the moment
into something truly special for her. Harley’s eyes grew wide, and her lips trembled. Her gaze shot up through the windshield and toward the front door with fresh tears gleaming at her eyelashes.
Her attention turned to me, and all I could think was how much I loved her. She couldn’t speak, starting to cry, so instead, Harley held the key between us, letting its unique sequence of teeth catch the brilliant autumn sunlight.
I tilted my head, re-reading the inscription that I’d had engraved along the length of the metal shaft:
Until the Sun Burns Away.
I smiled from the feeling of fulfillment coursing through my body. It filled me with a joy purer than any I’d ever known. As Harley’s eyes turned from the house again back to me, we fell into that felicity together, solidifying ourselves into a single identity bound by a love that could never again be questioned, bent, or broken.
Our lips again met in a kiss that would be followed by millions more yet to come. Swimming and smiling, surrounding one another with our tears and happiness, I swept Harley from her seat and effortlessly drew her to sit sideways in my lap. I slipped open my door and carefully kept her held against my chest, carrying her with one arm around her shoulders and the other behind her knees as I stood from the car and stepped forward toward our new home. Over the twenty paces separating us from the front door, her lips hardly left mine. At the beautifully restored entrance, I held Harley close and, together, we slipped in the key, opening the door to the fully renovated home interior and unlocking our first glimpse into the life we would both come to cherish.
She glowed as the magnificent staircase drew her eyes to the wondrous chandelier far overhead. I brought my head down and kissed her cheek.
“I love you, Harley.”
She turned and met my lips, closing her eyes. “Ryan, I don’t have the words to describe how incredible you are. I don’t deserve any of this. I’m afraid that I don’t have anything to offer in return more than my love for you. I hope that’s enough.”
“Enough? Harley, a thousand houses like this wouldn’t be enough to justify your affection. Your love for me will forever be the mystery of my life. I just knew that making this place ready was the only way I could try and bring you the same happiness that you’ve always freely instilled in me. Hopefully, this place will keep that love we share kindled and secure for the rest of our lives, even helping it to expand and evolve as we do. I’m the luckiest man alive, and I cannot wait to see how you, I, and our little family begin to grow from here, within these walls, into the future years to come.”
We shared one last, long kiss before shedding our former lives and stepping into the one we would forever share together.
“Are you ready to go home?”
Harley smiled beautifully and nodded, wrapping her wrists around my neck with her fingers trailing up to the back of my head, sneaking and spreading through my hair.
I stepped forward, carrying the love of my life through the threshold. Together, we closed the door on our past procrastination, opening ourselves simultaneously to a new world of possibilities. At last, Harley and I would be free to promote and explore our endless potential for fulfillment in friendship, passion, parentage, and a life outstanding, unified in the prime of our lives by a shared love and an eternal devotion to one another.
Epilogue - Harley
“Oh my goodness, look how precious you are! Hello, little Elizabeth. Hello, yes, hi there! You are so happy, aren’t you? … Harley, you never smiled this much when you were her age… Roger, remind me to ask Rob if Ryan was this happy when he was just a year old. Maybe that’s where she gets it from. It certainly isn’t from our side of the family!”
I smiled but didn’t say a word, letting my mother do her thing. I looked down at the two of them, feeling myself glow as my beautiful baby girl giggled and clapped, playing peekaboo with her grandmother.
An arm around my waist and a corresponding hand at my hip brought my attention to Ryan rejoining my side. Our eyes met, and we shared a warm smile. He leaned down and kissed the top of my head gently. I accepted his embrace gratefully as I allowed my arm to trail behind him, sticking my hand to rest in his far back pocket while letting my head rest against his chest.
“How’s our birthday girl doing?”
I could hear the tiredness in his voice. I smiled wearily, recognizing it from the droopiness under my own eyes. “Our little Lizzy is as bubbly as can be. She does keep pulling at her ear, though. I’ve seen her do it a couple times now. I’m afraid that we might be in for another long night.”
His arm squeezed me comfortably against him a little tighter, and again Ryan kissed my head.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I smiled, feeling relaxed and warm amid our little gathering. I rolled my neck against Ryan’s arm and looked up at him, still having trouble getting used to his chin and cheeks’ overgrown stubble.
“I love you.”
He smiled with a calm contentedness. “And I love you.”
“How’s your dad?”
Ryan scoffed in the back of his throat, smirking. “He’s currently at war with the grill. He claims there’s a cold spot that, without his constant expert attention, will ruin the barbecue.”
He rolled his eyes, knowing there would always be something his father had to fixate on for fixing. “I’m sure he will survive the battle without much of a struggle. I pretended I could hear you calling for me when he started the real lecture, explaining how I wouldn’t have those kinds of issues if I just grew up and learned to buy American.”
I chuckled under my breath, happy to hear them enjoying, but still getting used to, their relationship’s new rhythm.
“As long as we get to eat before he starts taking things apart, I think we should just let him fix whatever his big stubborn heart desires.”
Ryan’s chest shook behind my head as he stifled his laughter. “The other day, I caught myself fantasizing, imagining going through and sabotaging little things here and there that we don’t really need on a regular basis. Every time he comes over, I could have a new mystery for him to solve. I could unscrew the spark plug on the chainsaw just enough so that it cranks but doesn’t turn over… swap a bunch of working lightbulbs with ones that are already blown… I think it could work, enabling his addiction while keeping it contained and organized, but I just don’t think my conscience could handle it.”
“I was going to say… that’s a little cruel, Ryan. Remind me not to piss you off.” We laughed quietly, just enjoying another day in our little paradise. I looked around the outdoor patio and the surrounding herb garden, wondering how I ever could’ve become so lucky.
My dad strolled over with a drink in hand, leaving my mother to entertain herself with Elizabeth alone.
“Anything I can do to help out, Ryan? I’m sure Rob has the grilling under control, but I’m happy to lend a hand wherever is needed.”
“That’s okay, Mr. Andrews. I think we’re all good.”
“Boy, how many times do I have to tell you? It’s Roger now. Not ‘sir’ or ‘mister anything.’ Keep it up, and I’m going to start calling you Mr. Fleming. If that won’t straighten you out, get ready for the ‘m’lord’ and the ‘yes, sire, right away sire.’”
The three of us laughed, then Dad turned to me. “Harley, did your mother tell me correctly - you’re fully out of the bank now? No more part-time helping the new manager take the reins?”
“Yep, Wednesday was my last day. It was nice, they threw me a little party and everything… It was funny, I came in, and they told me it was my office again for the day - you know, I’d already let David move in so he could get used to it - and they had covered everything with little packets of heirloom flower seeds. The desk, the computer monitor, the chair… even the phone! Everything was just perfectly covered in the little packets - it was really cute.”
“Ah, they pranked you on your last day. That’s a good way to end it. So, you’re all set with the floral shop, then? I kno
w you’re with Lizzy still a lot of the time, but you have everything you need for when you start doing it full-time?”
“Yep, I’m all set, Dad. Ryan finished the greenhouse… oh, about a month ago. I’ve been meaning to get my first seeds and bulbs going, just haven’t quite had the energy to commit to it yet. For now, I’m going to keep limiting myself to bigger orders with weddings, funerals, and the like. But I’ve really enjoyed being able to go to the farmer’s market with all the wildflowers Liz and I gather on our little walks. It’s nice to be able to share a little bit of this place with everyone.”
Ryan’s dad appeared from around the porch, laden with a massive tray of sauce-slathered beef and poultry. “Hey, hey everybody. Here’s the first batch. I’ll be right back with the rest.”
“Hold on, Dad, I think we’re about to do the cake.”
“Oh, Ryan, I’ve got to get back to the grill…”
Ryan let go of me as I pulled away to find where I put the little pastry for Elizabeth to smash and eat if she so desired. He went over and secured his father, insisting that we had more food than we could eat as it was. “The grill can wait five minutes, Dad. You and I both know you turned down the burners before you came over here. Nobody prevents a reckless fire hazard like my father. It does smell good, though. No, no. Stand here and watch your granddaughter destroy that adorable little cupcake.”
We all clapped and smiled as I released the little cake into Lizzy’s waiting grasp. She took her time at first, slowly pulling little crumbs away with the tips of her fingers and puzzling over the texture of the frosting between her palms. From there, the damage became exponential. We laughed and cheered her on as she got the first smear of icing on her nose. She giggled along with us, then went off to the races, rubbing bits of cake into finer and finer pieces and wiping frosting over her cheeks like warpaint.
“Here, Harley, I’ll take that. You go eat something and relax. I’ll handle the cleanup, darling.”
