Chapter 10 - The Winter of Our Own
The snow continued to fall gently outside, blanketing the Oregon woods in a thick, peaceful silence, but inside the lake house, life was warmer and brighter than it had ever been.
Spring would come eventually, bringing the green shoots of hydrangeas up through the damp earth, the warm hum of cicadas in the pines, and the gentle lapping of lake water against the dock. When it did, the house would be ready—not for ungrateful relatives, demanding critics, or people who looked down on us, but for the two of us, living life entirely on our own terms.
I walked over to the window, looking out across the moonlit water where the dark silhouette of the dock stood strong and unyielding against the current.
My grandfather was right. They had tried to take it, tried to diminish it, tried to reduce me to someone who didn't count.
May you like
They failed.
This was our property. This was our home. And the storm was finally over.
