Chapter 104 Yes

Chapter 104 Yes
Jacob's Pov

Helen shifted position beside me and I felt the arm do something that required controlled breathing for a moment. When it settled I exhaled.

"Your face just did something remarkable," Violet said.

"Helen is setting a broken bone," I said. "My face is managing."

"You don't have to manage in front of me," she said.

"It's a habit," I said. "Six months of managing."

She looked at Eli. He was awake now. Eyes open. Dark. Unfocused.

"Jacob," she said.

"Yes."

She looked up at me. "Yes."

The word sat there for a moment before I understood it.

"Yes," she said again. Clearly. Directly. The way she said everything when she meant it was completely.

Helen made a small sound that was probably professional neutrality and probably also something else.

I looked at Violet. At her face. At Eli in her arms.

"Just like that," I said.

"You asked honestly," she said. "An honest answer is the only kind that makes sense."

"I thought you might need time," I said. "To think it through."

"I have been thinking it through for six months," she said. "Every letter. Every Tuesday you came to the border. Every time I left the lamp on and went to sleep not knowing if you were still out there." She shifted Eli slightly. "I've had more time to think about it than most people get."

"And the answer is yes," I said.

"The answer is yes," she said.

"Even after all of it," I said. "Everything I did before. The three years of it."

She looked at me steadily. "Jacob. You broke into this house twice. You fought four men in a corridor with your hands tied. You took a blow meant for me and your arm broke and you kept going with one." A pause. "The three years were real and they cost us both something we don't get back. But this is also real. I'm not going to pretend one cancels the other. Both things are true."

"Both things can be true," I said.

"Yes." She looked at me. "You kept saying that about Eric's situation. It applies to ours too. The mistakes were real. Tonight was also real."

"I'll spend the rest of the time making up for the mistakes," I said.

"I know you will," she said. "That's part of why the answer is yes."

Helen stepped back from my arm. "Done," she said. "It'll need proper attention when we get somewhere with the right equipment. But it's set and it'll hold."

"Thank you," I said.

She began cleaning up with her usual efficiency.

"Helen," Violet said.

"Yes." Helen looked up.

"How long before I can travel?"

Helen looked at her. Then at Eli. "Twenty-four hours minimum. Forty-eight would be better."

"We'll aim for forty-eight," Violet said. She looked at me. "That gives time to manage what needs managing here."

"Eric and Stephanie," I said.

"Yes."

"Caius and Hal can hold that," I said. "Darius is on his feet. Between the three of them and the six wolves outside, it's handled."

"And the buyers," she said.

"Caius knows where they're positioned. He's been tracking them for weeks." I shifted my arm carefully. "It'll be addressed."

"The documentation at the regional council," she said.

"Already delivered," I said. "Caius got it out before we came through the fence tonight."

She nodded. Working through what was resolved and what still needed attention.

"Your father," she said.

I looked at her.

"He agreed to make a statement," she said. "You told me that. In the letter through Mira. He agreed to stand in front of the pack and say the truth about what happened."

"Yes," I said.

"Will he?"

"He said he would if I brought you home," I said. "I'm bringing you home."

"With his grandchild," she said. She looked at Eli.

"Yes," I said. "With his grandchild."

Eli made a small sound. Not distress. Just an announcement of continued existence. Violet adjusted him and he settled immediately.

"He's going to be very complicated," I said.

"Yes," she said. "He already has strong opinions."

"He gets that from you," I said.

"He gets it from both of us," she said.

Helen finished her work and began making arrangements for the night. Supplies, water, and the practical management of a new mother and a newborn in unusual circumstances.

I watched Violet hold Eli.

Six months of watching a lamp in a window from a boundary road. Six months of Tuesdays at a border. Six months of letters into a locked drawer. All of it leading to this room.

"Jacob," Violet said.

"Yes."

"Caius," she said. "He's outside?"

"He'll be in the outer grounds," I said.

"I want to meet him properly," she said. "When I can. Not tonight. But soon."

"He'll wait," I said. "He's been waiting twenty-three years. A couple more days won't change anything."

She looked at Eli. "He looks like him," she said quietly. "A little. Around the eyes."

"My mother always looked away from my eyes," she said. "I know why now. But it was a long time of not knowing why."

"I know," I said.

"She's going to have to say it," Violet said. "Publicly. The way your father says his part."

"Yes," I said.

"Will she?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "But it doesn't change what's true. Caius has the letter. He has the token. He has his own testimony. Your mother's confirmation would help, but it's not the foundation."

She nodded.

"Jacob," she said.

"Yes."

"Your arm," she said. "Is it actually manageable or are you telling me it is because you don't want me to worry?"

"Both things are true," I said.

She looked at me. Then she smiled. A real one. Not the corner-of-the-mouth version. The full one.

"That's going to be a problem," she said.

"What?"

“You're using my own argument back at me every time I ask about your arm."

"It's a good argument," I said. "You made it well."

"It was designed for harder situations than your arm," she said.

"My arm is not a small situation," I said.

"No," she agreed. "But considerably less hard than the last six months."

"Fair," I said.

Helen came back to the bedside and checked Eli and Violet. When she stepped back she looked at us both.

"You both need to sleep," she said.

"Yes," I said.

"The situation downstairs is handled?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Then nothing else can't wait until morning." She moved toward the chair in the corner. "I'll be here. Sleep."

I looked at Violet.

She looked at me.

Eli was asleep in her arms. His hands were loose, his face completely at rest. He looked exactly like someone who had decided the hard work was done and the sleep was earned.

"Lay him between us," I said.

"Your arm," Violet said.

"I'll manage the arm. Lay him between us."

She moved carefully and placed Eli on the bed between us. I lay on my right side. My left arm stayed still. Eli's face was six inches from mine.

"He's really here," I said.

"He's really here," Violet said.

"He's very small," I said.

"He is enormous," she said. "Relatively speaking."

"He's small," I said.

"You have no reference point," she said. "Helen says he's a very good size."

"Helen is always right," Violet said.

Eli made a small sound in his sleep. Settled. Decided.

"He knows we're both here," Violet said.

"Yes," I said. "He does."

The lamp was on in the window. Outside the dawn was coming. Somewhere in the grounds Caius was waiting, Hal was managing, Darius was on his feet, six wolves at the eastern boundary.

Everything that needed to be handled was being handled.

In this room, there were only the three of us, a lamp, and the specific quiet of a night that had finally run out of difficulty.

"Jacob," Violet said.

"Yes."

"Go to sleep," she said. "You broke your arm tonight."

"I know," I said.

"It's not a small situation," she said.

"You just said it was," I said.

"I said relatively," she said. "Relative to the last six months. On its own, it is not small."

"Go to sleep, Violet," I said.

She was quiet.

"Jacob," she said.

"Yes."

"I'm glad you came," she said. "All six times you tried. I'm glad you kept coming."

"Seven," I said. "It was seven times.”