Brian Freeman - Thief River Falls

“Hey, Lis,” Noah said, his chirpy voice sounding like when they were kids. “More fan mail. You want me to write back to some of these people for you? You’re going to need some help.”

Lisa shook her head. “No, I’ll do it myself.”

“That’s a lot of letters.”

“That’s okay. I want to do every one.”

Noah dropped down onto the window bench next to her. “Sorry I was late getting here today. Janie and I are getting settled in at the old house. Whenever you’re ready to blow this place, you can stay there, too. I mean, unless you want to go back to your house in Lake Bronson.”

Lisa shook her head firmly. “No. If I learned anything, it’s that I belong in Thief River Falls.”

“Well, who says you can’t go home again?” Noah replied. “Hey, by the way, I passed Denis and Gillian Farrell on my way in. Did they really come to see you?”

“They did. Little miracles are everywhere this week.”

“How was it?”

“Honestly, we all cried together. We cried for Danny, and we cried for Harlan. It was good. Not only that, prepare yourself for the fact that we are actually invited to Thanksgiving dinner in the Farrell household this year. You, me, Janie.”

“Get out.”

“It’s true. Denis apologized for shutting us out all these years. I don’t know if Gillian made him say that, but it sounded sincere. He even admitted that he thought it was rather badass of me to turn him into a homicidal maniac in Thief River Falls . He asked if there was going to be a sequel.”

“And is there?” Noah asked.

Lisa rolled her eyes. “Oh, no. That book was a stand-alone, believe me. After this week, I may start writing romance novels.”

Noah looked away toward the door. He saw something in the hallway that Lisa couldn’t see from where she was, and his face flushed. “Janie’s here,” he told her. “She can’t wait to meet you.”

“I can’t wait to meet her, too,” Lisa replied. “I love the idea of you getting married, you know. It’s a new beginning, and that’s what we need.”

“Well, we sort of have a surprise, too. I didn’t want to tell you before now. I wanted to wait to make sure it would be okay.”

“Is it a good thing?”

“It’s a very good thing.”

“Okay, what is it?”

Noah waved at his fiancée outside the hospital room. Janie came in — carrying more flowers balanced in both arms — and Lisa understood the surprise immediately. She found her eyes drawn to Janie’s swollen belly. Lisa didn’t hear much of anything else after that. She was vaguely aware of Janie talking to her and telling her how much she loved her books and how much she loved her brother. But Lisa just kept staring at Janie and thinking about the baby inside her, and finally, Noah and Janie both noticed that tears had begun to fall down Lisa’s cheeks.

“Hey,” Noah said, reaching out to grab her hand. “Hey, are you okay?”

Lisa nodded. She was crying, but this wasn’t sadness. This was something she hadn’t felt in forever. Joy. She was overjoyed.

“I’m so happy for you two,” she managed to say.

Noah beamed. “Thanks, Lis.”

“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” she asked.

Janie glanced at Noah and then smiled at Lisa to give her the news. “A boy.”

“And actually,” Noah went on, “we already have a name picked out. He’s going to be Danny.”

Lisa just kept crying. It felt wonderful. “Danny,” she said.