Chapter 10: Coming Home

Six months later

The smell of pancakes and coffee drifted through Chloe's kitchen on a Saturday morning that felt like every perfect Saturday morning should—unhurried, warm, and filled with the comfortable chaos of family life. Mae sat at the kitchen table in her pajamas, carefully applying far too much syrup to her stack of pancakes while explaining to anyone who would listen why purple was definitively the best color in the entire universe.

"It's like blue and red had a baby," she announced with the authority of a six-year-old who had recently learned about primary colors. "And babies are always the best parts of their parents put together."

Lexi nearly choked on her coffee, catching Zeke's amused glance across the kitchen. He was standing at the stove, flipping pancakes with the same methodical precision he brought to everything, his hair still mussed from sleep and his feet bare against the warm tile floor. The sight of him in Chloe's kitchen—their kitchen now, she supposed—still made her heart do that little skip that she'd finally stopped trying to suppress.

"That's very wise, Mae-bug," Chloe said, ruffling her daughter's curls as she passed by with a plate of fresh fruit. "You'll have to remember that theory for when you're older."

Mae nodded solemnly, then brightened as she noticed Zeke approaching with another pancake for her stack. "Daddy, can we work on the treehouse after breakfast? You promised we could start the ladder today."

"After breakfast and after you get dressed," Zeke confirmed, sliding the pancake onto her plate with a flourish that made her giggle. "And after we clean up the kitchen."

"I'll help!" Mae volunteered, though her track record with kitchen cleanup was questionable at best.

"I'm counting on it," Zeke said seriously, and Mae beamed at being treated like such an essential part of the operation.

Lexi watched the exchange with the same wonder that had been growing in her chest for months now—the wonder of witnessing Zeke become exactly the father Mae needed him to be. Not the father who had been there from the beginning, but the one who showed up every day now with patience and consistency and the kind of steady love that built trust one small moment at a time.

He'd kept his promise to move closer, renting a small house just ten minutes away that had become Mae's second home. Three nights a week she stayed with him, learning to make grilled cheese sandwiches and helping him with his architectural drawings and falling asleep to his slightly off-key renditions of her favorite lullabies. The other nights, he came here, sliding so naturally into their evening routines that it was hard to remember a time when he hadn't been part of them.

The custody agreement had been finalized two months ago, a legal document that formalized what had already become emotional reality—Zeke was Mae's father in every way that mattered, and Mae was his daughter, completely and irrevocably. But more than that, they'd all learned to be a family in a way that honored both the history that had come before and the future they were building together.

"Earth to Lexi," Chloe said, waving a hand in front of her face. "You're doing that dreamy staring thing again."

"I don't stare dreamily," Lexi protested, but she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks.

"Yes, you do," Mae chimed in helpfully. "You get the same look Mama gets when she's watching those romantic movies. All soft and smiley."

"Betrayed by a six-year-old," Lexi muttered, but she was laughing despite herself.

The truth was, she had been doing a lot of dreamy staring lately. Six months of slowly, carefully building something real with Zeke had left her feeling like a different person—softer around the edges, more willing to believe in happy endings, more inclined to trust that good things could last.

It hadn't been easy. There had been awkward conversations about boundaries and expectations, tense moments when old fears resurfaced, difficult discussions about how to navigate their relationship without disrupting Mae's sense of security. But they'd worked through each challenge with the same patience and determination they'd shown on the boat, and gradually, inevitably, they'd found their rhythm.

Zeke caught her eye across the kitchen and smiled, the private smile that was just for her, and Lexi felt that familiar flutter of warmth in her chest. Six months, and he still looked at her like she was something miraculous, something worth treasuring.

"I have an idea," Chloe announced, settling at the table with her own plate of pancakes. "What if we all go to the marina today? Mae could see some of the boats, maybe we could walk down to where they found you two."

Mae perked up immediately. "The rescue boats! Can we see if Captain Martinez is there? I want to show him my swimming certificate!"

"We can definitely try," Zeke agreed. "Though he might be out on a call."

"That's okay. We can wait. I'm very patient now." Mae said this with the pride of someone who had recently mastered a difficult skill, which, given her previous track record with patience, wasn't entirely inaccurate.

An hour later, they were walking along the marina's main dock, Mae skipping ahead while the adults followed at a more sedate pace. The sun was warm on their faces, and the harbor was busy with weekend boaters preparing for day trips and fishing expeditions. Mae chattered constantly, pointing out different types of boats and making up elaborate stories about where each one might be going.

"There!" she exclaimed suddenly, pointing toward a familiar Coast Guard vessel moored at the far end of the dock. "That's Captain Martinez's boat! I can see him!"

She took off running before any of the adults could stop her, her voice carrying across the water as she called out to the man who had helped rescue her beloved Daddy and Aunt Lexi. Captain Martinez looked up from whatever equipment he'd been checking, his weathered face breaking into a grin when he spotted the enthusiastic little girl barreling toward him.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite honorary crew member," he called back, moving to meet her at the dock's edge. "How are you doing, Mae?"

"I can swim now!" Mae announced proudly. "Want to see my certificate? Mama brought it in her purse!"

"I would love to see your certificate," Captain Martinez said seriously, as if examining swimming certificates was an important part of his official duties.

As Mae launched into a detailed explanation of her swimming lessons, complete with demonstrations of proper breathing technique, Lexi found herself standing beside Zeke at the spot where they'd first been brought back to shore six months ago. The memory felt both distant and immediate—the relief of rescue, the chaos of medical checks and worried friends, the moment when reality had crashed back in and shattered the perfect bubble of their time together.

"Strange to be back here," Zeke said quietly, echoing her thoughts.

"Good strange or bad strange?"

"Good," he said without hesitation. "Definitely good. That day changed everything."

Lexi nodded, thinking about the journey that had brought them from that moment of rescue to this one of contentment. "Mae's right, you know. About purple being the best color because it's two other colors combined."

"Is that your way of saying we're better together than apart?"

"Maybe." She bumped his shoulder with hers, a gesture that would have seemed impossibly intimate six months ago and now felt as natural as breathing. "I'm not great with metaphors, but I think she's onto something."

"Mae's onto a lot of things," Zeke agreed, watching as their daughter—and when had Lexi started thinking of Mae as theirs rather than Chloe's?—convinced Captain Martinez to let her examine some piece of nautical equipment. "She asked me yesterday if I was going to marry you."

Lexi's breath caught. "She did? What did you tell her?"

"I told her that marriage was something adults had to discuss together, and that the most important thing was that we all love each other and take care of each other." He paused, his voice growing softer. "Then I asked her how she'd feel if I did marry you someday."

"And?"

"She said she thought it would be nice to have it all official, like how my being her daddy is official now. Then she asked if that meant she could call you Mama Lexi instead of Aunt Lexi, and I told her that would be up to you."

The conversation felt surreal, too wonderful and terrifying to be happening in broad daylight on a crowded dock. Lexi stared out at the water, trying to process the idea that Mae had not only thought about this possibility but had embraced it with characteristic six-year-old practicality.

"Hypothetically," she said carefully, "what would your answer be? If she asked you that question?"

Zeke stopped walking, turning to face her fully. "Hypothetically? I'd tell her that I've been carrying a ring around in my pocket for three weeks, waiting for the right moment to ask you properly."

Lexi's heart stopped. "You have not."

"I have." He reached into his jacket pocket, producing a small velvet box that made her knees go weak. "I know it's complicated. I know we're still figuring things out. But I also know that I want to spend the rest of my life figuring things out with you."

Before Lexi could respond, Mae's voice carried across the dock, bright with excitement. "Daddy! Aunt Lexi! Captain Martinez says there are dolphins in the harbor today! Can we go look for them?"

They turned toward her, this child who had brought them together in the most impossible way, and Lexi felt everything click into place. The fears that had been holding her back, the uncertainty about the future, the worry that they were moving too fast or building on too fragile a foundation—all of it fell away in the face of Mae's pure joy and Zeke's steady love and the absolute rightness of this moment.

"Yes," she said, the word meant for both Mae's question and Zeke's unspoken proposal. "Yes, we can look for dolphins. Yes to all of it."

Zeke's smile was brilliant enough to power the entire marina. He slipped the ring box back into his pocket—they'd handle the actual proposal later, somewhere private where they could savor the moment properly—and took her hand as they walked toward Mae and Captain Martinez.

"Look!" Mae called out, pointing toward the harbor entrance where a familiar pod of dolphins was making their way into the calmer waters near the docks. "They came back! Just like they always do!"

"Just like they always do," Lexi agreed, squeezing Zeke's hand as they reached Mae's side.

Chloe appeared beside them, slightly out of breath from trying to catch up. "Did I miss the dolphins?"

"They're just getting started," Captain Martinez assured her. "This pod comes through most Saturday mornings. Regular as clockwork."

They stood together on the dock, watching the dolphins play in the harbor while Mae provided running commentary on their acrobatics. The sun climbed higher, burning off the last of the morning mist and revealing a day that promised to be perfect for treehouse building and family adventures and all the small, precious moments that made up a life.

Later, when the ring was officially on her finger and the champagne had been opened and Mae had been told that yes, she could call her Mama Lexi if she wanted to, Lexi would look back on this morning as the moment when everything truly began. Not the rescue that had brought them together, not the revelation that had torn them apart, not even the beach walk where they'd decided to try, but this—standing on a dock with the people she loved, watching dolphins dance in the harbor, feeling the absolute certainty that she was exactly where she belonged.

The ocean had given them to each other once, in storm and desperation and the kind of circumstances that made headlines. But this—this quiet Saturday morning, this gentle choosing of each other again and again, this family built on love and patience and the daily decision to show up—this was their real rescue.

And as Mae's laughter mixed with the splash of dolphins and the cry of gulls, as Zeke's thumb brushed across her knuckles and Chloe's arm slipped around her shoulders, Lexi finally understood what coming home really meant.

It wasn't a place. It wasn't even a person.

It was this: the moment when you stopped searching for something better and started building something beautiful with exactly what you had.

The End