“I know it is. She’d be proud of you, Pete. I sure am.”
“Come on. It’s not that big a deal. I mean, compared to what you did. What Kate did.”
“It’s just as important, Pete. I’m depending on you now more than ever. In a way, everybody is.”
“And what about you, Ethan? Where will you be?”
“Oh, I’ll be around,” said Ethan. “I’ll be watching. I’m eager to see how it all turns out.”
Peter nodded. “You know what? For the first time since Maggie died, I am too.”
The two friends stood quietly for a moment side by side, each of them gazing out over the headstones of the cemetery.
Finally, Peter broke the silence. “I guess this is good-bye, then,” he said.
“Not good-bye,” said Ethan. “I’ll always be with you, Pete, in your heart. No matter what.”
“Thanks, man.”
“For what?”
“For giving me something to believe in. A future.”
“You’re going to help make that future happen, Pete. I know it.”
“You’ve seen it?”
“I don’t need to see it. I’ve got faith in you. In all of you.”
Peter smiled at that. “I thought we were the ones who were supposed to have faith in you. And in your father.”
“It works both ways, Pete. That’s the beauty of faith. Of love.”
“Yeah, I’m beginning to understand that.”
But there was no answer. When Peter turned, Ethan had gone.
Peter stood there for a moment longer, his head bowed. Then he began to walk back the way they had come, heading toward Maggie’s grave and the world that waited beyond it.
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