Chapter 86

“What’d you go and do, old man?” I asked, as I pulled up a chair beside him.

He tried to lift his left hand, but couldn’t. I picked it up and held it in both of mine. “Sorry,” Ben whispered.

“Nothing to be sorry for, Ben. You took me in when I had no one else. I owe you my life.” I kissed his hand and held it to my cheek.

“No,” he whispered again. “I owe you…mine.” I saw him struggle to get up, so I found the remote to raise the bed.

He continued, “I wanted to say…something…to you before I…”

“Okay, Uncle Ben.”

“I…love you, son. You’ve made me…proud.”

I closed my eyes and felt moisture on my cheeks. “I love you, too, Dad.” Because, that was what he was to me. My father. The one who’d taken a lost little human/beast and called me his own.

He smiled. “Everything is…yours. You and Tyler…can make that land fertile…again.”

“Sure thing,” I said.

“Thanks for giving my life…meaning, boy.” Ben looked at me one last time, and closed his eyes. Then he was gone.