Chapter 15: The Unbroken Light
Ten years after the morning on the porch.
The evening sun began its slow descent behind the snow-capped peak of Mount Hood, bathing the Columbia River Gorge in a vast, luminous sea of amber, rose, and molten gold.
The water of the White Salmon River flowed peacefully through the millrace, turning the great wooden waterwheel that had sawn timber for generations of honest builders.
Lucas and Clara walked hand in hand along the grassy riverbank, holding four-year-old Silas skipping between them.
Ahead of them, the heavy Douglas fir timbers of the joinery barn glowed warm in the evening light, its cedar roof sheltering twenty young apprentices who were sharing evening supper on the timber deck overlooking the water.
The sound of acoustic guitars, the smell of fresh cedar shavings, and the clean scent of the mountain wind drifted across the river like an eternal benediction.
Lucas stopped at the water's edge, looking out over the thriving timber academy, the lush organic orchards, and the sturdy bridges built by hands that worked for the common good.
He looked down at the heart-fir band on his finger, then looked up into the boundless, cloudless blue sky stretching over the Cascade Mountains.
May you like
The suburban basements, the smart doorbells, and the hollow monuments of vanity had long since faded into forgotten dust.
All that remained was the sacred ground—held by honest love, built by patient hands, and standing strong against every storm in the eternal, unbroken light of truth.
