A Life Worth Living

Logan Caldwell poured himself another cup of coffee from the almost empty pot. Doctoring it up with cream and sugar he stirred briskly, dropped the spoon on the counter and walked in to the living room and resumed his position at the sliding glass doors. Taking a sip he glanced out the windows and took in the view of the ocean. Mornings were his favorite part of the day. He loved that he never knew what he would see when he first looked out his window. Calm water, furious swells or gently rolling waves; each brought their own appeal. Life, he reflected, was getting better. There were times, in the beginning, that he felt the grief inside him would never leave, but as the saying went; things did get better with time. Having his brother by his side, knowing they were both going through the same thing helped. Together they weathered the months of grief and loneliness and found a way to get through it. Gavin was younger than Logan but only by ten months. The two met when they were in their early teens in a group home for boys. Both teens had lost their parents and ended up in the residential facility when their individual foster parents asked the state to take them back. It was difficult finding homes for older children, particularly when they, like Gavin and Logan, were known to cause trouble. Between not knowing how to deal with their grief and the abusive situations they had been placed in over the years, the anger they felt was not easy to contain. Instead of trying to help them deal with their grief, the boys were lost in a system that was overburdened and under staffed and ended up being passed around until finally they were placed in the same home. Finding a kindred spirit in each other, they became fast friends. Defending each other from some of the older children, they quickly became a duo that the others learned to leave alone. If you picked a fight with Gavin or Logan, it became widely known in the home that you picked a fight with the other one as well. Blood may not actually have connected the two boys as brothers, but their bond was as strong, if not stronger, than most that share a genetic connection. Finally at the age of sixteen the boys ran away from the home to start their own life. They lived on the street for the first year, taking odd jobs wherever they could. It was at one of those jobs where Logan and Gavin washed dishes that they met Elizabeth, a waitress that worked part time. The three of them quickly became fast friends and Elizabeth, realizing that they were on their own, gave them the key to her parents’ garage so they could find shelter when the weather was too bad to be living out in the elements. The three became inseparable. Elizabeth watched over the two guys, feeding and sheltering them when she could, and Gavin and Logan protected her whenever a customer or another boy gave her a hard time. While most anybody else would judge their relationship, to them, it seemed a natural progression for the three of them to become involved. Elizabeth could no more choose one of the them over the other, any more than one of the guys could be with her and leave the other one out. Then on one fateful day, Elizabeth’s father walked in on the three of them in his garage. Hearing their conversation and seeing how close the three were, her father became angry. He called his only daughter some very unflattering names, until Gavin and Logan pushed her behind them to defend her to her father. Unfortunately, the damage had been done and Elizabeth lost her father, her mother and the only home she had grown up in. She was disowned by both her parents and was given fifteen minutes to gather what she could from her room before she was kicked out and told never to return. From that moment on Logan, Gavin and Elizabeth became inseparable. Within a month of Elizabeth getting kicked out of her house, Gavin and Logan were hired by an older gentleman who owned his own small security firm. He had no children of his own so he trained the two guys to do security and surveillance and even insisted on them both attending college part time. Logan and Gavin legally went through the court system (with the help of their employer) and had their names changed to Caldwell. Logan, being the oldest married Elizabeth but they all three held a private ceremony uniting them all. Elizabeth became pregnant and at the age of seventeen she gave birth to twin boys. Their life was difficult in the beginning but it was filled with love and laughter. Not a day went by that either Logan or Gavin weren’t with Elizabeth and the boys. They arranged their work and school schedule so that one of them was always around. Elizabeth worked hard at raising the boys and making a home for her two men. After graduating from college the guys continued to work for the older gentleman who had taken them under his wing, until he passed away. His wife closed the firm but Gavin and Logan had learned enough to start their own company, calling it Caldwell Security. As the years passed the company grew considerably. Their reputation was solid and they even had to hire a staff to keep up with the demand. Caldwell Security quickly became known as a top notch security team that only hired and trained the best. Finally, life was getting easier which allowed Logan and Gavin to spend more time at home. They were just starting to look for property in Belle Haven, Connecticut to build their dream house when Elizabeth became ill. They worked hard to have the house completed, and six months after they all moved in, at the age of thirty-two, Elizabeth lost her battle to pancreatic cancer, leaving behind twin fifteen year old boys, Aaron and Henry and two grieving husbands. Logan continued to gaze at the ocean. Yes, losing Elizabeth had been difficult but neither he nor Gavin had the luxury to sit back and grieve. They had two boys that needed to be raised and it was important to both men that their sons realized that, even though they lost their mother, they weren’t alone. It was important to both men that their sons felt secure, knowing how much their dads loved and wanted them. Logan sighed. It’d been seven years since Elizabeth died and while the acute debilitating pain had subsided the lonely feeling was becoming more intense. Aaron and Henry were young men of twenty-two now and had their own lives. As much as he enjoyed spending time with them, it wasn’t the same as having a woman in your life. He’d had a few dates in the past several months but no one had captured his attention enough to ask for a second date. Shrugging his shoulders Logan went in to the kitchen and made a few pieces of toast. Sitting at the bar he took a few bites and picked up his coffee mug to take a sip. Gavin walked in scratching his head and looked over at Logan. “Morning,” he mumbled. Logan kept his silence until Gavin made his coffee and leaned against the breakfast bar on the other side and took a few sips. Gavin wasn’t known as a morning person so Logan waited until the caffeine hit his system before he spoke. “So how was your date last night?” “Nice. Nothing earth shattering. What did you do?” Logan thought a few seconds before he remembered what he’d done. “Nothing much. Worked for a little while then watched a movie. Went to bed early.” Gavin grunted a response and continued to drink his coffee. Logan got up and headed in to the living room to turn on the sports channel. “Did you grab the paper yet?” “Sorry Gav, didn’t think about it. Should still be at the end of the driveway.” “I’ll grab it.” Gavin went out the front door and walked to the end of the driveway. The paper was sitting where it normally was. Gavin picked it up and opened it to the front page and started to peruse it as he started walking back to the house. Seeing the picture on the front page he stopped short.