The game of catch had turned into a short game of football, which in the Monroeville heat was enough to require showers before dinner. Charlotte walks out onto the back porch of her family's home feeling refreshed. She's left her hair to air dry so that she can enjoy the coolness of her damp hair resting on her back.

Charlotte finds Cooper sitting on the bench swing, a glass of lemonade in his hand, staring out into the distance. She sits next to her husband, and he wraps his arm around her shoulders. Charlotte steals the lemonade glass from Cooper, takes a long sip, and hands it back, before letting her hand rest on her husband's thigh and tilting her head to lean against his chest.

Cooper shivers slightly at the feel of Charlotte's wet hair against him. He looks down at her and smiles. Charlotte would kill him for thinking this, but sometimes he looks at his wife and she seems so small, and all he wants to do is gather her up in his arms and protect her. He's thankful that she lets him do that these days. She protects him too, of course. He might have 60 pounds on her, but Cooper knows that in the ways that really count Charlotte is probably stronger than he is. That doesn't matter, though, because they are as strong as they are together. Maybe it's a silly, romantic notion, but Cooper believes it. They've gotten through more together than they could have alone.

"Mason told me about your talk earlier," Cooper tells Charlotte. She had wanted to find a moment to pull him aside and talk about it, but she hadn't found an opportunity when Mason wasn't with them.

"What did he say?" Charlotte asks. She is excited at the prospect of gaining some insight into how Mason felt after she had talked to him.

"He seemed really touched by what you told him. He just sort of blurted out that you told him that you loved him as much as if you'd given birth to him."

"Did he seem like he believed me? I just didn't know what to do to convince him," Charlotte tells Cooper, turning to look at her husband.

"I think you said all the right things. You said everything that my parents told me that made me believe it didn't matter to them that I was adopted." This makes Charlotte feel a little better. "Mason knows you love him Charlotte. You should have heard him talking before; he knows," Cooper tells Charlotte confidently.

"It just breaks my heart to think Mason doesn't feel loved enough," Charlotte whispers.

"Char, I think you're blowing this out of proportion. Mason just needed reassurance."

"Is there something else you think I should be doing or saying?" Charlotte asks. She really hopes Cooper is right about this.

"Most of my conversation with Mason was about how much he loved hearing everything you said to him today. So, I'm sure repeating it never hurts, but I think he feels very loved."

Charlotte nods a little, and Cooper rubs her arm reassuringly. There's something else he wants to ask Charlotte, but he doesn't want to upset her or make her talk about something that she'd rather not discuss. Curiosity is about to get the better of him though. Being here in Alabama has made Cooper think a lot about something he's wondered about his wife for a long time. "Did you feel loved as a child?"

"Sometimes," Charlotte tells her husband. It's an answer that breaks his heart. "Some days, when Momma was drinking, she would hug me and tell me how much she loved me, and other days she would close her bedroom door and refuse to acknowledge that Duke, Landry, or I existed. I think she loved us as much as she could, but I know that she resented us too."

Cooper gives Charlotte's arm a squeeze, and she looks over at her husband. His eyes are teary, and he looks like he's trying to figure out what to say. Charlotte smiles at Cooper and continues talking. "Big Daddy wasn't a believer in displays of affection. I know I was his favorite – Duke and Landry will not let me live that down." Charlotte stops there, and the lack of a real answer is all Cooper needs to hear. If someone asked him if he felt loved as a child, he would have told them that of course he felt loved. There wouldn't be a doubt in his mind or a need for an explanation. The question is too simple to require any of that. But it isn't simple for Charlotte.

Charlotte explains all this unsentimentally, and Cooper resists his urge to tell her how sorry he is and how much love she deserves. That would sound far too much like pity for Charlotte's comfort. He resists the urge, too, to remind his wife that he loves her so much that some days it still overwhelms him. She knows. She feels the same way. Those are two facts that Cooper doesn't doubt for a second. He simply pulls Charlotte to him for a long, slow kiss. When Charlotte pulls back, she smiles at Cooper, keeps her hands cradling his face, and nods. She knows. He doesn't need to put his love or his comfort into words. She feels it.

"I love you, Coop," Charlotte tells her husband, as her thumb caresses his cheek. It had taken Charlotte almost three years to say those words to him. She says them so easily now. To Cooper. To Mason every night when she tucks him in.

"I love you," Cooper replies, and gives Charlotte another, quick kiss.

Charlotte settles herself back against Cooper's chest and stares out at the land around her. Maybe her childhood here hadn't been ideal, but this was still home. No matter how long she is away, Charlotte always feels at home sitting on this porch or under her favorite magnolia tree. There would always be a special place in Charlotte's heart for the gnarly maple tree that she and her brothers could never resist trying to climb ever higher. And she would always smile when she thought about riding Marjorie along the river trail in the early morning. "It wasn't all bad, you know? I have a lot of good memories from when I was a kid."

"I'm glad," Cooper tells Charlotte truthfully. "Char," Cooper says a minute later, his wife once again seemingly lost in memories.

"Hmm?" Charlotte replies.

"I know you hate when I say this, but thank you for everything you do for Mason, for being such a good momma."

Charlotte sits up and looks at Cooper. "I hate it because it sounds like I'm doing you a favor, like taking care of our son is a favor to you. It makes me feel like you think I don't want to take care of Mase, like he's your son alone and I'm just helping out."

"Oh Char. I don't think that at all. I know you love him just as much as I do, and Mason thinks of you as one of his mothers, which makes that exactly who you are. How about this instead? I am so grateful that we are raising a family together."

Charlotte smiles and nods. That sounds much better. "So am I," she tells her husband.

They settle into a comfortable silence until Mason comes outside, freshly showered. "Hi," he says, walking over to his parents.

"Want to come sit with us?" Charlotte asks, moving over and making a spot for Mason between her and Cooper. Mason sits down and leans in against Charlotte. She wraps an arm around him, and Cooper keeps his arm around his wife's shoulders.

"Are you nice and cool now?" Charlotte asks. His hair is wet and smells like strawberries.

"MmHmm." Charlotte presses her lips to the crown of Mason's head, takes in the feel, the smell of her child. "I was thinking about what we were talking about before," Mason tells Charlotte a few minutes later. "It's ok with me if you guys want to have a baby."

Charlotte lets out a surprised laugh. She was not expecting that comment. She hopes what Mason is telling her is that he knows she loves him and that he wouldn't feel threatened by a baby sibling.

"Your daddy and I are going to have to take some time and talk before we think about a baby," Charlotte tells Mason. The idea of a baby still scares her, and she doesn't feel like anything is missing in her life right now. But Cooper and Mason are both gifts she never knew she wanted but absolutely adores and can't imagine her life without, so she won't rule out the possibility of having another kid.

"That's ok Momma. I just wanted you to know," Mason tells her lightly.

"Thanks Mase," Charlotte tells her son, wrapping both her arms around him and giving him a big squeeze.

Cooper watches them. Mason has a huge grin on his face. This trip has stirred up a lot of feelings for Mason, but Cooper thinks that his son has probably benefitted from having his anxieties exposed and soothed. Cooper is still impressed by how good Charlotte is at talking to Mason. Cooper is definitely grateful for that skill of hers though, because she has helped their son through a lot that Cooper isn't sure he could have handled as well on his own.

Cooper leans over, presses his lips to Charlotte's ear, and whispers, "I told you so." Charlotte smiles. She's happy for him to be right on this one.

Mason must be enjoying the cuddling time because he makes no move to go get his Pokémon cards or his Nintendo DS. Charlotte, Cooper, and Mason are sitting in the same spot a half hour later when Landry and Jenny arrive.

"Hey Baby Girl," Landry greets his sister.

"Isn't it enough that I let you keep calling me Charlie? But Baby Girl?" Charlotte asks making a mildly disgusted face, "I'm almost six years older than you, Landry."

"We're honoring Momma tonight, just thought we should keep her nickname for you alive."

"I'm ok if we let that one go," Charlotte tells her brother as he sits down in one of the cushioned wicker chairs.

"Someone's got to remind you where you came from. I know you're a big shot out in California, but what kind of little brother would I be if I let you forget where you started out?"

"I'm not forgetting," Charlotte tells Landry. "Don't you worry."

"Glad to hear it Baby Girl," Landry says, and Charlotte shakes her head with a smile.

When Duke shows up ten minutes later, Cooper and Landry are off in a corner drinking beer and talking about the last minute baseball trades. Despite a few attempts, Charlotte has never managed to care much about baseball, so she's sitting and chatting with her sister-in-law. Mason has sprawled himself out on the swing with his head on Charlotte's lap and his legs hanging over the armrest.

"You're putting the poor kid to sleep," Duke tells Charlotte. He sits down with Charlotte, Mason, and Jenny. "Isn't that right Mason?"

"Nah," Mason says, his shoulders shrugging against Charlotte's leg.

Bernie walks over to Duke, "What can I get you to drink?"

"Do you have any sweet tea brewed?" Duke asks.

"Of course."

"That sounds perfect. Thanks Bernie."

Charlotte raises an eyebrow at her brother. "Sometimes you give decent advice, sis. Figure it wouldn't kill me to cut back a bit." Charlotte smiles at her brother and nods.

"How are you at climbing trees," Duke asks Mason, who sits up and looks at his uncle. "Did your momma tell you that we have the best climbing tree in the world here?" Mason shakes his head. "Well we do."

"Awesome," Mason says, his face lighting up. Growing up in a city didn't give him too much of an opportunity to climb trees.

Duke stands up, "Come on." Mason and Charlotte both get up.

"You're coming too, Momma?" Mason asks.

"You bet. I am a far better climber than your Uncle Duke. Someone needs to show you how it's done."

"Awesome," Mason says again.

And then they're off to climb a tree that Charlotte has been climbing for thirty years now. Charlotte's laugh catches Cooper's attention, and he watches his wife and son climbing. Cooper wishes he could have spared Charlotte some of the pain of her childhood, but this place and these people had helped make Charlotte the woman she is, the woman he loves. And he wouldn't change a single thing about her.

The End