PART 11 — A New Beginning in Spring
The cold winter months slowly slipped away, giving way to the first soft sunbeams of spring. Nature awakened, and with it, my own life awakened. After a thorough medical check-up at the hospital, the stomach pain happily turned out to be caused by prolonged stress and tension, not a serious illness. With a strict diet and enough rest, the pain vanished like snow in the sun.
The legal settlement of the property on Lindelaan took several months, but ultimately the court awarded ownership entirely to me, in accordance with Clara's will. The house stood empty; Jons and Sabine had taken everything they could carry when they left, including the furniture they bought back then with borrowed money. But the house itself still stood there, sturdy and proud, exactly as Clara had intended back then.
On a sunny April day, I stood in the garden of Lindelaan. The hydrangeas I had planted years ago were already beginning to sprout carefully. Mrs. De Vries walked past the hedge and greeted me with a broad smile.
"Nice weather, huh, Thomas?" she said. "It's about time you came back to live here. This house belongs to you, not those parasites."
I nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Marie. I think it's indeed time to return to where I belong."
Not long after, I moved back to the house on Lindelaan. Not as a handyman, not as a slavish helper standing by on call, but as owner and resident. Noah came to stay every weekend. We baked pancakes in the kitchen, played games in the garden, and talked about the things a grandpa and grandson discuss. I had barely seen Jons in all those months, apart from a few angry messages blaming me for all his failures. I left them unread. Sometimes you have to close books to ensure you can continue your own life.
And Sabine? She had vanished into the thin air of another city after Jons ran out of all his money and possessions and the relationship permanently broke down. Jons now lived in a small, modest studio apartment on the edge of the city, where he finally had to learn what it means to stand on his own two feet.
