Two days later, Sum-ma's phone rang while she and the children were hanging their painted river across the living-room wall.

The bread had been eaten. A second batch cooled in the kitchen. The museum office had acquired three new photographs: the children's river painting, the bread before Freddy cut it unevenly, and Sum-ma asleep in Gruff's chair with the emergency binder still open on her lap.

Theresa answered the video call.

Gruff's face appeared too close to the camera.

Only one eye, half a nose, and several days of pale scruff filled the screen.

"Gruff!"

He moved the phone away.

Brute sat in the passenger seat of a rented SUV. His beard was brushed. His head wore a baseball cap backward because the sunburn made the usual direction uncomfortable.

"My babies," Brute said.

Freddy climbed over the couch.

"Baba! You had hair!"

Brute stared at the screen.

"What has happened in my absence?"

Sum-ma entered the frame.

"The museum opened its archives."

Brute pointed at her. "Those materials were sealed."

"History belongs to the people."

Gruff looked toward Theresa.

Everything else in his face disappeared.

"Hey, baby."

Theresa tried to answer normally.

Her mouth trembled.

"You were supposed to come home."

Gruff's eyes filled.

"I know."

"You said a week."

"I know."

"It has been more than a week."

"I know. I'm sorry."

Theresa looked down.

"Sum-ma told me what you said."

Gruff waited.

"About there being nothing wrong with me."

His voice softened.

"There ain't."

"And that you were proud of me."

"Always."

Theresa wiped her face angrily.

"I am mad at you."

"That's fair."

"And I love you."

"That's fair too."

Freddy pushed his head into the frame.

"Did you almost die?"

Sum-ma closed her eyes.

Brute leaned toward the phone.

"We had a strongly negative travel experience."

"Did you float?"

"Yes."

"On a boat?"

Gruff and Brute looked at each other.

"A roof," Gruff admitted.

Freddy's eyes widened. "That is better than a boat."

"It was not," both men said.

Sum-ma studied the screen.

Gruff looked different beyond the bruises and beard. He sat closer to Brute. Their shoulders touched. His hand rested openly on Brute's thigh.

Then Brute reached across the console and laced their fingers together.

Gruff lifted Brute's hand and kissed the hairy back of it.

In full view of the camera.

Sum-ma gasped.

Gruff looked toward the screen. "What?"

"Public affection."

"We're in a car."

"A visible car. During daylight."

Brute smiled with unbearable satisfaction.

"He has been doing it all morning. At the rental counter, he touched my lower back."

Sum-ma pressed one hand to her chest.

"I need to sit down. The flood altered him at a molecular level."

Gruff rolled his eyes but did not release Brute's hand.

"When are you coming home?" Theresa asked.

"We're leaving now," Gruff said. "Road closures add a few hours. We'll stop overnight if we need to."

Brute looked at him.

Gruff corrected himself.

"We will stop overnight."

Sum-ma pointed at the screen. "Growth. I witnessed it."

"Don't make it weird."

"Too late."

Brute squeezed Gruff's hand.

"We need to tell you something," he said.

The children became serious.

Gruff glanced at Brute.

Brute nodded.

Gruff looked back at the screen.

"Things gotta change."

Theresa's expression tightened. "What things?"

"Us," Gruff said. "Not the family. How we show up in it."

Brute leaned closer.

"We have been wearing armor inside the house," he explained. "Gruff wears silence. I wear jokes. Both are attractive in moderation and exhausting as full-time clothing."

Gruff continued.

"I don't wanna be present only when somebody needs fixing. I wanna sing again."

Sum-ma's mouth opened.

"Do not promise what the household cannot survive."

Gruff gave her a look.

Brute smiled. "He sang in the rental lot."

"What song?"

"Dolly Parton."

Sum-ma slapped the table.

"The old gods have awakened."

Gruff continued before they could derail him.

"I wanna dance. Cook when it ain't for work. Sit down at the table before everybody finishes eating. Talk even when what I gotta say ain't useful."

Theresa stared at him.

"Can you do that?"

Gruff considered the question honestly.

"Not all at once."

"Then how?"

Brute answered.

"We try."

Gruff nodded.

"And try."

"And try again," Brute finished. "Without treating failure like proof we should stop."

Freddy raised one hand.

"Will there still be emergency labels?"

"Yes," Gruff said.

"Thank God," Brute added. "We are removing armor, not standards."

Sum-ma smiled at the screen.

"Come home," she said.

Gruff kissed Brute's hand once more.

"We're on our way."