Speaking of adjustments and corrections, it appeared one was at hand.Peter laughed.
“Why is today important?Well, let me consider.Today is not the anniversary of our wedding, nor is it your birthday, or mine, or Essie’s for that matter.It is not Christmas orPascuaorel Día de los Inocentes.Now, what could I be forgetting that would be of some importance to us?”He strolled over to his wife and kissed the curly, unruly top of her head, as a smaller head of hair, similarly unruly, finally lolled in a milk-induced dream in her arms.
Ana looked up at him, her ebony eyes wide with feeling, while her lips quirked in a bittersweet smile.“San Sebastián,” she whispered.
Peter sighed heavily and lowered himself to the floor at her side.“Right you are, my dear.”
“You forgot,” Ana said.
But her voice was not thin with pain or criticism or even questioning.Instead, it was soft with some other emotion entirely.Relief, perhaps.Peter reached up for his wife’s hand and met her eyes again.Yes, she was relieved.He could see it in the smoothness of her brow and the relaxed tilt of her jaw.
Indeed, hehadforgotten.There had been months when Peter had believed he would never be able to forget it.The destruction, the horror, the unrestrained and inhumane violence.But now it had been days, perhaps weeks, since the event even crossed his mind.Slowly, he had learned that there was too much evil that occurred in the war for justice to be served on behalf of all of it.No man would ever be able to right all of those wrongs.And that was why there was need for a loving and forgiving God who could offer healing to a broken world.
“Has a year truly passed?And only a year?”he asked as he rubbed a hand across his forehead.“It feels as if that were an entire lifetime ago.”
“So much has changed since that time,” Ana said.“Wehave changed since that time.A great deal.”
Peter nodded and pressed a kiss to her palm.“Maybe we ought to commemorate it somehow.Light some candles, perhaps.In remembrance of yourPapáand the others who perished there.”
“I think that is a lovely notion,amor.I would like that very much.”
“Very well.Consider it a new family tradition,” Peter said, his mind already spinning with ideas.But then the slightest shadow of pain crossed Ana’s face.Peter paused his formulating and tightened his grip on Ana’s hand.However, it seemed to be more of a reflection of past pain than the true sharpness of lingering, present pain.
“Is there anything else you wish to discuss regarding San Sebastián?”
She rested her head against the back of her chair, closing her eyes.“En este momento, no.”
“I propose that we reflect instead upon something of much greater importance.As you said, you and I have changed a great deal since those events.We are married now, of course.You have brought precious, new life into our world and our hearts.I have left the army entirely and find great joy in that decision, something I never could have anticipated.”
“And we are in love,” Ana said, her tone teasing as she raised her eyes pointedly, as if he had forgotten that as well.
“Most deeply and permanently andunforgettablyso.”Peter smiled as he rose to his feet to better reach his wife’s lips.She laughed into his kiss, which only gave him an excuse to kiss her longer and more thoroughly.
“And we found home here,” Ana said once he released her, her lips full and cheeks bright with color.
“We made this our home,” Peter said, as he pulled his wife to her feet, careful of the slumbering babe in her arms.He led her to the window and wrapped them both in an embrace as they looked out over the gardens and land they treasured.
The name of Abbeygate had never held a special significance for Peter until now.As a young boy, in fact, he hadn’t given it any thought at all.But when they had arrived at the manor nearly a year ago, he had only thought of the name in relation to the old stone church that sat some distance behind it, as if the property was a gateway to the church.But now he could see that for him and Ana, Abbeygate had been a gateway to peace, a gateway to God, a gateway to healing.It had become the place of belonging that neither of them had ever imagined they would have.
Abbeygate was, in every essence of the word, a safe haven.
Epilogue
August 31, 1816, San Sebastián, Spain
San Sebastián.
Once, it was a sparkling city that was delicately perched on a hill, at the end of a narrow curve of land that reached out to the turquoise sea like arms eager for an embrace.Once, it was vibrant, beautiful, full of music and culture and faith.Now it was full of ash.
Ana approached the spot where the city gate once stood, hand in hand with Peter, in shock at the emptiness that lay before them.A lonely silence echoed throughout the place.By all appearances, the city had long been abandoned by the few Basque and Spanish that survived the sacking.The remnants of the city were faintly mapped in the form of ash-painted ruins and dusty streets.Pain and sadness still hung heavy in the air, but with them came a sense of hope.Someday, Ana hoped, it would be rebuilt.It was tucked in too beautiful a corner of Basque Country to remain untouched forever, a skeleton of what it once had been.Ana only wished there was some sort of memorial to all the residents who had died there after sacrificing so much to support the Allied armies.She wished to know their names, to know of their lives, as they had been the true pulse of this city.
“Let us pray for them,” she whispered, joining her hands with Peter’s.Together they kneeled, unconcerned at the ash that would dirty Ana’s skirts and Peter’s pants at the knees.If offering up a prayer to God was some way that they could help these people, both alive and dead, then having stained clothes was an incredibly small price to pay.And it would be a remembrance of this moment.
Peter wrapped a comforting embrace around her, his lips warm at her temple.Ana leaned into his touch, savoring the strength she drew from it.Theirs was not a visit of happenstance.It was carefully planned, as today marked three years since the burning of the city.
Three years, and seemingly an eternity had passed since then.
Their lives had moved on in ways Ana had never anticipated, bringing blessings that she never could have even hoped for.
