Alex pressed his hand more firmly around hers. Neither of them moved.
“I know you are both here somewhere.” Christopher’s sigh was audible. “Please,” he said.
Please? How many times in Charlotte’s life had she heard him utter that word?
“Please,” he reiterated. “I will wait for you on the edge of the park, in the light.”
She heard his footsteps retreat the few paces to the open gravel. What could this possibly mean? What was he about? She glanced over her shoulder toward Alex, fear and questions consuming her.
Alex analyzed her face and kissed her forehead. In the faintest whisper he said, “I think we should speak with him.”
“No,” Charlotte breathed. “We should run.”
“Not yet,” Alex said. “You wait here. I’ll convince him he shouldn’t do anything to me until he knows you are safe.”
“No,” Charlotte begged.
Alex pursed his lips. “We should give him a chance.”
Something snapped within her.Sheneeded to confront her brother, to make things right. She wanted to be rid of him forever, but she realized what Alex said was true. Giving him a chance meant putting her forgiveness she’d been working on to the test. “Don’t move,” she whispered to Alex.
In one swift motion she stepped out from behind the tree. “Before you do anything rash,” she said, walking out of the woods with her hands held high, “I need to speak with you.”
Christopher dropped whatever was in his hand. Now, in the moonlight, she could see it was a wadded-up piece of paper. Alex’s letter to her, no doubt. Her brother made quick work of the space between them, with his head hanging low. Nothing in his posture spoke of revenge, and nothing on his person seemed capable of exacting it. Only one word made it through his pinched voice.
“Charlotte.” He stepped one pace closer. Then his arms drew up from his sides, and he closed the distance, awkward, unsteady hands taking hers. He seemed to gain strength from her touch and pulled her into a stumbling, unpracticed embrace. For an instant Charlotte wished to push him away, but she found she couldn’t. Something about his vulnerable touch, the unfamiliar, unpolished execution of it all—this was clearly hard for him, but it seemed the only way he knew to try. His head bowed and pressed against her shoulder. “Can you ever forgive me for all I have done?”
His words sent a chill down her spine, and Charlotte recognized something foreign in Christopher’s voice: she’d never heard him cry.
His shoulders heaved. “Your sound condemnations these last few days have taught me more than you could ever know.” He drew another deep breath as great sobs racked his body. “What you say, Charlotte,hasmattered more than anything these past days.”
How had he known to say those words? All those years ago, that was the very phrase Alex had said. The wonder on her face must have been clear, for she saw Alex pull out from the shadows.
Alex inclined his head and changed his voice to one of quoting. “‘What Charlotte says doesn’t matter.’” He looked guilty. “Chris and I exchanged that phrase a lot when we were foolish boys. When I used it the day I left Otterburn, I was quoting Christopher.”
All these years, it had been Chris’s words that had haunted her, even though they’d come from Alex’s mouth? That knowledge should have fueled her rage. But as she looked at her brother, who had stepped back a pace, she felt more pain sloughing off from the weakest parts of her. He was hurting too. And understanding his pain made it easier to forgive him.
Christopher, upon seeing Alex, moved toward him and clasped a hand on his shoulder. “My soul has been in agony these past days. Every time I spoke to you—every memory, every demand, every threat, and most especially our time in the woods with our pistols—has plagued me. Condemned me. I thought myself unable to change.” He hazarded a glance from the gravel to Alex’s face. “But I want to try. Can... you ever forgive me?”
Alex stood motionless, and in the tense silence Christopher continued. “I was wrong about you, so terribly wrong.” He wiped moisture from his face with the back of his hand. “I let some ill-tempered, puffed-up feud consume my life. Proving I wasn’t like a Jenkins meant everything to me, so when you came back, I was ready to demonstrate my superiority, preserve myself, defend my family.” He heaved another breath. “And that idiotic fight nearly cost me my own brother’s life. Watching George’s struggle has been like walking through hell anew every day. I deserve such agony. I deserve so much more still.” He glanced at Charlotte. “I have begun to apologize to George, but I realize our brotherhood will take time to mend.”
The recollection caused Christopher’s body to rack with more pain, his hands dropping to his sides as he endured more sobs. His sorrow hung around him like dark, deep caverns of coal, and then Alex opened his arms and pulled Christopher into an embrace.
Stunned, Christopher didn’t move. Then he brought up his hands and returned the gesture, his tears still damp. “What can I do to have you forgive me? I’ll do anything you wish.”
Alex stepped back and drew up tall as he stared down at Christopher. A bit of wind ruffled his hair, and Charlotte hoped forgiveness could be carried on the wings of the breeze. “Say nothing more,” he breathed. He swallowed and stepped out of Christopher’s grasp toward Charlotte, enveloping her hand in his. The gesture sent strength through her as Alex raised his head higher. “Allow me to marry your sister. Accept me as your family, and all will be forgiven.”
Her gaze jumped from Alex to her brother. Christopher strode toward them both, his arms outstretched, and took one of each of their free hands in his.
This time Charlotte pulled in to her brother, coming close under his arm. Chris’s tears wet her sleeve and then her cheek as he hugged her even tighter. Those tears seemed to contain a magic salve of their own, washing away the years of hardened stone and sharp daggers formed between them. Anger and fear melted into something more holy and complete.
She could love her brother. She could forgive him. He had even asked for forgiveness. She could love her family and be loyal to them and still have Alex in her life.
And when she gazed upward, the twinkle of glimmering stars caught her eye. She smiled softly. Goddidwatch over them, and somehow through the vast universe, Hehadprovided a way to urge her family to mend. By the grace of God, Chris had chosen to change, and she and Alex too. Together they formed a constellation of sorts, forged from years of turmoil, then resolution, and now—most importantly—forgiveness.
God had prevailed in their lives.
Forgiveness did work miracles.
