He opened the door and stepped aside, welcoming her into the living room.
“Such a big space,” she said. “So friendly, the way the sitting room and the dining room are all one. Then the kitchen is right there. I bet you can hear everything that’s being said on the whole first floor.”
“Pretty much,” he replied, coming up behind her. “When my father built it, he wanted it wide open.”
She glanced his way. “I remember you telling me how they used to dance in here. So I have him to thank for your superior dancing skills.” She turned to the framed portraits on the wall, looking closely at their faces. “Are these your parents?”
“Yeah,” he said quietly, aching that they weren’t there to meet in person. John was right, he thought, fiddling with the ring in his trouser pocket. They’d have loved her.
“You have your mother’s eyes. And John, too. I wish I could have met them.”
“They would have loved you.”
At that, she turned to him and waited for his arms to wrap around her waist. She leaned in and kissed him, and his pulse picked up again.
“There’s something else I wanted to show you,” he said, then he went to the bookshelf and retrieved the brown paper package he’d put there this afternoon.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I guess you’ll have to open it.”
She eyed him curiously, then tore the paper. The moment she saw the cover of the book, a wide smile broke out on her face. “The Thirty-Nine Steps,” she marvelled, skimming her fingers over the cover. “Oh, Jerry. What a wonderful gift. We never did finish it, did we?”
He took a deep breath for courage. “I’m hoping maybe now we can,” he said, then he knelt before her, his entire body buzzing.
She took a step back, the sweet softness of her lips parting slightly with surprise.
“I never stopped thinking of you after I went back to the Front,” he said, the words bubbling to the surface at last. “The world kept blowing up around me, and all I wanted was to get home alive so I could see you again.”
Her eyes had widened while he spoke, their magic blue almost swallowed up by the depths of her pupils.
“Then I got back, and nobody I asked knew you. I gave up. And when I gave up on finding you, I gave up on myself, I guess. Nothing mattered much. And then one day, there you were.” He could still see her in that yellow dress, her long blond hair tied into a tail and tickling down her back. “I’ve known all along that you were the one for me. No one understands me like you do. Nobody sees me like you do either. They see a monster, but you seeme. You’ve always seen me, despite everything.”
She looked as if she was going to say something, and he knew what it was going to be. She was going to reassure him, tell him he was no monster, that he was a good man who’d had an unfortunate accident. She was going to smile at him and hold his hand, and he’d come undone before he could even ask her the question.
“I love you, Adele.” He reached into his pocket, hooking his mother’s ring between his thumb and forefinger, then he offered it up to her. “Marry me?”
She was in his arms before she said a word, her lips on his, her scent all around him. He took her face in his hands and felt the warmth of her tears trickle onto them, under them. He held her there, needing to understand, gazing into those eyes with all he had.
“Is that a yes?” he whispered.
“Yes,” she said against his mouth. “Yes, Jerry. I’ll marry you. I want to live here with you. I want to dance with you in your father’s big room.” She threw her hands into the air. “And I want to fill this house with your children.” Her arms lowered so they were around his neck again, and she pressed her cheek to his chest, breathing there. “Oh Jerry. I’ve always loved you. You must know that.”
For the first time in a very long while, he felt tears burn in his eyes, and this time he did nothing to stop them. The cool, emotionless man he knew everyone else saw when they looked at him was nowhere near. He was far away with the woman he loved, the woman who had sewn him up and made him whole.She loves me, he thought, incredulous.
Their hands trembled as he slipped the ring onto her finger, then they both stared down at the beautiful gold band with the flower on top, made of bits of diamonds.
“I hope you like it,” he said, loving the look of it against her skin. Like it was made for her.
“It’s stunning. It’s like nothing I’ve seen before.”
“It was my mother’s,” he said quietly.
At that, she looked as if she might cry again. “Jerry, you do me an incredible honour, giving me this ring.”
He pulled her close again, drawing strength from her kisses. This is what it would be like. The two of them, doing this whenever they wanted, holding each other, walking life’s paths hand in hand. “Your future brother-in-law asked us for a favour. I told him it was bad timing, but—”
“Of course, Jerry. What is it?”
