It was over thirty miles to Long Beach, but I didn’t mind. Everything about California felt new and invigorating. I closed my eyes to enjoy the warm wind as it rushed past—and felt Luc’s hand engulf mine.
We didn’t speak for most of the ride. The motor made it difficult to hear, and I didn’t mind the silence. It was enough just to hold his hand.
When we finally reached the ocean, Luc pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the engine. The waves crashed against the shore and rolled toward the beach in a never-ending pattern, running along the sand, creeping toward a family who sat on a picnic blanket.
Luc lifted my hand to his lips, tearing my gaze from the ocean. My pulse soared, and I had to swallow the rush of emotion welling up inside me. I had never wanted to offer my heart to anyonelike I wanted to offer it to Luc. I trusted him completely—to be tender with me, to love me, to cherish me. I’d watched him care for the things he loved in those ways, and I knew he would do the same with me.
If only.
“I’ve made a decision,” he said, his accent thick. “I’m retiring from flying.”
I sat up straighter, surprised. “What?”
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, and you’re right. You told me several months ago, after Hope died, that if you fly, you know your time will eventually come.” He shook his head. “And I’ve decided I don’t want my time to be up yet. I want to start a flying school and invent things and travel the world. There is so much more I want to do with my life.” He put his arm around my waist, drawing me closer to his side. “And so much more I want to live for.”
I didn’t resist him as he pulled me toward him—I yearned to be in his arms again—but even as he did, I knew it was only prolonging our agony.
“I love you,” he whispered, his mouth a breath away from mine. “And I want to marry you, Grace.”
My heart beat wildly as he laid his lips against mine. I responded to his kiss, inviting him to deepen it as I laid my hands against his face, drawing him closer to me. If desire and longing could have stopped time and made everything else disappear, I’m certain it would have happened then.
But when I pulled back, breathless, the reality of the situation crashed upon me.
“I promised Hope I would stay in 1692,” I whispered, a sob in my voice.
He leaned his forehead against mine, his arms still around me. His voice was strained as he said, “You will take my heart,mon amour.”
I kissed him again with tears in my eyes.
“I always knew you and Hope could not be separated,” he said as I pulled back. He ran his thumb down the side of my face with aching tenderness, heartbreak in his gaze. “I would never ask you to give up your sister for me.” He shook his head. “But, oh, how I want to.”
I leaned into his touch and closed my eyes. I wanted to say more, but what was the point?
For a long time, I sat there with my head against his chest, listening to the beat of his heart and the crashing waves.
When we finally arrived at the hangar, the reporters were already waiting. I went inside and changed into my flying suit, but nothing felt right. My limbs were heavy, my thinking was foggy, and my heart wasn’t in flying.
But I had a job to do and commitments to fulfill, so I forced myself to smile.
After the pictures were over, one of the reporters asked if I would take up the flyer for a set of publicity photos. I looked to Luc, whose countenance was as heavy as mine, and he nodded. Twenty minutes later, I was in my aeroplane again.
I glanced at Luc, wanting him to know how much it broke my heart that I couldn’t have him, but somehow I knew he understood. It was in the way he smiled at me, in the way he continued to love me, even when I was breaking his heart.
I took off from Long Beach, the sunlight blinding me with its brilliance.
From the second my wheels left the sand, I knew something was terribly wrong.
One moment I was feeling the rush of weightlessness in my stomach, and the next, my world went black.
I woke up with a jolt—and inhaled a deep breath.
The room above the ordinary was cold and filled with an inkyblackness that suffocated me. I reached through the darkness to where Hope usually slept but was reminded her spot was empty.
A shiver took over my body, and I tried wrapping myself in the blanket, but it was no use.
Something had woken me up with a start—and something had sent me reeling back to Salem with a force I had never experienced before.
I slowly sat up in the bed, ducking my head to avoid the slanted ceiling, as memories from Long Beach started to surface.
