I couldn’t bring myself to say good-bye as she turned to Miles.
He offered her a gentle smile and then held out his elbow, like a gentleman would to his wife.
She hesitated for just a moment and then wrapped her arm through his and lifted her head high, looking for all the world like Mrs. Miles Fremont.
Austen and I watched as they walked down the platform and disappeared.
“Do you trust him?” I asked Austen as he put his arm around my waist.
“With my life.”
I finally looked up at him as the clock on the platform rang the midnight hour, and the reality of the moment hit me with intensity.
As soon as I fell asleep in this path, I would never come back.
But I didn’t have to go to sleep right now. I still had a little more time.
“Where would you like to go?” he asked, his gaze intent upon my face.
“It doesn’t matter.”
He took my hand and led me down the platform, in the opposite direction that Miles and Mary had just gone.
It was cold, but I didn’t mind as we walked along a thoroughfare. I shivered when I thought that at this very moment, Jack the Ripper was supposed to have been approaching my sister at Miller’s Court. What would happen when I woke up in 1938 tomorrow? Would everything be different? Would the entire world be changed by one simple adjustment to history?
I wasn’t eager to find out.
“I’ve been through Southampton many times,” Austen finally said. “And I’ve stayed at the Dolphin Hotel. It’s the oldest hotel in Southampton, dating back to the 1400s.” He put his arm around me as we continued to walk. “Just think, perhaps Lady Cecily could have stayed there at one point.”
I smiled at the reference, thinking of the book I’d left in Austen’s care after we departed Hyde Park the other night.
“They have some of the best food in the country, and they are open all night,” he continued. “I thought perhaps we could get a bite to eat.”
I wasn’t sure I could eat, but I didn’t care where we went.
As soon as we arrived, he opened the door for me, and we werebrought to a booth in the corner of the restaurant. Rough timber beams stretched across the ceiling, proof that the building was centuries old. There were more people there than I’d anticipated, but it didn’t matter to me. We sat on the same side of the booth, our backs to the room, as we looked out a window toward the dark harbor. Austen kept his arm around me as I laid my cheek against his shoulder.
“I don’t want this to be good-bye,” I whispered, trying desperately not to cry.
“Neither do I.” His voice was gruff with emotion as he took one of my hands.
“What would you do if this wasn’t good-bye?” I asked, looking up at him.
“I’d marry you, Kate. And I’d take you away from London.”
“Where would you take me?”
“Anywhere your heart desired. But first, I’d take you to Loch Lomond, and I’d keep you all to myself for as long as you’d let me.” He kissed me, only stopping when the waitress interrupted us with our food.
We talked about anything and everything and nothing. I tried to savor each moment, wishing it would last for a lifetime.
Neither one of us spoke as the sun started to crest the horizon, and I knew I couldn’t put off the inevitable any longer.
“It’s time,” I said to him, echoing his words to me on the platform. “I must go.”
There were tears in his eyes as he ran his thumb over the ridge of my cheek.
He had rented two rooms, and he walked me to mine. Outside the door, he gave me a kiss. It was sweet and tender, full of longing and heartbreak. Our tears mingled and were salty on my lips.
