EPILOGUE
Kentucky, two months later
“Are you sure this is the proper placement?”
Marlie looked up from where she was tightening a bolt on the still she and Ewan had been constructing over the last two weeks and stared at him. He nodded abruptly, and cleared his throat.
“Right. It’s your design so you would know if it wasn’t.”
“Correct,” she said, bending over to resume her work.
He took a step closer to her, leaned his cane against the worktable in the spare room of his small home, and rested both of his hands on the flare of her waist. “In fact, I think perhaps you only asked me to assist you because you were tired of weeks of my bothersome behavior while I convalesced.”
“Whatever do you mean?” she asked, standing and turning to face him. His fingertips remained in place as she turned, tracing the circumference of her waist through the gingham dress she wore and then locking behind her back when her nose was a few inches from his. His eyes were warm with mirth, closer to sky blue.
“My need for distraction in the weeks after we finished translating your mother’s book was obvious. Did you or did you not threaten to break my other leg if I didn’t stop trying to get up and walk about?”
“That was not a threat, it was a sound medical recommendation, seconded by your doctor and your mother, I might add,” she said. “Sometimes a patient must be coerced into health.”
“And sometimes a patient is very amenable to coercion, depending on the person doing the coercing,” he said, pulling her closer into his embrace and nuzzling against her neck. “You can only blame yourself for giving me a good reason to recover more quickly.”
And there it was. Ewan was recovering quickly, which meant it was time to bring up the topic he had been steadfastly avoiding.
“The still is almost in working order, too. It should survive its impending move with no problem,” she said.
His arms pressed into her waist and then released, as if he had realized he was tightening his hold on her.
“I thought we agreed this was the best room for it,” he said. The mirth had left his eyes.
“In this house, yes,” she said. “But I noticed a room for rent in town that will rent to Negroes, above the pharmacy, actually, and I think now that you’re fully mobile perhaps I should relocate.”
She couldn’t look at him as she said it. She enjoyed their daily meals, and waking up beside him in bed—even the time passed with his mother when she came by to check on her boy. But she had also enjoyed her life with Sarah, and that didn’t change the fact that she had been living, and loved, under false pretenses.
“I don’t understand. I thought that you would stay here with me,” he said. “Malcolm will be here in a few days with his wife. I want you here to meet them.”
“I can come by for dinner,” she said. She picked up a wrench and began tightening bolts, but Ewan placed his hand over hers, staying the motion.
“No. I want you here,” he said.
“Why?” she asked.
“Because we get along well,” he said. “And I’m used to having you here.”
“We can get along well even if I don’t live with you,” she said, trying to hide her disappointment. “And being used to someone is not the same as—”
She stopped herself before saying too much.
“Marlie.” His expression pinched. “Do you not like being with me? I know I’m difficult and I won’t lie and say I’ll change completely, but I can modify my behavior if necessary.”
“You’re fine as you are,” she said. I love you as you are.
“Then why do you insist on leaving?”
Marlie wasn’t quite sure herself. Perhaps because she had no idea what she was to Ewan, though she didn’t doubt he cared. Because she was frightened of never being able to move on once he decided to hurt her, as everyone in her life had.
“Well, I feel foolish,” he said. He dug into the pocket of his jacket. “Am I to assume you have no interest in this?”
Marlie’s heart stopped at the sight of the shining band in his hand.
“What is that?” she asked.
“It’s a gold ring, used to signify the desire to spend the rest of one’s life with another human.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Well, primarily because one has found the sole person who makes them feel at peace and whom they can’t imagine spending a single day without.”
“Ewan,” she said.
“Marlie?” He raised his brows.
“Tell me why.”
“Because I love you, which you are aware of but continue to operate under the false assumption that this is some lark. I thought perhaps wearing this ring might serve as a reminder of my commitment to you. And hopefully yours to me, if that’s what you wish.”
She was staring at the ring, her happiness warring with her fear.
“But . . .”
“If you want me to get on one knee that’s not possible right now, but I’ll help you onto the table beside the still if that makes this more romantic for you.”
She stuttered out something between laughter and a sob.
“I need time,” she said. If he was disappointed he hid it well, but that wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for Ewan.
“Of course,” he said. “I’ll just remind you I was planning to ask before you announced you were leaving, so don’t think this is in reaction to anything other than my desire to be with you.”
His cheeks went pink and he cleared his throat before grabbing his cane and making his way toward the door.
Marlie stood holding her wrench. She thought of the last pages of her mother’s book, and the hopes and wishes she’d shared for Marlie.
“I know that you will find great love in this world, as well as success, not because of that science you now hold so dear but because I have seen it in my dreams and I have felt it in my bones. I only hope you understand what you deserve better than I did. When the time comes, close your eyes and listen to your heart, which may lead you astray but will always guide you to the path you were meant to take.”
Marlie closed her eyes and clutched the wrench in her hand.
“Ewan?”
There was the sound of his cane thudding against the floor, and then silence. “Yes?”
“Yes.”
“Is that your answer? Already?”
“Have you changed your mind?” She opened her eyes and began walking to him.
“Well, no. I had just begun to form a plan to make you change your mind, and now I’ve got to scrap it.”
She walked into his embrace and sighed as his lips brushed her cheek. “You know, I’ve come to enjoy debating with you. Feel free to convince me at your leisure.”
He kissed her then, as was only logical.