James clapped Richard on the shoulder. “All will be well. The Merriweather women have fearsome tempers. Give her time.”

Richard stood stiffly. “Nay. She wishes to go back. To the stones.”

“Ah, I see.” James looked to his wife and Chloe, who had their heads together, talking in low voices. “That is why she would not return to Falconburg with us.” He looked thoughtful. “All is not lost. I almost lost Melinda once.”

Richard only nodded, unable to speak. Lord and Lady Falconburg mounted their horses and rode off through the gates.

“Chloe, wait.” Richard reached for her hand, but she pulled away unable to bear his touch.

“I’m going home. Take me to the stones or I’ll go myself.”

He inclined his head. “I’ll see to the horses.”

Chloe wiped the tears away as she packed her meager belongings into the knapsack. Melinda and James had offered to take her with them or to take her to the stones.

When James was busy talking to Richard, Melinda had pulled her aside.

“Be careful, Chloe. My sisters and I don’t know exactly how time travel works.” She tucked a curl behind Chloe’s ear, her gloves soft. “You will find yourself with a choice to make in the vortex, as we call it. You’ll only have a moment to make the choice. Choose wisely. You’re an old soul, but you’re still young. Think hard about what you truly want.”

She hugged her tight, making Chloe sniffle. “He loves you, and I can tell you love him. Think about him too. Richard is a warrior, like my James. It can be hard for them to open up, and when they do, they leave their hearts unprotected. They are easily hurt. I understand why you didn’t tell him, but I think you have to look at things from his viewpoint as well.”

Chloe wiped her eyes. “I don’t know if he can see himself as I do.” She straightened up. “I’ll tell Gram about you and your sisters. I wish I could have met them.”

“I’ll tell them all about you and about Aunt Mildred and Drake.” Melinda mounted the horse. “If you decide to stay, send a message. You are always welcome to live with us or with my sisters. If you do stay, and I hope you will, come visit in the spring.”

The journey to the Rollright Stones took three days due to the inclement weather. During that time, they barely spoke, each lost in their own thoughts. Chloe felt odd dressed in her jeans and t-shirt, the sneaker mules more brown than white. She kept the cloak on. She’d take it off when it was time.

Over and over she kept going back and forth. She knew she loved him, but was it enough? As much as she wanted to make a life with him, she didn’t want to be with a man who felt sorry for himself the rest of his life. What was she going to do?

Still no clearer on her choice, Chloe felt the stones before she saw them. Richard lifted her off the horse and tied the animals to a nearby tree where there was a small patch of grass the snow had not touched.

He handed her the knapsack, but she shook her head. “I decided I won’t need the clothes. Keep them. The women can use them.”

“As you wish,” he said. “I will wait until the morn to make sure you…go safely home.” Richard leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, then he turned and walked into the woods without looking back.

Chloe didn’t know how long she’d sat there looking at the stones, listening to them whisper to each other. It was late afternoon when she stood, stiff from sitting and half frozen. Her heart breaking, she turned to the stone on her right and tripped, scraping her ankle.

When she sat up, the stones in front of her had vanished. The sound of waves crashing against the shore and the smell of the ocean filled her heart. She could hear her family talking and laughing. Could see Gull Cottage as if she were standing on the beach looking up at the house.

Her mom and Arthur were on the porch with Gram and Granda, drinking sweet tea and smiling.

The breeze caressed Chloe’s skin, warming her from the inside out. The sun shone down, and she thought about long showers, hot chocolate, days of reading, going to college, and the rest of her life and dreams.

Her family was tougher than she thought. They were fine. It was time to look within to her deepest desires, what she really wanted. The stones whispered, more urgently. It was time.

Richard sat before the fire muttering to himself. He had opened the sack with her belongings, inhaling her scent. Within he found her bag of coin. She had left him her fortune. With a frown, he emptied the contents of the sack on the ground. There was another bundle. He unwrapped it to see the mirror. He did not know how long he stared at the wretched mirror before he picked it up, held it to his visage, and opened his eyes.

The morn passed. He ate a meager dinner and waited, looking to the sky, beseeching the fates. “Name the price and I would gladly see it done.”

The day deepened, and he knew. She had left him to go back to her family, all because he could not see past his own ruin. ’Twas too late to tell her how much he loved her, how he now knew he was more, he was whole, and the scars no longer held sway over him. But he had waited too long and lost her.

“Richard.”

He unsheathed his sword. The stones played tricks on men. The light was fading as he watched her walk through the snow. ’Twas his Chloe.

“You did not go?”

“No.” She wiped her cheeks.

Richard sheathed his sword and ran to her, as she ran to him, arms outstretched. He swung her up in his arms, raining kisses on her face, holding her tight to reassure himself she was real and not a trick of the stones.

“I’m sorry. I should have trusted in you, told you the truth,” she said, weeping. “I want no other. I’ve been searching for someone like you my whole life. Ever since I was small and my granda told me stories of knights and their ladies. Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I would travel through time. My granda was from this time. He’s already gone to the future. He told me stories of knights and castles and brave women, though I figured out he embellished parts of those stories. Then I traveled through time and met you. I love you for you. We will grow old, wrinkly, and our eyesight will fail. We’ll be hard of hearing and I will still love you. Not for what you look like but because I love you. For what’s inside. I love the man you have become because of your injury.”

Richard eased them down to sit on a fallen log before he fell. For the first time since he had been injured and lost his eye, Richard wept.

“How long I’ve wished for a woman to love. One who does not look upon me with revulsion. One who sees me as you do. You have befuddled me, my lady.” He wiped the wetness from her cheeks and then his.

“If I was given the choice to keep my visage and my eye but it meant I would not have found you, I would gladly lose them again. Would cut my eye out and offer it to the fates. You are my light in the night sky, guiding me home in the darkness.” Richard let himself weep, knowing he had almost lost the woman he loved beyond all measure.

“Please,” Richard whispered. And Chloe’s heart shattered into a million pieces. All the love songs she’d listened to on the radio made sense. The emotions filled her, burst out of the broken pieces and sliced her to ribbons. Together they would stitch the pieces back together. Love hurt and love healed.

“I’ve waited my whole life for you. A dragon in the body of a knight. You are the knight from the stories. Fairy tales do come true. I love you with all my heart and soul.”

“Forever, my love. Be my moon lighting the way on the darkest of nights.”

“Always,” Chloe said, and kissed her dragon turned knight in shining armor.