His complexion was tan, cheeks pink from sun. He wore plain but well-tailored clothes—more evidence that he was a dream—and the corner of his lips lifted with a smile.
She longed to reach out, to touch him, but she was too afraid the vision would disappear.
He stepped closer, close enough the wind carried his calming smell. Her breath caught. Could dreams affect her senses? Or did she only imagine that too?
“I spoke with your father.” Deep, husky. The smile was gone and so was the dream. He was as real as the thunder in her chest. “He said I might come down here to find you and …” His head tilted and his eyes were soft, waiting, uncertain.
A salty gust whipped her hair in front of her face. She brushed back the curls, anything to distract herself as she tried to sort through the endless questions. “You came back.”
He nodded.
“Why?”
“You know why I came.”
“I thought you were gone.”
“I almost was.”
“We searched everywhere. I thought I would never see you again. I thought you had forgotten already—”
“Much has happened to me since our parting.” He shook his head, stepped closer, grasped her fingers. The warmth of his skin against hers ignited fire in her veins. “I have never forgotten you.”
“William—”
“I had no right to speak this before, and perhaps I have little right now. I have caused you unpardonable pain. I have brought nothing but misfortune to your home and to your father.” He tugged her to him. With stricken eyes, he leaned over her face, a tremble in his voice. “You told me once that you could not bear to be parted from me. Now I confess as much to you.”
“What are you saying?”
“I love you.” His hands grasped her face. “I love you so much it is pain to me.”
“As it is to me.”
“I wish to marry you.” His forehead pressed against hers. “I promise to provide for you, but I am not rich. I have no bloodlines to boast of. I was born in a workhouse, and my parents are of unknown—”
“It does not matter. None of that matters.” Tremors coursing through her, she reached up on her tiptoes and tangled her lips with his. She tasted of a man good, strong, noble, wonderful. She cried against him. “Someone very dear once told me that it is not what a man possesses but who he is.” She pressed her cheek to his wet one, closed her eyes. “And he told me when I go out of doors, I ought to do sunshine. And he taught me how to feel the seashore by taking off my shoes and wiggling my toes in the sand—”
“You are too wonderful to be true.”
“I love you.”
“You are God’s kindness upon me.”
“I love you.” She buried her face in his neck as he lifted her from her feet and spun her in a small circle. No one had ever held her this way. No one had ever resonated so much love for her. No one had ever felt so right against her. “And I shall go on loving you as long as I live. I never wish to lose you.”
“You need not worry.” He kissed her forehead, her cheek, the corner of her lips. “I shall never be lost again.”
That promise chased the last shadow from her soul. From the edge of her vision, she caught sight of the limestone archway. For many years, she had imagined what it would be like to step through the hole into another world, another time, another place.
For the first time, she did not wish to step through the hole at all.
Indeed, she would be happy exactly where she was forever.
EPILOGUE
Rosenleigh July 1814
Sunlight warmed the back of William’s neck as he unbuttoned his tailcoat with his eyes closed. “Five, six, seven.” He peeked long enough to see a flash of yellow. “Eight, nine, ten. Are you ready?”
