Epilogue
JUNE 2019, TULUM, MEXICO
Cecilie reclines against a smooth wall of artfully swishy concrete and looks through a crack in the white voile that hangs around her four-poster bed. She is still. She gazes out through the open cabana door to a beach beyond the path lined with bougainvillea and leafy shrubs. Palms sway gently in the soft breeze as loved ones gather on the light powdery sand, sparkling bright against the clear turquoise sea.
Alejandro stands under a cream canopy, anchored to four tall bamboo poles, billowing in the breeze. His hands sit in his pockets as he looks at the sand and listens to the chatter of women. Karin embraces Sister Miriam – they’ve been getting on like a house on fire since they met at dinner last night. Cecilie wishes she could lip-read as she looks at their animated faces. Grethe, blissful in her haute hippie habitat, hands Ahyana to Morten so she can lift her hair for Abdi to adjust the halter straps on her stripy multi-coloured dress. Cecilie smiles as she watches Espen fuss between the officiator and a Mariachi ensemble, and then her vision focuses on her deep-red painted toes outstretched in front of her, the same shade as the mariachis’ silk ties. She doesn’t think she’s ever felt more relaxed in her life as the sound of distant conversation and rolling waves wash over her.
The silhouette of a figure obscures her view. Hector approaches up the path in an oatmeal suit, his white shirt unbuttoned at his chest. He walks barefoot into the cabana, sand still trickling through his toes.
He looks at Cecilie lying on the bed, sighs, and puts his hand to his chest. He feels like the luckiest man in the universe.
‘ Mi amor. ’
Cecilie smiles as Hector opens the voile curtain and falls onto her in submission, breaking his fall with his elbows on either side of her.
‘Careful,’ she says, laughing.
Hector stops at Cecilie’s belly and puts his cheek to it with a smile.
‘Are we all ready?’ he says, rubbing the curve of her stomach.
‘They’re excited, they haven’t stopped dancing.’
‘I’m excited… Come on, let’s go,’ Hector says as he puts his hands around Cecilie’s to pull her up from the bed. She stands proud in an off-white dress with sheer long sleeves and a cascade of lace appliqué flowers that tumble down over her stomach into swathes at her feet. A single full peony as pale as Cecilie’s hair sits at her ear, fastening her fringe into place. She looks at Hector with an impish grin and he falls to his knees, again kissing her stomach. He knows his parents would be proud of him today.
‘Shall we go?’ he asks, standing, looking through the open door to their family and friends, now sitting on wooden benches facing the sea.
‘Yes. Let’s,’ Cecilie answers as she lifts a bouquet of tied peonies with one hand and Hector leads her out by the other as they walk down the path towards the shore .
Nine thousand six hundred and fifty-one kilometres away, a library door closes shut and the lights in the bright summer sky remain out of sight until winter.