Chapter Twenty-Five
It is indeed snowing. There are fat, feathery flakes in the golden halos around the streetlamps.
I’m standing outside Brambling House. I look down at my red coat and boots, at my hands and wrists, and recognise myself at once.
I’m Eddie Skipton. The relief is overwhelming. I feel as if I’ve come home.
I hurry through the snow to the front door. The lights of the house blaze through the night, illuminating the frost that’s formed in icy designs around the edges of the windowpanes. I imagine Cavill at his desk, writing his letter to me in the future, and my whole being burns with hope.
I pull the bell, and with that my throat tightens. Will he be home? What if Gilda comes to answer the door? Can I have engineered this slide with such precision? Is it even possible?
I wait. The seconds pass with agonising slowness. I had been so certain, but perhaps I’m wrong.
I hear footsteps behind the door. The metallic sound of unbolting and the rattling of a chain. It opens. Cavill stares at me in astonishment.
‘Eddie?’ he exclaims.
‘Pixie,’ I reply.
His eyes widen and his lips part, but he cannot find the words, so great is his wonder.
So, I find the words for him.
‘“To the soul of my soul, Pixie.
I promised you I would recognise you if you were a light among a million lights. But when the moment came, I did not.”’
Encouraged by the deep affection in his gaze, I throw myself into his arms and feel him wrapping his around me, pulling me close. So close and so tight that he almost squeezes the air out of my lungs. He nuzzles my neck. ‘Soul of my soul,’ he murmurs.
Without parting, he kicks the door shut. We remain entwined. I can feel his heart beating against my chest, and my own, quickening to harmonise with his.
‘I’m sorry I didn’t recognise you,’ he says, pulling away so that he can take in my face. However, it isn’t my face that draws his attention, but my eyes. ‘Oh Pixie, I never saw you before,’ he says, sinking deeper into them. ‘But now I do. How ever did I not see you before?’
Something warm breaks in my chest and leaks into every part of my body, like the cracking of an egg. His recognition is like a beam of light, penetrating my very soul.
‘How long do we have?’ he asks.
‘I don’t know,’ I reply. ‘Long enough to say good-bye.’
He shakes his head and frowns. ‘Will I ever see you again?’
‘Not in this life. But I have brought Eddie back to you. I don’t know how. But I have. It was because of me that you lost her. I’m happy that I’m able to reunite you.’
‘You will always be a part of Eddie, Pixie. As I love Eddie, I will also, at the same time, be loving you.’ He chuckles. ‘No one but you would understand that. How do you do it, Pixie? How do you travel through time?’
‘I don’t really know. It’s something I’ve always been able to do. But I never expected to fall in love with you. I never expected to meet you again as Constance, and then finally as Eddie. But you understand now why I must end it?’
He nods. ‘I do.’
‘There is so much more to our existence than we realise. This earthly life is just a tiny part of our great adventure. One day we will find each other again. Love connects us in a never-ending bond, Cavill. It is so much bigger than we humans can imagine. So much bigger.’
He presses his lips to mine, for words are inadequate in the giant glow of feeling. I close my eyes.
Suddenly I feel as if my heart is on fire. An agonising heat burns me on the inside, consuming me, as if I’m melting. I open my eyes. One final look into those of my beloved and then everything goes black.