31. A Plunderful Life #3
My eyes go to his leg, to the tailored pant leg stopping just below the knee. He leans on crutches, but he shows no pain. And I think of his leg trapped beneath the weight of the mast. And I know what he must have done to get here, to survive the sinking of his ship.
“Sometimes, to get the things we want, we have to make sacrifices.” His voice catches on the last word.
I stop inches from him, my eyes drinking him in, and he drops the microphone.
There’s a squeal of feedback and then silence, and my vision zeroes in on his face, blocking out everyone and everything in the store until it’s just us.
I reach up and run my fingers through his stubble, cupping his face in my shaking hands.
It’s not until my hands touch his skin that I know for certain I’m not imagining him. It feels like a lifetime ago that I was on that ship as he lay pinned beneath a mast. It feels like I conjured him here out of pure want.
“I thought you were gone, Silas.”
He covers one of my hands with his, leaning precariously on his crutches. “So did I.” He pulls back for a moment, and I’m so worried he’ll leave that I grip his coat. I know the crowd is watching, everyone waiting to see what this is, but I don’t want to step away.
“But how are you here?” I ask desperately. “How did you find me?”
He smiles, and my heart melts at the sight of that familiar smirk.
“We never did find out if someone else could go,” he whispers.
It’s so quiet, even I strain to hear. “But I … after you left, I found your old shirt. The red one you arrived in? At first, I didn’t understand.
But I remembered that first day when you arrived wearing my coat, and suddenly, it made sense. ”
“And now you’re here,” I say in awe. “I have a lot of questions, but that can wait until we’re alone.”
It shouldn’t be possible, but it is. He’s here, and he’s looking at me as if six months and five days haven’t gone by since that night.
“Kiss him!” someone—definitely Louise—yells from the audience.
I smile at Silas now, and he smiles in return as I cup his face once more. I run my thumbs over his familiar, soft stubble, smoothing my thumb over a new scar slashing across his cheek. “I did promise to sign some books tonight, but we may as well give them a show.”
“It’d be disappointing if we didn’t,” he agrees.
And then his lips are on mine, and I inhale his scent, now muskier, less familiar. His arms slide around my neck and pull me down, ever closer. The audience cheers and the broken fragments of my heart begin to knit back together.
If I could, I’d live in this moment for an eternity.
I pull away, running my hands over him and squeezing his shoulders, not quite believing that he’s here with me. For so many months I grieved, thinking he had died, that I was left to live this life alone. But he’s here. Him, in all his glory.
I’m no longer alone.
“I have so many questions,” I say as I tangle my hands in his hair.
He smiles as he kisses me on the cheek, stubble scraping pleasantly across my jaw. “And I have the answers,” he whispers suggestively.
I clear my throat and lean back, holding up a hand. “We’re going to skip right ahead to the signing. Sorry, folks.”
But I can see in their faces that they understand all too well. I have no logical explanation for any of it, no scientific data to present. But Silas is here, in my arms, in the middle of an audience in a London bookstore, and I don’t want or need anything else.
Later, after signing books faster than I’ve ever signed in my life, I’m leaning forward, nuzzling my nose with his, closing my eyes as the last of the crowd disappears.
“I have some questions about this time of yours,” he grumbles.
I laugh breathily. “I’m sure you do.”
“For starters,” he says, running a finger along my cheek, “how did my voice get louder when I held that strange metal thing to my mouth?”
“Magic,” I whisper as I lean close to kiss him.
He stops me with a finger to my lips. “You told me magic didn’t exist.”
“You’re here now, aren’t you? I can’t believe it was by anything else but magic.”
He nods, frowning and squinting past me. “That’s fair.”
“Can I please kiss you now?”
Silas smirks, leaning away from me as I fist my hands in his shirt. “You missed me that much, Laszlo?”
I nod and move closer. “You have no idea,” I whisper.
And when we do kiss, I can’t help but laugh, because this, all of this, is impossible. I traveled back in time and fell in love with a pirate captain, and now he stands here before me, wrapped in my arms. And closing my eyes and pulling him close, I thank the universe for helping me.
Eight or so months ago, I was so lost. I didn’t know where to go or what to do, and then I met this man who changed my life and showed me what true happiness looks like. He showed me that I could have that happily-ever-after I thought was out of reach. And I fell in love with him.
“I love you to the edge of the world,” he says.
I press my lips together to keep from laughing. The world has changed a lot for him, and it seems I have some things to teach him.
“About that.”