Chapter 38

“I just never dreamed I’d ever be this happy ever again.”

By the light of the moon, Amy and Will carefully retraced their steps along the cliff-edge path and across the meadow back to the cottage. Will made them a cup of hot chocolate each to warm their insides after the chill of the night before they settled on the sofa. He sat at one end and she snuggled up next to him. Rather than switch on the television, Will found a radio station that was playing late-night love songs to serve as background noise while he and Amy simply enjoyed being close to each other. The show also had callers speaking about their relationship problems.

“Tell us about your boyfriend, Lorraine,” the host said in a voice so deep that the speakers made the wooden floor vibrate.

“He’s not very nice,” Lorraine said. “He’s rude and he’s mean to me.”

“How is he mean to you, Lorraine?”

“Well ... He...”

“It’s okay, Lorraine, you can tell me.”

“And the thousands listening,” Will said quietly.

Amy smiled. “This guy is terrible,” she said. “I listen to him every now and again. When I’m feeling lonely. When I used to feel lonely.” She smiled at Will. “He gets people to tell him all sorts of things. I think it’s his voice—that’s the sort of voice that could make a nun wet. So full of sexual promise.”

Will shook his head. “No. It’s the way he keeps using their name. It garners trust.”

“He hits me,” said Lorraine. “When things don’t go the way he wants, he gets drunk and he hits me.”

Will and Amy exchanged glances.

“So why are you still with him?”

“I’m trapped, aren’t I? I can’t leave him.” She sounded desperate.

“Why not?”

“Because of what he’d do to me. But...”

“But what, Lorraine?”

“But ... I’ve met someone else.”

“And you want to be with him?”

“Desperately. He’s sweet and attentive. He makes me feel like a Princess.”

“Have you slept with this other man, Lorraine?”

She didn’t answer.

“I’ll take your silence as a ‘yes’. Lorraine, what’s stopping you from leaving your boyfriend for this new, sweet, attentive man?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“You’re scared of what your boyfriend will do to him?”

“Yes.” Lorraine whimpered and started crying.

“Okay, let’s play a record and we’ll talk more after that. Here’s Tina Thomson with Eternally and Evermore.”

Amy rubbed her hand across Will’s chest. “Do you remember the original of this?”

“How could I forget? It was our song.”

“I love this version though too. Tina’s an amazing singer.”

“Yeah. It’s nice.”

“Dance with me?”

“Here?”

She stood and held her hand out to him. “Please.”

He took her hand and let her pull him up from the seat. Her arms went around his neck as he held her hips and arched his back so that they could dance cheek to cheek despite their slight height difference. There wasn’t enough room between the sofa and the coffee table to allow them to move, so with motionless feet they swayed to the gentle music. Will could feel Amy’s calm, rhythmic breath on his ear as she purred her contentment. He stoked the small of her back and pulled her closer still, moulding her body to his, trying to pull her inside him so that they would be one.

In time with the Scottish songbird as she belted out the chorus, Amy breathed more than sang,

“It’s always been you,

And always will be, because,

You’re the only man I want,

And the only man I need...”

In place of the next line, she exhaled into his ear, “I love you, William James Brown.” Then, in a voice that was less than a whisper, she sang three words that made his heart skip. Words they used to say to each other as teenagers, but that he hadn’t heard from her in twenty years. They were their special words.

“Eternally and evermore.”

He sighed, hugged her tightly and replied, “Eternally and evermore, Amy. Eternally and evermore.”

She kissed his cheek until he turned his face towards hers and their lips found each other. They naturally shifted to the most comfortable position and stopped swaying. The music wasn’t ignored, but now the only dancing was done by their tongues.