“Yes or no?” Nathanial demanded on a laugh.
Grinning, she slid her hand into his. “Yes. Always yes.”
Pulling her into his arms, Nathanial led her around the small, grassy patch between the grove and the lake, their feet for once moving together as they ought to. Not once did she step on his toes, let alone stumble and lose her balance. She moved almost gracefully, her brown eyes holding his in a way that made Nathanial forget the world around them.
This was a perfect moment.
Here and now.
With her.
His friend.
A wistful look came to her dark eyes. “I remember watching Amancia and Peter dance together on the beach not long before…” Her voice trailed off, and sadness filled her gaze.
“What happened?” Nathanial asked gently.
Her feet stopped and her hands fell from his. “A sickness swept through our village,” she whispered, her eyes distant, no longer seeing him as she stepped away and then sank down into the tall grass. “Peter had always been sickly. His doctor said it had something to do with fluid collecting in his lungs. Sometimes he could barely breathe. His doctor said he wouldn’t live to see another year.”
Nathanial lowered himself down beside her, his skin crawling with the pain and suffering he felt linger behind her words.
A small smile came to her lips as she met his gaze. “But he did.” Triumph clung to her voice. “Each and every year, his doctor told him he wouldn’t survive.” She inhaled a deep breath, clinging to that sense of triumph. “But he did. He did.”
With a long sigh, Charlaine pulled up her knees, her arms wrapping around her legs as she stared out at the lake. “But Amancia was afraid for him. She always feared that he would fall ill and that his weakened body would not be strong enough to battle the sickness.” Her chin came to rest upon her knees. “And then people starting to get sick.”
Running a hand over his face, Nathanial wished that there was something he could do to ease her heartache. A part of him wished he had not asked. Still, it seemed a part of Charlaine wanted to speak of the moment when she had lost all those she had loved.
“When our parents fell ill, their bodies burning like a hot coal, Amancia sent Peter and me away.” Tears began to pool in her eyes, but she did not try to wipe them away. “There was a hut on the beach we sometimes slept in, and she took us there, ordering us not to return until she came for us.” Her eyes closed, and a tear spilled over, slowly snaking its way down her cheek. “Peter didn’t want to. He wanted to return with her. He wanted her to stay. He…” She sighed, and then her eyes opened and she looked at him. “He was as afraid for her as she was for him.”
“But he went back with her?”
Charlaine shook her head. “She made him promise to take care of me.” A shuddering breath escaped her lips. “I was not yet twelve years of age, and she told him they couldn’t leave me alone. Peter begged her to stay, but neither could she abandon our parents, not when they were sick, not when they needed her more than ever.”
Nathanial bowed his head at the impossible decision Charlaine’s sister had faced. Peter as well. How did one decide what was the right thing to do? How could one leave, not knowing if one would ever return?
“She never came back.” Charlaine’s voice was barely audible. Tears streamed freely down her cheeks, and yet, her chest rose and fell with even breaths. “We stayed in the hut for as long as we could, but when we went back, they were all gone.”
Nathanial barely dared speak. “And Peter?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Those We Loved
Never had Charlaine spoken to another about losing her family.
Only Peter.
After their loss, they had clung to one another, desperate to have someone who understood, who gave them a reason to rise in the morning, to go on. “He died a little over a year ago,” Charlaine said, seeing the anguish on Nathanial’s face. He felt for her, and it hurt him to hear of her loss. Charlaine, too, disliked to see him saddened, to know that her words had brought sorrow to his heart. Still, she could not deny that sharing her pain with him felt good as well.
Soothing like the soft summer breeze drifting across the lake.
“He survived the sickness?” Nathanial asked, disbelief strengthening his voice.
Charlaine snorted. “Life does not always do what you expect,” she told him, knowing it was a lesson she would never forget. “It twists and turns in its own way. Despite everything, Peter lived.” Remembering his mischievous grin, Charlaine smiled. “He always said that there’d been a reason why he’d survived. But it wasn’t until years later, on the day he ultimately lost his battle with Fate, that he told me what that reason was.” Her vision blurred, and a thick lump settled in her throat as she remembered the last time Peter had looked at her, the mischief always lurking in his eyes never dimming. “He said it had been so he could hold my hand for as long as I needed him to, but now it was time for me to stand on my own. He told me I would be all right.” Wiping away her tears, Charlaine tried to smile. “And he was right.” She nodded, wishing Peter had not had to die to prove his point. “I don’t need him any longer, but I miss him all the same.”
Sadness stood in Nathanial’s eyes as he reached out a hand to place upon her own. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
“I am, too, but Peter taught me to look ahead, not back.” She remembered well the way Peter had always lived in the moment, enjoying life with every fiber of his being, knowing that tomorrow might never come for him. “He taught me to take the good with the bad. We cannot know what will happen tomorrow. We cannot know why we were set on a path. But we have to believe that there is good everywhere, that we can be happy again.” She smiled at him. “Hope is never lost. It travels with us wherever we go.” Her other hand settled on his. “It led me to you.”
Nathanial stilled at her words, but she could see that their meaning was not lost on him. The muscle in his jaw twitched almost furiously, whispering of a deep emotion lingering beneath his stoic exterior. One he could not admit to.
Not yet.
“Tell me about Abigail,” Charlaine said, curious to learn more about the man he had once been. The man she was beginning to see once again in the one before her. How had he lost himself? What had happened?
His jaw tightened, and reluctance stood in his guarded eyes. Still, he did not turn away. He did not run and hide. He held her gaze. “There’s not much to tell,” he finally said, and she could feel his hand wanting to slip from hers.
Charlaine held on though.
Sighing, Nathanial hung his head in defeat. “We knew each other for a long time before…I asked for her hand.”
“Were you in love?” Charlaine asked, knowing that it had been so. But was he still? Was it a question she dare ask?
“Of course.” A touch of incredulity came to his eyes.
Charlaine smiled at him. “Few people marry for love. You know that as well as I do.”
He nodded. “You’re right, but…but we…” a slight frown came to his face, “we were.” He did not sound convinced though. “At least, I was, I think.”