Silas Kember's Arc

Chapter 8 of 10

Three days passed. Silas did not go to the lake. He sat in his shop and sharpened pens he did not need. Every page he touched turned into a letter to Vera he would never send. He pressed one into his satchel with the others. His hand shook. He knew now what the shaking meant. He had lost her. She had gone back to Garret, and she would not come back to him. Nora found him at dusk. She stood in the doorway with her easel under her arm. She did not smile this time. "You've been hiding," she said. "I waited. I told you I would." She stepped inside and set the easel against the wall. "But I won't wait for a ghost, Silas. Tell me the truth. Is she still in you?" Silas looked at the satchel on his desk. The letters bulged against the leather. He thought of Vera at the willow, of the kiss, of the door closing in the dark. All of it was done. He had said too much and chosen too late. A man could not live inside a closed door forever. "Yes," Silas said. "She's still in me. I won't lie about that." Nora's jaw tightened. She reached for her easel. "But she's gone," he went on. "She chose someone certain. I was never certain. You came back for me, and I kept you waiting while I chased a woman who shut her door." He stood. "I don't want to do that anymore." He crossed the room and took her bare hand. "I want to be with you, Nora. Not halfway. You. I'm done waiting for a door that won't open." Nora searched his face. "You mean it this time?" "I do." He pulled the ring from his coat pocket. He had carried it since the day she arrived, afraid to look at it. He held it out. "Will you let me try again?" She took the ring. She slid it onto her finger herself. Then she kissed him, slow and sure. "Yes," she said against his mouth. "Yes." Across the village, in Garret's warm cottage, Vera sat at his table. The blacksmith poured her tea. The chain at his neck still held her wedding ring. "Have you thought about it?" he asked. "A family. A life. You and me." Vera wrapped her hands around the cup. She had meant to say yes. The word sat ready on her tongue. But her eyes went to the window, out toward the water, toward a shop where a scribe sat with a satchel of letters that bore her name. "I need one more day," she said. Garret nodded and smiled. He did not see her look at the window. Back in his shop, Silas held Nora close. The satchel sat on the desk behind him, still full. He had chosen. But the letters were still there.