Will bush's Arc

Chapter 39 of 41

Will sat with Kate on the flat stone and listened to the meadow settle around them. The pull that had brought them here was gone. So was the weight in his chest. He waited to see what came next, if anything came at all. A bark broke the quiet. Will turned. The collie came up the slope with its long coat catching on the grass. Its ears were forward. Its tail was high. It ran straight at them the way it used to run at Kate across the yard. Kate slid off the stone and knelt. The collie hit her chest and knocked her back on the grass. She laughed. Will had not heard her laugh in a long time. The dog licked her jaw and she pushed its face away and pulled it back. "You made it too," she said. The collie sat down between them, panting. Will put a hand on its head. The fur was warm. He felt it. Every strand. "It came for us," Kate said. "It always did." The collie stood and walked a few steps up the slope, then looked back. Will knew that look. He had used it a hundred times to move Kate off a road, off a ridge, out of a doorway. He stood. "It wants us to follow," Kate said. They went. The meadow rose in a gentle mound. Past the flat stones, past the patch of chamomile and nasturtium she had planted by the step, past a wider spill of wildflowers he did not know the names of. The collie trotted ahead and waited at the top. Below, in a fold of the hill, sat a small cottage. Stone walls. A low roof mossed over. One window with the shutter open. Smoke came from the chimney in a thin steady line, though no one had lit it. Kate stopped. "That's not our house." "No." "But it's ours." "Yes." She took his hand. They walked down together. The collie ran ahead and scratched at the door until it swung open on its own. Inside, the kitchen was small. Two mugs sat on the table. A pot warmed on the stove. Will did not need to lift the lid to know what was in it. Kate went to the stove and stirred once. She put the spoon down. "I don't have to make it," she said. "It's already here." "Sit," Will said. They sat. The collie curled under the table. Will poured coffee into the two mugs and reached for the sugar without thinking. Two spoons in each. Kate watched him do it and did not say anything. She took her mug in both hands. Outside, the flowers she had planted by the step were blooming at the cottage door. Will drank his coffee. It was hot. It was right. Kate was across the table from him and she was not going anywhere. He was home.