“This isours, Dianna,” he told me, “after this is all over, we can use thisto start a new life together. If you would want.”
I couldn’tbring myself to look him in the eye. This man from another timeconfessed his love for me. Henry saw a future for us that wouldnever happen. And I would be the one to take it all away from him.I realized then, I had to tell him. But, when I finally brought myeyes to meet his hopeful gaze, I decided to wait until later thatnight. For now, I wanted to have our adventure. That much I couldgive him.
I stuck myhand in the chest, letting my fingers swim through the cold, wetcontents with amazement. “These things are miraculous. I feel badkeeping any of it.”
Henry fishedout a long gold chain and looped it over my head. I looked down atthe heavy egg-shaped ruby that hung from it.
“Oh, no,I could never–”
“It’syours,” he insisted. “Along with everything else in here. Acceptthat, Dianna. We’ll live like kings and queens.”
I felt atwinge of pain in my chest from his words. It felt as if Henry wasfalling deeper and deeper in love with me, at a rate I couldn’tkeep up with. I should have told him before this, I should havetold him last night when we laid in bed, divulging all the tinydetails of our lives to one another.
I wondered howhe would react when I told him; when I’d surely crush his heart,stripping away the little I helped to heal. Would he kill me? Did Ithink he was capable of that? Maybe he’d hold me prisoner andreturn me to that storage cell on deck. My aunt once said that themind of a dying man is a lonely place. And I wondered, then, howthe mind of a heart-broken man looked.
I could tellHenry sensed my emotions, but he chose to ignore it, shutting thechest and rising to his feet. “Right, very well,” he said. I stoodto meet him and tucked the necklace inside my shirt. “Let’s headback, shall we?”
I couldn’tbelieve it took me that long to realize, I’d been so enthralled inour adventure, but how were we supposed to get out? We couldn’t goback the way we came, gravity just didn’t work like that. I cranedmy neck and searched around, my eyes landing on the source of lightwhich filled the cavern.
“Wait,”I spoke and narrowed my eyes at Henry who sported a playful smirk.“Are you kidding me?” There, just a few feet above the floor of thecavern was a hole filled with light. “Why didn’t we just come inthat way?”
Henry shruggedand bent down to pick up the heavy chest. “Now, where would be thefun in that?”
Chapter Fifteen
We arrived back at the tavern just in time forsupper. I’d been silent the whole way home, my mind racing with allthe different scenarios of how I could tell Henry my secret. Noneof them ended well. I made myself sick with worry and could barelyget down more than a few bites of the moose stew the inn’s cookserved us. Thankfully, Henry’s attention was held by Finn and Guswho had been spewing the details of their day. They heard morewhispers of The Cobhams ravaging the East Coast. It seemed theywere hanging around one main area, so we were still on track tofind them and the Gaelic witch.
And my tickethome.
I ascended thestairs to the rooms above as Henry held my hand and led the way. Iwas so engulfed in my cloud of shame and worry that I hadn’tnoticed that he acted strangely. Like he was nervous aboutsomething. Maybe it was from talking about The Cobhams and knowinghow close we were to them. He’d have to face some old demons realsoon, and I knew how hard that must be for him to imagine.
We entered ourroom and I turned to close the door behind me. When I spun backaround, I found Henry down on one knee, and a tiny object held inhis one hand. The candlelight glistened off a large emerald stonethat sat within a gold claw, its thick loop pinched between Henry’sfingers.
My breathcaught in my throat, all form of words or thoughts fleeing from mybrain. This was not the way I expected the evening to go. But,still, my heart yearned for the words to spill from his mouth, theultimate declaration of love, and I chastised myself for wantingit.
“Dianna,” he said, mouth trembling, “I wanted to ask youtoday in the cave, but I had to be sure this ring was still inside.It was my mother’s–”
I steppedcloser. “Oh, Henry…”
“Mariastole it from my home and I took it back when I left her ship thatnight. I swore to keep it safe and return for it when I was ready.”He paused, and I watched his face glow with excitement. “I’m ready.I want to share my life with you, the life you’ve given back to me.Dianna, will you marry me?”
Tears spilledover the edge of my eyes and I hid my face in shame. Finally, Ishook my head. “Henry, I’m so sorry…”
He stood andcame to me, prying my hands away from my face. “What’s wrong?”
“I-Ican’t marry you.”
I may as wellhave driven a knife through the man’s heart for the pain Iwitnessed enter his body. He fell back a step and clutched hischest.
“What doyou mean? What are you saying?” And then a whisper, “You can’t carefor me?”
“No, Ido,” I assured him, noting his use of the word can’t rather than don’t, as if he truly believed himselfunlovable. “I really do, Henry, I swear. So much, you have noidea.” My trembling hand reached up to wipe my face. “But that’swhat makes this so hard.”
His facetwisted with emotions and he fought with my words. “What did I do?Was it because… I hurt you?”
“Oh,God, Henry, no,” I told the man and stepped toward him. “I showedup here and ended up on your ship. I never expected to live throughthe first day, let alone make it to now. Or to have fallen for youthis way. This fast.”
I watched hisface harden as he fought
