Page 42 of Love Conquers All

Graham’s thoughts stirred. Sylvie was up against so much right now. He wasn’t sure if he had it in him to tell her about this new development.

He texted Hilary back.

GRAHAM: I’ll tell Sylvie soon. Keep it to yourself for now, okay? I need to wait for the right moment.

HILARY: You’re good people, Graham. Sylvie’s in good hands.

Sylvie’s interview lasted a full ninety minutes. While he waited, Graham sat in the shade near the alligator pit, trying and failing to come up with a plan to take on the Next Generation Nantucket Designers. Sometimes the alligators got up and did their four-legged waddle to a different location in the pit, but they mostly stayed where they were, their eyes alive and alert, but their bodies slack and too big.

Sylvie returned with the alligator farmer in tow, thanking him profusely for meeting with her. “Graham, you missed out on a real treat,” she said, a performance for the farmer. “I learned more about the ecosystem of this place than I ever could have fathomed. And I think it was essential to see it for myself.”

The farmer nodded earnestly. “People don’t get our world down here. It’s good that you bring news back up to the folks in the North. Otherwise, people don’t think of us.”

Sylvie turned so that she and Graham were facing the farmer. Her fingers touched Graham’s, and Graham didn’t pull back.

The farmer was still talking about the delicate nature of life in the South and how important it was to protect their way of life. Graham nodded, lacing his fingers through Sylvie’s.

“We’re trying to do that where we’re from, too,” Graham said when the farmer took a breath. “Corporate greed has gotten out of control.”

It took a bit of time to get out of the alligator farm. The farmer hadn’t met someone as like-minded as Sylvie in quite a while, it seemed, and wanted to pepper her with more facts and questions about the future than Graham felt she was capable of handling. When they finally said their goodbyes, they got into Graham’s car and sped out of there, away from the murderous reptiles and the man who protected them. Sylvie laughed. “This is part of the reason I love this job. You meet all kinds of people. You learn to care about so many different facets of the world.”

Graham’s heart swelled with what could only be love for her.

That afternoon, they found the only vegan barbecue place in Birmingham with a 4.5-star rating and ate in the air-conditioning, which was something they knew wasn’t great for the environment but something they welcomed even still right then. Within twenty minutes, their fingers were covered in various sauces, and their bellies were full of local craft beer. A massive television was playing a baseball game, and Graham and Sylvie continued to laugh and tease one another. Sylvie had one more interview lined up that evening, and they planned to drive back home tomorrow already. Graham thought he could have traveled all over the world with Sylvie like this. He could have driven her from one interview to the next.

That night, when they returned to their hotel for a final nightcap and a sleep they’d both earned, Sylvie stopped him in the hallway, pressing her hand on his chest. Graham couldn’t breathe. Had she discovered the truth about her journalism award? Was she going to scold him for keeping the truth to himself—for now?

“Can I ask you a question?” she said.

Graham swallowed. “Anything you want.”

Sylvie looked a little unsteady from lack of sleep and heat fatigue. “Why do you think I’m so scared of finding out more about my mother?”

Graham took her hand in his and gazed into her eyes. It was an open, frightened question.

“I mean, I ask everyone anything that comes to mind. I’m a journalist,” Sylvie said. “I’ve just built up this whole narrative in my mind. I’ve thought up thousands of reasons. I’ve even considered that maybe my dad covered up her murder? Ha.”

Graham squeezed her hand. They both knew James Bruckson wasn’t capable of murder. It didn’t even need to be said.

“Let’s go inside,” Graham offered, waving his card.

He led her into the new hotel room. Without speaking about it first, they’d gotten just the one, not even allowing themselves the opportunity to get cold feet. Sylvie sat at the edge of the bed and curled into a ball.

Graham poured them both drinks from the minibar and sat beside her. He made his voice steady and sure. “After you left, I transformed you in my head into something else. I made you larger than life, like this creature who’d been put on this earth to teach me a lesson and totally break my heart. But when I saw you at the funeral home that day, that whole idea crashed down immediately. You’re just a human, like me. You left Nantucket for reasons that broke your heart, too.”

Sylvie nodded slowly. Her eyes glowed with tears. “I wanted to call you. I had to force myself not to. Because I knew if I heard your voice again, I would completely fall apart.”

Graham rubbed her shoulder. “We make monsters out of our pasts. But maybe it’s all a little more complicated than that. Maybe all of our monsters were just people who tried their best and made a whole lot of mistakes along the way.”

Sylvie’s voice shook. “Like my father.”

“Like your father,” Graham agreed.

Sylvie sipped her drink thoughtfully.

“You need to be prepared for what you find in those pages,” Graham offered. “But you have to remember that those pages don’t change what we have right here. It’s you and me again, Sylvie.”

Sylvie raised her chin and parted her perfect lips. Graham knew that it was now or never, so he pressed his lips against hers, closing his eyes as a rush of feeling took over him. Soon, their drinks were tapped on the side table, and their arms were around one another. They were hungry for one another. They were making up for lost time.

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