Page 18 of Enkindling

He glanced out the window. “Hmm… I see your point.”

“Well,” I teased, “why don’t you hurry up and claim me properly? That way, you can have me anywhere you like, any way you like with no cause for concern.”

Will fixed me with a mysterious look. “Careful what you wish for,” was all he said.

I giggled. “I’ll have you know I’m beingverycareful…” My foot found his under the table.

He dropped his fork and held my gaze. “I don’t believe you are.” There was more than a hint of menace in his tone.

“Oh fine,” I said, looking away. “But Will,” I venturedtentatively, “there’s still a lot to talk about after this…”

“I know it, Kat.” He wore a distant look now, as if he were looking past me instead of looking at me. “Don’t think for a second that I haven’t been considering it.”

I paused before saying, “We’ll be alright. I believe in this, Will. I believe in us.”

“Give it time and keep your eyes open,” he murmured, mostly to himself after his long pause.

I was a little anxious as I watched him. He seemed so far away. “What do you mean?”

He started looking at me again and offered me a slight smile. “Just that I want this, Kat. I want you. It will work out. This time I’ll make sure of it.” I could see the gears of his mind turning.

I gazed into those eyes. “What are you thinking?” I asked softly.

His smile widened. “Nothing at all.”

I broke into a nervous smile and leaned forward. “Will, what are you thinking?”

He just looked at me.

I placed my hands on the table, thoroughly intrigued now, and almost rose from my chair in my adamancy. “You’re plotting something, and I know it! Won’t you tell me what it is?”

He shook his head slowly and took up his fork again.

I scoffed in disbelief. “Will! After everything just now—Will!William!”

Will kept eating as placidly as if I had never uttered a word, his face impassive.

***

I was almost lost in a daze for the next two weeks. I felt invincible, unreachable, my happiness inviolable. The exception was one agonizing period of five days when Will was completely gone. Not that I hadn’t expected it; he had made sure to tell me that he was going and why, if not in any detail. But then he came back, and the heavens smiled upon me once more.

We spent more time together than I could have hoped under the circumstances. Will had been wrestling with certain demons he was not yet ready to divulge, but he seemed to have come back from it all determined to give himself to me as much as he could. The peculiarities of time dawned on me once more. Just weeks ago, I would have given anything to see Will, but he had been nowhere to be found. I yearned for him, but in vain; I was shattered by his seeming indifference to me. Now, I had access to him almost constantly. Now his eyes seemed never to have enough of looking at me, and my heart soared under the heat of his gaze. It was heady. It was thrilling. It was humbling.

We went on walks, though always with care for our surroundings. Will told me he was reasonably certain we were safe here, but he had a die-hard habit of caution, and he stuck to it unremittingly. Apparently, he had enough clout to be largely left to work on his own, and he had taken great pains to make sure he couldn’t be found unless he wanted to be, except by a very few trusted people.

We went to his home a few times. It was a cozy little cottage on the edge of the town. It was not much different from where I lived – neighbors were friendly but relatively far away and largely kept to themselves; land space was expansive; one could often go a good distance before coming upon the next property; things were quiet and serene. Will’s cottage and the land it was on were not as extravagant as many of the neighbors. The cottage itself was something of a shock to me once I got inside. He led a surprisingly Spartan existence, though it made perfect sense afterwards when I thought about it. When I asked him about the place, he told me rather cryptically that it belonged to a dear friend of his who was never there and who gave him permission to use the place whenever he needed it. When I asked about the friend and mentioned how rich he must be to own all this, Will cheekily told me his friend was no concern of mine before backing me up against the wall when I dared to protest.

Will even took me hunting with him once. We spent virtually the entire day in the woods far from town, and he showed me how to hunt small game, though I had no talent or interest in shooting a gun. After some exploration which saw me find my way in and out of several trees, fail consistently at catching Will off guard, stumble about with none of the quietness and easy grace Will possessed, and generally annoy him as I had as a girl, we lost ourselves in each other in the middle of the woods. In those fleeting moments, I felt we had aged back ten years.

Will had a fair amount of money, I learned, though one could hardly tell. He never flaunted it. He almost never dressed up. He was not often seen about town. When he did go about town, hetipped generously but not too generously. He was careful to notice how much the average person tipped and keep to that metric. Attention was its hazard, and money generated it easily. Will had simple habits and hobbies, which he stuck to religiously. He had virtually none of the fashionable luxury items that were all the rage in town. He never needed them; he did most of the work he needed to do around the house by hand. Most of his free time was spent working on a few pet projects at home – Will had always loved working with his hands – and keeping his skills sharp.

I thought he was entirely skilled enough as I watched him gothrough the motions one day for the first time. He was frighteningly quick and self-assured. Watching him handle a pistol was like watching one of those mythical protagonists from one of those legendary Wild West stories in action. Watching him wield a sword was like watching the battle dance of a demigod from one of Homer’s tales. I thought he was entirely too much of a perfectionist, and I told him so, but he shook his head solemnly. You never knew when you would regret that you hadn’t kept sharp, he told tell me.

As for the money, it was to be expected in his line of work,as Will himself pointed out. He worked for the government, powerful people, and he was constantly putting himself in danger. Good talent was necessary and yet very difficult to come by, and when it did, it tended to die young. To recruit and retain, it was necessary to pay well.

Thinking back, I remembered that while his parents never had much themselves, they never wanted anything. In particular, his sick mother was well taken care of because the money always seemed to come on time. She would say in her sad, smiling way that her Will was always taking care of them from the shadows, even when they didn’t see or hear from him for long periods. Now I understood how her worst bouts of illness never found her without a good doctor even though they were so poor. Will had enough money to afford better than an average physician.

Much as I acted as if it did these days, even I had to remind myself that my whole world did not revolve around Will—just most of it. I was still busy with university work. To begin with, I had to prepare my courses for the upcoming academic year. French wouldn’t teach itself, and I had a good program going so far. Then there was the business of the special oversight commission to which I had been lately assigned. This was an exciting time in history for me. Universities were becoming more powerful and more open across the country. The commission was tasked with devising strategies for identifying and recruiting capable students. This involved lots of administrative and as grunt work, to say nothing of research. I spent much of my days poring through documents, accounts, books, laws, and policies. I didn’t mind it in the least. Within the next few years, little girls with empty pockets and heads full of dreams of a future ripe with opportunities for the mind like I had would have a far easier time accessing the higher education they craved. I was part of that important work.

---