Her mouth slowly curved into a smile and he pulled back as much as he dared to witness his handiwork molding those delightful lips. “If we’re to start over again, does that mean you wish to take back the ‘I love you’? Because I have to tell you, that’s not something I’m going to let you forget. I’ve heard it and you can’t unsay it.”
“No, I do not wish to take it back.”
“So that means . . .”
Her smile widened as pink stained her cheeks. “That I love you.”
“At last! The woman takes pity on this miserable wretch.”
“There was no pity involved. Nor was it because I was lonely or lost. I fell in love with you because after coming to know you, I knew you would forever be a permanent fixture in my world.”
A man’s heart holds a secret chamber where only one woman may enter. A place shaped for only her to breathe life into the darkened recesses and drum out a unique rhythm never before heard. Wynn pressed Svetlana’s hand over his heart, allowing her to feel the existence she thrummed into him.
“I promise to be there for you every day. To walk alongside you and stand firm beside you. I promise to give you shelter in the storms and wings to rise above them. My privilege will be to wipe the tears from your eyes and give you reason to smile again. You are the most precious thing to me and with these words I give you all my life . . . I love you, Lana.”
Tears misted her eyes. In the fading light they were like the first gloss of stars across twilight. “You are an exceptional man, Wynn MacCallan. A good man, and I am proud to call you my husband. In this instance I believe my pride is a good thing and not to our detriment. I am humbled by your heart’s offering and I shall treasure it until my dying breath.” She blinked back the unshed tears. “Which thankfully was not today.”
He pulled her closer and suppressed the utter despair of having nearly lost her that day. His life, gone. “You’re safe, Lana.
You, your mother, Marina, and
Cupping her hand around his neck, she nudged his forehead down to touch hers. “Will you do one thing for me?”
“Anything.”
“Take me home. To our home. I’m ready to begin living our life.”
He could have shouted for joy. He could have done a backflip. And seriously thrown out his back. But there was one thing above all others that he wished to do.
“On one condition.” He slipped one arm around her waist, while his other hand took hers, lacing their fingers together. “That you dance with me.”
Bending her head, she kissed their entwined fingers. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Epilogue
One year later
Carpets of purple heather bloomed in the growing twilight as the Rolls Royce pulled up to the newly constructed entrance of Harkin Hospital, the county’s first and only self-sustaining medical center. Svetlana stepped out of the back of the motor car and smoothed the front of her white-and-green striped dress. She was still growing accustomed to the ankle-revealing hemlines, but women all over the world reveled in the looseness of post-war fashion. There was even talk of doing away with corsets altogether, but she wasn’t quite ready for that. A woman needed her shape, after all.
She stared up at the freshly painted limestone building with a surge of pride. They had done it. She and Wynn had accomplished something greater than themselves, something they never could have done on their own. It had humbled them both to gratefulness.
Inside, the white tile floors gleamed brilliantly under the newly installed electric lights as the unique smell of disinfectant and bleached linen permeated the air. Her eyes had watered at first from the strong concoction, but it was one of the many things she’d grown accustomed to as the wife of a physician.
“Good evening, Yer Grace,” the front desk receptionist said. Dressed in pristine white with a smart cap atop her head, the young woman was one of the newly graduated nurses from the nursing course offered at the old sugar mill that had been remodeled into a learning establishment. Many of the village girls applied, and several had gone on to be offered positions as far away as Glasgow and Edinburgh while more still opted to remain in Glentyre to be closer to their families.
“Good evening, Nurse Drummond. How is little Lorna?”
“Fine as dew on a lamb’s ear, Yer Grace. Loving the children’s wing, she is.”