the lights go out. She moved in beside him and he put his arms around her, feeling she was naked now.
‘We can’t, Violet.’
‘I know, Nate. I’m not offering myself to you. I trust you’ll do nothing improper if I lie with you like this, and I want to become accustomed to knowing someone this way. I’ve not had a chance before and it was almost stolen from me again.’
Nate had already taken off his shirt and the rest of his clothes were too dirty and ripped to sleep in. He had a horrid nervousness as he stripped and she was under the covers now, waiting for him. He hated he thought this was a test; a lure on her part to see if he could refrain from doing more than just hold her. But it was less arousing to him to have her body against his. Not because she didn’t feel wonderful, but because she was so fragile at that moment. They both were.
He fell into a dream of Violet and Nate couldn’t figure out where they were. There didn’t seem to be anything around them, but it was bright. Violet was beneath him, moving with him as her skin almost shimmered. A golden light enveloped her as he kissed her and he couldn’t see any pain or fear in her eyes. Her luminescence was frightening and gorgeous to him, yet he still felt the same safeness he had in the beginning. It wasn’t mindless or hurried, just peaceful. He wanted a spell to trap them there, something to keep the moment eternal and perfect.
In the dream, she cried out at the end and it woke him up to a pressing and disappointing darkness. She was still in his arms, fast asleep, the glow now gone. A second of doubt said he’d been with her in reality, doing everything he’d done in his dream to her. Rationality came back to him to prove she’d have woken up had he actually done anything wrong. He wasn’t able to go back to sleep, even though he was dying to go back to his dream of her.
It took the better part of a day to get back home. Violet spoke intermittently to Nate as he drove, mentioning things she wanted to see in the world now she could touch again.
‘I don’t have a lot of money to take you anywhere right now,’ he confessed. ‘But when I do, we can go wherever you want.’
Violet smiled. ‘I know you cannot give me everything, Nate. You’ve already given me more than any man would have. I’ll not be upset if I cannot see everything.’
Nate wanted to dote on her. He actually wanted to give her roses and take her nice places, things he’d never bothered to do with other girls. He was even prepared to take a menial job so he’d have the money to do it.
He was exhausted all over again when he pulled up in at his house. From the car, he saw Jacqueline had opened the curtains. Violet stayed behind him as they went inside.
The house was normal. There was no pressing air of tension. Nevertheless, Nate wasn’t able to drop his trepidation and Violet was equally scared. They went out to the backyard where Jacqueline was hanging out laundry.
‘Mom?’ Nate wouldn’t leave the back step in case she started ranting again.
‘Oh, thank god.’ She dumped the sheet in her hands back into the basket and hurried over to him. ‘Where were you two?’
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I thought you were upset with us.’
‘Why would I be? You’re not little kids. And I didn’t kick you out. I don’t remember saying anything bad to either of you.’
‘We should tell her, Nate,’ Violet said guiltily. ‘She deserves to know.’
Jacqueline soured. ‘I really hope this conversation isn’t going to end with you telling me I’m going to be a grandmother.’
‘Mom, it’s not like that!’ Nate snapped. ‘It’s actually kind of worse.’
Violet sat with Nate in the front room with her hands around his, waiting for Jacqueline. She brought Violet some tea then sat in her armchair.
‘How bad is it, this thing you have to tell me?’ she asked.
‘It’s pretty bad,’ Nate said. ‘When I went missing, I was with Violet. Technically. She was… lost in the woods and I found her, but she kept me with her that whole time because she needed me.’
Jacqueline was already confused. ‘Then where was she when the search party arrived?’
‘I had to leave,’ Violet said. ‘When Nate was back home, I found him once more and he brought me back to life.’
Holding up her hand, Jacqueline spoke curtly to them. ‘None of this is making an ounce of sense.’
‘You should start from the beginning,’ Nate told Violet.
Jacqueline listened to Violet’s tale, shifting from incredulity to shock and then at last to disgust. Violet had to explain the magic behind her coming back, plus what it had done to Nate in return. He held out his hand and willed it to fade away then reappear just as quick. Jacqueline went pale at this, and paler still at what Violet had done to her and Nate’s friends.
‘I felt like I’d been drugged,’ she said softly. ‘But I don’t remember ever calling you a demon, Violet.’
‘It was not you who said these things, just my influence upon you. I am so sorry I’ve caused this predicament, that your son was afflicted by my returning.’
Nate couldn’t stand his mother going quiet on them.
Violet squeezed his hand. ‘Perhaps we should leave you be for a while,’ she said to Jacqueline with an air of respect, as if she’d just told her a loved one had died.
Jacqueline nodded distantly. ‘If you could…’
Nate took Violet from the room. He was desperate for another shower and he left her to change her clothes. He wasn’t able to settle himself knowing how upset Jacqueline was. There was nothing in her voice that said she’d forgiven him, or if she ever would.
What hadn’t taken him over was his animosity. Nate wasn’t angry with Violet or Jacqueline. He wasn’t even upset with Rachel and Joel. They were blessed with not being able to remember their hatred and disgust towards Violet. Unfortunate wasn’t strong enough a word to describe what had happened; abysmal felt more appropriate. The whole thing had been abysmal, heartbreaking even, but Nate hadn’t lost anything from it aside from a sense of trust in the world around him.
Back in his room, Nate found the shoebox containing some things that were important that he’d been told to hold on to by relatives. In amongst the old photographs and trinkets his grandfather had collected, Nate found the ring his maternal grandmother had given him. Since he was Jacqueline’s only son, she’d handed it down to Nate. It had been intended for a granddaughter, except Jacqueline was also an only child, which meant Nate had no aunts or uncles with daughters his grandmother could pass it on to.
Nate hoped it would fit, though he already knew it belonged to Violet.
He was shattered but restless, deciding he needed to get out of the house since his mom was brooding and miserable. Violet agreed to go with him and he drove them back to the beach where they’d first kissed. Places like that were actually going to matter to him from now on.
The wind wasn’t strong but the air was cold. Nate held her hand and guided her close to the water before he stopped her. He wasn’t going to get on one knee for her, it wasn’t about that. She watched him take the ring box from his pocket.
‘I’m not asking you to marry me,’ he told her. ‘This is just a promise to you that I won’t ever leave you alone and that I’ll never stop loving you.’ Nate’s fingers were barely able to get the ring out of the box as they trembled.
Violet presented her hand to him without a smile, letting him push the little ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly, and that in itself was as auspicious as it was strange. The band was white gold and two tiny diamonds were fitted either side a small sapphire.
‘I am your intended,’ she said to the ring.
‘Yes. If you want to be, that is.’
Nate saw a tear fall onto the back of her hand. He tilted her chin to see her wet eyes sparkling back at him.
‘I am yours, Nathaniel. Always. You needn’t have given me this to prove your love, but I thank you for it all the same.’
‘I’m not asking for anything from you, Violet. You don’t
have to give me anything now you have this ring. Not until you want to. I just wanted you to know…’
‘That you’ll stay,’ she finished for him. ‘That’s all I ever needed to hear.’
He carefully brushed another tear from her cheek before he kissed her. He would wait for her, and try to be whatever she needed. There was no need to demand anything from her. She’d changed him completely and he had no regrets.
The sun was warm and her cheeks were flushed. Nate went to take her back to the car as Violet gripped his hand and urged him back to her.
‘Must we leave right now?’ she asked.
‘We don’t have to go.’
She inspected the ring as she said, ‘Samuel would never have been able to give me something this beautiful.’
‘I think it was meant for you,’ Nate said sincerely. ‘And you’re meant to be here.’
He didn’t know how to lie to her, or how he could ever say something to hurt her. Violet would still have her moments; she was a human girl, it was inevitable. But he already knew he’d be able to cope with her with a patience he hadn’t tried to give anyone else. That he owed her his life meant his love was endless now.
‘You’ve not once made me think my choosing you was wrong,’ Violet finally smiled at him. ‘How could I not accept your ring, Nathaniel?’
Nate let her get away with calling him that now. In truth, he liked the way she said it, and the way she spoke. She had grace and was kind to a fault, and couldn’t have been anything but loving