Freya tried to draw her mother away, but Janine resisted.
‘I will go where my husband goes,’ she said.
Varushka’s marble gravestone was simple but lovely. Flowers lay around the base, put there earlier by Leonid.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Charlene said. ‘I wish I could read the Russian words.’
‘They just give the date she was born and the date she died,’ Leonid told her.
He said the words in English, and at once Freya sensed disaster. For the date of Varushka’s death was the exact date of Janine’s birthday.
She had coped with Amos’s absence on that day, but now the coincidence of the dates seemed to make everything worse. Janine didn’t speak, but she turned and walked away.
Freya hurried after her.
‘Mum, the date’s just an unlucky coincidence.’
‘I spent that day in tears. It was my birthday, and we were going to have a lovely celebration holiday together. But that was the day he said goodbye to her—held her in his arms, kissed her, told her he loved her. The very same day.’
‘He’s coming over,’ Freya murmured.
Amos and Jackson were approaching.
Janine turned to face Amos, who tensed.
‘What’s the matter?’ he demanded. ‘Why do you look at me like that? I was only paying my respects.’
‘Drop the pretence,’ Janine snapped. ‘She’s the one who has your heart. I’ve known for months now—ever since you dumped me to rush here to her deathbed. You chose her over me.’
‘No!’ Amos said explosively. ‘No, that wasn’t what happened. I came because I had to.’
‘Yes, she wanted you, so you had to. When we get home I’m leaving you.’
Amos drew a sharp breath. Freya and Jackson exchanged glances, both sensing that Amos was about to make a momentous decision.
‘All right,’ he said. ‘Here’s the truth. I didn’t come here from choice. I was blackmailed.’
‘Oh, Amos, please—do you expect me to believe that Leonid blackmailed you?’
‘No, not him. He knew nothing about it. It was—’ He stopped and a shudder went through him. ‘It was Perdita.’
Janine didn’t speak, but her face showed her scepticism.
Amos tore at his hair.
‘It’s true,’ he cried. ‘Perdita was a journalist in those days. She found out about a slightly iffy deal I’d done. She could have caused me a lot of trouble if she’d talked. And she threatened to do exactly that if I didn’t come out here to see Varushka before she died. That was why it happened so suddenly. I only had a few hours to save myself from disaster. I didn’t want to come. Over the years I’d seen Varushka so rarely that I barely knew her. But I had no choice.’
He took a deep, painful breath.
‘That’s the truth, my dear. Please believe me.’
The word ‘please’ made everyone look up, alert, wondering if they’d heard properly. Amos had actually said please to a woman.
And Freya saw something else. There on Amos’s face was the same defenceless look she’d seen on Jackson’s face the previous night.
It was a look that neither man had ever worn before. She was sure of it. And it meant the same: a willingness to sacrifice everything to win the valued prize.
Horus the Elder and Horus the Younger had achieved victory at the same time. She could almost hear the cries of triumph from the Edfu temple.
Janine’s gaze was fixed on Amos, who was totally still, tense with apprehension as nobody had ever seen him before. Then she gave a cry of joy and threw herself into his arms. He seized her fiercely, burying his face against her neck and saying her name in a muffled voice. By now the rest of the family had caught up, and they gave a big cheer.
‘He did it!’ Jackson said triumphantly to Freya. ‘He told her about his weakness. He trusted her with it. That’s the bit that makes all the difference.’
‘Oh, yes!’ she exclaimed joyfully. ‘She’s the one.’
Amos lifted his head. His cheeks were wet.
‘I guess I still have to catch up with a few things,’ he said huskily.
‘Just a few,’ Jackson agreed.
‘And to prove to you that I’ve seen the light I promise to leave you two alone. I won’t try to make you marry each other. That’s over, for good.’
‘It was over anyway,’ Jackson told him. ‘We got engaged this morning.’
More cheering.
The whole family rioted in delight, dancing around them, slapping them on the back.
Jackson and Freya were barely aware of them. Looking into each other’s eyes, they saw only what mattered to them, what would matter for the rest of their lives.
‘Let’s go away,’ Jackson said. ‘I have a lot of things to say to you.’
‘And I to you. But they don’t really need saying.’
‘No, but I want to say them anyway.’
They drifted off. The ground sloped gently upwards, so that after a while they could look back on where the family was still rejoicing, waving up to them. They laughed as they saw Amos give them a victory gesture.
‘I guess he’s got what he always wanted,’ Freya said.
‘Yes. Look, he’s trying to placate Janine in case she makes him suffer. I guess that’s how it’ll always be between them from now on. Between us too, perhaps.’
‘Don’t worry. I won’t be too hard on you,’ she teased.
‘Is that a promise?’
‘Wait and find out.’
They shared a gentle kiss, stood for a moment contentedly resting against each other. Then they resumed their walk, leaving the others far behind—leaving the whole world behind. For they had a new world now, one in which nothing and nobody else existed.
And that was how it would always be.
EPILOGUE
THEIR WEDDING WAS a quiet affair in a church so small and so deep in the country that birdsong could be heard during the service. This was Freya’s choice, and Amos had acceded to it willingly. All he’d asked was to be the man who gave her away to his son, and she’d happily agreed.
She had no fear that her groom would go missing this time. She knew that no power on earth could take Jackson from her. He’d told her so in words and actions, and she knew it on a level too deep for words.
All the Falcons were present. Nothing could have kept them away from this wedding. They smiled as Amos and Freya moved slowly down the aisle, noting how Jackson kept his eyes fixed on his bride, as though only half daring to believe that she was really there. They all enjoyed the moment when Amos handed Freya to her groom and couldn’t resist giving a thumbs-up sign to celebrate his triumph.
Then he slipped away to join Janine in a pew. Together they listened as the priest began to speak the words that would unite the family as never before.
‘We are gathered here to join together this man and this woman...’
This man and this woman.
Out of sight, Amos took hold of his wife’s hand, squeezed it a little, and sighed with relief when she squeezed