He jogged with her a short distance, turning off the road and into a broad meadow. There was a small rise, and as they came to the top of it, Vincent stopped. He looked into the distance. The meadow spread out before them, lush green shrubs mixed with the muted brown of fading grass. Small white flowers dotted it here and there. His life…their life…whatever her answer was, spread out before him the same way. Beautiful moments like the flowers, growth, things that pass away, hidden dangers, it all waited for them. All he had to do was take the next step. He opened his mouth, then closed it. Rather than shoving aside the apprehension that flared, he cupped it in his mind, considering it for a long moment. She was worth any risk.
Something on his face must have changed because Jule asked, ‘What?’
With that word, everything became crystal clear. Who knows how long he’d stood there, thinking, but Jule had remained by his side. She was patient, caring, a partner in all things, her love seemed to pulse into him through their hands; he wanted, needed, more of that contact. Vincent turned to her and took her other hand. She wrinkled her brow, but a smile played at the corners of her mouth. ‘Jule, do you trust me?’
‘You know I do.’
His heart took wing, soaring upward. ‘Will you trust me?’
Her smile softened and grew serious. ‘With anything.’
‘Will you trust me with your life?’
Her eyes were shining with tears of joy. ‘Forever.’
He dug into his pocket, retrieved a small leather sack and opened it, then tipped something into his hand. ‘Be my wife.’ His steady hands didn’t reflect the excitement that raced within him.
She didn’t even look at the ring, just his eyes. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘The answer has always been yes.’ She paused. ‘Be my husband.’
‘Are you sure?’ he asked as tears of his own ran down his cheeks.
She reached up and put a hand on either side of his face. Her touch and look were answer enough for both of them.
‘I love you Jule, my heart, my life.’
The flecks of color in her light brown eyes seemed to mirror the ones he knew were in his own. Her hand became his, her breath his own. He brought his lips to hers, and the world around felt like every moment that ever was, led to only this.
Jule eased away. ‘Hmm. I love that, you…this…’
He took her hand and slipped the ring on.
‘Oh my gosh!’ Jule said as she looked down. She clapped her hand over her mouth in shock. ‘Vincent… She grinned and looked like she might burst. ‘Yes!’
‘Jule…marry me.’
‘I just said I would.’
‘I know. But given how many times we’ve faced…’ Death. The word clotted in his throat.
Her fingers brushed his cheek. ‘The things we’ve faced.’
Every part of her filled in the missing places in him. ‘Given that…what do you think about doing it tomorrow?’
‘When?’ Her voice rose.
‘I talked to your dad this morning.’
Surprise pried Jule’s mouth into a circle. ‘About getting married tomorrow?’
‘Well, no, but about asking you. The tomorrow thing was Flea’s suggestion.’
He followed her glance to the edge of the meadow but the guys were nowhere to be seen.
‘But I totally think it’s a perfect idea.’
‘Tomorrow…’ She blinked and started to weave, then her knees buckled. Vincent caught Jule and scooped her into his arms. ‘Guys!’ He called and they burst from the tree line at full tilt.
Jule’s eyes fluttered and her head lifted a little.
Knife slid to a stop and checked her.
Fighting panic, Vincent asked, ‘Is she — ?’
‘She’s okay, just a little shocked,’ he said after a moment.
Thank God for Knife’s pre-med first aid training.
‘Yeah, eloping will do that to ya.’ Flea said.
‘Vincent?’ she asked.
‘Are you all right, ‘hon?’
Her eyes cleared and her arms tightened around his neck as she smiled. ‘Completely. Sorry, I forgot to breathe.’
Vincent looked down into her eyes. Such perfect eyes. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes.’ Her voice was just above a whisper.
‘About everything?’
‘Vincent. Don’t we have to…arrange…’ she waved a hand, ‘I don’t know… Things?’
He set her down carefully, making sure she was stable. ‘Do we? Really? I think they issue marriage licenses on the spot in Las Vegas. The extras are great, but are they what really matter?’
‘Vincent…’
‘You want us to vacate and let you two talk some more?’ Knife asked.
‘But then we’ll miss the fun parts,’ Flea said.
Vincent glanced at them then back to Jule as she said, ‘No, stay, it’s okay.’ She locked her wide-eyed gaze on his. No one spoke. Even nature seemed to fall silent, as if waiting for her next words. Eventually, her eyes softened. ‘Let’s finish our walk. Then tomorrow we can get up early and head to Las Vegas.’
‘Time for a road trip,’ Knife said.
‘That’s what I’m talking about.’ Flea exclaimed.
Happiness infected them as they strolled through the flowers. His stomach rumbled a little at the thought of telling her parents. Hopefully their accepting attitudes would embrace this too.
‘Tomorrow,’ Knife said. ‘I’m a fan of love as much as the next guy but how are you going to afford all this?’
‘Don’t worry, Vincent’s loaded,’ Flea popped off.
‘What?’ Jule exclaimed.
Vincent gave Flea a wide-eyed stare and steeled himself. ‘Umm, I’ll explain as we walk…’
‘So,’ Flea jumped in, probably trying to ease things. ‘Do I get to be best man or maid of honor?’
They fell silent and a meadowlark trilled its song, then Jule snickered and Knife started to chuckle.
‘You’ll look great in a dress, Flea,’ Vincent said to the laughter of the group. He took Jule’s hand, now somehow more a part of his than before, and they turned back toward the road.
She looked up with a playful smile. ‘Loaded huh?’
Knife gave him a slow head turn followed by a deadpan stare. ‘This I gotta hear.’
Jule and the guys knew about that night, but only in broad strokes, that he’d fought and killed the Tearer and his bodyguard. What they didn’t know was how close he’d come to dying and what he had to do to survive. The story almost spilled from his lips, but he pulled it back. Why should their nights be haunted by what happened as his often were? Those horrors were his burden to bear. But the money and gold…those he could tell them about.
‘When I defeated the Tearer, I found something—’
Flea coughed.
‘Yeah, okay Flea, a whole lot of something in the basement…’
‘What kind of something?’ Jule asked.
Vincent scratched the back of his head. ‘Hmm… Remember in the gaming session last week, when our party came across that treasure hoard?’
She nodded and Knife chimed in, ‘The three chests full of gold and gems.’
‘Multiply that by a large room and you’ll get the idea.’
Jule gasped.
‘What?’ Flea exclaimed, his voice pinched.
‘You acted like you knew,’ Jule said, giving Flea a glance.
‘I didn’t know that!’ Flea replied.
‘Are you serio — ,’ Knife mused, until he saw Vincent’s look.
Jule’s hand tightened painfully around his. He snapped his eyes to her and found disappointment clouding her beautiful face. It pierced his heart. That was the last thing she should be feeling right now.
‘Jule, I’m sor —’
‘Why didn’t you tell me sooner?’ Her voice didn’t accuse, but the hurt it carried made him wish it had.
The guys slowed their pace, falling back and she held up a hand. ‘No. Don’t. We’ve been through this whole thing together and you’re as much a part of it as I am. Vincent, if this is going to work.’ She waved her hand, somehow encompassing the world and their future in it with the small gesture. ‘If we are going to work, you’ve got to stop holding things back. I can’t go through life wondering what’s left out…and your friends won’t remain your friends if you don’t trust them.’
Each word was a blow he deserved. She delivered them with love, but it was no less painful for that. He couldn’t hold her gaze but when he lowered his eyes, she pulled him to a stop.
‘Sweetheart, this is exactly what I mean. Please, look at me.’
Vincent dragged his eyes back to hers, and found the hurt and disappointment gone. Only love remained. Even with his thoughtlessness, she still cared. How did he ever find a girl like her?
Jule took his other hand. ‘No more running away. No more hiding. Right?
He nodded, overcome by her care, unable to reply.
‘So, tell us about it.’ She squeezed his hand again, but now it only brought encouragement.
The truth. That was a good place to start. He took a deep cleansing breath. ‘The truth is…part of that night I can’t tell you about —’
‘Vincent, dude,’ Flea crossed his arms.
Vincent went on, ‘The fight with the Tearer and his bodyguard, it’s too much, at least right now. I have nightmares about what happened.’ Admitting it unscrewed the tension clamping him a couple of turns. ‘Is it okay if I…?’ He shook his head trying to get the words out.
Knife clapped a hand on his shoulder. ‘Leave that for another time.’
‘Or a lot of other times,’ Jule added. ‘Just tell us what you can.’
Flea uncrossed his arms nodding, and Vincent continued, ‘After that, I found a door in the wall, there was a glow around it.’
‘Some kind of magic you could see because Coleman was in you?’ Flea asked.
‘Yeah. It probably looked like a blank wall otherwise. Stairs behind it led to a basement full of valuables. Like, crazy amounts of them. I didn’t know what to do about any of it.’ He released one of Jule’s hands and waved helplessly. ‘The dead guys upstairs, the wrecked house or the basement. So I —’
‘Called Mr Brown,’ the group said, yanking a smile from him. Their matching grins eased the clamp another turn or two.
Jule dipped her head to the side and they started walking along the dirt road. Somehow, the thick green forest around them made speaking easier.
‘Mr Brown and I talked about it and decided that he’d try to find the rightful owners.’
‘Sounds like a good plan,’ Knife said.
‘Until he did, I figured it was best to keep it to myself.’
Vincent,’ Jule said, just that and nothing more.
‘Here’s where the excuses come,’ Knife said.
‘And excuses are like armpits,’ Flea said.
‘Huh?
‘What?’ the group asked.
Flea shrugged. ‘We all have them…and they all stink.’
Knife huffed a chuckle and Jule said, ‘Speak for yourself.’
Vincent only nodded. It was an excuse. ‘You’re right, it is, but it’s what I thought at the time. So…since I didn’t expect the wealth to stick around, I didn’t say anything about it.’
‘And, like any other secret, it snowballed,’ Jule said.
‘Yeah,’ he admitted. ‘And here we are, covered in it, after it smashed into the bottom of the hill.’
‘What did he do?’ Jule asked.
‘Mr Brown didn’t think it should just be left sitting around, and explaining it to the authorities would have been almost impossible—’
‘Especially with a sorcerer from another world dead upstairs,’ Knife added.
‘So, what did he find? What’s happening with it?’ Jule asked.
Vincent nodded. ‘Not even Mr Brown could find who it belongs to.’
Flea whistled a long descending tone.
‘Wow, that’s saying something,’ Knife agreed.
‘He put it in various accounts and investments. Whatever evil the Tearer intended it for I wanted it to go to something good.’ Vincent looked at Jule. ‘We can figure out how, together.’
She smiled, nodding.
‘For now, Mr Brown is finding worthy causes and charities to support and teaching me to manage the funds. I get paid a percentage only if I help them grow, like any funds manager would. The remaining profits go back into the whole so we can do even more good with it.’
‘You’re trying to turn it around.’ Flea nodded.
‘I like the sound of that,’ Knife said.
Jule leaned against his arm and the warmth of her love radiated from the touch, completely freeing the clamp the secret held on him. ‘So do I.’