The Curious Tales of Evelyn Stark

Begin Again

Evie and Morgan were returning from their hike, they'd gone deep onto the property where Evie was planning on building her own cabin. As soon as Karli was handled she was settling in the woods with her family no matter what. She'd been back a couple of weeks after Delacroix and the check in on her new investment.

"Uncle Bucky?!" Morgan screamed running towards James who was leaning against a motorcycle, looking like sin in a leather jacket and black jeans. She noticed the peak of a red henley underneath. Bucharest. Her heart tightened in her chest. Morgan jumped into his arms, hugging and kissing the man.

Evie stopped dead in her tracks. She realized why he was here. His month was up today. She wasn't ready for this. With two deep breaths she walked towards him. "Well this is a surprise," she said, as he let Morgan down.

"Morgan go inside, I need to talk to Auntie Evie," James said, setting the young girl down.

"Are you staying for dinner?!" Morgan asked.

"Depends on my conversation with your aunt," James said.

Morgan gave Evie a menacing look, "He better be staying for dinner." Morgan smiled up at James before going inside.

Evie shook her head chuckling, "She's definitely Tony." They both fell silent staring at each other. "What's up James? Why are you here?"

"My month is up," he said.

"Oh that." She knew it was up. She'd been very aware of the deadline she'd set for him. Each day ticking down fell heavily upon her. "Do you want to take a walk?" she asked.  She couldn't just stand there.

He nodded, "A walk sounds good." He held out his arm for her like he used to.  She took it, leading the way.

"I never expected to live this long honestly, even with the serum. I did everything I could at times to end up in a pine box, but now with eighty odd years of hindsight it was worth all of my stupidity," Evie said, with a sigh. She enjoyed the woods that surrounded the properties Tony had bought. It was peaceful there.

"Evie I have a question for you," he said, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. He placed a soft kiss to her temple.

"Okay?"

"I made my decision before you gave the ultimatum. I love you Evie. Always have, always will. From the moment I laid eyes on you. There's nothing in this world I want more than to be with you," he stated, "I've been waiting to get a lot of things together mainly myself. Because I wanted to be that James, the James that you first fell in love with."

"That James fit that Evie. The one who was starry eyed and had hope for the world. I'm not her anymore, and I don't expect you to be him anymore," Evie stated, "Those are two different people than we are now. But you're still James, the guy that brought me tulips and walked with me through Central Park on our first date. The guy that always made sure he took care of me.  You are still him James. I've seen it in you. Whether you believe it or not."

James chuckled, reaching back and squeezing the back of his neck. "I wasn't half bad at this eighty years ago."

"No you weren't," she teased.

"The month gave me time for this to come in." He pulled a box out of his pocket, opening it. Inside sat a beautiful emerald cut diamond ring with baguette diamond shoulders.

"How did you pull that off?" Evie asked, looking at the engagement ring she knew had been in the Smithsonian.

"It's a duplicate. Vibrainium instead of silver a representation of Wakanda, larger moissanite stones instead of diamonds because I know you're into things being sustainable, and eco friendly. That and we're going to be on this planet a long time, that one can stay where it belongs. This one hopefully belongs with you," he said.