Epilogue

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William looked up guiltily as the door of the cabin opened. He hadn't meant to stay so long. The drenched figure in the doorway wasn't who he'd expected. He stood quickly.

"Do you live here?" he asked. "I . . . I didn't mean to—"

Steel-gray eyes flickered to the desk where the manuscript lay, the last page exposed. Rage like fire lashed from her eyes, and William took an unconscious step back.

"I'm sorry. We got caught in the storm and came in to get out of the—" He took another step back as a knife materialized in the woman's hand.

"You've got no right." The woman's voice was low with rage, her British accent as thick as his own. He hadn't heard the like since he'd awakened. When she stepped forward, William backed up, his heel striking the wall. He held his hands up, palms out.

"It was there. The story . . . . It seemed familiar somehow. I just . . . . I had to read it. I'm sorry . . . ." His voice trailed off as he caught her expression. She had frozen while he spoke. His mind raced back, remembering the word that had stopped her.

Familiar.

So was she, in fact. Without seeing it, he knew her hair would fall the length of her back. He could almost feel the silky tresses running through his hands like water. He felt as though he knew every curve of her slight body. And those eyes . . . . He had once gazed into those eyes.

"Kay?" The name slipped comfortably from his lips. It made him wonder—not for the first time—what had happened in the time before the accident. Before he'd woken in a strange, sterile room having no memories of anything other than a blinding white light and pain. The doctors told him he'd been in a car accident, was found wandering along a mountain road carrying his son. Clothes and skin had been shredded with multiple wounds, the scars of which he still bore on his face and body.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

"I—"

Before he could continue, the woman swiftly sidestepped to the wall by the door. Her sudden motion startled William.

"Father!" The boy shot through the door without seeing her. "I saw deer. A whole herd of 'em."

William knelt and grabbed the boy's hand, pulling him against his chest. "Paul!" he said, instinctively putting his body between the woman and the boy. He looked up when her knife clattered to the wooden floor.

She stared at his son, eyes wide, her hands over her mouth.

Surprised, William watched her drop to her knees.

"Oh god." Her words were strangled. She held her arms out wide, as though to encircle the whole room. "Paul?"

Paul never hesitated. He ran into her arms. They clung tightly to each other for a few moments before the woman looked up at William.

"Can you be true?" she asked, gently setting Paul back from her. "Both of you?" For a moment, William thought he saw unshed tears shining in her wondering eyes. Once again, he was caught by the familiarity of those eyes, blue now that her anger was gone.

Paul stood still, studying her with uncanny perception for an eight-year-old.

"I'm William Wilson." He took three long strides forward and put his hands on his son's shoulders. "This is my son, Paul. We got caught in the storm."

"So you said." The woman stood, her movements graceful and sure, like a cat. "I'm Kay."

"I know you." Paul took her hand and she looked down at him. "You've been in my dreams ever since I woke up after the accident."

"Accident?"

"Six months ago. Neither of us remembered anything from before."

She stared at Paul a few moments more, then moved swiftly around them to the desk. Will followed her with his gaze. She stood with her back to him, looking down at the final page of the manuscript.

"Has it only been six months?" she murmured. Her shoulders began shaking ever so slightly.

"I know you too, don't I?" William asked, coming to stand beside her. That sense of searching, of needing to find some place, something, or someone was gone now. The force that had driven him to walk into the mountains with his son was finally at rest.

Gingerly, he put his hand on her shoulder, wondering at her tears—wondering at his own.

Slowly, Kay turned the page over, placing it neatly on the pile.

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⏰ Last updated: Sep 16, 2023 ⏰

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