We'll Meet Again (Original Book)

Epilogue

He returned early in the morning like he usually would. He knocked on her door, but he got no response. She must have been sleeping. He still had to check up on her. He knew what kind of state such trauma could push someone into.

He slowly opened her door and quietly walked in. She was on her bed. The curtains were closed. She didn't want light. Bright lights reminded her of the lab and her cell. He made another step closer to her only to hear the sound of something breaking beneath his shoe. He looked down and pulled his foot away. It was glass.

Tedric had a bad feeling about this. He walked to her bathroom, only to find the mirror shattered to pieces that still lingered by the sink. There were blood stains everywhere. The worst came to mind. What if she broke that mirror only to grab a piece of glass and use it to harm herself?

Tedric rushed back to her and settled by the edge of her bed. Her hand was resting beside her pillow. It was bandaged. Her wrists seemed intact and there was no blood anywhere else around her. Tedric let out a sigh of relief.

He had no idea what he'd do if he found her dead. He had no idea what he'd do if he'd find her having split her wrists and allowed herself to bleed to death on her bed. That woman always found it too easy to throw away her life as if it meant nothing. She had that same mindset in all of the other universes. He had to protect her from everybody.

Including herself.

She was the prettiest when she slept. Her hair was now completely black. Her cheek pressed against the pillow. Her bandaged arm rested beside her head. He tucked the blanket up, to cover her shoulder, still sitting by the edge of her bed, beside her. She wasn't sleeping. She was merely exhausted, and she couldn't even tell why. She was just lying there, resting, and trying to keep her mind silent.

She opened her eyes and she saw him sitting there, beside her. He was looking down at her and her eyes finally met his own. His hand reached for her cheek, running his knuckles across it, before taking her wounded hand in his own. He brought her hand to his lips, pressing a kiss on her bandaged knuckles.

"Did you break your mirror?" He asked, but he didn't expect her to respond. He knew the answer already.

Nathalie's eyes drifted off to her hand that now lay between both his own in his lap. His hands were warm and there was genuine worry in his voice. He knew how messed up she was. How did he still want to marry her? She had to ask him. She had to stop him from making a terrible mistake.

"Do you still want to marry me?"

How could she be making that question?

Maybe she couldn't handle a marriage right now, after everything that had happened. He would respect her wish if she didn't want to marry him or if she wanted to postpone it. He knew the Burgesses were a hard family to deal with, especially on such matters.

But even before her abduction, it was hard for her to believe that she was wanted by someone at all.

"I have wanted to marry you for the longest time, Nat," Tedric's hand reached for her face, and he brushed a strand of hair away from her forehead. "No matter what happens, nothing will change that."

He was so blind, wasn't he? He was only seeing the woman that he wanted to see. She had broken that mirror, but it hadn't put an end to this terrible façade. She couldn't be what he wanted. She wasn't going to be his housewife. She wasn't going to have children and she wasn't going to set up a home for him. She was a Burgess. Her science was more important to her than any of those things. Her research, her work, her career, her issues, her trauma – she would forever put all of that above him. She had things to deal with. She had trauma to face.