Sorrow's crown

SEVENTEEN

Katie and I watched Crummler dance with Anubis among the headstones.

They were both wild and happy and clung to each other like long-lost friends. Every so often one of them would race past us or flail over an exposed root and take a head dive, and the other would pounce. "I am Crummler!" Crummler would announce giddily. "I am here!" His beard and wiry hair would be back in no time, the stubble already thickening. He snapped his fingers rapidly and jitterbugged along, trembling with his nerve endings burning again. "I have fought brave battles! I am home!"

"Yes, you are."

Anubis led him away in a game of tag and Katie asked, "They let him out like that, even in the condition he was in?"

"The administration isn't going to cause any fuss, not with all the troubles they're in for now."

"Did his brother say goodbye to him?"

"I'm not certain, but I tend to think so."

Not far away Keaton Wallace stood by the grave of Marie Harnes, overseeing the exhumation. He already appeared tired after finishing up the autopsy on the poisoned chauffeur.

The wind brushed Katie's hair against her jade eyes and I stroked it back into place. "Lowell will forgive you.”

“No, he won't."

"In time."

I shook my head. "Not until he captures Nick Crummler.”

“In time he will."

"Will you marry me?" I asked. She stared at me and slowly blinked. "Sorry, I didn't mean for that to sound so non sequitur."

She smiled, but I could see a faint cast of bitterness edging her lips. She could read my heart, my love, and my fear. "We've got time for that, Jon. We can wait another few months, or longer, maybe even until after the baby is born. If we still want to go through with it."

"Or we can get married now," I said.

She pressed her chest to mine and said, "So you actually want to move back to Felicity Grove?"

"Yes."

"And buy a house? Take care of a yard with a gigantic, gnarled ancient tree and an old tire swing?"

"Yes."

"Did I ever tell you about Ronnie Helmstead, my first boyfriend?"

"Talk about non sequitur," I said. "Yeah, the guy with acne."

"Not acne, he broke out in nervous rashes. He liked this cheerleader, used to date her behind my back and tell me that he was working late at his father's VCR repair shop. He'd get hives, turn crimson, and start pouring sweat and scratching himself everywhere." I just looked at her. "Let me tell you, you're a worse liar than him, Jon."

I'd have to practice my poker face a little more. "You're what's most important to me."

"And you are to me," she said. "I know you feel pressured."

"It's not that . . ."

"I know you do. I love you, but I still think we need some more time to get used to how things are going along."

I'd first met her when we were seven or eight, and she came out from San Diego to visit with her aunt, Margaret Gallagher, and she'd forced me to eat one of those Easy Bake Oven kiddy cakes. Despite only knowing her a couple of months in our adult lives, I understood I'd love her like this for the rest of our lives. I needed something, but it wasn't time. She needed that.

I pulled her to me and cradled her, wondering if she'd start crying soon. No matter what the situation, my ex-wife used to whine dreadfully whenever I hugged or held her, which should have clued me in on how things would work out. I waited and watched Katie's shoulders quivering, and I touched her chin and turned her face to me to see her laughing.

Our lives had become as entwined as anyone and everything in the Grove.

"Have I mentioned that twins run in my family?" she said.

"Oh boy."

Anubis flung himself against my knees. Katie fell back and giggled harder. Crummler danced as if he could see our children dancing with him, and I took my love in my arms and we waltzed along with them.