Tom had sensed that time was running short and had sawed faster. “Ike warned me, said he’d kill himself first before letting me try to drag him away.” He could picture Ike’s gaunt face, and he could still hear the hiss of anger in his brother’s voice. “I didn’t believe him. I wouldn’t leave him. And he knew it. So before I could stop him, he yanked the knife from my hands and plunged it into his heart.”
Tom tried to block out the picture of Ike slipping lifelessly out of his grip and falling back against a corpse. The knife had stuck deep into his chest, the blood pooling against his thin shirt, and his arm falling away from the weapon.
His mom hadn’t stopped to retrieve the knife, hadn’t waited to even check Ike’s pulse. Instead, she’d dragged Tom away, wrapped her arm around his waist, and hoisted his arm over her shoulder. Then she set out, having to half-carry and half-drag him most of the way.
“So you see,” Tom finished. “I killed Ike. Maybe not with my own two hands. But if I’d listened to him and left when he told me to, maybe I could have figured out a way to return and save him.”
“Your mom told me you both would have been hung for being spies.”
Tom nodded. Deep down he realized Ike wouldn’t have lasted another day, not with the amount of blood he’d lost from his wound. And deep down he also knew that if he’d tried to carry Ike away, they wouldn’t have made it. His mom had hardly been able to manage him, much less attempt to haul Ike too.
“It sounds like Ike was a stubborn man,” Victoria said. “Maybe even more stubborn than you, if that’s possible.”
Tom nodded. “Ike always did like to get his own way.”
“But he was loyal, and he loved you deeply,” she said “He sacrificed his life so that you could have yours. Don’t you think he’d want to know that you’re happy now, that his sacrifice wasn’t in vain?”
Tom pulled Ike’s ring from his pocket. “This was his. The one he was planning to give his girl.”
Victoria’s eyes rounded, and the wetness on her lashes sparkled in the morning sunlight.
“I think he’d be happy to know I’m giving it to you,” Tom said, lifting her hand and kissing her ring finger gently. “He’d be happy to know all the joy and love we’ve found together.”
“Oh, Tom,” she said breathlessly, her eyes filling with tears again.
“Will you marry me?”
“I want to.”
“But what?” he asked softly. “Why are you afraid?”
She took the ring and turned it, studying it as though seeing it for the first time. “I think maybe I’m afraid of the future, of my future.”
When she lifted her gaze to his, her light brown eyes reminded him of her mother’s. So pretty, clear, delicate, and…
His pulse halted. “Are you afraid of going blind like your mother?”
She started to shake her head, denial forming in her expression. But then she stopped. She caressed the ring and finally nodded. “I’m terrified of it. I try not to think about it, try to pretend that it’s not a possibility, try to act like I’ll have a normal future. But the truth always seems to catch up to me on my wedding day. It’s the one time I can’t keep from thinking about my future and the fact that I’m dragging someone else into my problems.”
He hadn’t considered that she might have inherited the disease. But if her grandmother and mother had both gone blind, there was the real possibility that she might someday as well. He released a breath of relief. At last he understood why she was running from commitment. “We’ll handle whatever comes our way.”
“But I don’t want to burden anyone I love with such an uncertain future.”
She started to pull away from him, but he held her fast. “Do you think my mom is a burden on my dad?”
Victoria shook her head. “Of course not. They adore each other.”
“He loves helping her. He even loves being able to carry her around and hold her more.”
A smile tugged at Victoria’s lips. “I think you’re right.”
Tom traced his finger down her cheek. “I won’t complain if someday I get to carry you around and hold you more.”
Her smile turned tremulous and then her bottom lip wobbled. “I could go blind, Tom. Blind. Don’t you understand that?”
He nodded. “And I could go deaf. Or lose my arm. Or die tomorrow.” He