“It’s all quite irregular and very much against the rules, Miss, but seeing as this so-called Bellamy was a polite enough bloke who hadn't caused anyone any trouble, why, it seemed a shame to keep him locked up when all he wanted was to get some fresh air and wait for his American sweetheart to come fetch him. He couldn't remember her name, but he'd gone on and on about mint chocolate chip ice cream and about an island in the middle of a harbor. Funny really, how he'd been able to remember some things so clearly and other things, like names, not at all.”

The sun began to dip behind the masts and sails of expensive yachts cruising in to Portsmouth harbor from the Solent. It wasn’t especially busy on the wharfs, not as much as Rose had expected. It was full of tourists, however, who glanced around them much like she did. Still, the harbor was everything Rose had hoped it to be and more: her mom would have just loved the museums and the old stone buildings and the big ships, whether restored antiques or new battleships, dotted around. It gave her a sense of history not just being some remote and distant thing, but all around her and constantly infusing every aspect of modern life. All things had roots, were connected to other things that had preceded them. Mom would love that idea, that Rose not only thought it but felt it in her bones.

And always remember, this was meant to be.

She found Pier F and eagerly scanned the line of people waiting for the next Harbor Sightseeing Cruise. He'd be there right about now; the inn keeper had told Rose when she called ahead. Apparently, he was bustling all morning, unable to sit at the inn and wait. He left a note for Rose to meet him at the pier. But she couldn't find him anywhere on the wharf.

There were two ferry-type boats on their way back in to dock. Bellamy must have been on one of those, maybe he went out for a cruise while he waited for her. The flutter in her stomach that had persisted ever since she'd landed at Heathrow, now swarmed into a breathless, giddy excitement. The mysteries of the past several weeks all seemed to be churning in the wake of the slowly reversing ship. Possibly, somewhere on there was a man who should not, by the known laws of nature, exist. A man whose love she should not, by any common sense, share. But he did, and she did, and if for no other reason, that was all the proof Rose needed that things really did happen for a reason. That nothing was impossible. If love could conquer Death, then neither she nor Bellamy, or even her mom, would ever be without it.