I took the stairs two at a time and pulled the trunk from under Lizzie’s bed. I felt the weight of it, and calculated the years. Gareth’s gift was loosely wrapped, a handful of new slips scattered on top of it; they are bumf, I thought, to anyone but me.

I pulled on the string and the paper fell away, as it had the first time. Women’s Words and Their Meanings. The same quick beat of a thrill. But there was a sediment of sorrow this time. And fear. I looked more closely at my gift, searched each page. I wanted to find something that would replace his comb, his greatcoat, his book of poems. It was unreasonable to expect there would be anything, and irrational to think it would make a difference. After the last words, there was nothing but blank end pages.

Then, on the inside back cover.

This Dictionary is printed in Baskerville typeface. Designed for books of consequence and intrinsic merit, it has been chosen for its clarity and beauty.

Gareth Owen

Typesetter, Printer, Binder

I raced down the stairs and out into the garden. The door opened, and the Scriptorium took me in. The words I needed were already printed, but I wanted to choose the meaning myself.

I searched the pigeon-holes, found one word and then the other. I took a clean slip and transcribed.

LOVE

A passionate affection.

I turned the slip over.

ETERNAL

Everlasting, endless, beyond death.

Back in Lizzie’s room, I put the slip between the pages of Rupert Brooke’s poems.

“She’ll be upstairs,” I heard Lizzie say in the kitchen. “Her trunk will be open, I could make a bet on that, and the bed and floor will be a mess of words.”

Then Gareth’s heavy boots on the stairs.

“Ah, Rupert Brooke,” he said, seeing the book of poetry in my hand.

“You left it by the bed.” I stood and passed it to him, and he put it in his breast pocket without a glance.

“Find what you were looking for?” he asked, nodding towards the trunk on the floor, Women’s Words and Their Meanings still open to the back page on the bed.

I picked up his gift and held it tight to my chest. “Did you know I’d accept?”

“I felt you loved me, as I loved you. But I was never sure you’d say yes.” He enveloped me, the volume of words between us. Then he sat me on Lizzie’s bed and kneeled in front of me. The dictionary was on my lap. “I am on every page, Es, same as you.” He wove his fingers through mine. “This is us. And it will still be here long after we’re gone.”