“I hate what Boar did, too. And I imagine I could spend the rest of my days as a resentful old man. But if it he hadn’t harassed you on that crowded train from London, we would never have met. You would’ve gotten off in Epping. I would’ve traveled on to Church Fenton. Our paths would never have crossed.” He caressed her hand. “And despite the briefness of our time together, I can’t imagine my life without you.”

She squeezed his fingers, sensing the time between them begin to melt away. “It wasn’t enough.”

He looked into her eyes. “I never stopped thinking of you.”

A secret chamber of her heart, the one she’d kept closed for over half a century, began to open. “Nor I,” she whispered.

“You were always with me,” Ollie said.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. Waves of emotion flooded her body.

“It was your words and inspiration that gave me the strength to escape. To never give up.”

Together, they wept. The dam holding back the years between them collapsed.

Ollie wiped away her tears.

Susan looked into his eyes, then gently touched his cheek. “There’s something I need to show you.”

CHAPTER 60 - HOME

CHAPTER 60

HOME

Susan and Ollie peered down at a freshly dug hole at the edge of Epping Forest. A warm breeze filtered through the woods, causing branches to sway and creak, silencing the chirping sparrows. The scent of damp earth and moss filled the air. Ollie leaned the spade against a birch tree, its bark peeling like old wallpaper. Slowly, he lowered himself to his knees.

In one hand, Susan held a plastic container with Duchess’s remains; in the other, a small piece of paper.

Ollie looked up at Susan. His thin hair danced in the wind.

“She was a remarkable pigeon,” Susan said, handing him the container.

“An angel.”

She smiled.

Ollie lowered the remains into the hole, then filled it with soil. With his hands, he tamped the earthen mound. Then he located a flat rock, several inches in diameter, partially pushed up through the ground by the roots of a large elm. He pried up the slab and cleaned away the dirt. Too heavy to carry, he flipped the rock, end over end, until he reached the mound.

As Ollie placed the marker, Susan unfolded the deciphered message. And read it for the second time.

Ollie stood and wrapped his arm around her. “After all these years, she managed to bring us together.”

Susan nuzzled into him. “She’s home.”

He held her tight. “So am I.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

AUTHOR’S NOTE