Eleanor had just finished taming her hair when Daniel came for her. His voice was low and steady, his eyes quiet. “The car’s here.”

She nodded, not trusting her voice, and gathered her coat and gloves. Side by side they walked in silence down the hallway, down the steps and to the front door. Eleanor reached for the door handle but Daniel stopped her with a hand on tops of hers.

“Daniel, I have—”

“Call me ‘sir.’ One more time at least.”

Eleanor met his eyes and saw them stricken. She felt something hard in the back of her throat. She tried to swallow it but couldn’t.

“Yes, sir,” she whispered.

Daniel closed his eyes and opened them again slowly.

“I won’t ask you to stay,” he said. Eleanor could barely look at him although there was nothing more she wanted to do than memorize every line and angle of his face. “But I want to.”

She inhaled sharply and forced a smile.

“I won’t say ‘yes’ if you do ask...but I want to.”

Daniel smiled back and that smile broke her heart more than any tears ever could.

“Go. Go back to him before I change my mind and keep you here forever.”

“He’d come for me, you know.”

“I do know. That’s the only reason I won’t try.”

Daniel took his hand away from hers and let her open the door. The driver got out and put her bags in the trunk. He held the door open for her and she slipped inside. The driver got behind the wheel as Eleanor rolled the tinted window down.

“I won’t ever see you again, will I?” she asked.

“Not unless you leave him.”

“I won’t,” she said with merciless certainty. “But maybe,” she glanced up at the great house looming behind him, “maybe someday you’ll leave her.”

Daniel nodded. “Maybe...Goodbye, Eleanor. Be good.”

She gave him her most wicked grin.

“Yes, sir.”

The car pulled away and headed slowly down the drive. Eleanor closed her eyes and leaned her head against the cold glass of the window. She would not look back at him. She knew he would still be there on the steps of the house watching her leave him, watching despite the cold, watching until every sign of her had shrunk into the distance and disappeared. That’s where he was. She didn’t have to look back. She just knew it.

Eyes still closed, she felt the car turn left out of the driveway and slam to a sudden stop.

“What the—” Eleanor threw open her eyes and leaned forward. Standing in front of the car in the middle of the road and completely off his property was Daniel. She wrenched the car door open and ran to him.

“Daniel...oh my god...you’re—”

“I lied,” he said reaching for her. “I will ask you to stay. I will and I am. I’m begging you to stay. I need you.”

He kissed and she kissed back, too startled to move, too moved to speak.