Cate didn’t dare look at his wound, not wanting to know how bad it was when they were racing against a clock and there was nothing she could do. “You’re walking whether you like it or not,” she said. “Now come on. We’ve survived the unsurvivable once, you and I, and we’re not giving up now, not with a boat waiting to take us home.”

Her words of encouragement seemed to work, because Jack suddenly made a Herculean effort to right himself and start moving again.

“I should have forgiven you, Jack,” she continued, not caring that Elise was listening. If Jack didn’t make it, she wanted him to know how she truly felt; she didn’t need to live with any more regrets. “I don’t care that you had my photo or that you didn’t tell me about Charlie.” She was panting from the exertion of helping him with every step and whispering at the same time. “Charlie was a good man. He was kind and sweet and so different to my daddy, and that’s why I said yes to marrying him,” she continued. “But when I received that telegram, it was like I’d lost one of my best friends. I didn’t love him the way . . .”

She stalled, losing her nerve, not sure whether she could actually say it. But these weren’t normal times; everything was heightened, the likelihood of death so much greater than it had ever been before, and everything left unsaid could end up being left unsaid forever.

“I forgive you, Jack,” she murmured. “I forgive you, and I love you, so you’re going to make it to this boat and hang on long enough to get to a doctor, all right?”

His grunt told her that he’d heard, and tears started to stream down her cheeks as she fought for every footstep, stumbling but refusing to give in to the physical pain. She was exhausted and emotionally wrung out, her legs were burning and her feet hurting, so she could only imagine how hard it was for Jack.

“Those days in hospital, the time I spent caring for you, they were some of the best days of my life, Jack. I’ll never forget all those times you caught my eye or made me smile when everything seemed too much. I’ve always been so scared of truly falling in love with someone—my father scarred me for life, but you’ve shown me that I don’t have to be afraid. So believe me when I say that we need to make it to that boat, because I want the chance for us to start over.”