She should have been embarrassed at seeing him naked after so long, but nothing about seeing Harry again was as awkward as she’d imagined.

“Sit here,” she said, pulling the stool in front of the mirror on the wall. “I’ll cut your hair while it’s wet.”

Harry wrapped the towel around his waist and sat, and she took the chance to wrap her arms around him, leaning down from behind and pressing her cheek to his. A cry escaped her lips then, a cry she’d tried so hard to swallow down, and tears started to flow down Harry’s freshly razored cheeks too. They both cried, quietly, arms around one another, until Elise finally found the strength to rise.

“I’m sorry,” she said, laughing as she wiped her eyes. “I just—”

“Can’t believe it?” he asked.

She smiled down at him, wishing she didn’t feel so sad, but unable to stop it. “No, I can’t. I don’t think I’ll believe it for days, maybe even weeks. It’s too good to be true after all the pain.”

Harry’s eyes found hers in the mirror as she stood behind him, her hands in his hair. “I had terrible thoughts of you with someone else. I thought if I found you, if I actually made it all the way back here, there was a chance you’d have a husband, that you’d have long since forgotten about me.”

“Never,” she whispered, bending down and pressing a slow, warm kiss to his lips when he turned his head. “I’ve been too busy looking after our son and telling him all about his brave papa who sacrificed everything to make sure I could live.”

She ran a comb through his hair then, standing behind him and staring at his reflection in the mirror, hating how hollow his cheeks seemed. But he was still as handsome as ever, even without enough meat on his bones.

“Tell me what happened that night, Cate. Did Jack make it?”

“I hope so. He made it to the boat, and Cate with him.” Elise’s bottom lip started to tremble and she bit down on it, trying to stop the sudden, sharp wave of emotion building within her. She never let herself think of that night; she never went there in her memories, because there had never been anyone to look after her, to pick up the pieces if she let herself fall.

“And what of you?” he asked. “What happened to you, Elise?”

“I stayed to fight,” she said simply. “I was transient until I was due to give birth, and then I helped in any way I could in the background. The resistance became a powerful force, and I was with them every step of the way.”