“Yes. I just need the earth to sustain me.” My knees buckled and I felt José’s sturdy arms wrap around me before I hit the ground. I could only hear snippets of conversation as I faded in and out of consciousness.

“I’ll carry her.”

“The scouts caught up with us.”

“We’ve got to keep moving. Peppino, there is a price on your head.”

“They can’t be getting that close.”

“They are close enough to smell our cologne.”

I couldn’t make out who was talking. I was placed in a boat with no control over what was happening. I looked around at the legs surrounding me, unable to see any faces. None of them was my José. None were wearing his clothes. He was gone. He left me. I struggled to sit up. “José? José? Where is my husband? I can’t leave him. I can’t.”

José pressed my hand to his face. “Tesoro mio. I am right here.” He kissed my palm. I closed my eyes, and recalled wishing when I was a young girl that I could have a husband who would kiss me like that. And now I had him. “Rest now,” José whispered.

“She’s getting worse,” I heard him say. “Her fever can’t be quenched.”

“We’ll do what we can for her.” Was that Paolo? I couldn’t tell anymore as I felt the comfort in the cool rag that was placed against my forehead.

I watched the sky as our boat sailed forward. The full moon moved from cloud to cloud as it followed us, lighting our way. It was so large and bright; I was sure that I could skim the bottom edge with my fingertips. José grasped my outstretched hand.

“Don’t leave me. Please,” I begged.

“Tesoro mio, I will not leave behind my greatest treasure. Ever.”

Paolo said, “There is an abandoned farm up ahead. Let’s take shelter there. Talk this through.”

“I won’t leave. I won’t leave,” I murmured.

The next thing I knew I was being carried up a hill into a house. “Anita, stay with me, love. Don’t go.”

I turned my head, trying to see José. I smiled. “Leave you? I crossed a continent for you. You can’t lose me, we still have work to do. I…” A fluttering caught my eye; a little black bird with a bright red belly and white brows sat on the windowsill, and she bobbed, watching me. I knew who she was. Who she had been all along. Destiny. She waited for me. All these years we had played our games, fought with each other, and now it was time for us to meet, woman to woman.

José pulled me in close to him. The smell of sandalwood enveloped me. “Tesoro mio.”

I reached up, stroking his beard. I snuggled into his neck, grasping the collar of his shirt.

“I love you,” he whispered.