victory at the same time. She could almost hear the cries of triumph from the Edfu temple.
Janine’s gaze was fixed on Amos, who was totally still, tense with apprehension as nobody had ever seen him before. Then she gave a cry of joy and threw herself into his arms. He seized her fiercely, burying his face against her neck and saying her name in a muffled voice. By now the rest of the family had caught up, and they gave a big cheer.
‘He did it!’ Jackson said triumphantly to Freya. ‘He told her about his weakness. He trusted her with it. That’s the bit that makes all the difference.’
‘Oh, yes!’ she exclaimed joyfully. ‘She’s the one.’
Amos lifted his head. His cheeks were wet.
‘I guess I still have to catch up with a few things,’ he said huskily.
‘Just a few,’ Jackson agreed.
‘And to prove to you that I’ve seen the light I promise to leave you two alone. I won’t try to make you marry each other. That’s over, for good.’
‘It was over anyway,’ Jackson told him. ‘We got engaged this morning.’
More cheering.
The whole family rioted in delight, dancing around them, slapping them on the back.
Jackson and Freya were barely aware of them. Looking into each other’s eyes, they saw only what mattered to them, what would matter for the rest of their lives.
‘Let’s go away,’ Jackson said. ‘I have a lot of things to say to you.’
‘And I to you. But they don’t really need saying.’
‘No, but I want to say them anyway.’
They drifted off. The ground sloped gently upwards, so that after a while they could look back on where the family was still rejoicing, waving up to them. They laughed as they saw Amos give them a victory gesture.
‘I guess he’s got what he always wanted,’ Freya said.
‘Yes. Look, he’s trying to placate Janine in case she makes him suffer. I guess that’s how it’ll always be between them from now on. Between us too, perhaps.’
‘Don’t worry. I won’t be too hard on you,’ she teased.
‘Is that a promise?’
‘Wait and find out.’
They shared a gentle kiss, stood for a moment contentedly resting against each other. Then they resumed their walk, leaving the others far behind—leaving the whole world behind. For they had a new world now, one in which nothing and nobody else existed.
And that was how it would always be.
EPILOGUE
THEIR WEDDING WAS a quiet affair in a church so small and so deep in the country that birdsong could be heard during the service. This was Freya’s choice, and Amos had acceded to it willingly. All he’d asked was to be the man who gave her away to his son, and she’d happily agreed.
She had no fear that her groom would go missing this time. She knew that no power on earth could take Jackson from her. He’d told her so in words and actions, and she knew it on a level too deep for words.
All the Falcons were present. Nothing could have kept them away from this wedding. They smiled as Amos and Freya moved slowly down the aisle, noting how Jackson kept his eyes fixed on his bride, as though only half daring to believe that she was really there. They all enjoyed the moment when Amos handed Freya to her groom and couldn’t resist giving a thumbs-up sign to celebrate his triumph.
Then he slipped away to join Janine in a pew. Together they listened as the priest began to speak the words that would unite the family as never before.
‘We are gathered here to join together this man and this woman...’
This man and this woman.
Out of sight, Amos took hold of his wife’s hand, squeezed it a little, and sighed with relief when she squeezed back. Since that day in Russia when they had rediscovered each other he’d had the sense of living in a new universe, one that had yet to be explored.
The wedding service continued, with the bride and groom taking it in turn to utter their vows.
For better, for worse.
Amos murmured in Janine’s ear, ‘Try to forgive me for the worse.’
Smiling, she turned to meet his eyes, murmuring, ‘From now on it’s going to be better.’
At last it was time for the bride and groom to leave the church, ready to start their marriage. And there behind them were Amos and Janine, also making a new start that only they understood.
Perhaps Jackson and Freya came closest to perceiving the truth.
As they lay in each other’s arms that night she murmured, ‘There was more than one bride and groom today.’
‘Yes, I thought so too,’ he said with a warm chuckle. ‘When you think how nearly they missed each other—’
‘How nearly we missed each other. If you hadn’t come up with that mad performance—’
‘It was true. Dan really had contacted me.’
‘Yes, but the rest—the things you said about watching over me, forcing him to be a good husband. Surely you couldn’t really have done that?’
In the dark warmth of the bed she felt him chuckle.
‘Couldn’t I? I don’t know. I was desperate enough to try anything that might work.’
She thumped him lightly.
‘You lousy, cheating so-and-so. You just said what you knew would get you your own way.’
‘That’s the best reason for saying anything. I wanted you and I didn’t care what I had to do to get you. After all, I’m a Falcon.’
‘So am I now, so you’d better watch out. But you couldn’t really have lived up to that stuff about being my guardian angel even if it meant sacrificing your career. Could you?’
‘I hope so, but the honest answer is that I don’t know myself well enough to predict how well I’d have succeeded. I still have a lot to learn about who I am and what I can do. But I can’t learn it alone. You’ll have to teach me.’
‘Hmm. Now, that might be interesting.’
‘More than interesting...’
He drew her closer, wrapping his arms about her with an intensity that was both commanding and protective.
‘Why don’t we start now?’ he whispered.
* * * * *
CHAPTER
