“That song ...” She presses a hand to her heart.
Luke stops. He tilts forward in his chair, alarmed.
“No, please. Keep going.”
He does. And Luke’s eyes widen as Sal sings along with him.
You’re the only road I walk
No matter how crooked, how long
Till the ends of the earth I will go
A million miles I’ll roam
Because whatever you do, wherever you go
You’re the only one who sings me home.
Her heart wrenches to the point of pain. That song. It’s the one she’s been hearing in her mind. Her touchstone all those long, horrible months with Roy. Only it was more than a song.
It was Luke.
His fingers are still on the strings, awe and disbelief etched across his face. “You remember.”
“What is it?” Sal asks, leaning forward as if entranced.
“It’s your song,” Luke explains. “I wrote it for you right before the plane went down. I never could finish it ... not when you ...” Grief chokes his words.
Sal’s eyes brim with tears. To her it’s a sign. She’s where she needs to be. And Luke. All the roads have always led to him. He is hers.
Standing, she goes to Luke. He sets the guitar aside and takes her on his lap. She frames his face with her hands, stares into his eyes. “It was always with me,” she says. “I didn’t know what it was or where it was from, but I would sing it. It would get me through the days with Roy. I don’t know why. Maybe because it felt like hope or freedom.” A tear slips down her cheek. “But now I know. All along it was you. You got me through when I wanted to give up. You sang me safe, Luke. You sang me home.”
Luke, cradling Sal in his arms, closes his eyes in anguish. Tries to find his voice. “Sal ...”
“No. I get to say something first.” She leans in and brushes her lips against his. “I love you, Luke Kincaid. You’re my road. Always and forever.”
A stricken sound escapes Luke. At first Sal thinks it’s a sigh, then she realizes it’s a sob.
Tears fill his eyes, track down his cheeks. Sal brushes them away with the pads of her thumbs, lets them fill her palms.
Wrapping his arms around her waist, he lets out a shaky shudder like her words have quenched his soul.
That’s when Luke laughs. The smile that lights up his face could power the entire state of Tennessee. He cups Sal’s face in his palms and kisses her deep into her next life.
That kiss shows Sal her future. With Luke. With a million possibilities stretched out before them.
He pulls back to look at her, love burning in the depths of his dark eyes.
“I think I could die a happy man right now just hearin’ those words.”
“Lucky for you, you don’t have to.”
“You’re right. There’re other things we gotta do first.”
“Like what?”
“Like this.” He stands, lifting Sal in his arms. His dark eyes glow. “I’m takin’ you to bed.”