“How can we know what comes next?”Joni sang, her voice crackling with nostalgia.“How can we know what we’ll be?”
Bernard Copperfield’s reading fromThe Time He Lostat the Nantucket Bookstore drew a crowd of thousands. Several news crews stood outside, their anchors lifting microphones to their lips as they spoke about the enormity of the situation. “After twenty-five years in prison, Bernard Copperfield is finally breaking his silence.”
Ella, Will, Danny, Alana, Jeremy, Julia, Charlie, and Greta sat in the front row of the little collection of chairs in the bookstore while the rest of the thousands of people hovered outside, chanting Bernard’s name. It was eerie to hear Bernard’s name echoing out across Nantucket Harbor, as though, for decades, all these people had been waiting for him and him alone.
True to his professional nature, Bernard arrived, said a few kind words, performed his reading, and answered a few questions to the small number of people who’d managed to grab a seat. Throughout the reading, Ella’s eyes smarted at the emotion behind his words. It was often difficult to imagine him, seated in prison day after day, scribing the details of his broken heart. Yet here those details were, and the world was finally ready to listen.
Afterward, Julia asked Bernard if he wanted to have a meet-and-greet with the fans who stood outside, waiting for him. To this, Bernard shook his head no. Exhaustion lined his eyes, even as a smile made his dimples deepen.
“I want to go back to The Copperfield House, Julia. I want to go home.” He then peered around Julia to catch Greta’s eye. Greta shared a secret smile before she dropped her gaze to the ground, overwhelmed.
“Hey, Mom.” Danny popped over to hug Ella. “I’m going to head out to meet a couple of friends.”
“Sounds good, Danny.” Ella brightened her face and rubbed his back. “By the way, I’m really impressed with how much you supported your grandfather’s innocence when we first got to the island. I wish I could say that I’d been just as sure.”
Danny’s smile was crooked, just as handsome as his father’s. “You have to trust in family, Mom.” He then waved toward Will, adding, “See you later, Dad?”
“Later, son.” Will waved back as Danny walked out into the massive crowd, eager to celebrate the rest of his youth. Luckily, it seemed that Nantucket Island had softened him; he was no longer eager to push himself to the limits of alcohol. He was no longer willing to destroy himself.
Soon after, Julia helped Greta, Alana, and Bernard escape home, driving her SUV through the throngs of people and the chaos of the media circus back toward their familiar property along the Nantucket Sound. Ella and Will remained at the outskirts of the masses, listening to the hum of conversation and watching as the media trucks packed up and raced away. It was chilly, in the low fifties, and the air hummed with expectation for the approaching winter.
Wordless and filled with emotion, Ella and Will wandered toward the docks and hung their arms over the railing. The wind off the bay ripped across their faces and toyed with their hair.How many years ago had they met, by then?It seemed they’d lived enough stories to fill millions of years.
Finally, Ella found the strength to speak.
“I guess you head back on tour soon, don’t you?” She had to find a way to be okay with it. She had to find a way through the pain of letting him go.
But Will just shook his head. “I told you. Touring and making music isn’t the same without you. I canceled the rest of the tour.”
Ella’s eyes widened with surprise. She leaped back, watching his face for some sign of a joke. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not.” Will shook his head and turned to face her. He then took one of her hands in his as he reached into his pocket to remove a velvet box.
“Will…” Ella’s voice was filled with disbelief. As he hadn’t said anything about the velvet box since the previous weekend, she’d decided that maybe, it had all been in her head. Maybe he didn’t want to marry her after all.
“Listen, Ella. I want to stay with you. I want to be with you. I want to raise Danny until graduation with you. But most of all, I want to marry you.” He closed his eyes tenderly as he opened the velvet box, as though the emotion was too overwhelming to allow him to look her straight in the face.
The ring itself was a vintage diamond with a gold band, a simple yet sophisticated look that suited Ella, who wasn’t so keen on “big jewelry.”
Slowly, Will knelt to one knee, peered into her eyes, and whispered the words Ella had never imagined he would say.
“Ella. Will you marry me?”
“I’ve never wanted anything more. Yes, Will. I’ll marry you.”
Overcome with emotion, Will leaped from the ground, wrapped his arms around her waist, and twirled her in a circle. Her cries of joy echoed out across the bay and the rest of the Nantucket Sound. Since Ella had been eighteen, Will had been her love, her music, her joy, her solace, and her rock. Why would an engagement ring change all that? What had they been afraid of all this time?
As they fell into their first of many kisses as fiancé and fiancée, Ella’s heart pounded with expectation. The only fear she had was for a life without Will. “Till death do us part” were the only words that represented her love enough. Very soon, in front of God, her family, the government, and everyone else, they would become one.