For several whole days, they immersed themselves in their time together, as though they had forgotten everything else.
She had even turned down new performances, and he had stopped seeing patients. Even when Shirley and the others came knocking several times in confusion, they paid no attention. In this little home that belonged only to them, they surrendered to the passionate love of possessing each other again and again.
It seemed only this could let each other know what lay in their hearts.
As though they never tired, they released the happiness and love they had suppressed for over a decade.
And Lynn became even more certain.
Whatever the ending, he would stay beside her for the rest of her life. Even if that ceaseless descent might ultimately leave him utterly lost in the sea of loss, unable to remember whether this was reality or a dream, he had already made his decision.
He would see it through.
He would give her a perfect, happy life.
After days and nights of intimacy, they finally exhausted all their strength. Though they wanted to remain in this moment forever, life still had to go on.
The next day, she quietly left.
But Lynn knew.
She would surely return. From afar, he watched her board a carriage with her suitcase. When her eyes beneath that exquisite hat turned toward him, snow drifted thickly through the air. He stood on the street corner and smiled, taking off his hat to her with an unspoken understanding, as though no matter how far apart they were, the thread of their souls tied to their little fingers still bound them to each other.
The grand performance opened.
Beneath the spotlight, she danced once more, moving to a classical rhythm amid the melodious, plaintive singing.
But this