“Lacey?”
She turned at his voice, a smile immediately overcoming her. “Dave? I haven’t seen you–”
“You shouldn’t stand out here by yourself.” He stepped into full view, the street lamps in the garden illuminating his face. He looked just as she remembered, stern and sincere. The last time she’d seen him like this, he’d proposed to her in earnest. For a mutual good, he’d stated.
But do you love me? Lacey had insisted.
I have a duty to you. He had responded. That’d been the end of it.
“It’s a good thing that you’re here with me then,” Lacey replied, sidling closer to him. Her heel caught on a jagged edge of the stone beneath her, and she wobbled. Immediately, his arm was at her side, his right hand bracing her shoulder. Balance regained, she restored his hand to his side.
“Dave, what are you doing here?”
She took his offered arm and thought the two of them looked quite a match between his tuxedo and her evening gown. They’d fit right in at a Bridgerton ball, had she only worn something a bit more vintage.
Expressionless, he cast a glance over his shoulder at her. “I saw the prettiest girl in the world on the veranda and knew we needed to take a walk around the garden.” He strolled forward, hand tucked into his right jacket pocket. It left her no choice but to follow him.
Shadows covered the tiles, but his arm steadied and stabilized her. “But what are you doing at this party, Dave? Who do you know? I mean- you’ve been off the grid for three years and now you just show up out of nowhere. Not a single text or phone call -”
“It took three years for love to win out over duty.”
She blinked. “It what? No, don’t answer that, I heard you.” He pulled a tattered handkerchief out of his pocket and coughed into it before tucking it away again neatly. She caught the embroidered “L” stitched into the corner just before he shoved it out of view.
“You kept that? This entire time?” she asked.
He tugged it back out of his pocket again, turning and presenting it to her as if it was a present. His eyes shone as they met hers, reflecting a desperate longing she’d grown acquainted with over the years. “You'll have to stitch me a new one, dear. I love you, Lacey. You are everything I have thought about for three years. I just didn’t know that this that I’m feeling could be called love. It’s been my deepest regret I didn’t say as much, or we’d be married by now. I know it wasn’t just chance I saw you out here tonight - maybe we could try again.”
Her vision blurred, and she took her arm gently from his and laid her hand on his. “Oh, dear friend of mine. Where was this three years ago? This time next month, I’ll be married.”
His face fell, brow furrowed with confusion. Biting his lip, he took his hand from her and turned away, arms crossed.
“I’m sorry, Dave, but it’s too late. I know it’s no consolation, but you’d like Oscar. He’s good, and he protects me, and he’s never abandoned me and disappeared.” She stared after his back, and he rocked a bit before settling back into his military stance.
He stiffened, then turned back to her. “Why don’t I escort you back to the dance, and you can introduce me to Oscar?” he asked.
Lacey hesitated. “Really? You want to meet him?”
He grimaced, before coaxing his face back into that natural wall of stone. “Well, that’s what love is, right? Wanting your good over my own? I’m happy you found someone worth spending the rest of your life with.”
She smiled at him. “That’s how I know you’re a good man, Dave. And you’ve changed. Three years ago, you would have just shot him point blank.”
He adjusted his belt and pulled his overcoat closer to his chest. “I could never do that,” he said. Then, offering her his arm again, he entreated Lacey to share more as he escorted the prettiest woman in the world back to the veranda.
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