"Did you want to talk?" he asked.
"Sort of," she said. "But not anymore. Let's go into the secret room. It's dark, and we can make a little bit of noise. But just a little."
Valentine opened the panel in the wall, and they nipped into the deep shadows, holding hands.
"Hey, you used one of those soaps," Valentine whispered, smelling her clean skin.
"Yes, this one's-"
"Roses," Valentine said, caressing her hair. "Beautiful."
She shut the door, and they were in blackness so total there was nothing but touch, and the faint smell of roses.
They kissed and kissing, lay down together. They melded in the darkness, learning new ways to please each other, delight each other, and, finally, love each other.
They said good-byes in a steady, spirit-sapping drizzle. As Flanagan and his ubiquitous shadow waited out of the rain in the patrol car, family, friends, and lovers shared a few parting hugs. Valentine, Molly, and her parents all wore the same air of false cheerfulness that appears at a funeral, after a septuagenarian drops dead in perfect health. "Never knew what hit him," one relative will say to another. "Yes, I'd love to go that way. No pain, no suffering, no illness. Lucky man," the other will agree, jointly looking for the tiny patch of sunshine among the dreary clouds.
The same forced tone was present in Mr. Carlson's voice as he said good-bye to his daughter. Molly wore her oldest cow-mucking work clothes, clean but nevertheless permanently stained. "Country girl he wants, country girl he gets," she had said to her mother after turning down the suggestion that she wear her prettiest dress, a blue-checkered barn-dancer that matched her eyes, to cheer herself up. "No, give that to Mary. Something to remember me by," she said, leaving the room before her mother could ask what she meant.
"Take care of that arm, Victor," Molly said, shaking his left hand. "My turn to see the big city, Frat. At least Madison isn't Chicago, thank God. Mary, there's more to horses than riding and brushing them. I'm putting you in charge of the stables while I'm gone, and you'd better keep it clean."
Her words to Valentine, in hindsight, also hinted at her dark mood under the steel-gray clouds. "David, you're going tonight, right? When it gets dark?"
"That's the plan. I'm still working on that pack for my horse. We'll be miles away by morning."
She smiled up at him, satisfied. They wandered to the side of the house, where they could kiss without watchful eyes on them. "I'll think of you fighting Reapers, David. You know, now that I've thought of it, maybe your Masada solution is the better one. Take a few of them with you."
"Molly, don't get so grim. You'll look back on this in a couple of years and laugh. Or maybe throw up. But it's not forever. It's really kind of pathetic of him if you think about it. Sending your butt-kissing uncle out into the woods to bring him a dinner date at gunpoint."
"That's the first thing I'll tell him," Molly said, beaming at the thought.
"Come back and work the farm. And just because my plan won't work right now doesn't mean it won't three years from now. Some night a team of Wolves will show up at your back door. We'll get your whole family out."
"If my dad will go. He's pretty committed to smuggling people out of here."
"Well, I owe your family a very big favor. You're going to collect on it. I'll come for you someday in the fall, if I can."
She looked into his eyes. "I think three years from now, you'll have more important things to worry about. Be careful with promises. You know that saying, "Tomorrow is promised to no one," right? That's like the law of the Kurian lands."
"You've got five years promised to you and your family."
"We'll see, David. That bond might be as worthless as the ring he tossed into the audience. Just go tonight, okay? But can you tell me one thing, David? Was I your first time... you know... lovemaking?"
Valentine owed her the truth. "Yes. I hope you liked it. I've never been very... lucky with women."
"Good. You'll remember me, then."
"I'll remember you as the Wisconsin beauty who was re-ally good at pointing out the obvious," he said, giving her nose a gentle tweak.
They embraced, kissed, and touched each other's faces as if trying to record memories with their fingertips.
"Believe it or not, I'll come for you. It's a promise, Molly." He read hurt disbelief in her eyes. "No, not a promise: a vow." Now only the hurt remained.
"Don't," she said, unable to look at him. "A lot can happen in three years."
"A lot can happen in three days. Like falling in love, Melissa."
"David, stop. You're just making this hard, making it painful. This is an end. I don't want you to talk like it's a beginning."