“Mair!” he asked again, shaking her at the shoulders. “Does anyone know you’re here?”
She shook her head and suddenly became frantic, speaking quickly and pulling on her brother’s arm. “We can go home; pretend we knew nothing about it.” She rushed over to me and grabbed my arm. “Come on, Tom, we need to get you out of here.”
“I can’t,” I said, and I rushed to the edge of the quarry to look over. Graham was already more than halfway up the track and showed no sign of slowing down. “He’s already seen me. Whether I run or not, he’ll say I killed his cousin. I have to stay. Running will only make it worse. You two go. He doesn’t know either of you are here.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“You have to, Gwyn. Go.”
He reached for my arm but I moved away and put some distance between us.
“Tom, your pocket!” Mair said, pointing at me.
The rain had turned my white shirt see-through and as I glanced down at my chest the ring shone like a small beacon from my breast pocket.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. I covered my chest with my hand trying to hide the light and I looked at Gwyn with panic. “No.”
The realisation had set in and despite the rain that soaked his face I could see the tears form in the corners of his eyes as he began to step toward me. I shook my head again, my chin beginning to quiver, and he pulled me into his chest and sobbed as he rested his head on mine.
“You have to go,” he whispered, and when he kissed me on the top of the head I felt like my world might fall apart if he ever let go of me. He took my chin in his hand and held my head up to look at him. He tried to force a smile through his tears and I clenched my hands tighter around his waist.
“I’m not leaving you!”
“You have to. If you stay, they’ll hang you. I couldn’t live with that, Tom. At least I know you’ll be safe.”
The tears flooding my eyes made it hard to see and my chest heaved as I sobbed. “But I chose you,” I begged. “I chose you.”
“And I’ll always choose you,” he replied, “but you have to put the ring on.”
I leaned into him as closely as I could and brought my lips to his, feeling for one last time his face against mine, his touch on my skin, and I wished we could freeze like this forever.
“I’ll come back to you,” I cried, “I’ll find a way and I'll come back to you. I promise.”
He smiled through his tears and as he took a step back from me I let out a loud sob that made my shoulders shake.
I tried to be strong and force a smile. “You better wait for me, Gwyn Griffiths.”
“Forever,” he replied, taking his sister’s hand for support.
“Tom, what’re you doing, what’s going on?” Mair asked, confused. She took a step toward me but Gwyn held her back.
“I’ll see you soon,” I said, raising my fingers to my lips and blowing her a kiss. “Look after him for me, ok? And tell the Hopkin’s… I dunno. Work something out.”
With my hands trembling I reached into my pocket for the ring and held it in my palm. I stared at the glowing stone, wanting more than anything to stay and hating it for finally making me leave.
“Tom, wait!” Gwyn cried out, and I looked up as he ran to close the distance between us. He pulled me into him once more, his body against mine, and held my face in his hands. His eyes locked on mine and for the first ever time, he said, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” I said, then I pressed my lips against his as I slid the ring onto my finger.