She knew the rules and this time she was determined to follow them. Elizabeth may have been fond of breaking rules in the past, but this time she was damned if she would let them be broken. It was Will's life at stake here! She was determined to keep their appointment.
It had been ten years, ten very long years, but she would prove herself to be faithful to him no matter what. She walked towards the cliff's edge—the best spot to get a good view of the ship as it sailed into the bay. She had stayed on this island where he had left her, cleaning up an abandoned cottage, repairing the damage of a missing mill wheel, to make a home for herself and her son, Will's son. After only one day together she had managed to get pregnant.
It had been hard to live on land without ever once going to sea after she had developed a taste for the sea life, but it was only ten years. She could live on the same spot of land for ten years. Those were the rules of the curse. It had been even harder to be alone during her pregnancy and to raise their boy on her own, but every day she told their little boy stories of his father and the sea and the life they had once led. And she had taken him every day to this spot and trained him to keep an eye on the horizon for his father's ship. The boy ran ahead of her now in his eagerness, singing the song she had taught him years ago.
Every day had been a struggle without Will by her side. She had struggled to provide a home with a roof that didn't leak, to provide food for their child, to work as a woman in a man's world. She didn't have her father's money to pay for her place in the world anymore. She had to become both mother and father and take on the burdens of their daily life as if she were a widow. Part of her had resented Will for it. He got to roam the oceans of the world, while she was stuck with the responsibilities. Being faithful was no easy task, certainly not for ten years.
Those were the bad days and she had to remind herself that she wasn't angry at Will, she was angry at the curse. She had to remember why she was doing what she was doing: she loved him and that had to be enough. Every night she had opened the box that held his heart and listened to it beat. It had been the rhythm of her dreams. Though she could not have him, she still had his heart.
She joined the boy at the edge of the cliff. He looked up at her now with a question in his eyes and she smiled at him reassuringly. He had been so hopeful and eager all these years. He had been the one that had kept her going. When Will began to feel like a distant memory and she struggled to remember what she was doing this for, all she had to do was look in her son's face and see Will in his eyes.
Will didn't even know he had a son. There could be no communication between them when he was journeying to the land of the dead. This was another rule of the curse and Elizabeth was following every rule she was given. She could have sent someone else after him (they did still have the map after all), but what would be the point? He couldn't come back and he would desperately want to. Knowing Will, he would move heaven and earth, possibly making the curse permanent, to be there with her for their child. Why torment him with the knowledge?
But how would he react when he found out? Would he be grateful that she hadn't told him? Or would he hate her for it? He had missed so much of the boy's childhood already, but there would be more than enough time for them to spend together after today. It was almost sunset. It should be any moment now.
And just as suddenly as she had thought it, the sun had set and the ship was there. Then a flash of green spread across the horizon and she grinned in relief. She had done her job. She had passed the test. The curse had been broken and Will was free to come on shore and live a normal life with them. She could see him at the stern of the ship even from this distance and she felt her heart speed up.
Ten years was a very long time. Would he still recognize her? Would he still love her? Would he still want her? What if they couldn't even talk to each other any more? Every day she had been plagued with these fears and now that the moment was upon her they hit her with full force. ten years was a long time to forget. She wanted to smile and to wave, but her smile was frozen in place. Would they be able to make this work?
She had loved him with the passion of a young naïve girl once, but every day that love had grown and become something else. It had deepened and become more than she had ever dreamed possible, despite their distance. She had been faithful not because she had to, but because she wanted to. She had done it out of a love that could not be broken.
She smiled sincerely then. She had heard the beat of his heart every night and surely it beat true. And tonight, when they were finally alone, she would give it back to him and she would make it race again as it did that one glorious day in the sun. If he wanted it, she would give hers in exchange. For as surely as she had kept his heart with her, he had always had hers too.