Will was not buried in a public cemetery. For a while before he died he debated whether they should take his body home to Wales. Even when he made London his city, he had always loved the wide, green countryside of Wales.

Eventually his sister Cecily dismissed the idea. She said he had no family in Wales since their parents died. His whole life has been in London.

Shockingly he agreed.

Then he had the idea of being buried in the courtyard of the institute. Under a tree, in the countryside, with a view of the library window.

At first, Tessa didn't understand why he wanted to be there and not in a cemetery. She feared that he would become lonely, all alone under the tree.

Will just smiled at her and said it was the perfect place.

Of course he was right.

The tombstone unsettled many visitors. And it didn't exactly help when the Institute's orphans told scary tales of how he hanged himself after the ghosts in the building drove him insane.

Some felt the children would be irreverent to tell such stories. They couldn't have known that Will was telling them the stories before he died. Even in his death, he wanted to keep his sense of humor.

But above all, the grave site forced Tessa to visit the family again and again.

As if Will had known that his death would alienate her.

Of course he had known. He knew her better than anyone else.

On the way to the Institute, Tessa told Jem the story of how he became a poltergeist.

Jem laughed and said, "Yeah, that sounds like our William."

She loved the way he said that. Our William. Will always called Jem our James. And she knew that in the letters to Jem he always called her our Tessa.

As if the three of them would belong together forever.

Perhaps there would be a time, after she and Jem embarked on their final journey, that the three of them would all be reunited.

It was Tessa's son James who commissioned the tombstone.

It was a Black Stone, in the form of a book, with the words:

In memory of:

William Owen Herondale

husband, father, grandfather

30th Dec 1860 - 19th Apr 1937

"We are bound, you and I, over the divide of death, down through whatever generations may come. Forever."

Tessa cried when she first saw the stone. Of course, it didn't take much to make her cry at the time, but the stone reminded her so much of her beloved Will that even after seven years, she felt the need to sit on the floor with him and just start talking like they always talked.

"It's perfect," Jem said after a moment of silence.

They held hands for mutual support.

"He was talking about you, you know."

Jem looked questioningly at Tessa.

She smiled at the memory. She stepped closer to the grave and lovingly brushed the snow from the stone as she used to brush his hair from his forehead.

"In his final years he kept talking about his connection to you. He knew that one day you would stand in front of the grave and make countless stupid accusations against yourself. So he wanted a reminder on the stone that you don't forget that even his death wouldn't change that bond."

She turned to Jem, who now had tears in his eyes.

"I wish I could have seen him again," he confessed. "If only I hadn't been so cowardly I could have told him that I had always felt him too. It wasn't always easy for him, but he was the best man I had met in all the years of my life."

Tessa wrapped one arm around him, the other still on the grave. "We are bound, you and I, over the divide of death, down through whatever generations may come. Forever." She repeated the words on the grave, which she now knew by heart. "It didn't matter if you were physically there, James. You were by Will's side every step of the way. Forever."

Jem wrapped an arm around her as well, the other hand next to hers on the stone. They stood there together, facing the grave while snowflakes started to dance around them.

Almost as if Will were smiling from beyond the grave. Satisfied that the three were reunited after all this time.