Despite the difficult conversation, the next few days had been easy. They went for walks through London, as they had done so often before. Back then he had shown her the city, today she showed him around. She told of the time when London was shelled, buildings completely swallowed up and rebuilt. Others that remained standing in the midst of destruction and those that were abandoned and would never appear to be rebuilt.

Many waited for the end of the war before attempting to rebuild. Many didn't really seem to want to trust the peace.

Jem could have cried at the sight of Blackfriars Bridge. Tessa smiled wistfully. "I came here after reading your letter. I didn't want to believe that you just left. I could not. I kind of convinced myself that if I was quick enough, you'd be here."

Jem knew why she had believed that. What this bridge meant to them.

It was the place he showed her when she was so homesick. Wanting to cheer it up, he showed her the London he fell in love with.

They had a long talk that ended with him falling in love with her. He didn't remember exactly what they had said. But he could remember the exact moment he made her laugh and she looked at him with such open affection that his heart skipped a beat.

Jem had never considered himself romantic. But it had always been easy with Tessa.

"When you weren't here, I cried for a long time, knowing that you really wouldn't come back. But I couldn't really be sad. Because even though your departure broke my heart, it meant you might survive. What kind of a bad person would I be if I hadn't wanted this? I think if I had known that possibility I would have staged a breakup myself to get you to leave. I was so glad you left and saddened at the same time."

Jem put an arm around her shoulders. He couldn't help but show her with this gesture that he was here now and would stay with her.

"A year later I came back. I didn't know where I wanted to go until I got here. Then the year after that again, and every year thereafter. I came here mourning the friend I had lost, praying to see him again to tell him how important he was to me."

Jem had always hoped that Tessa would get over him and after all the letters from Will, he firmly believed that she did. Over the last few days he had observed for himself how much she missed Will, what his death was doing to her.

He had wanted to give her a long, happy future by leaving, it broke his heart to hear that he had also caused her such mad grief by doing so. "I always wanted the best for you."

Tessa leaned her head on his shoulder. "I know. I've always loved that about you. I didn't mean to tell you this to make you feel guilty. I want you to know that this love we had then is meant to last forever. I will love you forever, Jem. Even if the day comes when I'll forget everything. Even if I no longer know how to walk, what we experienced, how our paths belong together, my heart will never forget that it belongs to you. If so many years haven't been able to change that, then neither will my sick brain."

Jem pulled away enough to look into her stormy gray eyes. "You still love me? I thought that Will…"

She smiled up at him and he saw her old self flash through for a moment. Her strong, unshakeable stubbornness, shown in those eyes. Her auburn hair blown out of an updo by the wind, her back bolt straight and her face unlined.

Then he saw her for the person she had become. The lines of laughter around the corners of her mouth, the traces of a good life, of someone he had loved more than most could dream. Her hair and eyes a faded grey, she was holding on to the railing of the bridge with one hand and holding on to him with the other to keep her balance. Her footing was weak, but her gaze still with the same conviction as ever.

"I loved Will. I still love him and will always love him. I will never get over his loss as long as I live. And I will go to death with joy if I can see him again afterwards. But my love for him never changed my love for you. If I had loved two other people, maybe I would. But you both... you were one. How could I have fully loved and accepted even one of you if I had not fully loved and accepted the other as well?"

Jem raised a hand to her cheek. She closed her eyes in pleasure as if she had been waiting for that touch for a long time. "I never thought I'd be able to hold you like that again." He ran his fingers over her lips. "That I might ever be allowed to love you again."

She opened her eyes to look at him again and put both hands around his face. "Jem," she whispered. "You give me and my sick mind light again. Light that I haven't been able to feel for a long time."

Then she kissed him.