la fin

Rick tried to follow Evelyn, but Madeline wouldn't allow his exit.

"Of all the things I imagined were going on," she continued. "I thought you just needed time to yourself, time to unwind, then you'd come to your senses!"

"You knew I might not come back, Maddie."

Madeline waved the envelope in his face. "But this! This is how you told me?! Sorry, Maddie, darling, but I'm never coming back. Good luck with your life!"

Rick's voice rose a few more decibels. "We weren't going to work out and you knew it!"

"Even so, you must understand it was a bit of a shock to be told my fiancé was moving to Africa! We didn't even break up, not really!"

"Would you have wanted to stay together?" he challenged her. "It was over, Maddie. You knew it, and I knew it. I thought it was better this way."

Madeline turned away so she could discreetly wipe away the little tear that had trickled out of her eye. "Why couldn't we ever talk about these things, Rick?" she asked. "Why couldn't we have said this before you left?"

He was a little shocked to see her crumble so much as to allow a tear. Shouldn't she have still been mad? "Some things just aren't meant to be, I guess."

"I think I..." Madeline paused. She turned back around to face Rick. "I convinced myself that once you came back it would be better. That you'd work out whatever problems you had, and--"

"That was my problem, Maddie. I had to get away from Boston. That's not where I'm meant to be."

"Oh? You're meant to be here, miles from proper civilization, having torrid affairs with librarians--"

"Hey!"

"Well, is that what it is? Just some adventure you felt you needed to have before you settled down with me? A last fling?!"

"Maddie... When I'm with Evelyn, it feels like the world stops. Like she's the only person on this entire planet, and we're all each other has. I never..." he trailed off. "We never had that, you and I. I felt nothing when we said goodbye. I can't stand to be away from Evelyn. It breaks my heart to see her walk away."

"Very poetic," Madeline spat.

"It's the truth. And you deserve that, too. With someone else."

"Love's not like that, Rick. It'll fade. It did with us, it does with everybody."

"Maddie, I don't I think I ever loved you."

She was silent for a few moments, studying the tile pattern on the library floor. "I didn't love you, either. I've just never admitted it out loud before." She looked up again, and strangely, she was smiling. "Wow."

"I'm sorry, Maddie--"

"No, no, it's all right." Rick could see the tears starting again, but Madeleine smiled through them. "It's never felt so wonderful to have a broken heart."

Rick had to smile at that. "You'll be okay."

"I hope so." Suddenly Madeline's eyes widened. "Oh my God!"

"What?"

"Eva! She thinks you're engaged!"

"Her name is Evelyn, and it'll be fine. I'll just explain it to her."

"Rick, it's not always that easy. Take it from someone who knows."

"I'll figure something out." For the first time it hit him that Evelyn might not understand all this. He barely did himself. He couldn't let that happen. "I have to."

.........................

Rick figured that if she were going to forgive him, flowers or anything of the sort wouldn't make any difference, so he went straight to her apartment. It was locked, of course, and no amount of knocking seemed to do the trick.

"Hello?" he called, wondering if she was even home. She had to be; she hadn't stuck around at the museum. "I need to talk to you," he tried again.

No sound came from the other side of the door. "Evelyn? Please, I need to see your face when I tell you this. I don't feel like pouring my heart out to a door. Evelyn?"

This time, Rick heard a faint, "Go away," and that was enough. He retreated a little and kicked at the door with all the strength he could muster. The door splintered from its frame with a sharp crack and Rick walked calmly through the opening.

Evelyn stood there, mouth hanging open, clearly startled at Rick's unorthodox entrance. "What--what--you--I--" she sputtered, unable to express her shock. "You're going to have to pay for that door!" she finally shouted.

After Evelyn's proclamation, the room fell dead silent. All the things Rick had been rehearsing in his head the whole way over flew from his head. Evelyn was equally tongue-tied. Rick finally decided to say the first thing that came to his mind.

"I love you."

No response. She only glared at him from behind her slightly askew spectacles.

He decided to continue anyway. "Look, I know what this looked like. But--"

"What it looked like?" she interrupted, finally finding her voice. And boy, was it angry. "I'll tell you what it looked like, Mr. O'Connell! You wanted a little adventure before you settled down, right? A last fling, maybe?!"
"Evelyn, I didn't expect--"

"Was that what I was, Rick?" she asked, quiet once more. "One last adventure? Was that I was to you?"

"No." He struggled to find the right words. He had to make her understand. "You were...unexpected, to say the least. I thought...I just thought I just needed to get away for a while. Away from Madeline, away from my family, away from my job. My life meant nothing to me. I didn't love my fiancé, my work was meaningless, I felt I was being stifled! I felt like I was dying! I know there's no real way to explain that, but--"

"I get it. You wanted a little fun."

"Maybe."

"Oh, so that's what this was! Your idea of a fun time is to seduce the shy librarian!"

"Hey! You were just as much to blame for that as I was!"

"To blame? You mean you..." Despite herself, Evelyn had to ask. "You regret it? You regret me?"

"No! You're the only thing that's ever happened to me that I don't regret. I love you, Evelyn. You have to understand that. Please understand that."

"And what about your fiancé?"

"We were over long before I left Boston. Neither one of us wanted to admit it to each other, I guess. 'Til now."

"Rick..." Evelyn sighed. "What do you want me to say? How am I supposed to trust you? How am I supposed to believe everything else you've ever told me, if you kept this from me?"

"Because you love me. I know that. It's up to you to decide if that's enough, but... I hope it is." He turned to leave, knowing there was nothing more to say.

"Rick?" she said, stopping him momentarily. "I have to confess something."

"What?"

"Remember when I, um, found the ticket in your jacket?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I..." Evelyn decided it was too late to go back now and went to the coat closet. "See, you left your jacket here this morning." She pulled it out of the closet and reached into one of the pockets. "And I sort of...found something else in here."

She pulled her hand out of the pocket and came out with a jewelry case. She tossed it to him across the room. "I was just wondering if you could explain that, is all."

Rick opened the case and took out the shiny diamond ring inside. "This wasn't what I was going to say. I was going to take you to Vinnie's. Then I thought maybe we could go for walk. There's a courtyard in the Fort that's all lit up at night. I thought maybe we could sit on a bench and there would be moonlight and music and romance and..."

Evelyn didn't say anything for a while, but then tossed his jacket at him and removed a sweater from the coat closet. "Let's go, then."

"What? Where?"

"I believe you said you were taking me to Vinnie's."

Rick wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but she was talking to him and seemed receptive to the plan he'd sketched out, so he went along with it.

They ate dinner at Vinnie's--Rick could barely get down his fettuccine, and she spilled marinara sauce on her sweater. They talked mostly about nothing. After all, what could they say with everything hanging over their heads? After dinner they walked to the courtyard in complete silence, sat on a bench, and continued to be mute.

"Well," said Evelyn finally. "You didn't say what came after the courtyard and the bench."

This was it, thought Rick. She wouldn't ask if she didn't know what was coming next. That meant she would say yes, right? Or maybe she hadn't decided yet. Maybe she was waiting for him to ask before she decided.

Before he could think himself in circles Rick kneeled in front of the bench. "Evelyn Carnahan, I love you. Will you marry me?"

She took a little while to answer, enough time for her eyes to fill with tears. "Yes!" she cried, and threw herself into her arms.

Rick was nearly knocked over by her enthusiasm, literally and figuratively. "I love you," she said, and he could barely breathe just to hold her again.

..................................

They were married three days later at a tiny chapel in downtown Cairo. The wedding party was small, consisting only of Cate and Jonathan and a few of Evelyn's friends. Afterwards they danced at Vinnie's into the late hours. Rick and Evelyn sat at a table playing the part of newlyweds, talking about nothing at all. Jonathan sat next to his sister and placed a small box on the table in front of her.

"I got you a wedding present," he said, offering it without confidence that she would like it, or even take it. "I promise I didn't steal it, if that's what you're going to say."

"Honestly, Jonathan," Evelyn sighed, unwrapping the package and rolling her eyes. "I wasn't even going to ask."

The little object fell into her hand: a six sided box with hieroglyphic carvings. Evelyn didn't say anything, just examined it very carefully until they heard a little click. The top popped open, revealing parchment.

"Jonathan," said Rick, "where did you get that?"

"All right, so I nicked it off some drunk with a bad haircut. But you wouldn't believe the stories he was telling, Evy. He was talking about Hamunaptra......"

..............................

Finally, it's over. Bwahahahaha. "Cost of a Glance" sequel, entitled "A Price to be Paid," is firmly in the works and will arrive v. v. soon. :) :) :)