Chapter 23: The Northern Proposal

"I write everything," I replied, letting my gaze wander for a moment in the sparks of the torch. Fiction, romance... I don't focus on a single topic, I like to dabble and explore new stories. But I haven't written for a long time. I know that soon, at some point, inspiration will return and I will start typing again. For now, I still have some savings to back me up. God will tell me where to go when I decide to leave Vik.

Ethan listened to me attentively, nodding slowly. Then he fixed his blue eyes on me with a fixity that made my skin crawl, but not from cold, but from deep expectation.

"Well," he answered, and his hoarse voice took on a tone of utter seriousness. God wants us not to be separated for the time being... if you want to, of course.

I stood still, holding my breath. He continued to speak matter-of-factly:

—I have a small publishing house. I handle select authors and very loyal clients. I don't get rich with it, but it helps me to live comfortably and give myself my little luxuries. If you so choose, you can come with me to Iceland. Specifically Akureyri. It's a very quiet northern city, you have everything at hand and the people are extremely warm. I have a house nearby. If you want, and you don't mind the idea, you can stay at my house until you settle in and find your own space. That is as long as you decide to come with me. It's been a long, long time since I set foot in my city, and I was just thinking about going back to my roots to start over. What do you think?

I stared at him, mute, feeling a violent leap in my heart. For the first time in my adult life, someone was thinking about me, about my real needs, about my talent. Someone stopped to ask me if I was okay, if I agreed. Since when is my opinion so important to a stranger? Since when does an absolute stranger offer me the emotional security and respect that my own husband was not able to offer me in fifteen years of marriage? Since when does someone really see me?

The answer came to my mind with crystal clarity. If God had put this man on my path right at the end of the world to start from scratch, I couldn't close the door out of fear.

"If God put you on my path to starting from scratch, I can't say no," I replied, forcing my lips to sustain a brave smile. I'm going with you to Iceland. Let's prepare the paperwork and visa on Monday to start our journeys.

"Perfect," Ethan said, and genuine joy burst onto his face. Tomorrow I will contact my lawyers so that they can draw up an employment contract with the publisher. This way the processing of your visa will be much faster.

And so the night ended. A night that had begun with two strangers cooking in fear and that ended with me with a roof over my head, a job for my passion and a prospect of life that I would never, not even in my wildest dreams, have imagined when fleeing my country.

Ethan walked me off to the door of my cabin. We said goodbye from a distance, with a mute and respectful greeting, without a physical closeness that tarnished what, little by little and on stone foundations, we were building. It was not yet necessary to take a step further physically; We both knew it by pure instinct. We agreed that tomorrow, Monday, at nine o'clock in the morning, he would come to have breakfast with me to start planning the trip.