Wearing the Green - Part 4 - Final Segment

Wearing the Green - Final part...

“Do you?” Nervous fingers fiddled with her cup.

He wanted to get out of there. It didn’t matter where. If he didn’t he was going to kiss her again, and damn the consequences.
“Not really. I don’t really like crowds.”
She smiled. “In that case, maybe I can take you somewhere different, show you what I do for a living.”
The ringing of the telephone broke the mood, and she picked it up quickly. Her face broke into a smile as she listened to the excited chattering on the other end.
“That’s great news. I’ll pass you over.” She handed him the phone. “It’s Amber.”
Amber had news. Big news. He’d never heard her sound so excited. Bill had proposed and she’d accepted. Bill wanted to cut their weekend short, and come home to meet his fiancée’s brother.
“He wants to get your permission.” Amber breathed. “We’ll be back this afternoon. I know you think it’s too soon, but I love him Adam. I can’t even think of life without him.” The sincerity in her voice shook him to his foundations. Their father had divorced his mother, married hers, and then moved on to number three. None of that seemed to matter to Amber now. She was as excited as he’d ever heard her.

*****
Eve pushed open the heavy oak door, aware of Adam behind her. Dust motes floated in the still air, illuminated by the jewelled light that streamed in to the silent space. She breathed in deeply. Being in the church always calmed her. The scaffolding filled the interior, the protective rain cover on the outside shielding the huge circular window from the elements. She walked to the large table that scanned the side wall, where pieces of glass glittered.
“We’ve been restoring the window.” She explained. “It was damaged in a storm. It’s a huge project.”
Adam’s finger stroked the painted face of an angel. The action sent a wave of heat through her, imaging his fingers lingering on her warm skin, rather than the chilled glass.
“It’s beautiful.” His voice was deep, reverent.
“I specialised in stained glass when I left college. In a lot of cases, all that’s required to revitalise a window is to clean it. The dirt builds up on it over the years. In this case because pieces were broken we have to make entirely new segments.” She gestured towards the angel’s face he was looking at. “That’s a new piece, I painted her.”
She was a true artist. The workmanship was exquisite. He’d never noticed that some stained glass was painted before.
“How long does a project like this take?”
“We have a couple more months to do on it. We started the project last November. There’s a large team of us working on it, but it can’t be hurried, not if you want to do it right.” She glanced at her watch, “We should go. Amber and Bill will be back soon.”
They walked out of the door. Daffodils poked their yellow heads out of the damp grass, a sign of spring. The ground was starting a new cycle. The new cycle that Adam had come to tell his sister about. His company wanted him to come to Dublin for six months to work in the Dublin office. He wanted to tell her face to face that he’d agreed to the move. Amber had been living on the other side of the world alone – he’d wanted to come for her sake. Now he wanted to be here for a reason all his own.
He reached for Eve’s hand, walked towards the ancient yew tree and pulled her close. What was it she’d said? It can’t be hurried, not if you want to do it right. She tilted her head up to gaze into his eyes as his mouth lowered to hers. They had time.

The End - Hope you liked it!