Page 153 of Strangers in Time

Molly stirred. “He did?”

“Yes, in equal shares. When you come of age, it will be deeded in your names. There was also the payment from a life insurance policy he had. It will be sufficient to keep the shop going and to help with your expenses.”

“When did he do this?” Molly asked.

“On the day after Boxing Day. He came to me and said it was what he wanted. He said he never wanted either of you to fear you would not have a home.”

“That was so very kind of him,” she said, while a teary Charlie nodded in agreement.

The lawyer said somberly, “It was quite sad, what happened. They said he was just a minute or so away from safety. The serendipity of life is quite… odd.”

Molly said, “Yes, yes, it is.”

She then closed her eyes and tried to force her mind to shut down because she simply could not process having lost her friend forever.

Charlie simply gazed at the Crown typewriter.

The funeral service had been a very private one. Major Bryant was there, as were a few other government types. Some fellow booksellers and a couple of Oliver’s friends from Oxford were also in attendance. So was Oliver’s older brother, Francis, who looked like his younger brother but didn’t have his gentle kindness and empathetic spirit. However, he had told them that he loved his brother very much and that Ignatius had written him about them, and that if they ever needed anything, he would help them however he could.

He had shaken both their hands, glanced at his brother’s coffin, and then gone back to his home in Glasgow.

Major Bryant had spoken with Molly afterward. “I wanted you to know that while I cannot condone what your father did, the three soldiers he killed were a terribly bad lot. They had been involved in thefts and other attacks on both men and women, and were about to be court-martialed.”

“And yet the police would do nothing?”

“Heads have rolled, Molly, from the bobby on the beat all the way up to Scotland Yard.”

“Then some good came of it,” she said.

Bryant glanced back at the coffin. “It’s an awful loss, both personally and for the country. He was an air warden when he should have been working on other things for the war effort. He would have made a name for himself, I can tell you that. In his field he had few peers.”

“And what field was that exactly?” she asked. He looked at her stonily and she added, “Right, you can’t tell me.”

“Sorry, goes with the territory, I’m afraid.”

“So why didn’t he work on these other things?” she asked.

“He would have been separated from Imogen. He couldn’t do that.”

“He must have loved her very much to have given up his dreams for her.”

“You know, they were the oddest couple at Oxford. She was all fire and fury, with ideas that broke through all societal norms. And Ignatius was calm and quiet and—”

“Opposites sometimes do attract,” Molly pointed out.

“Quite so.”

“He certainly always spoke highly of her. And forgave her quite a bit.”

Bryant coughed and looked around at the others.

“Don’t worry, I will give away no secrets, Major,” said Molly. “I only wish that Mr. Oliver had realized how very special he was, too.”

“Yes, well. He was just not the sort to dwell on himself.”

“Buthismemory will be carried forward through us.”

“You really are quite mature beyond your years, Molly.”

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