“Go on! Finish it!” she exclaimed. “Do what the others could not do and kill me! Isn’t that what you always wanted?”
The man was so shocked he released her hands. “Absolutely not. Forgive me, but that was the last thing on my mind.”
Something in his expression must have changed Sarah’s mind about him, because she ceased to struggle and did not try to escape even though he was giving her plenty of opportunity.
“But you denounced me!” she said. “You denounced me before all of Salem.”
The man stood, bowed his head in shame and turned away from her. “It is true. I denounced you because I hated you. Rather, I thought I hated you. I did not know my own mind.”
“A common enough affliction among men,” said Sarah, “but presumably you know your mind today.”
“Indeed I do. As I know my heart.” He turned back toward her and she read something in his eyes that changed her expression to one of awe, and of a fear more tender and vulnerable than any he had ever before witnessed. “I love you, Sarah Dinsdale. I ask for more than your forgiveness. I ask for your heart. I ask for you to be my life partner.”
“I wish I could believe you, but I am a witch. That I admit freely.”
“Granted, but I have learned that not all witches are evil, just as all preachers, I am loathe to admit, are not as good as they might imagine.”
She smiled and touched his cheek with her warm fingers. “Do not be dismayed to learn there is a bit of the devil in you. There is a bit of the devil in us all.”
“I love you, Sarah. Come away with me. Let us leave this colony and go to Philadelphia. There we can change our names and no one will know of how you were wronged in Salem and of how I was the man who wronged you.”
“You say that, knowing I cast a spell on you to make you love me?”
The man shrugged. “It made no difference. I would have come to love you in time, spell or no spell. So what is your answer? Will you come away with me? Will you marry me?”
“When you put it that way, how could I say anything but yes, John Goodman?”
And Sarah/Xander kissed John/Willow. The two souls had made their connection, and forged their future together.
* * *
Willow Rosenberg smiled. She would sleep soundly tonight.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Arthur Byron Cover was born in the Dark Ages, a few years before the invention of rock and roll. He is currently old enough to remember a time before Star Trek and Star Wars, if there is such a thing. He repairs his wheelchair himself.
As an intellect, he was profoundly influenced by the Silver Age of Comics and the Edgar Rice Burroughs “paperback boom” of the early sixties. For a week or two he thought the Dave Clark Five was a better band than the Beatles because they had a guy who played saxophone and the Beatles didn’t. After graduating from high school, he attended V.P.I., where he was a tepid antiwar protester one weekend. The rest of the time he spent reading science fiction. After graduation, he became profoundly influenced by Russian literature and more comic books. Not to mention classical music, progressive rock and electronic music.
Today Cover can safely say he’s written several novels, a few of which sprang entirely from his own forehead, a handful of comic books, a couple of animation shows, various book reviews, and many drafts of two movie scripts. He has taught writing classes and has been co-host for a radio talk show dealing with science fiction and its sister genres. He manages a SF bookstore in Sherman Oaks, CA, and shoots the breeze a lot.
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