A Tale Of Two Cities: Sydney's Second Chance 6

After sending Little Lucie back to her own bedroom, Simon lay awake in the dark for a long time. However hard he'd tried to guard his secret, Little Lucie had been clever enough to figure it out anyway. What would happen now? Would the young woman tell her mother? If she did, how would Lucie react? Would his second chance at winning her love be ruined? Deeply troubled, he finally drifted off to sleep.

Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the following morning, although big puddles of water lay all over the ground.

"Did you sleep well, Simon?" Lucie asked. He could hear the concern in her voice.

"Quite well, thanks," he answered quickly, perhaps just a bit too quickly. His eyes met Little Lucie's, but neither of them said a word. If Lucie herself witnessed the exchange, she gave no indication of that fact.

After breakfast, Simon went on his way, and Little Lucie sat at the window watching until he was out of sight.

"It's him, Mother," she said simply after he'd vanished from sight.

Lucie nodded. There could no longer be any doubt about it. Yet, how had he done it? How had he mysteriously reappeared in her life at this time? Was he really the same man who'd sacrificed his life for the sake of love, or was he an angel in a human body? There were just so many questions that they made her head spin. She had to have answers, but she wasn't sure exactly where to begin, until suddenly she happened to think of the most logical place.

Lucie stood in the Picpus Cemetery in Paris, looking at the large gravel-covered pit surrounded by grass. The sun was shining and the birds were singing, in stark contrast to the horror of what she knew lay far beneath the layer of small rocks. A few feet away from where she stood was the chapel. Lucie walked the few steps to its wall, upon which she knew the name 'Charles Evremonde' had been inscribed along with some 1300 others.

"He isn't here anymore, you know." Startled, Lucie turned to see Simon Collins standing only a few feet away, watching her.

"Sydney? Is it really you?" she asked.

He nodded and smiled, holding his arms out to her. She went into them and he held her close, stroking her hair. They stood together like that for a long time, neither of them saying a word.

"But how did you come back?" she asked.

"It was my love for you that brought me back," he said simply.

"And you were even given a new physical body as well." Her voice was soft with wonder as she looked at him from head to toe, satisfied that he was every bit as fully human as she herself was.

"But how old are you now? The same age you were when you died?"

"I don't know. I've never really wondered about that before." He looked thoughtful. "Perhaps it doesn't really matter."

"It's not important to me at all." She laughed, suddenly overjoyed. "I'm just ever so happy to have you back, darling Sydney."

"True love transcends even death."

"So it does." She smiled. "So what shall you do now, Sydney? What shall we do?"

She saw that his eyes were twinkling now. "Well, my dear, would you be willing to accompany me to the theater, as I asked you so many years ago?"

"Sydney, I'd go anywhere in the world with you!" Tears of joy filled her eyes as she threw her arms around his neck, showering him with kisses.

He laughed happily. "Right now I'd simply like a bite to eat before we head back to England and the children." They walked to a nearby delicatessen, where he bought her a sandwich and chips for lunch. They got ice cream for dessert and walked around that part of Paris together, eating it and looking at all the sights.

"Paris is such a lovely city," Lucie observed. "It's so nice to see it under more pleasant circumstances."

Simon chuckled. "And to think Charles gave all this up for the fog and rain of London."

"As you know, he felt he had no other choice," Lucie replied.

"I realize that." Simon grinned as he clutched her hand. "I'm so glad all that's changed now."

"After much bloodshed," Lucie added.

Simon didn't say anything but squeezed her hand tightly.

The return trip to London was pleasant and leisurely, much more so than any other trip between the two cities had ever been for them, and the next time Little Lucie and young Sydney saw them, Simon's arm was around Lucie, and they were both beaming.

"Mom! Sydney!" Little Lucie cried, racing to hug each of them in turn.

"I thought his name was Simon." Young Sydney looked confused.

"People change their names sometimes," his sister told him. "Remember how Papa's last name used to be Evremonde before he changed it to Darnay? Well, Simon's name used to be Sydney, but then he changed it to Simon."

Suddenly the boy understood. "Oh, so he's the man I was named for."

"Exactly." His mother smiled.

"Wow!" Young Sydney regarded Simon with awe. "But what am I supposed to call you?"

Simon chuckled. "Well, now, we can't have two Sydneys, can we?" He ruffled the boy's hair playfully. "Especially since I'm soon going to become a member of your family. If your mother agrees, that is."

Simon and Lucie were married soon afterwards in the same church in which Charles and Lucie had been wed so many years before. They went to Paris for their honeymoon and stayed in the same inn that Lucie and Ms. Pross had shared during that fateful period.

Going in to her that first night, Simon was at first anxious about whether or not he would please Lucie, whether Charles had been so skilled at lovemaking that he, Simon, could never hope to compare.

"Darling!" she cried, holding her arms out to him, and he felt all his concerns melt away.

When at last they came together in the ultimate act of love, it was as if it had been meant to be from the beginning of time. For him, it was the culmination of years of longing that had gradually slipped into suppression for her sake and the sake of her happiness, now once again allowed to flourish. For her it was glorious surrender to the man to whom she owed the utmost gratitude, the man who had loved her more than his own life, and had proven that fact beyond the shadow of a doubt.

They returned to London, where they loved a long, happy life together. Two more children, Emma and Simon, were born to them. Little Lucie was soon married and presented them with their first grandchild, and although Lucie always had bittersweet memories of Charles, she was eternally grateful for a second chance at happiness with the man who'd loved her from the moment he'd seen her, but whom she'd only come to love relatively recently.