He stood in the doorway of her house, smiling that bright, almost silly smile he always wore in her presence, and she opened her arms to welcome him like she always did.
"Good to see you, Lou. Boys at school?" he said, tossing his hat on the bench in the hallway and slipping an arm around her waist as he came in.
"Yep. Just you and me for the afternoon."
"Sounds about perfect," he sighed, handing her a box. "Open it."
She slapped him on the arm. "Why do you always do this? You know I just want to see you, I don't need a lot of expensive presents," she protested.
"I like buying you things," he said stubbornly, kissing her on the cheek, and they stood together a moment, face to face, savoring the rare time together.
"Well, I suppose you can afford it, Mr. Moneybags. So I won't deprive you of the pleasure."
He grinned that bright smile again, and nodded. "Open it already."
She held the locket aloft on its chain of pearls, and smiled. "Cody, it's beautiful."
"You can put a picture of your boys in it, one on each side," he said helpfully, clicking it open for her.
"I see that. I will, and thanks."
"Read the inscription."
"Love Forever, Cody." She looked up. "That's sweet," she whispered. "Help me put it on?"
She lifted her long dark hair and turned to let him fasten the clasp over her black dress. He ran his hands down her arms and kissed her neck, softly, sliding his hands around her waist from behind. She nestled back into his arms contentedly a moment. "How long before you have to get back to Louisa?"
"Couple hours, that's all," he said regreftully, as she turned to start unbuttoning his shirt. "I'm sorry, she came out with me this trip, or I could stay the night."
"The boys'll be home at four too, so ... we'd best make good use of the time we have," she murmured, running her lips down his neck.
He caught her hands a moment, his face conflicted.
"What's the matter, Cody?"
"This ... just is starting to feel a little wrong," he said lamely, leaning his forehead against hers. "Sneaking over here for a couple hours here and there ... you deserve better than that. I wanta leave her - be with you - "
She shushed him. "We been over this, Cody. You need to think of Louisa, your children. We can have just what we have now together, that's all, I knew that going in."
"I know that, but it's been dead between me and her for longer than that, way longer. She wouldn't care if I left."
"Yes she would. And more important - - your children would. It's best this way, anyway. With my bad luck -"
"Lou, don't. That's just foolish talk, you bein' cursed, thought you were past that by now. I want to marry you, make you and me forever, Lou."
She smiled a sad little smile. "All I know is I married Kid, and he was dead six months later, a thousand miles away from me, and I had his son alone. Then after the war, I married Jimmy, and he died at that card table and left me with another baby on the way. I never got to tell either of them ... never got to raise their boys with either of them." She shook her head numbly. "And look at you. You married Louisa, and you ... well, you and her just couldn't make it work between you. No, I don't need the piece of paper; and it doesn't guarantee us forever anyway, Cody; we should know better'n any two people. I'm willing to settle for just this."