Chapter Text
Soft rays of midday sun touched her skin. The ocean’s azure waves lapped at the shore. Violet dug her toes into the warm sand. When she needed some time to spend on her own, she would come to the other side of the island. There wasn’t much left there aside from the stones marking Kit and Olaf’s graves. The three of them took everything they could use to their house inside of the tree. Violet tried to stay away from the graves, but the beach was nicer on this side of the island.
She liked to come there to think. Sometimes about her inventions — the pump in the saltwater filter needed changing. Sometimes about their past misfortunes — the grave of their villainous pursuer didn’t help with forgetting about those. Sometimes about their future — it was almost time for Beatrice’s birthday. That would be the day they could leave the island. Violet wasn’t sure she wanted to do so, but this decision could wait. Today she was happy to bask in the sun and listen to the sound of the waves.
The day was so clear; there was not a cloud in the sky. One could hardly believe that a heavy storm passed the island only a few days prior. When Violet first spotted the odd shape in the sky, she first thought it was another storm cloud. It looked different, though, and it was moving. Violet squinted trying to make out, what the shape was. A few moments later, she realized it looked familiar. It couldn’t possibly be, yet it was the self-sustaining hot air mobile home!
The self-sustaining hot air mobile home hovered above the patch of sand across one of the shoals, that connected the inner island to the outer ridge. A rope ladder fell down from it and a small figure started climbing down. Violet got up, shook the sand off her skirt and ran toward them. She knew it was too optimistic, but still hoped that this person might be Quigley. After all, who else could find this remote island? Her feet were sinking into the sand with every step, but she made it to the patch of sand where this person landed.
She didn’t recognize him at first — Quigley was taller and looked a little older. the moment their eyes met Violet knew it was him. She took the last few steps separating them and flung herself into his arms. Quigley almost fell on the sand but managed to regain his balance and wrapped his arms around her. Not wasting another moment she reached up to kiss him. His lips felt just like she remembered.
“I found you,” he said when they parted for a breath.
“You sure did,” she said, ready to kiss him again.
They had a whole year of lost kisses to make up for.
