The stubborn lines in Joe’s face vanished. A quick throb of blood choked into a gulp the word he would have spoken, and he stretched out his arms. She was suddenly beyond his reach.
“Yours,” she said again, and that she laughed there was no doubt this time.
Joe’s eyes were hungry. Joe leaned forward upon his stiffened arms, and stared at her like a wistful dog.
“I don’t know who you are,” he whispered. “I don’t know who you are.”
“I am whoever you want me to be,” she said.
“I’ll call you Sadie,” he said.
“Sadie?” Her lids drooped, veiling her eyes, but their narrow glimmer was keenly alive.
“Yes, there is a girl—”
Between two words she was close before him at the edge of the rock.
“I am yours,” she said in a fierce, low voice. “What do you care for any girl? I am all woman, and you have me. What do you care for the world? You have me.”