Because she deserved the absolute best in all things, but especially from me.
I knew what I wanted to do with the shape now, what form I wanted it to take. Phillip had actually given me the idea, with all his talk of flowers, candy, and jewelry tonight. I just hoped that the finished piece would be as meaningful to Gin as it was to me. Either way, I'd spend the next few weeks, maybe even the next few months, working on it. Sketching and resketching. Shaping and reshaping. Forging and reforging until the piece was the best that it could be.
For her, for Gin.
The woman I loved, the one I was determined to win back.
Oh, I knew that I didn't deserve a second chance with her. Not really, not after everything that I'd done, not after all the ways that I'd hurt her. But damned if I didn't want one anyway. Maybe that was selfish of me. Maybe Gin would reject me outright. Maybe she'd say that too much had happened and we could never get back what I'd made us lose.
If so, I wouldn't like it, but I'd live with it. Just like I'd live with the memories of what Salina had done and how I'd failed to stop her. Jillian's death. And all the other things that haunted me these days. But penance was about atoning for your sins and trying to make things right. That was all that I could do.
I just hoped that it would be enough for everyone - Phillip, Cooper, Eva, and especially Gin.
I reached up and grabbed the horseshoe that I'd hung over the entrance for luck when I'd first built the forge years ago. I replaced the horseshoe with the piece that I'd made tonight, stepped back, and admired it. A small circle surrounded by eight thin rays. Such a simple shape but so powerful at the same time. It looked good hanging there, just like I'd known it would.
Satisfied, for tonight at least, I made sure that the fire was cold, turned out the lights, and left the forge. I reached the back door of the house and glanced over my shoulder.
In the distance, moonlight bathed the forge in a soft, silvery light, making Gin's spider rune wink at me from its new perch. I grinned, winked back, then headed inside to bed.
My penance had started.