Epilogue – Darla
One year later…
“Are you ready to go?”
I looked up as Kathryn walked into the room, wearing her bridesmaid dress. The dark pink satin complemented her pale skin nicely, and the fitted bodice was doing wonders for her small cleavage.
“You look beautiful, mate.”
She smiled. “Thank you. Now put down the kitten and let’s go.”
I put our rescue cat Bear onto the floor, and he mewled in protest. Yuri’s brother Alexei found a box of abandoned kittens next to the dumpster behind their restaurant a few months ago and somehow he and his brothers had pawned the cats off on our team.
Bella, Cassie, Martha, and my sister had all gotten suckered into taking one.
I’d tried to resist but then Yuri showed Bear to Kathryn, and it was all over. She was a sucker for a sad case.
Our first year of living together had flown by.
We’d lucked into a small bungalow that was for sale not far from Bella and Lucy’s house, making it easy for us to hang out at each other’s houses.
I wouldn’t have thought I’d like that, but I did.
It helped that Kathryn and my sister’s mate had become good friends.
The day after we officially mated I went to Lois and told her that I’d accepted an offer to work at the hospital full-time. She’d grumbled and sworn, but I’d mollified her by proposing that I contract out on projects where they needed extra help, the same way the bears did.
Speaking of the bears, today was a big day.
Yuri and Stacy were getting married. The two of them had mated not long after we did, but Yuri had been insistent that they also honor Stacy’s human culture by having a wedding.
Then he’d turned into whatever the bear shifter version of a bridezilla was.
Much to Stacy’s amusement, he’d thrown himself into the wedding planning, including making color-coded charts.
“I told him we could just go the courthouse and I’d be perfectly happy,” Stacy told us one day at work. “But the courthouse isn’t good enough for him. He insists that we invite all the people,” she made air quotes here as she imitated her mate’s deep voice. “And have a chocolate fountain.”
They’d compromised on having the reception at the restaurant Yuri and his brothers owned. At least we knew the food would be good. And Suzie, Angie’s baker mate, was making honey cupcakes in lieu of a cake.
“Do you think we should do it too?” I asked Kathryn as we pulled out of the driveway.
“Do what?” she asked, looking away from the visor mirror where she was fixing her lipstick – probably because I’d kissed it off her as I buckled her into the car.
“Get married.”
She stilled. “Do we need to? I mean, we made a commitment with the mating.”
“Boris said we’ll get some tax breaks if we do.”
“Well that’s romantic,” she laughed. “I mean sure, but let’s just go to the courthouse.”
When I didn’t answer, she turned to face me in her seat. “What?”
“I want a big fancy wedding too,” I said quietly. “I know it’s stupid, but I always dreamed of one when I was a little girl.”
My mate stared at me for a long moment. I could tell she was as surprised by my revelation as I was.
“If it’s that important to you, let’s do it. Let’s have a fancy wedding.”
“Really?”
“Yes really. We’ll figure it out this weekend, okay? Maybe we can ask Yuri to be our wedding planner.”
I nodded happily. “I can’t wait to make you my wife.”
Kathryn reached over and patted my shoulder. “Me too baby, me too. Now let’s go watch our friends get married.”
As we walked into the restaurant where the wedding was being held, Darla’s hand warm in mine, I thought about Seth. It had been over a year since he was murdered, but I still thought about my friend often.
Despite his bad divorce, he’d always loved weddings.
We’d made a pact long ago to be each other’s dates for weddings whenever one of us was single, and we’d gone to multiple events together over the years.
We’d drink free alcohol and dance the night away, blowing off steam from our stressful hospital jobs.
At least he was at peace now. Xi was dead and her accomplices were in custody.
The Chinese government of course had disavowed the whole thing.
They’d probably try again – God knows there had to be other greedy doctors out there they could work with -- but at least our government knew what they were up to now, so in the end, something good had come from Seth’s death.
Well two things. My friend’s murder had helped me find Darla and fall in love. And that’s just what he would have wanted.
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