Epilogue
Prax
Penny sat on our living room floor, an open moving box in front of her and a glass of wine in her hand. The scene reminded me so much of how we’d met that I couldn’t help but crack a smile. We’d gone through this whole song and dance of moving house twice before, first when we moved into the apartment above the Howling Wolf, then three months later when she moved into my luxury condo.
But this time was extra special because it was our forever home. Unlike the cookie-cutter McMansion devoid of any personality she’d been moving into when I first met her, this little Victorian oozed charm. According to Penny, it had great energy, too.
Most of the unpacking and arranging was done. The only thing left to set up was the shelf in the living room, a special gift from Gigi and Lily for all Penny’s spell books and magical odds and ends.
Her phone chimed on the coffee table, and she twisted in place to check the notification. “It’s my mom. She says she just checked in at the hotel.”
Her mom was in town for the big housewarming party we were throwing this weekend. It was mainly for our friends, but Penny’s mom was trying very hard to rekindle a relationship, so we thought we’d give her a chance.
After the very public reveal that Penny’s cousin was in fact her half-sister, things had blown up. Luckily, though, Penny hadn’t been the focus of attention this time. We witnessed everything secondhand through their family chat group and social media posts. Even from afar, I’d felt bad for her aunt and uncle, who had raised Deanna like their own child, only to find out that their love had never been enough for her.
We’d gone low-to-no contact for a while, ignoring anything that was posted online or calls from her family, and focused on building a life together instead. Penny worked on growing her business, and I had the rest of my possessions cataloged and appraised.
It was only when Penny heard that her mother was divorcing her dad that we decided to let the woman back into our lives, albeit very carefully. I made it clear that any attempt to disrupt our happiness would not be tolerated.
Perhaps it was a bit of a dick move to introduce myself as “that useless pauper who’s only interested in Penny for her money.” This was after the media had a field day reporting that Senator Davis’s daughter was dating a mysterious but very well-to-do collector of historical artifacts. So, yeah, I was a little petty. I never claimed I wasn’t.
It was for the best that we kept some contact with her family anyway, especially since we were planning to expand our own little family soon. Not quite yet. Technically, we still weren’t married, and even though it was acceptable in today’s society to marry after having kids or even not marrying at all, I was a bit old-fashioned with things like that.
The box tucked away in my pocket was the reason I’d been reminding myself not to become immaterial all day, lest it fall out and give away my surprise. I wanted to get this done before the party tomorrow so that we could announce it to all of our friends but I was waiting for one last piece to fall into place.
The doorbell rang. I told Penny I’d get it, then walked over to the front hall and opened the door for Mateo, who came in bearing the last piece of the puzzle.
“Good luck, Prax,” Mateo said as he handed me the puppy, then dropped off a bag of supplies at the door.
Mateo’s mate Eva volunteered at a cat shelter, but occasionally, they got a puppy or two in. Mateo and Eva had been keeping this one for me for the past week. They didn’t live far, only a few streets down.
“Is that Mateo?” Penny asked, coming out of the living room. She gasped when she saw the puppy in my arms.
“It was. He only came to drop off our new buddy.”
Penny had expressed concern that she wouldn’t be able to handle a human-demon child and had wanted to start with a puppy first. We’d done a lot of research online and had decided to find one from a shelter.
“I know we were going to check out the local shelter once we got properly settled in, but this little guy showed up at Eva’s work, and I thought he was perfect. People tend to surrender pitty-mixes since they have a bad reputation, and they can be hard to adopt out.”
Penny came to take him out of my arms. “He’s gorgeous! And look! There’s a note attached to his collar.” She put him down and went to detach the note.
As she did, I dug the little velvet box out from my pocket.
She unfolded the note and read it aloud. “Will you marry me, Penny?” She blinked as the words sank in.
When she looked up from the note, I was kneeling before her, the box open and the ring on display. I’d tried my best to remember the ring I’d formed on her finger that night at Delerium and had it reproduced. It had a giant diamond in the center, surrounded by a ring of sapphires the same blue as the streaks in her hair. She’d kept those streaks as her signature look. The air caught in my non-existent lungs as I waited for her reply.
What came out weren’t words but a squeal. “Yes, yes, a hundred times, yes!”
I slipped the ring on her finger as she launched herself at me. I kissed her deeply, enjoying her addictive strawberry-vanilla taste. I would never get tired of that as long as I lived.
It was the sound of our new puppy knocking something over as he tried to reach for Fin Deisel, who was currently on the couch, that made us break off the kiss.
“No! Not Fin!” Penny cried as he grabbed hold of a tail fin and tried to make off with it, dragging the plushie, which was much bigger than itself, across the living room.
I grinned as Penny retrieved her stuffed shark, tossed it over to the table where it was safe from the teething puppy, and cuddled the little doggo to her. Happiness swelled in my chest, and I wondered for the millionth time since meeting her how I’d gotten so lucky.
To think it had all started with answering a summons I thought was a booty call. I’d gotten so much more than that. My sexy little witch was everything I’d ever wanted, and I was one incubus who couldn’t wait to sign on that dotted line.
THE END