Fourteen
FOURTEEN
I t took us a good half an hour to get up and stagger back to the Jeep. We had no choice but to drive back to the mansion where Pace died, and where we found Father Dennis, who was so relieved to see us that he cried.
“Thank you for staying here and waiting for us,” Lorne told him.
“Well, son, once your friend turns into a flock of ravens in front of you, and after he’s gone, his fiancé tells you to wait and guard the crime scene…really, the only choice you have is to do as you’re told and pray for their safe return.”
We took turns hugging him.
“You two look terrible. You’re both covered in so much dirt and—were you buried alive?”
Lorne laughed at that, sounding a bit unhinged. He really needed a nap.
“You have to tell me everything.”
“We will,” Lorne assured him. “But first we have to call in finding Pace’s body and you’re going to have to lie, Father.”
He put his hand on Lorne’s shoulder. “We had to fight a demon, son. To protect others, I will lie just a bit.”
The man I loved nodded in agreement.
Once Pete showed up, he voiced the same concern for our appearance, but Lorne ignored that, wanting him instead to talk to Father Dennis.
As the priest had told Malachi Gant, he had an appointment to see Pace about blessing the property. But when he arrived, Tanner Murphy took him hostage, locked him in one of the rooms, and he could hear Pace being murdered. From there, Father Dennis fudged the truth somewhat, saying that when Lorne and I arrived, Tanner was gone but only by moments. That Lorne and I had searched the grounds, getting dirty in the process, and called it in.
When Father Dennis finished relating his part, Lorne called over to Jamestown to get their search-and-rescue team scrambled and then alerted the state police to join the Tanner Murphy manhunt. Pete, in the meantime, did a preliminary search of the house, which yielded a bloody knife he took pictures of but left where it was for the techs. I was guessing they would find Tanner Murphy’s fingerprints all over it.
Lorne had to wait for the ME and everyone else he’d called to show up, and since I wasn’t about to leave him, and Father Dennis didn’t want to leave either of us, we all waited, along with Pete, who got a towel out of the back of his vehicle to help clean up his boss a bit.
It took a while for the ME to arrive, and when she did, she asked Lorne if there would be any more bodies to pick up later, since it was turning into a daily occurrence.
“No,” Lorne promised her. “I suspect you won’t see me again for a while.”
“That’s good,” she told him.
Once Pace was gone, the crime-scene techs arrived, along with the search-and-rescue team and several members of the state police.
Lorne gave a statement, keeping to the same simple lie Father Dennis had told Pete. The chief of police vowed that he and I had never seen Murphy. That the priest told us that he’d only seen him when he arrived and was locked in a room. Lorne and I had released Father Dennis when we got there, and Lorne had directed him to lock himself in his car. That was the extent of what the three of us knew.
The other members of law enforcement took Lorne’s statement as gospel and got to work, though everyone quietly informed him there was no way Tanner Murphy wasn’t long gone. There would be a BOLO put out, of course, but this would be, at most, a one-day search.
“I’m happy about that,” Lorne told me when we were alone for a moment. “I don’t want them wasting resources on a fugitive they’ll never find.”
And they would not. Ever. My lord Arawn had turned Tanner Murphy’s body to dust. While I worried about Tanner having been killed, and I needed more answers, the demon had said the man was a murderer. That provided solace for the time being.
Pete volunteered to stay and babysit the CSI team and coordinate with everyone else so Lorne could brief the mayor, who would then make a statement to the citizens of Osprey.
But first, Lorne and I followed Father Dennis’s ancient Ford pickup back to the rectory, where he notified Sister Andrea that he was cancelling evening Mass. Then he got in the back of Lorne’s Jeep to go home with us.
“I know you two saved me, as well as the whole town,” he said quietly as we drove toward Corvus. “And though I’m the only person who knows, I’m very thankful.”
“Well, again, I’m sorry you had to lie about how it all went down, Father.”
“It’s true that Pace had set that up with me days ago, and the only reason I went out there was that I couldn’t get him on the phone to cancel. The other part—about you two battling a demon who possessed Tanner Murphy—that part I cannot disclose, as I would be summarily placed in a mental facility for the rest of my days. So a small lie to cover the bigger truth, as I said before, was in order.”
“Why didn’t you answer your phone earlier today?” Lorne asked him as that was clearly still bothering him.
“It died, and I forgot to charge it.”
“Well, that scared us enough to check on you, so thank goodness you told Mal where you were going.”
“It was all God’s plan,” Father Dennis said, and when I turned in my seat to look at him, he smiled. “I know what I know, Xander Corey.”
I didn’t argue with him.
After a few minutes of us driving in silence, I remembered something. “Father, did your friends ever get back to you with any information about the demon?”
“Who cares?” Lorne stated irritably. “It’s dead.”
“I care,” I soothed him. “Because as you know, I need to write all this down in my journal, just like I did with the events of last fall.”
Lorne glanced at me a moment before his eyes returned to the road. He knew, as well as I did, that it was important for future generations to have the full record of everything challenging that transpired on Corvus as well as to the guardian.
“They did actually,” Father Dennis said cheerfully. “Well, one of them. My friend Father Acosta, he gave me a laundry list of the usual suspects, and based on what I saw—the shadowy figure, the nightmares, the forced insomnia—I believe it was some kind of drude.”
“And what exactly is that?”
“It’s a demon that’s closer to a dark, malevolent spirit known for causing vicious night horrors and having a non-corporeal form. There is, however, nothing about a drude being able to conjure anything, so I suspect, that’s either unknown information or this was a special case. Unfortunately, we’re never going to know definitively.”
“I’m okay with not knowing, and even happier with it being dead,” Lorne muttered.
“Oh,” Father Dennis said excitedly, “I almost forgot, apparently drudes can shapeshift as well, so we’re certainly fortunate that it didn’t turn into a yeti and rip off our arms.”
Slowing to a stop at the end of the street, Lorne and I both turned to look at the priest.
“Let me understand, you don’t believe in demons, but a yeti makes sense to you?” The man was unbelievable.
“Much like Bigfoot, that’s simply evolution at work.”
I was nonplussed and Lorne shook his head.
“And of course, I believe in demons now ,” he said matter-of-factly, and then coughed softly, probably to hide his chuckle. “Although, I do think––”
“No.” I cut him off. “Just no.”
“Okay, you two need to be quiet now,” Lorne grumbled. “I gotta call the mayor.”
She answered on the second ring. He explained to her that it was more than likely that Murphy killed Pace, unless Father Dennis heard someone else carving him up.
When she gasped, Lorne immediately apologized. “I’m sorry, that was overly graphic.”
“Yes, but we’re all tired, and you more than most.”
“At this point,” he said with a sigh. “I’m waiting on forensics to confirm, probably not until tomorrow, since it is, as you know, Sunday.”
Both of them were silent for a moment.
“Thank goodness Father Dennis is safe,” she told Lorne, not knowing that either me or the priest was in the car.
“Yes.”
“I’ll expect a full report after you receive word from the ME.”
“You’ll be my first call tomorrow,” he assured her.
“This afternoon, I will brief the community on the fact that Pace was killed, and that Murphy is a person of interest and is currently missing.”
“The missing part will scare everyone, but you have to be honest with your constituency.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
Moments into the second silence, Lorne asked if she was all right.
“Be honest with me, what’s your assessment on Murphy? Did he flee or is he lingering about in town? Should I impose a curfew?”
“No. He’s in the wind, Madam Mayor,” Lorne said, and knew that for a literal certainty. “Mark my words, Tanner Murphy is never coming back.”
Sharp exhale from her. “Thank you, I feel so much better.”
“Good.”
“Lorne,” she began, her voice shaky, “I’m so terribly relieved you’re here in Osprey, taking care of our community.”
“Thank you,” he replied.
She hung up then, and I called Amanda and told her I was headed home and would catch her up on everything the following day.
“Oh no, I’ll be right there, and I’m bringing Declan with me.”
I sighed. “Sounds good.”
The three of us rode the rest of the way home in silence.
Once there, Father Dennis and I had to help Lorne out of the Jeep because he could barely walk on his own. We took him inside, where Lorne and I both greeted the cottage, and Father Dennis, probably thinking it was merely something quirky we did, said hello as well. Once Lorne showed him he could walk again, Father Dennis took a seat on the couch beside Argos.
“Well, hello, who might you be?”
“That’s Argos, Father,” I said, leading Lorne to the bedroom.
“Aren’t you a handsome fellow.”
I could hear the cat purring from across the room.
In the bathroom, after peeling Lorne out of his clothes, I put him under the water and let it run for a bit before I got in with him.
Once Lorne was clean, he didn’t want to get out, instead waiting as I quickly scrubbed myself free of dirt and debris. That done, I kissed him, hugging him tight under the spray.
Afterward, I dried him off, put him in sleep shorts, and he was down for the count the second his head hit the pillow. I wanted to lie down with him, but I knew Amanda and Declan would be arriving shortly, and Father Dennis needed tending to as well. When I walked out into my living room, though, my favorite priest was asleep on my couch next to Argos. They made a really nice picture together.
Declan Grant knew even more about my magic than Amanda did, as he had benefited from it last fall. He knew I was a branded witch, whereas she didn’t know that part. But as he and his wife were now expecting a child, I had not wanted to involve him.
I was sitting at the table, nursing a glass of ice water, when they came in not fifteen minutes later, carrying bags of food from Declan’s bistro.
Slamming the bags down on the kitchen table, he whispered harshly, “How dare you not tell me there was a demon in town and that you were in danger!”
Amanda was staring at him wide-eyed, evidently taken aback by his whispering something that ought to be yelled. I, however, was not nearly as shocked.
He rubbed his throat. “Why can’t I talk properly?” he asked me, still whispering.
I pointed to the bedroom. “The cottage’s favorite person is sleeping. No way it lets you get above this range I’m using right now.”
Declan lifted his head, the way we all did for some reason. The ceiling wasn’t so far away that it was needed. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know,” he said, and the scent of lemon and verbena wafted through the cottage.
“Also, Father Dennis is asleep on the couch.”
Both of them walked over to check on him, Declan returned first.
“Does the good father know all our secrets?” he asked me.
“Most,” I said, and that thought made me smile. “But not all.” My gaze met his. “Like not the kind of witch I am.”
He nodded. “Got it.”
Amanda joined us then. “We brought food so you both can stay home and veg, and I know you’re tired, but Dec and I need to be filled in.”
She had started calling him Dec sometime during the spring, when the three of us had started baking together every other Sunday morning after she came back from church.
“Okay,” I began, “so after we talked, Lorne and I went to see Father Dennis and found Mal there. He?—”
“No,” Declan stopped me, and I noticed Amanda nodding in agreement. “You need to give me all the details. I want to hear it like Amanda was telling it, with facial expressions, tone of voice, all your feelings…that’s what I’m after.”
“Me too,” she chimed in.
I had to smile at them. How lucky was I to have two people, in addition to Lorne, and now Father Dennis, who knew I was a witch and were privy to all—or nearly all—my secrets. I was very blessed. As I felt the emotion surge through me, I had to reach out and grab both their hands. They both squeezed back tight.
The unpacking of the events, the way they wanted to hear, took hours. Because of course there were interruptions, food needed to be put out, and then plated so I could nosh a bit while I explained more. Amanda made a pitcher of margaritas—on the rocks since there was no blender in my kitchen, but that worked out better anyway because if we couldn’t raise our voices, then the cottage definitely would not have allowed us to use a blender.
When I got to the part where Mal came in, they were both terribly relieved to hear that our friend was still our friend and not at all carrying a demon around inside him.
“I adore Mal,” Amanda confessed. “I’m so happy.”
“Me too,” Declan agreed, “and he’s very good for business.”
“How?” I asked him.
“When he comes in for lunch, half a dozen women on average follow him through the door in hopes of chatting him up.”
Amanda nodded. “Were I single, I’d hit that.”
“Nasty,” I teased her.
“Well, Mal’s handsome enough, it’s true,” Declan concurred, “but for me, after my sweet Kim, there’s no creature more delectable than you, my dear Xander.”
He got a smile for that.
Father Dennis woke up then, which was good timing, as I was on the part where Lorne and I drove out to the mansion. Amanda got him situated with a margarita and food, and he was thrilled to find out that she and Declan knew everything.
“I’m so happy to have people to discuss adventures with,” he said cheerfully, smiling at them.
Declan got up and hugged him, and then Father Dennis got a smudge of Amanda’s lipstick on his cheek.
I started talking again, and once I got to the part about us seeing the demon, Declan interrupted to thank me for all the wards I’d put up in his home. “If Kim hadn’t been able to sleep, that would’ve been terrible for our little one.”
“You’re more than welcome,” I assured him.
Amanda poured Declan another margarita, then got up to make another pitcher.
“Go on,” he prodded me, taking a sip before quickly turning to Amanda. “These could use a bit more tequila this time.”
“Gotcha,” she replied, and when I looked at her, she gestured for me to go on.
I told them everything up until the part where I wasn’t powerful enough to vanquish a demon. In the version I could share, Lorne and I were triumphant. They didn’t get to hear what we hadn’t known—that humans could exorcise a demon, but all-out destruction required a god.
“So then when it was all over, you raced back to the mansion where Pace’s body and Father Dennis were? And no one saw you?” Declan asked.
That hadn’t occurred to me. “No.”
“How?”
“Well,” Amanda began, dipping a chip into the salsa she’d put out along with guacamole, “it’s not really that far if you think about it.”
“And we’re not talking about the main part of town,” Father Dennis reminded him.
“Amazing,” Declan whispered.
And it was and wasn’t. We lived in a very small town, after all.
“Now, because I don’t want Father Dennis to be the only one of you who’s seen me do this, I want you all to come outside so I can show you how I turn into a flock of ravens.”
Amanda’s mouth fell open.
Declan looked alarmed.
Father Dennis smiled.
The part where I had to get naked was concerning for Amanda and Declan, but Father Dennis told them not to be such prudes.
“Ohmygod, Father, I had no idea you were this much fun,” she said after a moment.
“Well, there’s only so much one can show off of oneself in a homily.”
“Indeed,” Declan agreed.
I really enjoyed seeing their faces when I returned after my flight down Cider Lane and back, all clearly in awe. Once I was me again and covered by a throw from the couch, I stood in the kitchen, awaiting their reactions.
“That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” Amanda said breathlessly.
“Is that a pomegranate?” Declan asked, pointing to the fruit on the counter. “I’ve never seen one that big.”
“Really?” Amanda said to him.
“Well, yes, magic is wonderful and inspiring, and you, good show,” he praised me. “But really, that pomegranate is enormous.”
“Lorne loves pomegranates,” I husked, suddenly overwhelmed with everything.
Amanda came quickly and wrapped me in her arms. “Everything turned out okay.”
“Yes, it did,” Declan seconded. “And you know, I had a great idea for your wedding.”
I looked over at him.
“Why don’t you have it right here? We’ll have a small gathering, and Father Dennis can officiate, once we get a dispensation from the bishop, of course.”
I looked at my friend. “Would you do that?”
He nodded. “It would be my pleasure.”
“It’s going to be lovely,” Amanda sighed.
I couldn’t agree more.
Later, I woke up on the couch, where I’d sat down for a moment after Amanda and Declan left with Father Dennis, insisting on driving him back to the rectory. I realized that what had interrupted my slumber was having a warm, sleepy man on top of me. Gently moving my legs, I wrapped them around him, then put one arm across his back and a hand in his hair.
“Oh God,” he groaned like he needed the closeness desperately. “Please, hold tight and don’t let go. Don’t ever lemme go.”
I had no plans to. “Declan has this wonderful idea about us getting married here. Only a few people, our closest and dearest, and with Father Dennis officiating.”
“Yes,” he murmured into the side of my neck, then planted a kiss there. “Let’s do that tomorrow. I’m ready. But right now, could you please hold me a little tighter?”
I kissed him instead, then made him get up and return to the bedroom. With the windows open and a warm breeze blowing through, the two of us tangled together, and Argos purring beside him, Lorne MacBain was content. So was I.
Neither of us moved again for a long while.
The following day, Monday, the ME reported that Tanner Murphy had indeed killed Allard Pace, the evidence confirmed that. Also, as I suspected, the demon had told us the truth. When Webb ran Murphy’s prints at the crime lab, she discovered he’d murdered a young couple in Denver, Colorado, back in 2022. The man had been Tanner’s drug-rehabilitation counselor. He and his wife were newly married. He was still wanted in connection to that case, having disappeared, seemingly off the face of the earth, after that killing.
It was concerning to everyone, when the mayor disclosed that information at her press conference, that Murphy was still on the loose, but as there was a history of him running, people, Lorne told me, were comforted. Plus, now that everyone was sleeping again, the hair trigger the populace had been wrestling with, had evaporated overnight. People were suddenly calmer and many signed up to become part of Lorne’s civilian patrol initiative that he’d been trying to get off the ground since the influx of tourists had begun last fall.
That part was good. The part that was bad was now there was a murder in our small town that locals and visitors were talking about.
Three days later, the town attended the funeral for Kathy Hayes. Her father thanked everyone for being there, and nothing was said about her being a witch. I left a piece of rose quartz on her headstone, which I knew she would have appreciated.
When I talked to Mal, he was horrified he’d employed a murderer, and Lorne promised to vet people for him going forward. Mal was very appreciative. The Abundant Life Church left Osprey two weeks later.
Allard Pace’s funeral was in Albany, where he’d moved from, and no one but Lorne and I made the trip. We met his brother, who took control of his estate, and we conveyed our condolences. He thanked us for being there. When Amanda contacted him, he was more than happy to sell her the property. He wanted nothing to do with Osprey, no matter how good a tourist attraction we had in the form of dead cultists. For her part, Amanda had plans to raze the house to the ground and turn the rest into a park. Once it was complete, she would then turn it over to the city for upkeep. I thought it was a wonderful idea.
A week later, Father Dennis let me know that he had been granted permission by his bishop to perform our marriage ceremony. Even though ours was considered a mixed marriage—as Lorne was raised Catholic and I was very much not—as well as us not wanting to have it in the church, the bishop had still been persuaded.
“How did you manage it?” I asked him.
“I simply told him that you and Lorne deserved every happiness, and he agreed.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You told him about the demon, didn’t you?”
“As though he would have ever believed such a thing, Xander.”
But the glint in his eyes told me he was fibbing a bit.
When Mal came over for dinner, he became so enamored of my greenhouse, I kept having to deliver things out there to him: a beer, a small plate of appetizers, a glass of apricot iced tea, a bowl of fruit… Lorne put his foot down when it came to taking his dinner out there. He’d barbecued steaks, and I had a great-looking portobello mushroom with all the same sides they had, and he insisted we all eat together.
“Will you come in and sit down,” Lorne growled at him.
“I just need to find out from Xander how he gets these roses to grow in here, and how is that elder shrub so large, and I have some questions about the hydrangeas out front as well. How on earth are you getting those colors?”
I was betting he would have even more questions as the night wore on. Things grew on Corvus that weren’t supposed to, and they changed color on a whim, which wasn’t helpful at all when a certified botanist visited.
“And are those pomegranates ?”
Apparently, Lorne wasn’t the only one who liked them.
Argos went back to wandering the town at night, and Toby reported that sometimes my cat walked him to school in the morning. Toby was still concerned that Argos wasn’t getting regular checkups, but he had to agree that Argos didn’t appear to be needing any vitamins, and his teeth were always very white and very sharp.
In mid-August, Lorne and I had our wedding. Charles and Allie supplied the vegetarian buffet, all the gorgeous flowers, and the boutonnieres for me and Lorne. Troy made honey mead, as well as a special lavender honey for the guests to take with them. Rita made Lorne a gorgeous platinum band with rough-cut diamonds so it looked like mine, even though mine—that Lorne had given me when he proposed—was iron.
“We should get you a platinum one too,” he said the night before we said our vows, looking at his stunning ring sitting on his nightstand next to mine. I didn’t like having it off, but Father Dennis needed to bless them both the following day. “Yours looks a bit shabby in comparison.”
“It does not,” I said defensively. “And I can burn fae with mine. What does yours do?”
He shook his head at me.
“What? My fiancé is a smart man who wants me to be protected. That’s why there’s diamonds in it too. Those ward demons, among other things. Did you know?”
“They’re the same kind of diamonds, since Rita made both. She made sure to match them.”
“Rita’s a true artisan,” I commented, then started laughing as he grabbed me, tumbled me onto the bed, on my back, and kissed me like he wanted something.
“None of that before the wedding,” I scolded him. “It’s not proper.”
“You’ve never been proper,” he murmured before kissing me deeply, and I went boneless in his arms. “You’ve always been wild and beautiful, inside and out.”
“Forget what I said. I’m all yours.”
“Have been since the first day I walked into our cottage,” he said smugly.
And he wasn’t wrong.
As I walked around outside the following day, looking at our friends, Lorne’s family, his mother, her now fiancé, Gerald, his grandmother, and of course, James and Cass, I was so happy, at some point I had to put my hands down into the earth and let some of it run out of me so I stopped shaking. The land seemed to enjoy that, if the scent of wildflowers on the breeze was any indication.
“My goodness, it smells amazing here,” Declan’s wife, Kim, said, seven months pregnant, sitting next to Amanda on a blanket on the grass, petting Argos, who was sprawled out beside her. “And my back doesn’t hurt, and this mint iced tea is just—may I come back?”
“Whenever you like,” I said, holding her hand.
Joining Declan a few minutes later, I pointed out that my cat was making friends with his luminous wife.
“You know he visits sometimes, especially now in the summer. It’s always so nice to see him on my back deck at night.”
“I’m sure he knows Kim is with child and is watching over her.”
“And to think I was scared of daemons once. It seems so silly now.”
“Yes, but you didn’t know any then. It was good of you to allow yourself to change.”
“Change is good as a rule, don’t you think?”
I certainly did.
When Eddie pulled me aside, later in the afternoon, I was surprised.
“Are you all right?” I asked him.
“I’m fine, but I’m planning to surprise Amanda with a trip to Paris for our wedding anniversary in two weeks, so I’m going to need you and Lorne to watch our kids while we’re gone,” he said, grinning. “If I could tell her that you’ve already signed on, she’ll actually go, and we need this.”
“I have noticed you’ve been playing a lot of golf lately.”
He sighed deeply. “Sometimes I worry that I don’t do enough, don’t bring in enough money, and I don’t want her to lose respect for me. Because of that, I’ve been concentrating on networking, schmoozing clients, and trying to increase the amount that my roster brings in. I’ve been really focused on building my business.”
I squinted at him.
“You don’t understand because you could never lose her,” he said miserably. “But I thought I could if I wasn’t careful.”
“Have you lost your mind?”
“I did for a minute there, but I have now regained control of my faculties, and so you will be seeing much more of me, though not in two weeks, as I will be in Paris with my lovely wife.”
“Yes you will,” I assured him. “And I will most definitely keep your kids for you.”
“Oh, Xan, you’re the best.” He grabbed and kissed me.
“Hey,” Lorne grumbled, walking up beside me. “Who the hell do you think you’re kissing on, man?”
“Thank you too, buddy,” he said, giving Lorne a pat on the cheek. “You’re awesome.”
He left us then, and Lorne turned to me. “We’re watching their kids again, aren’t we?”
I couldn’t stop grinning.
Around six, Father Dennis stood with his back to the stream and called everyone together as Lorne and I clasped hands. Lorne’s brother, James, was his best man, and Amanda was my matron of honor. Toby was in charge of holding the rings, and JJ made sure that all around us was cast a mixture of herbs and rosebuds they’d foraged earlier in the morning. The circle of protection and blessing was a very nice touch, as was seeing my grandparents smiling at me from the doorway of the greenhouse Lorne had built. I could not have had a greater blessing.
My vows were quick—that I loved him, forever and always. His were longer, about how he’d looked a long time for me and how happy he was to be an us and a family, which included everyone standing on Corvus on a perfect Saturday in August. When Father Dennis blessed our union and pronounced us married, everyone clapped and cheered, and we were hugged and kissed, and that was my second favorite part of the day.
My favorite was later, just the two of us, lying outside on a blanket, coiled together, gazing up at the stars, breathing in the sweet summer air, with Argos chasing fireflies through the tall wildflowers.
“I hope you and Corvus want me, because you’re both stuck with me now,” Lorne said warmly, hugging me tighter.
“I more than want you,” I replied, my hand over his, admiring the ring on his finger, as I had all day. “And Corvus saved you for me. There should be no doubt in your mind how we feel about you.”
“There’s not,” he murmured, getting sleepy, brushing his hand over the grass. “Such a good day. So many blessings.”
He was right.
When we woke up hours later, both of us muzzy, climbing unsteadily to our feet, his sudden smile made my breath catch.
“What?”
“You. You’re all mine,” he husked. “And this.”
He made a sweeping gesture, and when I looked, I saw the ring of edelweiss surrounding us.
“I think we got another blessing,” Lorne said.
We certainly had.
“I love you,” he whispered, smiling at me.
“And I love you,” I whispered back, and the words carried on the breeze as I kissed him.