Chapter 24 - Lara
Fern is doing something complicated to the back of my hair that I've given up trying to even follow along in the mirror.
She's got a handful of pins and a look of total concentration; every so often, she tells me to hold still even though I haven't moved.
The bedroom is filled with the scent of the wildflowers Skylar brought over this morning to fill the room and also make up my bouquet.
It's the first properly warm day of the year, and with the windows open, you can literally hear the forest coming to life all around the cabin.
"If you keep frowning, your face will stay like that," Skylar laughs.
"I'm not frowning," I tell her. "It’s just my natural expression."
"It's a frown," Fern agrees, adding even more pins.
Dina is in the armchair in the corner with her feet up, baby in her arms. I’ve gotten to know her well over the last few weeks, as, despite having a gorgeous new baby, she’s still actively involved in all the tactical situations, especially since Reyhan’s attack.
Tonight, though, she looks the most relaxed I've seen her, and she keeps grinning at me in a way that's making me self-conscious.
"What," I say to her.
"Nothing," Dina says. "You just look happy. It's annoying. I came up here ready to help manage your nerves, and you're completely fine."
"I think she got over her nerves earlier," Luna says, coming back in from the kitchen with a tray of glasses. "I did find her pacing on the porch when I arrived."
"I was just checking the weather," I tell her.
"You were pacing," Luna laughs, but look at you now.
She’s right. I was pacing earlier. Wilf was setting off to get ready with Connor and the others, and it hit me: the magnitude of what we’re doing today.
Not because I doubt it, but just the weight of the moment.
I wish my father were here, and yet he would have been horrified that I would mate a shifter.
I cling to the thought that my father was a good man, a great man, and had he gotten to know Wilf and everyone in Silvercreek, I’ve no doubt they would have changed his opinion of shifters, too.
My nerves lingered all day and only began to settle as the women arrived, one truck at a time, bringing flowers, food, and drinks, insisting on doing my hair and make-up, and making me feel like I’m exactly where I should be.
"Right," Fern says, fixing my hair with copious amounts of spray and stepping back. "Look."
I really look at myself for a moment. She's pinned my hair up off my neck with a few bits left loose, and there's a sprig of something delicate and white tucked into it.
I don't recognize the woman in the mirror. She looks like someone who sleeps at night and isn’t afraid of anything; she looks loved.
"Fern," I say, my voice cracking.
"You don't have to say anything," she tells me, and squeezes my shoulder once. “You always look beautiful anyway.”
Luna hands out the glasses of something fizzy, and we all laugh as we clink glasses.
I look at the dress hanging on the back of the door; it’s simple and white, but it fits perfectly, and I knew I wanted it the moment I saw it in the local store.
I’m not even sure it’s meant to be a formal dress, but it’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever worn.
We've got about an hour before we need to be at the square. But for now, I sit back and let myself be in the room, drinking fizzy sweet wine with my new friends, which is something I couldn’t have even imagined for myself six months ago.
"Has there been any more from Anya?" I ask. I've been wanting to ask all evening, and I know Luna’s been concerned about her.
The room goes a little quieter as Luna sits down on the end of the bed.
"She rang me yesterday," Luna says. "She's still looking. Madelina still hasn’t surfaced. Anya says the whole coven is struggling with it. They knew she had issues; that’s why she’d been banished. She shouldn’t have even been able to use magic, not like that."
"Were they close?" I ask.
"They were when Anya was young," Luna confirms. "Her parents died, and Madelina was one of the women who took her under her wing. Anya took her banishment very hard, and now this. Perhaps that’s why Madelina cloaked herself and fled rather than standing with the rogues; perhaps she couldn’t bring herself to fight Anya.”
"Maybe that means she’ll disappear for good now," I say, hoping it’s true. I feel sorry for Anya, discovering someone you used to love has taken a dark path.
"She wants to find her," Fern says. "Anya doesn't tend to let things go, I don’t think. Plus, Reyhan may be gone, but there are still rogues in the mountains. Who knows if she’s still helping them.”
"Quite," Luna agrees, and then she lifts her glass. "But tonight isn’t about any of that; it’s about you and Wilf."
"Yes," Dina says, "this is about you staying in Silvercreek where you belong, with us…and Wilf. He deserves this, and so do you. Who would have thought he’d find his mate in a hut in the middle of nowhere?"
"Especially after the lottery," Luna agrees. "It turns out he didn’t need the lottery anyway, and that is so Wilf, to make his own rules. He does deserve all the happiness."
I look at each of them as they all nod in agreement, and it makes me smile.
To think that Wilf thought the pack didn’t need him, or didn’t care that he kept them at a distance when they all liked him so much.
He just couldn’t see it. I hope he sees it now.
The lump that’s been forming in my throat all day comes again, and I don’t even fight it this time.
"He really does, and I think that’s why we understand each other so well.
I didn't have anyone either," I tell them.
"For a long time, it was just my father and me, and then I was alone.
I thought I didn't want anyone. I was wrong about a lot of things.
So, thank you. For the dresses and the food and the…
all of it. For making me feel so welcome. "
"You are welcome. We’re so glad you’re here," Skylar says, grinning, and we all raise our glasses again, and we continue laughing and talking as I get into my dress just in time to set off for the square.
The sun is just setting as we arrive, and the square has been turned into the happiest kind of chaos.
It's a spring fair, a fully blown pack celebration, and I blush as we arrive and people begin greeting us right from the gate. Trestle tables run down both sides, loaded with food from the stalls; there’s a roast somewhere with the scent drifting in the air, and bunting is strung between the buildings in mismatched greens and yellows.
There’s a band set up directly opposite the ceremony stage, and children are chasing each other around the fountain in the middle of the square, laughing.
Caleb’s daughter, Alora, comes racing toward Dina, and she lifts her into her arms as Fiona’s boys rush past us in a blur.
Fiona arrives soon after and sweeps me into an embrace.
“You look stunning,” she beams. “I wish I could have been there.”
I hug her back, knowing she would have been if her youngest hadn’t been poorly. “How is he?” I ask.
“Much better for the inhaler Skylar gave him this morning,” she smiles. “He’s sleeping it all off in his stroller.”
I glance over and see Bryan managing his boys with one hand on the stroller, and I link arms with Fiona as she walks with us toward the stage.
I think I spot Wilf by the stage, but the crowd is shifting and settling as we approach, and I can’t quite make him out.
The women hug me one by one as they peel off to go stand with their mates, and it’s only Fern still with me as the crowd finally parts, and I see Wilf standing with Connor.
She hugs me, and Connor reaches out his hand to pull her closer, whispering something to her that makes her laugh.
And then, there he is. I walk to Wilf alone, and it feels right, like I’m walking towards a whole new life.
I almost don't recognize him for a second, not that I don’t think he always looks good, but tonight he looks exceptionally hot.
He's in a dark jacket, and his hair's been cut; he's shaved, and he looks like a man you'd stop on the street to look at.
He's standing with Nick, Connor, and Ethan, all of them wearing their best clothes.
The thought that this town has gone all out for us makes tears spring to my eyes.
I see the moment his eyes scan my dress and face before landing on my eyes and holding.
He steps down from the platform and takes my hand.
He feels warm and steady; mine isn’t, and I know he feels it.
Holding on tighter. He looks into my eyes, and I see it all right there; all the promises we’ve already made each other.
I know tonight is about pack and welcoming me to the town, but everything we’ve already said to each other, all the truths we have laid out when we’ve been wrapped in each other's arms in bed, all come flooding back to me. I nod, feeling my hands steady.
He leads me up to where Elder Amelia is waiting; she looks so small yet so powerful, and beside her, on a stone stand, is the bowl.
He told me all about how the bowl works the other night and explained what happened during the lottery when his name was pulled.
He told me plainly that he didn't care what any magic said, that he'd choose me with a bowl or without one, and that the only reason it'd be there at all was that Amelia said the lottery magic had to be closed properly as part of the binding ceremony, and this was the way it was done. He told me that he wasn’t asking for the magic to help him choose because we have already chosen for ourselves, and that’s stronger than anything else he could ever imagine.