Chapter 50
50.
On the way back to the car, Liz told Violet about the second season order, celebrating with another heart-stopping kiss. Then Liz drove them back to Belvedere Inn, at a considerably slower pace. The final sunset of the year painted the sky in scarlet and orange and a feathered, delicate pink. Across the console, Violet took her hand, folding their fingers together.
The fire in the family room of Belvedere Inn was still crackling when they returned to an embarrassing and thrilling round of applause from Birdie, Rafi, Ash, Babs, and even Jin-soo, whose suitcase was in the foyer. Then it was time for roast chicken and mashed potatoes, eaten balanced on their laps on the sofa or sprawled out on the carpet, everyone talking and laughing at once, hyped up on love.
When she was done with dinner, Liz pushed her plate aside and wrapped her arms around Violet, putting her mouth close to Violet’s ear. “I love you, Vivi. Merry Christmas.” From her pocket, the tiniest gift.
The delicate sunstone-and-sapphire ring slid easily onto Violet’s middle finger. “It’s beautiful. Just like you.” Violet snuggled close. “I love you, too.”
From her queenly position in the armchair, Babs smiled down at them, addressing Violet. “I thought what you said this afternoon was very courageous, sweetheart.”
“Thank you.” Violet smiled back, resting her head on Liz’s shoulder. “I thought we deserved a better beginning.”
“Our whole lives are a rewrite,” Babs exclaimed. “That’s the great thing about them! Never accept a first draft.”
Liz chuckled, tightening her arms around her girlfriend. She was content for this rewrite, this ending, to be her final draft.
“What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?” crooned over the speakers as the celebration in Times Square played silently on a television beside the fireplace. The hands of the Kit-Cat Clock were closing in on midnight.
Liz joined her brother and sister in the kitchen to pour six glasses of Champagne into elegant crystal flutes, and sparkling apple cider for Birdie. “Calling to order,” Liz said, “the final meeting of the Black Hearts Club.”
Rafi slipped a smile in Ash’s direction, who returned it with a wink. “End of an era,” he said.
“It is.” Birdie topped up her cider. “Lizzie’s going back to La La Land with Vi to become a queer supercouple, and Raf, you’re going to power-bottom all over London.”
Rafi choked out a cough. “Just with my boyfriend, I think.”
Birdie flipped her newly acquired business card through her fingers. “And hopefully my next, and last, manager will help get my show on the road. Maybe Jecka will even be at a few.”
Beginnings and endings, woven together like the red-and-white twine already back in the gift-wrapping drawer awaiting next year. Liz held up her flute. “Cheers Belvederes.”
The trio clinked glasses, the holiday lights dancing in the golden fizz.
The final moments of the year drifted around them like snowflakes, settling at their feet. The three siblings gathered up the glasses, the flutes cold against their warm skin, and headed into the family room, and the new year that lay ahead.
The End