Epilogue
S ix Months Later
Hannah watched as Victoria Burton-Leigh held up her champagne glass and tapped it with a silver spoon. The guests quietened down.
“Can I have your attention, please?”
She waited until there was silence and then said, “This is a bittersweet day for me. As you know, it’s my last day at Elite Publicity.”
There was a sympathetic murmur. She held up a hand.
“However, it’s also an exciting day because I’m handing over the reins to my protégé, Hannah Evans, who most of you know by now. She’s been handling the running of the business for several weeks already.”
There were nods of approval.
“Hannah needs no introduction. She’s a wonderful person, she’s brilliant at her job, and I leave you all in her capable hands.”
There was a round of applause.
Hannah glanced at Tom, standing at the back and the gleam of pride in his gaze was all the affirmation she needed.
“So now if you’ll raise your glasses, I’d like to toast the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one. To Hannah and new beginnings.”
“To Hannah,” echoed the guests.
“Please, enjoy yourselves and thank you so much for coming.”
Hannah turned to her former boss. “Victoria, thank you so much. That was a lovely speech.”
“You deserve it, Hannah. I don’t know what I would have done without you these last few months. You’ve brought in new business, you’ve taken us online, we now have more clients than I know what to do with. You’re just the person to continue my legacy.”
Hannah hugged her. “I wish you a wonderful retirement.”
The weeks after they’d got back from Syman hadn’t been easy. She’d had extensive debriefs by the Department of Defense and various other government organizations.
Tom had disappeared to Virginia where his unit was based, and with her living in D.C. she’d barely seen him. In an impulsive move, she’d relocated to Lorton, Virginia, an hour’s drive from the base.
It had taken her two weeks before she’d seen the vacancy at Elite Publicity.
Victoria had interviewed her and hired her on the spot.
She’d loved the fact Hannah had worked for a Middle Eastern Prince.
Hannah hadn’t told her the whole story. She’d just said she’d had to leave quickly when the war broke out.
Nobody needed to know more than that, and it wasn’t a lie.
Victoria was in her sixties and wanted to travel with her husband of forty years. “We always said we would take a cruise one day,” she confided to Hannah. “And we don’t want to put it off much longer. We’re not spring chickens anymore.”
Tom had moved in with her, although he still had his flat in Arlington.
If his training kept him at the base, he stayed there, but most of the time he drove back to be with her.
His schedule was erratic. He never knew when he’d get a call, and when he did, he’d disappear for days at a time, sometimes weeks, but he always came back to her.
She knew his job was dangerous, but she put her fears aside and concentrated on making the most of their time together. She’d almost lost her life in Syman, and every moment was precious.
Tom put his arm around her. “Congratulations, darling,” he said. “Your dream has finally come true.”
“I can’t believe it.” She smiled at him. “Who would have thought things would work out like this?”
His smile faltered. “When I found you in that warehouse, I thought you were dead. My world came crashing down.”
She took his hand. “But I’m alive, and you came for me.”
A nod. “I said I would.”
The love she felt for this man was so strong it took her breath away. He’d been reunited with his regiment. He’d even got a medal for his work in Syman, although he hardly ever looked at it.
“It wasn’t about getting a medal,” he’d told her once. “At first, I wanted to redeem myself, atone for what had happened in Afghanistan, but then it became about the war, and doing what we could to stop it before it escalated.”
He still woke up in a sweat some nights, and she knew he’d been dreaming about Afghanistan, but the nightmares were becoming less and less frequent. She suspected he’d made peace with it now, even begun forgiving himself for what had happened. He was healing.
Her injuries had been mostly cosmetic. Her rib still ached some nights when the temperature dropped below freezing, but otherwise she was perfectly healthy.
And she couldn’t be happier.
“Cheers,” he said, clinking glasses with her. “To your new beginning.”
“Correction,” she said, smiling into his eyes. “To our new beginning.”
He broke into a grin. “I’ll drink to that.”