Epilogue #2
“We’ll never get back what we lost,” she said. “But I’d like to try to build something from what’s left.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Me too.”
Now he was going to see them again. And while Eli had promised Olivia there would be no more secrets between them, he didn’t mention that he had spoken to Margaux on the phone last night.
She was bringing something with her, she had said.
A piece of family jewelry, from the Blake side of the family.
Margaux had been holding onto it, she said, waiting for the right time.
“Your mother would have wanted you to have it,” Margaux had told him, her voice careful and precise. “Do with it what you will.”
Time was running out to figure out the words, though if he was being honest, the words had never been the hard part. The hard part had been earning the right to say them.
“Eli!” Matty’s voice came from somewhere in the house, followed by a crash. “I found the bedroom! But I think I broke the lamp!”
“I told you to be careful!” Emily scolded as she marched back inside the house, Cooper giggling as he trailed behind her.
Olivia’s eyes slid heavenwards, before blowing out a breath. “Well, at least that’s one less thing we have to find space for.”
He scrubbed a hand down his face. “Maybe we should just postpone the housewarming. I’m sure Doyle’s—”
She clucked her tongue. “Nuh-uh. We’re not going to have our party at Doyle’s. Can you imagine Margaux with a pint while sitting at Patrick’s booth?”
The image popped into his head and he guffawed. “Well—”
“No way.” She grabbed his hand and placed it on her belly, which earned him a kick from their son or daughter.
“Look, Emily and I worked hard on getting the backyard set up. And I know the house is a mess, but everyone in the clan said they’ll come over first thing tomorrow and make sure everything will be in place in time for the party.
So trust me when I say it’ll all work out. ”
Their baby kicked one more time. “I trust you.” He planted a kiss on her forehead. “With my whole heart. Now, let’s go stop Matty before he tries to ‘help’ some more.”
Olivia laughed, a rich, hearty sound that made Eli’s chest warm and his wolf sigh with contentment.
By seven o’clock, every seat in the backyard was taken and people had started hauling chairs from inside the house.
The fairy lights and paper lanterns Emily had strung up glowed overhead and around them, the tiki torches threw warm circles across the grass, while the floating candles on the pool drifted in the breeze.
Martha and Emily had taken over food prep, with help from the rest of the clan, and now the three folding tables groaned under platters of pulled pork, cornbread, coleslaw, grilled chicken, and a dessert spread that Olivia and the other pregnant True Mates had been circling for the past hour.
Olivia grabbed Eli’s arm and pulled him away from the grill, where he’d been standing with Bobby Fitz discussing something about fleet insurance. “Come on. We should say hi to everyone.”
They found Lizzie and Wyatt first, right by the food tables.
Lizzie, whose belly looked so big she was probably ready to burst yesterday, was methodically working her way through a plate cornbread, while Wyatt stood beside her with one hand on her lower back, loading a second plate with everything she pointed at.
Every few seconds his gaze would cut across the yard to where Snake was leaning against the fence, and his jaw would tighten.
“Still?” Olivia asked her cousin.
“Since we got here.” Lizzie shook her head. “Snake asked me something about the newest security software update I’m working on and Wyatt’s been tracking him ever since.” She patted her mate’s arm. “It was completely professional.”
“He looked at you for too long,” Wyatt said, not taking his eyes off Snake.
Astoria materialized beside Lizzie holding two glasses of lemonade and handed one over. “If looks could kill, I think Snake would have been dead a hundred times by now,” she told Lizzie, nodding at Wyatt.
Lizzie merely rolled her eyes. The two of them had struck up an unlikely friendship since the New York visit. Lizzie called it “bonding over being the weird ones in a family,” and apparently, they hadn’t stopped texting or video chatting ever since.
Olivia and Eli moved on, finding Arch and Renée by the pool.
Olivia almost didn’t recognize her brother.
The man who used to check his phone during family dinners and schedule conference calls on Christmas morning was stretched out on a lounge chair in a linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up, barefoot, his wife tucked against his side.
“Is that my brother or did someone replace him with a functioning human being?” Olivia remarked.
“Renée banned me from checking email after six.” Arch didn’t open his eyes.
“It’s been three weeks.” Renée rested her hand on her own baby bump, then kissed his temple.
“So far, he’s been sticking to it.” Her voice dropped, in case anyone was eavesdropping.
“Like a good husband should.” They had gotten married in a super-secret, last-minute surprise wedding in the Bahamas a month ago with only family and a few close friends attending.
It was a miracle the press hadn’t gotten wind of it yet.
Next, they walked toward the back fence, where Devon was deep in conversation with Hardy and Tommy Rourke, while Matty hovered at the edge of the group trying and failing to play it cool.
Charley sat nearby, watching her mate with a pride that Olivia recognized because she’d started wearing the same expression herself.
“She looks good,” Olivia murmured to Eli as they passed.
She had told him about how Charley was finally using her musical gift and composing new music.
More important, the rift with her father that had been a cloud over the family had finally healed.
Some families took longer to find their way back to each other.
Olivia understood that better now than she ever had.
Stella and Cliff had claimed the far corner of the yard, half-hidden by the pergola.
They sat on the bench, foreheads nearly touching, talking in low voices.
The way he held Stella was so careful, his thumb tracing circles on her shoulder.
Whatever troubles Cliff had carried before Stella, he’d found a way through it.
He was a man obviously enamored by his mate and now wife.
They were also wed, just two weeks ago, along with Jacob and Sloane in a double wedding officiated by Stella’s adoptive father, Reverend William Lennon.
Out on the grass, Jacob was showing off.
He had a small flame dancing between his fingers, shaping it into a wolf, then a bird, then a flower, while a group of kids watched with their mouths hanging open.
Tabitha stood across from him, palms glowing white, tossing bursts of light into the air that popped and sparked above the children’s heads.
They screamed and clapped and demanded more.
Sloane leaned against the fence, arms crossed, watching her mate.
Jacob had always been the joker of the family, the one no one took seriously.
However, he’d certainly proved himself the last couple of months, and Olivia was absolutely delighted to see him come into his own, not just as a mate and dad-to-be, but also a leader.
She already knew he would be successful in leading his own team at the Boston office.
She looked around at all of them, these couples who had found each other through circumstance and fate.
She’d grown up hearing the stories of True Mates, watching her parents, her aunts and uncles.
She knew what it looked like from the outside.
But living it was different. Living it meant choosing each other over and over again, even in the toughest of times.
Eventually, they drifted toward Ransom and a few of the Boston clan members near the grill, the conversation shifting from barbecue chicken to something about a meeting with the High Council next week. Ransom was pulling out his phone to show Eli something when she put a hand on his arm.
“Alpha business can wait,” she admonished gently. “This is a party, remember?”
Eli looked at her, then at Ransom, then back at her. “You’re right. Sorry.”
“I’ll email it to you,” Ransom said, pocketing his phone.