Epilogue
OBSIDIAN
I t didn’t take more than a few weeks for things to return to normal between Ariana and me. Basically, as her ribs healed, so did the fractured relationship between us.
She opened up about her past in a way she hadn’t before. Since I already knew how she’d been raised, it seemed easy for her to tell me about the scams her dad had both his kids run, the rules he set in place to make sure they never got caught, and how they moved around a lot so that they’d never be discovered.
While I was living in my own kind of hell with my father, so was she. Different, but no less difficult.
Knowing about her past actually brought us closer.
Her father and brother returned to the West Coast as soon as her father was discharged from the hospital. I offered to fly us out there if she wanted to spend some time by his side, but Ariana said she needed some distance from them both. That she loved them and always would, but at the moment, she wanted to concentrate on me, on us.
Sometimes when she says things like that, it takes me aback that anyone could care about me so much. Decades spent thinking I’m worthless and so much like my father that I’m undeserving of love are hard to undo, but I’m slowly unraveling those knots.
The only thing left to take care of was Brandon. Ariana never brought him up again, but I hadn’t forgotten about him. Not at all. Which is why Brandon found himself the victim of a hit and run accident that will leave him in the hospital and doing rehab for months. It was less pain than I wanted to inflict on that sack of shit, but anything more and it might get back to Ariana.
We’re in my bedroom—our bedroom now—still gathering our breath after making love. I think we make love more than fuck these days. I never would’ve believed it, but in a lot of ways, it’s more fulfilling. It doesn’t mean she’s not still my good girl though.
Nero was right about forgiveness being a decision. And once I’d made the decision to forgive her, I knew quickly that I’d already made another decision.
I decided that I don’t want to waste any more time. I know how I feel about her and how she feels about me. Why wait any longer to begin our lives together? I want to be able to call Ariana my wife.
I roll toward the nightstand and pull open the top drawer, rummaging around inside for the ring box. I’ve had it for a couple of weeks, but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to propose. I didn’t want to do some big grand gesture—and maybe that will turn out to be a mistake—but I wanted to do it when the time felt right. Which is now.
“What are you looking for?” she asks with humor in her voice.
With my back to her, I open the ring box and pull out the ring.
Choosing the ring turned out to be way more stressful than I would have thought. Especially because money was no object. I can buy Ariana literally any ring I want, which meant every option was available to me.
But when I spoke to the jeweler and told him what Ariana is like, he came up with a few sketches, and this one was perfect. It has a large pearl in the center with diamonds surrounding it in a design that almost makes it look like a star. It’s different and a little art deco looking, and god, I hope she loves it.
I roll over to face her with the ring clutched between my thumb and forefinger.
The smile falls from Ariana’s face, and she gasps, looking from the ring to me and back several times.
“Ariana, I am so deeply and firmly entrenched in our love. I cannot imagine moving forward in the world without you by my side. I wouldn’t even consider it living because you’re the one who breathed life into me. You are the one who made me feel like I had something to offer someone else. You are the woman I want to spend the rest of my life trying to make happy. Will you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
It probably only takes her a few seconds to answer, but I swear it feels like minutes. All I can hear is the thrumming of my heart and the whooshing of the blood flowing through my veins.
Then a smile breaks out on her face, and she practically tackles me, kissing my face and rolling so that her naked body is on top of mine. Of course, my dick notices, regardless of the moment, and it hardens underneath her.
Ariana’s kissing my face all over, and a laugh breaks loose from my throat. “Does that mean yes?”
“Yes, Obsidian! Nothing would make me happier than being your wife. Absolutely nothing.” She presses her lips to mine.
The kiss deepens as we both throw all the emotion we’re feeling in this moment into it. She shifts her hips, and I slip inside her from below. Then she moans and moves over me. And I take her left hand and slide the ring onto her finger.
“You’re never taking this off,” I tell her.
“Never,” she agrees.
It takes hours for us to make our way out of bed, but Ariana insists that we make it to dinner with everyone so that we can announce our engagement. She’s excited to tell the girls, who she’s become closer to since everything went down.
It’s a funny thing. People are always afraid of their twisted truths coming out, but once they do, the secrets lose their power over you.
I’m sliding on my shoes in my walk-in closet when I hear Ariana say from the bedroom, “Obsidian, did you bring this down from your treasure trove?”
I step out of the closet to see what she’s talking about and find her standing by the dresser, holding the jar of sand from the last vacation my brothers and I ever took with our mom.
Forehead wrinkled, I walk toward her. “No, I haven’t touched it. How the hell did it get in here?”
“Are you just messing with me?” she asks, putting it down.
I raise both hands. “I swear. I haven’t touched it since that night in the tower.” She looks a little shell-shocked, and I step forward and grip her shoulders. “Ariana, what is it? What has you so freaked out?”
“I… I never told you this, and please don’t think I’m crazy, but… the night I first found you in the secret garden, I woke up and saw a trail of sand from my bed leading to the bedroom door. I followed it there, and the trail kept going, and so I followed it, and it led me to find you in the garden. The same thing happened the night I found you up in the turret. Both times when I woke up, it just felt like I was supposed to follow the trail wherever it led. I don’t think I could have ignored it if I tried.”
I blink a few times.
“You think I’m nuts.”
Shaking my head, I squeeze her shoulders. “No, not at all.” I look at the jar of sand, still wondering how it got here and wondering if it could really be true. “I think maybe my mom was helping us along.”
A warm, soft smile transforms her face. She wraps her arms around me and squeezes me tightly. “I like the idea of that.”
“Me too.”
We stay in that embrace for longer than usual, and when we separate, we leave the bedroom hand in hand. As we make our way through the manor to the patio where dinner will be served tonight—since it’s still warm out in the evenings—I realize that something about the house feels… different. Like the air isn’t so thick, the shadows not so pronounced.
Maybe there is a way to change the legacy of Midnight Manor. Maybe it starts with love.
When we arrive on the patio, everyone else is already there, standing with a drink in hand, mingling.
“Hey, guys,” Anabelle says.
Ariana raises her hand in greeting. “Hi, sorry we’re a little late.”
That’s all it takes for Cinder to notice the new piece of jewelry on Ariana’s hand. “Holy shit.”
“What?” Rapsody looks between Cinder and Ariana with concern and confusion. I see when she notices the ring too because her face relaxes, and she squeals.
Next is Anabelle, who shouts, “Congratulations,” and rushes over to give Ariana a hug.
My brothers still look confused, so I do them a favor and say, “Ariana and I just got engaged.”
Each one of them smiles, their faces filled with more than happiness. It’s the satisfaction that despite what went on in this house for so many years, all four of us came through and managed to find our own happiness, regardless of how difficult our dad tried to make that for us.
They each hug me, offering me their best wishes, then turn their attention to their future sister-in-law, who is still showing the girls her ring.
I watch my brothers and their significant others interact with Ariana and offer their congratulations, knowing I’m no longer on the outside. I too know what it means to love and be loved in return. And despite the hell it took to get here, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Ariana glances over her shoulder and smiles.
My angel. My savior. Soon to be my wife.