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When I turn my back on her, she calls after me between gritted teeth. “Henry!”
“I’m walking away now, Mother. This conversation is the past. It’s done.” I’m done.
The red-carpeted corridor seems to stretch endlessly as I walk towards the champagne bar. I have every mind to turn back and make her take it all back. But I’d be wasting my time. It wasn’t my father I inherited my pride and arrogance from; it was her. She’ll never apologise or back down. Once her mind is made up, Her Highness Princess Margaret, Duchess of Gloucester, is unreasonable and unshakable.
I turn the corner to the bar and pause at the sight of Eve and her sister-in-law. They’re in an animated conversation as the boy from the photo circles them. Checking my hands, I make sure that they’re clean. Suddenly, the distance shrinks. I want to put my hands all over her shimmering form. My chest squeezes at the sight of her with her mane braided and curled into an elegant updo.
Eve turns to look at me, and a slow, beaming smile tugs at her lips as she walks towards me. No pause. No hesitation. She doesn’t wait for me to call her to me. Eve all but jogs to my side. I feel her excitement bubbling through her. It reverberates through me when I take her hand and pull her into me.
How could I not love her when she’s the brightest ray of sunshine I’ve ever seen?
“I felt you watching me.” She grins up at me, her hands fumbling at my dinner jacket as if she’s as desperate to put hands on me as I am to put my hands on her.
“You were splendid, my darling.”
The beaming look on her face becomes impossibly brighter as I press a kiss to the tip of her nose, tracing my fingertips down the deep V of her dress from her nape to the small of her back until she shivers into me.
Rolling onto the tips of her toes, she tucks her face into the crook of my neck. “I imagined it was just you and me back in the red suite.”
“You did?”
“Yep, and it worked.” Cupping one side of my jaw, she holds me to her when her lips press to my neck in a soft kiss. “Like a lucky charm.”
“Are you ready to celebrate?”
Pulling back, Eve presses her hands to my chest. Her big brown eyes darken with a devious glint that causes my heart to run away with itself. Moments like this must be so rare to come by. I can’t imagine feeling this same way ever again. A part of me hopes that these pockets of time will only get better, more precious, while another part can’t imagine anything feeling better than right now, witnessing her happiness and holding her in my arms.
“What did you have in mind, Your Grace?” The put-on accent makes me chuckle.
“I don’t sound like that.”
“I guess since you’ve been slumming it with me, you’ve lost a few of the prunes stuffed in there,” she teases, tapping my lips with her finger.
“I thought it was plums.”
“Prunes…plums…same thing.” Eve gives me an exaggerated roll of her eyes before she turns and gestures towards her family. “They’re waiting to meet you.”
“Making someone wait is a bad first impression.”
“Only if you’re tres poshay, dear.” She puts that voice on again, and this time, a laugh rumbles from deep inside me.
“Eve.” I tug her back to me, spinning her to face me again. “No matter what happens or who you become, don’t ever change, my beautiful darling.”
“Never.” She shakes her head in reply. “Not one bit.”
“Good. You’re perfect just like this.”
“Henry…”
“You’re perfect to me. For me.” Curling one of the soft tendrils framing her face around my finger, I breathe her in. With her scent warming my lungs, I feel complete. At peace, even. Like I am finally home. “You were right.”
“I’m always right.”
“Maybe, but you were definitely right about this. You are made for me. No what-ifs, buts, or maybes. You are everything I’ve ever needed.”
“Glad we’re finally on the same page.” She beams at me.
I feel as though I’m living two lives simultaneously. One where I’m a vindicator or a vigilante and the other where I’m just a man like any other. A lucky son of a bitch in love with the most wonderful woman in the world. While I know that the two will collide at some point, right now, I’m happy living the latter.
