Faye grins. “I thought you’d like it.”
“We should start the movie soon.” I think I detect a slight crack in Kady’s voice. She’s secretly more emotional than she lets on. She points at the screen, tucking her feet underneath her. “You do have a flight to catch in the morning, Del.”
Del starts to hand out snacks, ignoring Kady. “I made everyone’s favorites for the occasion.”
She passes me a slab of toffee cheesecake, hands a colossal slice of chocolate fudge cake to Faye, and a lemon tart to Kady, reserving a mini key lime pie for herself.
Kady sighs as she takes a bite. “I do miss your cooking.”
We all get comfortable as the movie comes on, laughing along and talking through most of it.
“I can’t believe Orin planned this for me.” I grin as I scoop up cheesecake crumbs with my finger. “I mentioned to Luca that something like is just what I need, but how did Orin know?”
“Sometimes your bonded mates can know you even better than you know yourself,” Faye remarks wisely.
I arch an eyebrow. “I’ll remind you of that next time Laz buys you another retro game for your birthday.”
“It was a sweet thought,” she insists. “He thought it’d be fun to play Harvest Moon together, and he painted a pretty canvas for the nest too!”
Kady snorts. “At least he has Riven to take to the arcade club now.”
Sitting with the three of them, everything feels so right. I can even smell the faint sage, clover, and amber of the Stella balm, suspended in the air, tying us all together as we listen to Kady’s sarcastic dissection of the character choices while Delilah argues the merits of true love.
When the credits start to roll, Faye is wiping her eyes. It was a pretty awful ending, but she’s a sucker for a romantic movie.
Kady sighs and checks her watch. “We better go.”
It’s just past 1am.
“Isn’t it weird that we’re not going back to our own rooms?” Delilah says as we stand.
“I’m glad we had one more night here together,” Faye replies.
“Me too,” I agree.
Every omega who joins Stella House is anointed with a sacred balm, unifying us as scent sisters and forever friends. It’s only fitting that we celebrated our last night in this house in the place where we all took our sisterhood vows.
“Orin told me that Margie has organized for the place to be cleaned out tomorrow,” Kady informs us. She sniffs the air. “It won’t smell like this anymore.”
And we won’t ever enjoy the custom-made scent again; the blend pumped through the air conditioning system was made specifically for the four of us.
As we head downstairs, rejoined by Larry at our heels, I pause to take one final look around the hallway. I gaze at the staircase, knowing exactly which step creaks, peer down at the patterned rugs covering the floor including a slightly stained spot from Kady spilling red wine.
Once we’ve all filed out, Kady closes the egg-shell blue door to Stella House behind us. I draw in a sharp breath at the gentle clicking noise. It sounds so…final.
I wrap my arm around Faye’s shoulder as she leans against me, Delilah taking my other hand. I even see Kady bite her lip as she turns the key in the lock.
“I guess that’s it,” Kady says, scooping Larry into her arms. “The end of an era.”
“This isn’t the end.” Delilah’s voice is thick with emotion. “This is only the start of the rest of our stories. Our very own happily ever afters. We have found the men of our dreams, and…” She squeezes my hand. “We’ve got each other.”
“You can take the girls out of Stella House, but you can’t take the Stella out of the girl,” I chirp, tears prickling the backs of my eyes.
“None of you are getting rid of me.” Kady sniffs as she pets Larry’s head. “Trust me, I have the ability to hunt you all down using every single one of the Sinclair resources.”
Larry gives a meow in what sounds like agreement.
We amble down the porch steps, pausing one last time to take another look up at the beautiful house, taking in its stained glass windows, the wild flowers in hanging baskets, and the hammock seats on the porch that sway in the gentle breeze.
