Page 34 of Till Death Do Us Part

“Caitlyn…” Elaine looked down, but I could see the hint of blush in her cheeks.

She was doing something terrible to me by, somehow, making me sentimental. I was used to killing cold-hearted monsters, people who deserved it. But Elaine had never done anything except help people. Even me.

If she had to die, I wanted her to at least die happy.

“We can spare some budget for a ceremony,” I said, and Elaine looked wild-eyed at me. “Nothing fancy. Just something nice. We’ll call it a welcome ceremony to this new place… to where you’ll be spending some time until we’re sure you’re safe.”

Elaine swallowed hard. “I wouldn’t want to… I couldn’t possibly keep troubling you for more—”

Caitlyn clapped her hands down on the table. “Elaine says yes! She wants to.”

“Cait!”

Petra and I exchanged glances, and Petra chuckled. “Then I guess we’ll go shopping for your new computer and for wedding decorations tomorrow.”

Caitlyn beamed at Elaine. “I like your wife’s friends.”

We were quick to crash after we finished food, all four of us exhausted, and I cleaned up the mess while Petra helped Caitlyn upstairs to show her around the bath and to her own room—Petra promised to get her wheelchair here and make sure everything was set up for her to get around, but Caitlyn assured her that she’d be able to move around the house okay—and then I took my shower, too, getting ready for bed. I found Elaine in the library after I finished, wearing her white dress again, a book in her hands as she sat under the tall arched window, silhouetted perfectly against moonlit rainfall.

“Guess you really will be happy here,” I said, sidling up next to her, and she jolted, only just noticing I was there. “Enough books to keep you happy for years.”

She blushed, looking down at the book. “It’s an impressive collection… is it your family’s?”

“It’s Blackbird now. So, sort of.”

“Do you… like them? The Blackbirds, I mean.”

I shrugged, leaning against the window, the loose cotton of my pajama shirt leeching the cold from the glass. “They’re my family. Well, they’re Glenn’s family.”

“Glenn… is he the head?”

I nodded. “Hopefully you won’t have to meet him. A very intense man.”

“Do you like him?”

I scoffed. “Not really the important thing. It’s a crime family. We’re not singing kumbaya around the fire.”

She looked down at her hands, folded on top of the book. “You seem so… lonely, Vera,” she whispered. “Like you’re right there, but at the same time, you’re so far away… that I can’t even find you.”

I scowled, turning away. “I’m not the type for friends. I don’t chat. I don’t open up.”

She laughed quietly. “Not even for your wife?”

“Hm.” I couldn’t fight a small smile. “I know what I’d ask for from my wife.”

She cocked her head. “What’s that?”

I smiled. She flushed as she realized, eyes wide, looking down.

“Oh! Right… right.” She cleared her throat. “You don’t need to, er… go… find someone to handle the situation with?”

“Don’t really have time right now. I wait until the mission is done.”

“Right… so, after we’ve gotten married.”

“Could make it easier, if you’re offering.”

She put a hand over her face, blushing down to her neck now. “I’m not…”