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I laughed. “There’s still more?”

“One thing.”

He offered me his hand and I took it. The music softened behind us as we slipped away from the reception, moving deeper into the conservatory where the celebration gradually gave way to silence. Snow continued to gather against the great panes of glass. He stopped before a single orchid.

“This is the one.”

I followed his gaze. An orchid stood quietly among dozens of others, its ivory blossoms open beneath the winter light.

Then I smiled. “The orchid.”

He nodded. More than a year earlier, standing in this very conservatory, he had told me something I hadn’t fully understood.

A place that reminds us that important things take time. Nothing in here can be rushed. Not the orchids. Not the trees. Not even the soil they grow in. Sometimes the best thing you can do is give something the space to become, and trust that you’ll recognize it when it does.

Looking at the orchid now, I understood what he had meant.

“Even the orchids know when to bloom.”

Alexander looked at me instead of the flower. “They do.”

Alexander lifted my hand and brushed a gentle kiss to it.

“Ready?” he asked.

I looked back toward the reception. Warm light spilled through the open doors. Friends who had once been strangers filled the room with laughter, conversation and joy.

Then I looked at Alexander. “Yes.”

Together, we walked back toward the light.

Hand in hand.

Home.

Epilogue

Marcus

The orchestra played softly near the windows while conversations drifted easily between tables.

Winston had abandoned all professional dignity in favor of accepting admiration from every guest willing to scratch behind his ears.

Alexander stood across the room with Emilia, speaking to someone I didn’t recognize. For eleven years, watching him had been part of my job. Tonight, it wasn’t.

He caught me looking across the room. I raised my glass. He smiled once before returning his attention to his wife.

A few minutes earlier, I had watched Georg Winter return Charlotte to the edge of the dance floor. I knew enough about Georg to notice. I chose not to examine the other reasons I had been watching.

“Always working?”

I turned. Charlotte stood beside me holding a glass of champagne. “I thought the best man gets the night off.”

“I do.”

“Can I ask you something?”

I nodded.