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“Make love to me again, Zane, then do it again for the next thousand years.”
He smiled and kissed her.
Yes, he would do that for at least a thousand years and maybe more depending on how much time each was given in the world of the Nine Realms.
~
Three weeks later, Zane clutched Olivia’s hand as he stood outside the Freeport Art Gallery. One of his wife’s paintings was on an easel in the large, picture window. A small girl with long, black hair stood in the middle of a field holding a bouquet of purple wildflowers in her hands.
The painting was beautiful, like Emily, like her work had always been.
Olivia covered her hand with his. “I can feel how tense you are. Sure you’re ready?”
“I am.” He squeezed her hand. “But it’s hard as hell because this was my failure. I failed this woman.”
“Maybe you’ll find a way to make it up to her that will ease your heart and hers.”
After he’d bonded with Olivia and spent a proper amount of time in bed with her, he’d spent many nights talking over what to do about Emily. Legally, for one thing, he was still married to the woman.
In the end, the greater struggle had been with his guilt-laden feelings about having made it impossible for her to walk away from their marriage. He’d gone the entire gamut of absolute rage that she’d left without telling him, to another round of grief that she’d been so afraid of him, she’d faked her own death.
When he’d finally contacted her by phone. She’d been only mildly surprised to hear his voice, having confessed she’d always known this day would come. She’d also apologized more than once for having left as she did.
Thankfully, she’d agreed to see him.
He wanted to make peace with her and to let her know she could move back to Swanicott without fear of repercussion of any kind, if that’s what she wanted to do.
And now he was in Freeport.
Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and saw her standing at the end of a row of paintings. A window beyond offered a view of the docks.
She wore a flowing, green cotton gown, the kind fae women generally preferred and which suited her artistic temperament. She nodded to him, but didn’t seem particularly upset by his arrival. Instead, he noticed tight tension lines creasing the skin beside her eyes that he instinctively knew had nothing to do with him. She began moving in his direction.
She was as lovely as he remembered, with long flowing brown hair and blue eyes much like his own.
He waited with Olivia near the front door, still holding her hand, only now his heart raced.
When Emily drew close, he shook his head and began, “I’m so sorry, Em. Like I said on the phone, I was a brute. If I’d understood—”
“It’s fine. Sweet Goddess, it’s fine. Because of what I’ve done, you have nothing to apologize for.”
She glanced at Olivia. Zane took the hint and made the introduction.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Emily said.
Olivia nodded. “And you.”
Zane had told Emily he had a new woman in his life and she’d sounded genuinely happy for him.
But when Emily’s lips quivered and tears filled her eyes, Zane didn’t know what to think. He was so surprised that he glanced at Olivia whose green eyes were wide. She shrugged as though she, too, didn’t have a clue what was distressing Emily.
“Hey,” he asked quietly. “Why are you upset?”
Suddenly, she simply covered her face with her hands and burst into tears.
Again, he glanced at Olivia. I don’t know what the hell’s going on.
Did she say anything on the phone when you spoke to her?
