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“If it’s a ring you’re wanting, this will have to do until I can find you a proper one.”
Taking my hand, he tied the soft black yarn around my finger, knotting it tight so it wouldn’t slip. “There. Now you do one for me.” He offered me the other strand, his eyes twinkling with pleasure.
I could barely see through the tears that were filling my eyes. I managed, though, tying my ring around his finger and sealing it with a kiss on his hand.
“I now pronounce us husband and wife. I’m going to kiss my bride, if you have no objections.”
I laughed, the tears running freely down my cheeks now as he took my face between his hands and claimed me as his with a tender kiss. I could feel his smile against my mouth, sense the happiness this one small moment gave him.
Not only him, me as well. It was perfect. A little slice of heaven we’d carved out just for ourselves. I knew it was fleeting, that reality would creep back in sooner rather than later, but I didn’t care. If anything, that only made me appreciate it more. Something in me knew moments like these were numbered.
I shivered, the unwanted thought sending tendrils of dread spiraling out from my belly.
“You’re cold. Let me put another log on the fire.” Caleb stepped away, his brows furrowing when he took in our nearly empty woodpile. “I guess I’ll be going out to collect more firewood.”
Relief flooded me. “Such a good husband.”
He grinned, nearly boyish and full of pride. “You bundle up on the couch. My girls need to stay warm. I’ll return soon, and we can continue celebrating. Technically itisour wedding night. How does that sound?”
Fuck, my heart was going to burst. This was the man he was meant to be. The provider, the devoted husband and father. I loved seeing him like this.
“I love you, Caleb,” I murmured as he walked to the door, my thumb rubbing over the fuzzy ring on my finger.
“And I you, wife.”
My cheeks hurt from smiling as he whipped the door open and hurried outside. The draft that swept in was practically arctic. The gust was strong enough to send a vase toppling over on the table and toss the coats hanging by the door halfway across the living room. Leaves and rain blew in, littering the floor, and a bone-deep chill hit me from even the short burst of the raging storm.
“Well, Sunday, you wanted something to keep your hands busy. Looks like you’re on cleanup duty.” I wasn’t sure it was worth it since Caleb would open the door again when he came back inside, but it gave me something to do.
I righted the vase first to stop the water from spilling onto the hardwood. Then I moved to grab a towel but stopped when I spotted the coats. They were directly in the path of the door, and with his arms full, I didn’t think Caleb would see them. As amused as I was by the image of my proper priest slipping and falling on his ass, I was more excited about what he might have in store for ourwedding night.
I waddled to the pile of coats and scarves, bending down as gracefully as possible—which wasn’t graceful at all—and scooped up two of the heavy wool coats. After hanging those, then a few more, I reached down to pick up the last remaining scarf, my heart lurching as the memory of Caleb’s attachment to it hit me. The last thing I wanted was his family heirloom getting even more tattered.
The amulet Natalie gave me swung free from its place beneath my shirt as I leaned forward and grasped the fabric. The baby kicked hard, pain slicing through my side and making me gasp as I straightened, but then everything around me went black, cold, and deathly still.
Hoofbeats pounded in my ears, so loud I cried out in pain, and the voice from my dream, the one speaking to my mother, said, “I’m coming for her, Sunday.”
On instinct, I threw the scarf away from me, straight into the fire, needing to block out any connection that evil had to this place. To Caleb. To us.
I watched it burn, slowly catching fire. The smoke curling from smoldering fabric was not the usual gray I expected but a pale red, sickly and wrong.
The door opened, Caleb stumbling in with an armful of wood, his hair wet from the rain. “There are few times I’m thankful I’m a vampire. This is one of the—” His gaze locked on the fire, eyes widening as he dropped the wood.
“Caleb, I’m sorry... I—”
“No!” He lunged past me, reaching in and attempting to grab the now fully engulfed fabric, but it was nothing more than ashes in his hands. He turned to me, his eyes wild with panic. “What have you done?”
ChapterTwenty-Eight
CALEB
Iwas going to be sick. My heartbeat, which had been an infernal beast since the moment I recognized it had resumed, faltered. Spots danced in front of my eyes. I should have never left her alone. The damned fool had just signed her own death warrant. Everything I’d done. All of it. For nothing.
“Caleb, I think you need to sit down.”
“I’m already on my bloody knees.”
“Please, come sit on the couch. You’re scaring me.”
