Freeing Rowan (Masters Club 3)

Rowan stood taller, no longer leaning against Eric for support. She nodded slowly, both compassion and strength in her gaze. “Thank you, John. Thank you for that.”

“Good boy,” Mistress Anne said, patting Garfield’s head as if he were a puppy. “I’m proud of you.”

He leaned into her touch, another tear rolling down his cheek. “Thank you, Mistress,” he whispered.

Olivia and Michael chose that moment to emerge from the office, both in their winter coats, Olivia’s feet now shod in sneakers. “Forget about dinner,” Olivia was saying, her hands braced around the beach ball of her belly. “This baby has a hankering for an ice cream sundae, and she won’t be denied.”

Michael looked from Rowan and Eric to the couple in the recovery area. “Everything okay here?”

“Everything’s fine now,” Mistress Anne replied, leaning over to kiss the top of Garfield’s head. “Love the new stocks, by the way. Pretty Boy loves them too, don’t you?”

“Yes, Mistress,” Garfield replied, smiling now.

“What was that all about?” Michael asked Eric quietly as they moved toward the exit.

Eric shook his head and smiled. “Just the universe righting itself for a change.”

~*~

Rowan dipped a spoon in her ice cream sundae and lifted it to her mouth. French vanilla, hot fudge, pecans, real whipped cream—in other words, heaven. She’d quite liked Olivia’s suggestion of ice cream for dinner. It was the perfect food when one had suffered a shock, and Rowan had definitely been thrown for a loop by the sight of Master John, naked and on his knees.

When he’d apologized like that, without caveats or excuses, the last coiled bit of anxiety and rage still trapped in her gut had dissolved. And, while the trauma she’d suffered at his hands had been real, she no longer wished she could have rewritten that part of her life.

If he hadn’t shipped her off to the Masters Club for training, she never would have found Eric. She wouldn’t have met Cleo, and good friends like Michael and Olivia. She never would have fully appreciated just how right things were now, if they hadn’t been so terribly wrong back then.

Who would have ever thought Master John would have morphed into a sub boy? She hoped the couple had found real happiness together. Nevertheless, she couldn’t suppress a grin as she scooped another spoonful of ice cream from the glass bowl. Things had certainly come full circle.

“That hit the spot,” Olivia announced, dropping her spoon with a clink into her empty bowl. “Now that baby girl’s had her ice cream, I’m ready for my burger, rare, extra pickles.”

They all laughed, and Michael put his arm around his wife, his face suffused with love. Rowan leaned into Eric, wondering if she’d ever been happier, and deciding she had not.

As Michael called over the waiter to order Olivia’s burger, Eric reached for Rowan’s hand beneath the table. With his other hand, he lifted his beer mug. “I’d like to propose a toast,” he said.

Everyone automatically lifted their glasses, their expressions expectant.

“First, to love and babies,” he said, nodding toward Michael and Olivia, who beamed back at him as they clicked glasses and sipped.

“True confession time,” Eric continued. “I used to be horribly jealous of you guys, so ga-ga in love with each other. I tried to tell myself I didn’t need what you had, but I was lying.” He turned to regard Rowan, a lovely smile lifting his lips and crinkling the corners of his eyes. “I found my true love six months ago today, and I want to share my joy with two of our best friends in the world.”

“Aww,” Olivia crooned. “I am loving this. Our very own Hallmark movie.”

The comment might have been sarcastic from someone else’s lips, but Rowan knew how much Olivia loved Hallmark movies, so she only smiled.

Eric chuckled. Reaching into the inner pocket of his coat, he removed an oblong jewelry box. Opening the box, he lifted out a necklace on a delicate gold chain and held it for Rowan to see. It was an exact replica of his winged tattoo, beautifully wrought in onyx and gold.

“I had this made for you, my darling.”

“It’s perfect,” she breathed, awed. “Just like you.” Without planning it, she slipped from her chair and knelt up beside her Dom.

Bowing her head, she lifted her heavy hair from the back of her neck. Eric bent toward her and placed the necklace around her throat. His gaze softened as he stared into her eyes. “Rowan, will you be my sub girl forever? More importantly, will you be my wife?”

The entire world stopped in that moment, holding its breath as it waited for her answer.

“Yes,” she replied, though her voice sounded far away, her heart beating like a drum in her ears. “Yes, yes, yes.”

Michael shouted his congratulations and Olivia clapped as Eric pulled Rowan up and into his arms. Patrons at several nearby tables were applauding as well as Rowan buried her face in Eric’s strong shoulder.