And that was exactly what I did the rest of the day.
I wrapped my trees up. Packaged them. Then sent them all over the world.
And that night, when I went to bed, I didn’t miss a wink of sleep.
Why?
Because Iris was safe, and there was one less person on this earth that was willing to take her from me.
THE END.
EPILOGUE
Someone has to set the bad example.
-Text from Shine to Iris
IRIS
I thought I was going to die.
Literally and figuratively.
My brain and lungs weren’t quite working right, and there was this weird ringing in my ears that I knew for a fact shouldn’t be happening.
This was it.
This was how I was going to die.
To pay for my sins.
“You’re not going to die, Iris Crow.”
Iris Crow.
My eyes drifted closed, and I thought back to the day that I’d become Mrs. Callum Crow.
• • •
“Do you, Iris, take Shine…” I interrupted the preacher by clearing my throat. “Callum. I love the name Shine, but his name is Callum.”
The preacher, a burly-looking biker who apparently rode around and officiated weddings for a shit ton of bikers, grinned.
And, of course, the ass looked at Callum to get permission.
At Callum’s nod, the old man continued. “Do you, Iris, take Callum to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
I looked over at Callum, contemplating my pending nuptials now that he’d gone and poked the bear with his ‘nod’ at the preacher as if giving permission. As if I couldn’t decide whether to use his real name or not in our freakin’ wedding.
“Quick, say you’re sorry!”
I looked over at Price who was grinning wickedly at me.
“Ruh-roh,” Rook said under his breath. “Abort, abort.”
I flipped them both off, causing my parents to gasp from their seats in the front row.
Honestly, I hadn’t even wanted them there.
After my parents had heard the news of Abby’s death—and it definitely hadn’t been from me, because Callum had sworn me to secrecy—they’d pretty much withdrawn from my life.
A few months after her passing, I’d heard word through Anderson that she’d been declared dead, and that there’d been information found on her belongings, which had been found in a boat in the middle of Lake Superior of all places, that had pretty much damned her when it came to Teller’s death.
From that point on, Abby was never mentioned again by Anderson.
My parents, on the other hand? Despite her culpability when it came to Teller’s death, and the irrefutable proof that came out afterward, they still held Abby on a pedestal in their minds.
Now it was my brother, his wife, and their upcoming child that they were focused on.
Definitely not me.
Honestly, though, I felt somewhat of a relief that they’d checked out of my life.
They’d all but reminded me of what I’d done almost every single time I thought about them or saw them.
Hell, seeing Anderson as much as I did was bad enough.
But seeing them? It was a constant reminder that my sister tried to kill me. Multiple times. And almost succeeded had I not protected myself.
I was so lost in thought that I didn’t realize that I wasn’t engaged in my own damn wedding until a hot mouth pressed against mine.
“You back with me?”
I swallowed hard at the realization that I’d checked out in the middle of something that was super important to me.
God, when Callum had asked me to marry him a few weeks after the bruises from that fateful night began to fade, I’d been gobsmacked.
He’d wanted me?
That was just insane, in my opinion. Why would he want me?
Then his words came back to memory.
“You are the light of my life, and you don’t even know it,” he’d whispered after he’d slipped that ring on my finger. “I didn’t realize all I saw was darkness until you were there lighting the path back to reality. Marry me. Have babies with me. Help me raise them and not let me turn them into overprotected kids who see the beauty in the world. Live the rest of your life with me. Die next to me in bed in sixty years.”
“I’m back with you,” I told him. “Just a little, itty-bitty sense of guilt.”
He snorted. “Shit happens, baby. Then you die. Best live life while you can, and not look back on things you can’t change. Things that you wouldn’t change even if you wanted to.”
He had a point.
“Yes, I’ll take this man to be my husband,” I declared loudly. “And I’ll damn well call him Callum any damn time I please. That all right with you, sunshine?”
He chuckled against my mouth then pulled back until he was looking deep into my eyes.
“Gross!” I heard Anderson cry out. “No more kissing!”
“Thank God someone said it,” Lindy grumbled.
Lindy, God bless her, had turned out to be not so bad after all.
She’d ended up buying Teller’s old house.
She’d also ended up turning into someone that I trusted but didn’t quite like.