Abby sniffle.
“Oh right,” Fritz said. “You can kiss now.”
Cole’s lips came over hers, and she no longer heard sniffles and she was no longer aware of Fritz or the candles or anything other than Cole. He filled her and in those seconds when he held her, she knew she filled him, too.
“I love you, my Sasha.” His voice was rough and hoarse.
“I love you, Cole.”
It was only Fritz’s cough that finally pulled them apart. She found herself surrounded by Julie and Abby, both of them oohing and ahhing over her collar. Nathaniel and Fritz brought out food that seemed to have appeared from nowhere. Daniel passed out champagne flutes and everyone toasted them.
It was the happiest day of Sasha’s life.
She took Cole’s hand and was about to tell him that very thing when suddenly, everyone got quiet. She looked around, trying to find out what happened. Her gaze wandered up the path she’d walked down with Cole not long ago to find it wasn’t a what, but a who.
***
“Damn it all to fucking hell and back.” Cole knew he should have stopped by Mary Catherine’s house after her interaction with the women. But he’d put it off because he didn’t want to see her and he knew if he went by her house, she’d get the wrong idea.
All that would have been preferable to the look on Sasha’s face when she saw Mary Catherine standing at her collaring ceremony.
“Get her out of here,” Sasha said. “I won’t have her spoiling my perfect day.”
But he was already walking that way. He’d pick the woman up and physically throw her out if he had to.
“I’ve been about as patient as I’m going to be,” he said. “But this is a private event on private property and you need to—”
She held up her hand, but that wasn’t what stopped him. It was the look on her face. She looked like her world had just fallen apart.
“Let me,” she said. “Just one quick word and I’ll leave you alone forever.”
He shook his head. “No, you’ve been nothing but rude to—”
“Let her have her say.” Sasha came up behind her and slipped her hand in his. “Go on, Mary Catherine.”
For once she looked uncertain of herself. Her eyes darted from him to Sasha to their friends behind them. “I don’t . . . I mean . . .” She took a deep breath. “I don’t know exactly what I just witnessed. That is, I think I know, but I’m not sure. But whatever. I know enough to know that my husband never looked at me the way you look at her. And it hit me, I can’t have that with you, but I can have it with someone. I want someone to look at me that way.” She wiped away a tear. “That’s all. And I’m sorry I was mean to you, Sasha. You’re obviously a very special woman.”
Cole could count on one hand the number of times he’d been surprised. Interestingly enough, they all involved Sasha. But nothing surprised him more than when she dropped his hand, walked to Mary Catherine, and hugged her.
“It’s okay,” he heard Sasha say. “Come have some refreshments.”
And though she tried to refuse, his little one was very persuasive. Within minutes, she had Mary Catherine drinking champagne and had introduced her to everyone.
By the time Sasha made it back to his side, the night had grown chilly. He took his jacket off and draped it over her shoulders. “You leave me speechless,” he told her.
She smiled and looked across the lawn to where Julie was talking with Mary Catherine. “I felt bad for her. She lost out on you.”
He chuckled, his heart bursting with love and pride for the woman at his side. “It’s true what Fritz said earlier.”
“That you’re going to punch him?”
“No.” He took her hand and kissed it. Then he slowly entwined their fingers. “What he said about me being unsettled. He was right and I never realized it. I was always looking for something. Do you know that I haven’t once looked into a job overseas since we’ve been together?”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “You haven’t?”
He shook his head. “No.”
It was amazing he’d never noticed it. But he no longer felt the need to travel the world. He was content—settled, to use Fritz’s word—with his life in Delaware. Writing what he felt like, when he felt like it.
Sasha frowned. “I don’t want to keep you from working.”
“It’s not that, little one. It’s that there is no need for me to look anymore. I found what I was searching for.” He traced her collar. The collar that represented who he was and where he came from. The one that had been handed down for hundreds of years. Perhaps because the universe knew this was the woman it was truly meant for. “You may wear my collar, but make no mistake about it. You’re the one who’s claimed me.”
Epilogue
The collaring ceremony was long over. Mary Catherine had left for her house hours ago, waving and telling everyone to keep in touch and come back soon. Fritz left shortly after, saying he’d see everyone in Delaware in a few months. Abby and Nathaniel were flying to Switzerland in the morning to spend a few days at their chalet and had turned in early. Julie and Daniel had stayed up with them the longest, but even they eventually turned in, knowing Cole and Sasha wanted some alone time.
It was early in the morning and though they were flying home in a few hours, neither Cole nor Sasha could pull themselves away from the other long enough to sleep.
“I don’t even know if it’s worth it to try and get any sleep now.” Sasha was as content as she could be, laying on Cole’s chest, his heart beating in her ear.
“I don’t, either. Though I must say I’m envious of Nathaniel and Abby’s private jet.”
“You don’t think you’ll be able to sleep on the flight home?” Sasha asked.
“It’s not that. I won’t be able to strip you down and do wicked things to your body.”
She laughed. “It may do us good to take a breather.”
“Isn’t that what we’re doing now?”
“I mean a longer breather.”
His arms tightened around her. “I’m never going to get enough of you.”
“I certainly hope not.”
“It was a perfect day, wasn’t it?” His fingers lightly brushed her collar.
“Yes.” She propped up on one elbow and looked down on him. “Know what surprised me, though?”
“Mary Catherine?”
Mary Catherine showing up had definitely been a surprise. Not to mention the way she’d looked when she was confessing how her ex-husband never looked at her and how lonely she was. The pain in her eyes was obvious, but even more so because Sasha knew exactly how she felt. Before she’d gotten together with Cole, how many times had she seen the way Daniel looked at Julie and wanted to be on the receiving end of a look like that?
The pain of those memories had been what moved her forward and caused her to wrap her arms around the hurting woman. But as surprising as that entire scene had been, that wasn’t what had surprised her the most.
“No, not her,” Sasha said. “I was thinking about Fritz.”
“I still owe him a punch in the gut.” Cole appeared to be in deep thought. “But I might let him get away with it since everything he said was true. What was surprising about him?”
“I didn’t expect for him to be so poetic.”
“Fritz? Poetic? I’m not sure he’d think that was a compliment.”
“That’s why what he said was so surprising. It didn’t fit the image I had of him. It came as a shock to hear him talk about love the way he did. Is he with someone?”
Coles’ expression clouded over briefly. “No, he’s never been serious about anyone, as far as I know.”
Which seemed odd to her. “The way he talked it would seem otherwise.”
“Let me rephrase,” Cole said. “He hasn’t been serious about anyone he’s been with. I do think he has feelings for someone.”
“Unrequited love sucks.” She kissed him just because she could. “I feel bad for him.”