Tucker’s eyes opened first, betraying his confusion and then his panic as he searched for Mary, rolling over to grasp her by the shoulders and shake her, oblivious of their audience.
He called Mary’s name hoarsely until she reached up and traced his features with the pads of her fingers, a smile gracing her mouth when she confirmed who it was. “Tucker.”
“Mary.” He pulled her into his arms, tears streaking down both of their cheeks. “Mary.”
There was something different about them, though.
Jonas, Elias and Roksana were the first to notice it and they traded a smile at the front of the hall. Tucker had indeed come back exactly as he wanted to be.
And Mary must have yearned for the same, because her radiance no longer stirred around her head or glowed from beneath her skin. She wore a different kind of radiance—that of a woman who would spend her life growing old with the man she loved. A woman who didn’t need her sight to be whole. That brilliance shone twice as bright and it always would.
“You’re human,” Tucker breathed, his eyes tracking over her face frantically. “Is this what you wanted. Is this—”
Mary stopped him with a kiss, pulling back. “More than anything. More than anything, I want the good and bad with you.” She mashed their foreheads together. “A messy house. Long road trips full of endless complaining. Little league games, trips to the emergency room, last-minute barbeques. As long as you’re there.”
“Ah, honey. Try and keep me away.” He used her shoulder to swipe his eyes. “God, I love you so much. Are you sure? Your vision—”
“I’ve seen you, Tucker. I’ve seen the most beautiful sight this world can offer me. And I don’t need working eyes to be grateful and happy. To feel the earth’s beauty. The beauty we make together. I love you.” She kissed his cheeks, his mouth, a laugh of pure happiness bubbling from her lips. “Let’s go live.”
Tucker slid his arms beneath Mary and cradled her to his chest, a wealth of emotion crossing his face as he exchanged a nod with his father, mother and a trio of vampires standing at the front of their quiet audience, all while backing slowly toward the entrance. They stopped and took the world in which neither of them had ever truly belonged, left it all behind and went to go build their own. Together. Today, tomorrow and always.
Epilogue
Ten Years Later
Tucker carried Mary on his back down the sandy pathway to the lake, her red hair whipping in the wind around both of their heads, her contented sigh filling his ear. It was sunset. Two boys and one girl dashed ahead of them, fading in and out of the horizon light. Oranges and pinks and yellows made up their world. Behind them, nestled among the trees, stood a blue split-level on the lake with a white fence. A fire pit out back. Their rambling green yard was a collection of baseball bats, puppy toys, shoes and bicycles. It was paradise.
After the battle that fortified Jonas’s presence on the throne, Tucker and Mary spent a year completing every item on her bucket list. From fishing on the ocean to picking oranges from trees to holding a monkey, they’d done it all. Every second of it had been satisfying, magical, a true coming to life for both of them, but nothing compared to now. To the place they’d settled into for good, right there in their breathtaking corner of the earth.
Carl stepped out into the open at the end of the path, waving enthusiastically at his grandchildren who nearly topped the man with hugs. “I was going to send out a search party for you!” he laughed, stooping forward slightly to wrap his arms around them, his snow-white hair ruffled by the wind. “Last one in the water has to clean up after the barbeque.”
Mary buried her face in Tucker’s neck and laughed at the squealing that ensued, enjoying the taste of salt, both from the windy air and the beloved skin of her husband who’d just returned home from a long day at the auto body shop he owned in town. During the school year, Mary worked there, too, scheduling appointments and answering phones—and spending a lot of time in the break room making love to her husband—but it was summer now. Her hours were spent with the kids and Carl, who lived in their guest house, on the shores of their cherished lake, one day rolling into the next in a burnished haze.
A breeze lifted the hair on Mary’s neck, her nose tingling enough that she lifted her head. She might be human, but her senses were still sharper than most. For instance, she could pinpoint the exact moment the sun dipped out of view, leaving their lake in a perfect purple twilight, as it was right now. “They’re here.”