Fire and Ash (Immortal Touch) (48 page)

“I’m sorry, Eva. I’m so sorry…”

“You saved my life - what do you have to apologize for? I should be thanking you.”

A bitter laugh escaped
Sami’s throat. “
Thanking
me? I could have killed you!”

“But you didn’t.”

If you only knew how close I came.
“God…I’ll never understand what drove him to do this. Or why I let him manipulate me the way he did.”

“Loving an immortal can be…all-consuming. I know
this from experience. I was human myself when I fell in love with Julian.”

“
You were?”

“Let’s just say
, I can relate to what you’re going through.”

Sami wasn’t convinced of that. How could
this girl honestly claim to identify with her situation when the one she loved was still by her side? And when he was capable of loving her wholeheartedly in return? It was so damned
unfair.
And the most painful part was knowing that even now, even after everything he’d done…she still loved him. Nothing had changed. She would still follow him to the ends of the earth, given the chance.

Tristan
was slowing the boat. The girls exchanged looks as he shut off the engine, and Sami released a sigh. “Guess it’s time to get this over with.”

“The sooner the better,” Julian agreed as he joined them.

“Thanks for going along with this. I know to you, it must seem like a pointless thing to do.”

“
Well, if it were up to
me
we would have left his corpse for the vultures to feed upon. But I suppose I can understand why you feel the need to do this. And I am indebted to you.” He grabbed one end of the limp body that had been wrapped in a blue tarp and bound with rope. Tristan lifted the other end with considerably more care, and together they heaved it over the side. There was a lonely splash as it dropped into the shimmering waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

With
cold hands, Sami brought Asher’s head to her heart. It was bound in plastic as well - she couldn’t bear to see those blue eyes staring back at her when she sacrificed it to the depths of the ocean. And forcing herself to do just that was infinitely more painful than any slash of the blade. How ironic that he would still have the ability to hurt her, even now.

The bundle submerged quickly, disappearing from sight
far more quickly than she’d expected. In mere seconds it was gone. Behind it she dropped one white rose, then watched with a lump in her throat as Tristan followed suit. He had tears in his eyes.

“I’m sorry it had to end this way,”
she said softly.

“
So am I…but I know it must be for the best.”

Sami watched
as the sparkling ripples tossed the roses to and fro. Oddly enough, they never separated. The two flowers seemed determined to remain close together. “I’ll keep telling myself that.”

“I have a feeling I’ll be trying to convince myself of it for a long time to come.” Tristan turned his attention to Julian. “What
will I tell the others?”

His
response was simple. “You can tell them they’re now free to make their own choices.”

They headed back in the direction of the shore, each to
his own destiny. Julian and Eva were secure in theirs, Tristan somewhat less so, and Sami…

She’d
watched her destiny sink to the bottom of the sea.

“Come to
San Francisco with me,” Tristan proposed. “There’s plenty of room at my place - I could use a roommate. I get tired of having only myself to talk to. You’d be doing me a favor.”

“Tristan. That’s really sweet
of you to say, but…”

“
And if you decide you still want to become one of us, I’ll do that for you. Just don’t stay here alone with his ghost, Sami. It’s not good for you.”

His offer was
respectfully but firmly declined.

“
What will you do then?”

Suddenly feeling very tired,
she rested her head on the railing. “I wish I knew.”

~*~*~*~

May 3rd

“Do you, Julian Radley Winter, take this woman before you to be your wedded wife, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love, comfort, honor and keep her for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to her so long as you both shall live?”

“I do.”

“Please place the ring on her finger and repeat after me. ‘I give you this ring, which is bound to my heart. Wear it always as a symbol of my love.’”

Slipping the ring on her hand, he
gazed far enough into her eyes to reach her soul as he repeated the words. “I give you this ring, which is bound to my heart. Wear it always as a symbol of my love.”

“
And do you, Evangeline Rowan Spencer, take this man before you to be your wedded husband, to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love, comfort, honor and keep him for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful to him so long as you both shall live?”

“I do.”

“Then please place the ring on his finger and repeat after me. ‘I give you this ring, which is bound to my heart. Wear it always as a symbol of my love.’”

She
blinked back tears of pure joy as she slid the ring on his finger and silently prayed she wouldn’t botch the simple words. “I give you this ring, which is bound to my heart. Wear it always as a symbol of my love.”

The minister smiled at them. “
This is the part you’ve been waiting for. By the authority vested in me by the state of Oregon, I now declare you husband and wife.”

~*~*~*~

On a stone terrace underneath a lit archway adorned with white casablanca lilies and purple wisteria vines, surrounded by gardens of pink and lavender foxglove, Julian and Eva were joined together at sunset in the tradition of mortals.

And in
her eyes, it couldn’t have been more beautiful or more perfect. Surrounded by friends and family, they danced their first dance as husband and wife to the hauntingly sweet strains of
Requiem for a Captive Butterfly
. Their eyes spoke for their hearts as they lost themselves in one another, the rest of the world taking flight on the wings of the music. Every note, composed exclusively for her from the depths of a soul waking from three decades of slumber.

“I’m never letting you out of my sight again, Mrs. Winter,” he whispered near the end of the song.

“I’m holding you to that promise.” She rested her cheek against the black tuxedo jacket of her dashing new husband. Her happiness was complete.

He was as good as his word. Dancing with her estranged father later, Eva felt
Julian’s soft voice in her ear breathing
I love you
from across the room. She met his gaze and smiled, mouthing the words back over her dad’s shoulder.

“Seems like it wasn’t that long ago I was dancing with you at
Miss Maybelline Higgenbottom’s tea parties,” Edwin Spencer commented.

She was
astonished. “You remember that?” It seemed so long ago. When she was a little girl, she used to dress up in her mother’s clothes and call herself by that silly but imaginative name. It was a game they played together. She would draw colorful party invitations with her crayons, issuing them to her dolls and the alter ego of her father. He attended as Sir Wiggypig and they both sipped lemonade out of tiny plastic teacups with their noses in the air while discussing important matters such as what made boys so disgusting, and the odds of Santa Claus being able to deliver a zebra for Christmas.

“
Of course I remember.” There was wistfulness in his voice, something she hadn’t expected. After all these years, was he having regrets? Well, people could change. His appearance certainly had. She hadn’t seen him since her high school graduation, and in those brief years he’d grown thinner and grayer. He looked older than a man in his mid-forties should.

“Do you have tea parties with your other kids?” she couldn’t help asking. Not surprisingly, he and
a very pregnant Michelle had arrived alone, sans children. It only helped to confirm her suspicion that they had no clue their older sister even existed.

“Not so much
anymore, no. I work a lot. My practice is doing very well.”

“Oh…that’s good.”
A generic response, but it was all she could come up with. She felt awkward with this man who had once been her hero but was now little more than a stranger to her.

“It’s a little creepy, the resemblance.” He was indicating Julian.

“I guess. I don’t really remember his father all that well. He moved away when I was about ten or eleven, I think.”

“After I was gone.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You were better off
, Evie,” he said suddenly, calling her by the nickname she hadn’t heard him use since she was six. Judging by the catch in his voice, the admission must have been a hard one for him to make.

“It might have been nice if I’d ha
d the opportunity to decide that for myself.”

“
Well, it looks like you turned out all right. And your mother…it looks like she’s done well for herself too.” He shot a glance at Abby, who was all smiles as she danced with Grant Reynolds.

“Yeah…she’s doing
great.”

“She looks…
really pretty.”

Wanting to avoid this
thorny territory, Eva steered him in a different direction. “So when’s the baby due?”

“Oh. U
h…early next month.”

“Boy or girl? Do you know?”

“Boy.” He sounded disturbingly apathetic about something as monumental as the impending arrival of his own child. Maybe he hadn’t changed so much, after all. He might not be off the mark with the claim that she’d been better off without him. Besides, she’d turned out okay in the long run. No use wondering
what if.

“I’m glad you were able to be here.
It means a lot to me that you came.”

Her words seemed to make him uncomfortable. “
To be honest, I was planning on bowing out, but Michelle insisted we come. Said I’d always regret it if I didn’t. Glad I listened. Sometimes she has more sense than I give her credit for.”

“Oh yeah?”
The lonely-looking woman in the homely maternity dress didn’t even remotely resemble the cheap, busty blonde she remembered. And the realization struck her that maybe, as a child she’d seen only what she wanted to see. A heartless, man-eating tramp who selfishly stole her father away. But it took two to tango, and people couldn’t be categorized in terms of black and white. There must have been so much more to it than she’d been aware of at the time.

Sometimes things just…happened.
That was life.

She approached Michelle after
the song ended, unsure of whether it was a sense of closure she was searching for or whether she just felt pity for the woman who seemed out of place among the happy, boisterous crowd.

“How’s the little bun coming along?” she
inquired sociably.

“Oh…he’s
doing pretty good. I have a feeling he’s going to make an early appearance. Either that or he’s going to be a very big boy.” Michelle rubbed her huge belly.

“Have you picked out a name yet?”

“I’m - we’re still trying to decide between a few.”

Maybe it was just Eva, but she got the distinct feeling Edwin
hadn’t been terribly involved in this pregnancy. The poor woman…she obviously didn’t have it easy. A houseful of kids and a detached husband who was rarely home. What a life.

“I’m kind of leaning towards Adam Colin.”

“Oh, I like that…Adam Colin Spencer. That’s a pretty name.”

“
I think so too…
oh!
” She flinched and doubled over a bit.

“Are you okay?”
Good grief, surely she wasn’t going to go into labor right here and now! How far away was the nearest hospital anyway?

“
I’m fine, the little stinker just jabbed me. He’s an active one. Been jumping around in there all night. I think he likes the music.”

Eva
regarded her round stomach enviously. “May I?”

“Sure, go ahead. Right here.”

She placed her hand on the spot and almost immediately felt a tiny kick underneath her palm. It made her laugh. “I think you have a future sports star in the making.”

“A kickboxer,
I’d say!” Michelle agreed with a smile.

Eva made a mental note to send a
special gift for the baby. Anonymously, of course. She might never be a part of his life but at least she could provide something nice for him.

The
guests were served dinner on the patio around the firepit half an hour later. Dr. Reynolds and Eva’s mother were seated at their table, along with Lainie who was chatting up Abby like an old friend. The woman never met a stranger. Eva had missed her cheerful presence and had already smothered her with at least a dozen hugs since her arrival two days ago. She was staying at the chalet and looking after Rio while they were away, and Julian was trying to persuade her to stay on with them beyond that.