“You’re forty-five. I’m over one hundred. We both know what we want out of life…and marriage. Do you see this heading anywhere but to the altar?”
Astra shook her head and her eyes filled up with tears.
“Don’t cry,” he pleaded, pulling her head to his shoulder.
She inhaled, her breath catching several times as she took air into her lungs. “I was worried that you would still be angry with me. That you would be done with me.”
He kissed the crown of her head. “Of course not. I was hurt and disappointed, but not truly angry. I shouldn’t have walked away like I did. And I should have been the one to call you this week. But when I saw your sisters, they said I should wait. I believe their exact words were ‘let her stew. She’ll make the right choice then.’ I didn’t like it, but they were right, weren’t they?”
Astra wanted to be angry, she wanted to bitch about her sisters, but they were right. If he’d called her. If he’d told her that he understood and that he was willing to give her time, she still wouldn’t have said anything to her mother this weekend.
“They were,” she murmured against his shoulder. “And as much as it hurt to watch you walk away from me, you had to do it. I would have procrastinated for another month or two or until the point where you were ready to end the relationship because of it.” She sighed and lifted her head. “And I needed to do it. I needed to push my mother out of her narrow-minded attitude towards vampires.” A smile pulled her mouth into a small curve. “Although, I think the fact that you’re one of her favorite authors had a lot to do with her coming around so quickly.”
“Think she’d like to beta read for me?” he asked. “She’s sharp and detail-oriented, so I think she’d be good at it.”
Astra blinked before her little smile became a huge grin. “Are you kidding? If you offer her a chance to read your books before anyone else, she’ll formally adopt you, whether we get married or not!”
Rune laughed. “Then, I’ll ask her the next time we talk.” He paused. “So, are we getting married?”
Astra winced. “That wasn’t a hint or me wanting a proposal. It just came out.”
“Okay,” he said. “But that’s where we’re heading with it, right?”
“Yes,” Astra said. “That’s where we’re heading.”
“Good.”
“Are we?” Astra asked.
“Are we what?”
“Good? Is there anything else you want to tell me? Anything you want to talk about? Because I want us to be open and honest with each other going forward.”
“I understand and I agree, but like I told you, I regretted walking away after our argument.” He cleared his throat. “I won’t do that again, either. When we disagree or one of us is upset, I promise I’ll talk to you.”
Astra shrugged. “If you’re really angry, I’d rather you say you needed a chance to calm down than say something that you regret. Because, sometimes, that’s what I need to do when I’m mad.”
“I’ll do that,” he agreed. “But I wasn’t that angry that night. I was hurt.”
Astra’s eyes turned pure green. “I’m so sorry I hurt you.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “There will come a time when I say or do something that hurts you, whether I mean to or not. I want us to be able to forgive each other when we mess up, too.”
Astra nodded. “I guess I’m used to dealing with my sisters. They like to hold grudges.”
He grinned. “And get revenge as quickly as possible,” he said, thinking of Sylvie and his car. Then, he paused as he realized something. “Wait, how did her car get home? She drove herself there!”
“I imagine Claudia drove it to your house to pick her up once she dropped your car off.”
“Claudia was involved?” he asked, shocked. “But Claudia is nice. She’s sweet.”
It was Astra’s turn to laugh. “Oh, you have a lot to learn about the woman my sister married. She’s sweet most of the time, but she has a wild side, too. She loves to play pranks on us. She definitely would have helped Sylvie pull this one.”
“I can’t believe it,” he said.
“You’ll learn,” Astra assured him. “And don’t worry, I’ll help you get Sylvie back.”
“But I don’t want to get her back.”
