There was another long silence, before Ambrose said quietly, “Pursue your happiness, son. Don’t be like me.”
“What?” Ethan said, stunned by what appeared to be an actual demonstration of paternal love, but the line had already gone dead.
He stared at the phone, trying to digest the events of the past five minutes.
What the hell just happened?
The pegasus was dumbfounded. Of course, it was thrilled that they’d been given his father’s blessing, and it wanted nothing more than to be with their mate – but itdidalso love the corporate life. Ethan had never quite understood why an ancient mythical winged horse would be so into eight a.m. budget meetings, but, well, there was a lot about the pegasus he didn’t understand.
With time, he was sure that the pegasus would manage to reconcile the major life changes they were about to undergo. And Chloe’s businesswasgoing to require a lot of work in order to run at peak efficiency.
See it as a new challenge,he told the pegasus, and it stood a little taller, puffing out its chest.
He wondered about the connection between his father and Eula – and then he didn’t wonder about it any further. He didn’t want to know, and, more to the point, it wasn’t any of his business.
Though hedidwonder if the two of them had something to do with the fact that Curtis had been haunting him. Maybe whatever magic had brought Curtis back had meant to attachhim to Ambrose, since he’d been there the day that the necklace had gone missing, but it had attached him to Ethan instead by accident?
Ethan suppressed a sigh.This is why I don’t like magic.
In any case, it was all over and done with. Today was a day of endings, but also of new beginnings.
“Everything okay?” Chloe asked, coming over to him, concern and amusement both written across her face.
“More than okay,” he said, taking her into his arms and letting the warmth of the mate bond suffuse him.
“Everything’s perfect.”
Epilogue
“Well, I think I can safely say that Fillmore here is the very image of perfect health. Isn’t that right, Fillmore?”
Fillmore waved his sorry excuse for a tail happily, his long tongue lolling.
Chloe had been telling the truth – hewasin perfect health. With his scraggly teeth, patchy fur, and raggedy ears he probably wouldn’t be winning any beauty pageants any time soon – but he was still a perfect dog.
“Did you hear that, Fillmore?” Fillmore’s person, Luna, asked him as she scooped him up into her arms. “Dr. Chloe here says that you’re in perfect health.”
“He clearly has good people looking after him,” Chloe said truthfully. Luna was Henry’s mate, and Chloe knew that the two of them absolutely doted on Fillmore.
He was also incredibly spoiled, traveling the world with Henry and Luna as part of Luna’s work as a travel writer. That dog was better traveled than Chloe was!
The three of them had just arrived back from a month-long journey around Scandinavia, with a trip to Malta on the side.Chloe had to admit that she was a bit jealous… but then, she had her own perfect life right here.
Still, just because she loved life in Girdwood Springs, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t making travel plans for the future! She’d devoted so much of her life to study and then work that she hadn’t really had much opportunity to go anywhere.
And doing new things was sounding a lot more exciting, now that she could share the experience with the person she loved.
The person I love,she thought again giddily.The one who was meant for me.
Even now, four months after their adventure with Curtis, it still felt like the first time they’d met. Every morning when she woke up next to Ethan, she got those same new-love butterflies in her stomach.
She really couldn’t believe that she would have this for the rest of her life. It was beyond her wildest dreams.
Fillmore tilted his head at her expectantly, blinking his oversized brown eyes, and Chloe laughed.
“Sorry, buddy! Got lost in my thoughts for a moment there. You’re all good to go.” She smiled at Luna. “My exceptionally talented receptionist will get you sorted out.”
“Thanks, Chloe,” Luna said, smiling back. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
