The crew turned their attention to business without a fuss, and Sabrina finally had the chance to meet Luke's eyes again. What she said, after a moment, was, "…akoala?" because while fox, wolf, and big cat shifters seemed likely in a small upstate New York town, a koala absolutely did not, and she wondered if the arsonist reallyhadhad a mental break.
Luke, though, curved the very faintest smile down at her. "Tiffany's husband is Australian."
"Oh.Oh! Oh gosh. Are you allowed to tell me that?"
Luke's faint smile turned to a big grin. "Am I allowed to tell you that somebody isAustralian? Yes," he said, still grinning. "Yes, but also, yes to what you mean, too. You're my mate," he said much more quietly. "You can be trusted with knowing who here is…Australian."
Sabrina clapped her hand over her mouth, trying to quiet her giggle, then gave Luke a hard, ferocious hug. "Oh good. Did you know about the… Australians…patrolling the site? Are they local…Australians?"
Luke looked as if he was going to pop from not laughing. "I didn't know, no. I'd have told you. And if there was a koala among them, I'm almost sure they were local. There are definitely fox and bobcat…Australians…in town. Nothing bigger than that in cat terms, though, not that I know about."
"And wolves?"
"Tons of 'em. Noah's dad is one."
Sabrina felt her eyes bug. "Wow. Wow. Okay. Wait, does that mean Noah is?"
"No, it's his step-dad, technically. Noah's just a kid-shaped mover and a shaker, not an…Australian."
Whatever hope she had of not laughing evaporated, and Sabrina dissolved into giggles. "Okay. Good to know, I guess. Oh, Luke." She suddenly hugged him again, just as hard as before. "Now it's really over, right? Things are going to be easy now?"
"Well, I don't know if they'll be easy," he admitted. "But nobody's going to set the train station on fire, and we'll be together, so we'll work it all out."
"Close enough to easy," she whispered. "In fact, it sounds perfect. Just like that happily ever after you mentioned."
"One happy ending coming up," Luke promised, and Sabrina had every confidence he was right.
EPILOGUE
Four Months Later
The new Virtue train station was a beautiful building. It reminded Luke of old Victorian stations, made of red brick and with high peaked roofs that let the snow slide right off. In December, for its opening, that was important: Virtue was a winter wonderland at this time of year, snow piled everywhereexceptfor on the station's slate roof.
The interior was warm and cozy and still had tall arched ceilings, comfortable seating, and light from big windows that made the space feel welcoming. There were two roofed platforms, north and south bound, with handsome pillars lifting the roof high enough that the engines didn't overwhelm the space with their rumbling. Some of the new trains, Luke knew, would be electric, and therefore much quieter, but for the opening of the line the state had hauled out an actual steam train. People had traveled all the way up from the city on theold train, and spilled out into Virtue's station with expressions of excited joy.
They had about three hours in town: just enough time to eat and hit the holiday market. Then the train would go north to its final Stateside stop before crossing into Canada and heading for Ottawa, finally re-opening a line that had been closed for decades. Town mayors and other dignitaries from down the line had gotten on at their stops, and now were here to celebrate the opening of the new Virtue station.
Most of Sabrina's architecture firm had come up, too, as well as a number of the people higher in the whole Gladiator organization. Luke had met a startling number of shifters among those higher-ups, including a big bear of a man named Garius who looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. A slimmer, smaller man named Conri was glad-handing, and it was clear to Luke that Sabrina's efforts on the train station project were not going unappreciated. His heart absolutely filled with pride, until he actually had to duck his head and wipe tears away, which made Garius give him a sympathetic smile. "It's great, isn't it?" he asked softly. "My own wife knocks my socks off every time she gets involved in a project. I've never met anybody as good for me as she's been."
Luke smiled back through upwelling emotion. "It is. I had no idea what I was missing until I met her."
Garius clapped him on the shoulder and then, clearly having used up all his social battery, retreated to the side of a tall, attractive woman who smiled at him with the same joy Luke and Sabrina shared. It made him think about husbands and wives, and then, with a sudden, quiet laugh, he knew what that perfect proposal he hadn't yet made would be.
The Next Summer
It turned out wrangling all of The Girls and Their Boys into one place was less difficult than Luke imagined, although he expected that had something to do with the 'all expenses paid' thing he offered to ease the wrangling. What was more difficult, in fact, was finding somewhere that would rent paddleboats to them: he ended up flying everybody to California, in fact, because apparently word had gotten around the entire mountain region about this group of adults who couldn't be trusted in paddleboats.
On one hand, it was the most intense padderbee Luke had ever participated in. On the other hand, it was also only the second one, so he wasn't sure if that was saying much. But once again, he protected Sabrina from being overturned in their derby, until finally they were the last two paddleboats standing. He threw the fight, obviously, because the whole point was to lose, and although he was pretty confident Sabrina knew he'd let her win, he still saw her throw her hands in the air triumphantly as he splashed into the water.
She was still laughing and cheering for herself as he surfaced again, while the rest of the friends group cheered and applauded along with her, some from the water, some from the boats they'd already climbed back into. Their cheers intensified as Luke popped back to the surface, and Sabrina, beaming with happiness already, turned toward him to see that he'd come up holding a little black box, now open so the diamond ring inside could glitter in the sunlight.
For a heartbeat she absolutely froze, and then her face crumpled into teary surprise. Luke had just long enough to wonder if he'd somehow made a terrible mistake, and then thelove of his life flung herself into the water, swam the few strokes to kiss him, and with utter joy, whispered, "Yes," against his mouth.
The Summer After That
A river ran through Virtue, so that at least sorted out where they would have the annual paddleboat derby before the wedding. Luke and Sabrina lost that one and neither of them cared, because Emmy was standing on shore holding their son Levi, who, at six months old, was too little to know what was going on but still giggled and waved anyway. The wedding itself was a blur for Luke, punctuated by moments of unbearable joy, though he was pretty sure that everyoneelsewould remember The Moment Of Confession most clearly.
They'd agreed on the reception dinner as the time to reveal the truth. Sabrina, absolutely staggeringly beautiful in a gown that followed her curves before splashing out into a soft, lacy train, stood up at the wedding party's table and lifted a glass of champagne. Silence fell, and she, somewhat ruefully, said, "I know brides don't usually make speeches at their own weddings, but this one is important. I have a confession to make to my Girls."
