Page 140 of Late Harvest

Mira convinced her to allow a makeup artist to touch things up, spiriting Remy into an empty trailer and working whatever magic could be had on a woman who was drained, fried, exhausted, excited, and deliriously in love.

“You ready?” Mira squeezed both her hands, eyes dancing. She was as incurable a romantic as her husband.

“As I’ll ever be.” Remy exhaled a deep breath and exited the trailer behind Mira, who was practically skipping, making her late seventies look like Remy’s thirties from an energy standpoint.

“Clear the set!” A voice called out over a loudspeaker, startling Remy even though she’d been prepared. Jumpy thing. She smiled, hearing Lila’s voice in her head. “Only Mr. Wheatley please on set. Clear the set.”

“Action!” whispered Walt, nudging her forward.

Remy managed to walk on wooden legs, giving off newborn giraffe vibes versus the wife of a Hollywood star.

Boss up, bitch.

Etta’s voice rang in her heart. Only now, it didn’t make her sad. The cherished voice brought a smile to her face and new resolve to her step.

She moved around the massive cranes and cameras, past a large table of food, and carefully stepped over rigging and cables. In any other circumstance, she’d be fascinated. Much like Sebastian had been when she’d brought him to observe a case in her OR, all wide-eyed and bouncing with excitement. Now? She was just anxious as hell.

Remy shifted out of view, pausing a moment to take in the thrill of Sebastian on set and in costume as Bram McLaughlin. So handsome. And, by some greater grace, he was hers. Sebastian’s hands were on his hips as he paced, and the worried look on his face galvanized her into action.

She stepped into the light, Sebastian turning quickly at the sound, his jaw dropping. Then he ran to her.

She leapt into his arms, burying her face in his neck. “I love you, Sebastian Wheatley. And I had to tell you that to your face.”

He pressed kisses all over her, then crushed his lips to hers. When they finally came up for air, he cradled her face. “I wanted to fly right to you last night. But they told me I had to report to set. I think—” he paused, eyes sad, “I think Walt may be firing me today.”

Remy shook her head, mimicking his soothing embrace, cradling his beautiful face in her hands. “No he’s not. The role is yours, Sebastian.” She lifted her shoulders and dropped them, grinning. “It’s yours. I’ve heard it straight from the man myself.”

“What—” Sebastian blurted, shocked.

“I’ll tell you more later. But I have something to say to you first, Sebastian. Something you deserve to hear, and that’s long overdue.” She held up a staying hand as he began to interrupt. “Don’t make me use my surgeon voice, Sebastian,” she teased.

“My queen,” he bowed theatrically, eyes sparkling. “I love you, Arabella.”

“And I love you. Sebastian,” she said, proud her voice wasn’t shaking as hard as her legs. “Your words last night—they were beautiful. I realized after I watched it over and over for about a dozen—or thirty—times that I had some things to say to you as well.”

A breath whooshed out of her, and with that, the last of her nerves. Boss up. “I spent my youth being pitied. Sad Arabella with her druggie dad and alcoholic mom. Her vermin-infested apartments and her tattered, used clothes. Later, fear replaced pity,” she added, not actually regretting that particular byproduct of her personality. “Worse was just the pure loneliness—so basic and elemental to me that I just accepted it as my life. It became a state of being for me. An emptiness I filled with work and volunteering. But my heart,” she stifled a sob, “was buried. I don’t think in my entire life I’d ever truly been happy.

“For a brief while with the Remingtons, I had just a taste of happy normalcy.” Sebastian tangled his fingers with hers, soothing her with his touch. “But, as you know now, even that suffered the evil specter of Doug Greene. He’s gone now, and he can’t ever hurt me again. Just like no one can bring Tasha and Etta back. But I realized something during all this chaos the last couple days. I am halfway through my life—maybe more, who knows—and I’m happy. So truly happy…happier than I ever could’ve imagined, even in my wildest, most wistful childhood dreams.”

Remy unlinked a hand, pressing her fingers into one eye, uncaring at the state of the carefully applied mascara. “I’ve also been scared, Sebastian. More than I’ve ever been…and I’ve been through some terrifying stuff.” She laughed through her tears, her throat thick with the need to shed them.

“My beautiful queen,” Sebastian soothed, bringing their still-laced hands up to his mouth, pressing a tender kiss on the back of her hand.

Queenager. Remy thought of the term Nell shared. This was her season of life to reign.

Bolstered, she continued, inexorably driven to purge the pain. “I realized, I haven’t been fair to you. This whole time, I’ve been reminding myself—warning myself—there’s an expiration date on us. That while you love me now, eventually, it’ll burn out. And you’ll leave me too.”

“Arabella—” he began emphatically, but she simply shook her head.

“I don’t really know any Shakespeare, but I know the human body. Particularly the musculoskeletal system. And I know that it all works in connection. How when one part is out of whack, the whole thing can go wonky. That’s how I feel about life before you. I was out of whack. Then you came along, with your charm and your dad jokes and your gentle love, and you…you healed me. This whole time, I was placing on you my own fear of abandonment.”

“I will never leave you. Never stop loving you, Arabella,” he whispered fervently.

“I know that. And I’m sorry—so sorry—for making you the scapegoat for my own emotional inadequacies. You deserve more than that. You are the truest, most constant, kindest, most amazing person I’ve ever met. If there was an expiration date on us, it would’ve come from me, not you.”

“That’s not happening.” He watched her intently. “You’re mine, Arabella.”

“You’re right. That’s not happening. And you’re mine, Sebastian.” She cleared the tears from her throat. “Remember that morning when you referred to yourself as an everything person? You’re everything to me, Sebastian. Everything.”