I felt strangely nervous about this meeting. Two people I loved were going to meet, and I really wanted them to like each other. What if they didn’t? I wasn’t going to cancel my engagement because my bestie didn’t like my fiancé, but I’d be sad.
One thing I swore to myself. I wasn’t going to magic her into liking him. She’d take him on his own terms. Should I tell her how very special he was? Even as the idea presented itself, I rejected it. It was one thing to know that I was a witch, something she could understand, since we shared that. But to give away that I was marrying a vampire? That might be a step too far. At least for now.
Next morning, I took Jen downstairs and showed her around the shop, which took about five minutes, and introduced her to Violet. I wouldn’t say the two clicked immediately, but Violet was polite and Jen enthusiastic about the shop, the wedding and our Saturday excursion to buy bridesmaid gowns.
Luckily, Scarlett had the day off from school, so she was helping in the shop. I’d done my best to schedule lots of help for Violet since I knew very well that I wouldn’t be around very much for the next couple of weeks, and then Rafe and I were going on our honeymoon. I couldn’t wait. I felt like my life was so very different from what it had been the last time I’d seen Jennifer. Just having her here really underlined for me the incredible path I’d found myself on, and yet looking back now, it seemed inevitable that I would end up here.
Jen was the best kind of guest. She was enthusiastic about everything and, as we drove out of Oxford, admired the scenery, the little villages we passed. As we headed towards Rafe’s place, we seemed to find more and more things to talk about.
As we approached, she said, “So here’s what I know about your guy. I know he’s a respected antiquarian book specialist”—she began ticking things off on her fingers—“and he still gives the odd lecture at Cardinal College. I know he’s very good-looking, because I saw—not exactly a photograph of him on his website—but something that showed a very handsome man.”
That was thanks to Theodore and Hester who, working together, had managed to custom-create something that was painted but very much looked like a photograph. It caught his serious, somewhat haughty expression. I loved that picture.
“Yes. That’s him.”
“Don’t let me blunder into anything stupid. I really want him to like me.”
“He will. And I really want you to like him, too. You guys are both so important to me.” I didn’t say I needed this to work, but on some level, I really felt like I did.
“And I know he’s rich.” She looked at me. “Anything I missed?”
A big one, but I couldn’t bring myself to tell her. Not yet. “You’ve got the basics.”
She looked at me. “I’m guessing, based on his experience and that photograph, he’s what, mid-thirties?”
Give or take a few hundred years. I nodded.
“So five years older than you. That’s not bad. Has he been married before?”
“Yes. Once. He was widowed.”
“Widowed is good. Brokenhearted but not bitter?”
I smiled at her. “That’s exactly how I would describe him. Brokenhearted but not bitter.”
“Okay then. I think I’m ready.”
I felt strangely nervous when we pulled up in front of the manor house. Henri, naturally, heard my car and came running like a hungry farmhand when the dinner gong goes. Jennifer was charmed by him, and I gave her one of the food pellets I kept in my car for the peacock. He stared at her for a minute with his beady eyes, took the pellet and then stood back and fanned out his tail. Poor Henri’s tail was not as spectacular as some peacocks’, but in the last little while, it had really plumped out. He was a rescue peacock who had flourished in his new environment. In some ways, Rafe was my rescue peacock. And under my care, I thought he was flourishing. Maybe that was arrogant, but I had seen the cold, distant vampire change into the loving creature he must have been when he was alive. He’d never be alive again, and I’d come to accept that, but we were going to make this work.
William must have been watching for us, because we hadn’t even put our feet on the first step towards the front door when the double doors opened and he was standing there. He stepped forward with a smile beaming on his face.
“Lucy, you’re right on time.” He held out a hand and said, “And you must be Jennifer?”
She agreed that she was, and they shook hands. So far, so good. He asked her how she was enjoying Oxford and led us inside. William was a perfect combination of friendly and welcoming while never acting like he owned the place. I didn’t know quite how he did it. It was a real art.
“Rafe is outside on the terrace. Lochlan Balfour is arriving any minute.”
“From Ireland?”
His eyes lightened in a smile. “One never knows. He doesn’t fly commercial.”
Right. I was having trouble getting used to the idea of rubbing shoulders with billionaires. Somehow getting used to knitting with the undead had been easier.
“So he just drops out of the sky whenever he feels like it?”
“Basically, yes. He’ll likely bring the helicopter. There’s a spot on the property where he can land.”
“Of course there is.”
Actually, it made a lot of sense. No doubt Rafe had a helicopter too tucked away somewhere, something he hadn’t yet told me about. I could imagine men like him and Lochlan Balfour were always ready to disappear at a moment’s notice. Secrecy, money, and the ability to flee at the drop of a hat, all that would be part of my life now, too.
“Wow,” I said. “You’ve got a full house.”
He glanced at me. “Lucy, you know I like nothing more.”
I
