First Drop of Crimson

Epilogue

Denise placed the bouquet of flowers on the grave. They were mixed with pinecones. She knew he would’ve appreciated those more than the lilacs, tulips, and roses.

She cast a look around the cemetery. Spring was definitely in full swing, covering the bare branches of the trees back in their leafy coats. The ground underneath her felt soft. Warmed from the sun. Not hard and cold, as it had been the day she’d buried him.

“Hey,” Denise said low, wiping away a tear as she touched the headstone engraved Randolph MacGregor. Beloved son and husband.

“I wanted to tell you that I’m with someone. You met him before. His name is Spade. Yeah, I know, a vampire, right? We haven’t been together that long, but sometimes…you just know. I knew with you. I told you I’d love you forever, and I will.”

Denise paused to wipe away another tear. “I love him, too, and I know this is right. It might be soon, but it’s right. And I know you would have hated what I did to myself since you died, so I wanted to tell you I’ve let go of the guilt and the fear. When I remember you, Randy, I’m going to smile, not cry. You’re a part of me. One of the best parts. I just wanted to tell you that.”

She stood up, brushing the headstone once more. “And if you meet someone named Giselda,” she whispered, “tell her she’s still part of Spade, too. A beautiful part. Please thank her for that.”

Denise touched her fingers to her mouth, kissing them, and then placed them against his name.

“Goodbye.”

Her eyes dried by the time she walked back to where Spade waited by the car, but they hadn’t been tears of grief. They were of warm remembrance, and when Denise walked into Spade’s arms, she was smiling.

“Ready to go, darling?” he asked, kissing the top of her head.

She didn’t need to look back. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

Nathanial rolled down the window of the backseat. “Now I get to meet my family?”

He asked the question with such hope that Denise’s smile widened. After this, they were going to her parents’ house, where Denise would introduce Nathanial to the remainder of his family, far removed though they might be.

And she’d be reintroducing Spade to her parents as their new son-in-law. They’d been married twice in the past two weeks. Once by a justice of the peace, and once vampire-style by slicing their palms and declaring themselves before Cat, Bones, Alten, Ian, Mencheres, and a ghost that Denise still couldn’t see. That marriage might not be recognized by vampire society, as Denise could never change into one, but to Spade, it counted, which was all she cared about.

“Now you get to meet our family.”