Page 172 of Temporary Vows

I promised myself I wouldn’t cry but I can’t stop the tears that run down my cheeks.

Dorian puts his arm around me and pulls me close. “It’s okay. I got you. I got you, Elodie.”

I gaze up him, take in the love in his eyes and it soothes me. Through my tears and sorrow, my heart warms, taking comfort in his arms.

The past is behind us. We can move forward now.

Epilogue - Elodie

Elodie

Two months later

The grand hall of the Astoria is practically glowing. Crystal chandeliers throw shards of light across the ceiling, champagne flows like a never-ending fountain, and there are enough diamonds in this room to fund a small country.

Dorian and I are here for a fundraiser.

He’s off with his brothers while I’m standing in a circle of my newfound friends.

Isla is next to me—I’ve gotten the closest to her. She looks beautiful in her turquoise dress. And that baby bump…

I wouldn’t be surprised if she had her baby tonight. I admire her for coming out and looking so perfect.

“I think it’s a boy,” Cindy says, pointing excitedly at Isla’s stomach.

“You might be right.” Isla giggles. “Knox’s aunt, Maureen, did some old wives’ test with an orange peel—don’t ask me how—and now she swears we’re having a boy.”

I chuckle and sip my champagne. Aunt Maureen is quite the character, but I have to admit she may be on to something. She did one of her predictions on me too, telling me that something green was going to come into my life. Very odd, but days later my students surprised me with a classroom filled with green balloons.

The thought makes me giggle again, and I realize the heaviness I carried over the last few months since I last saw Jack is finally lifting. It gives me hope that it will be gone, hopefully soon. Though I suppose every time I think of Jack it will return in some sort of way.

I don’t know what will happen between us in the future, but for now I’m focusing on living. Finally, just living.

It feels like I’ve finally been allowed to breathe without bracing for the next hit. And I’m glad tonight feels like one of those lighthearted nights where I can relax and just have fun.

That’s saying something given that the press are here.

They were brutal in the days after Jack’s arrest. But now the headlines have changed. The ones that painted Dorian as reckless and me as collateral damage are gone. PR did a lot to scrub the worst of them, but then we did the rest.

All by just being ourselves.

Recently they’ve been capturing things like the way my husband looks at me from across a room like I'm the only person in it. The way his hand always finds the small of my back the moment we step out of the car, and the way he takes care of me. Like he wants the world to know we belong to each other.

Sherry continues talking about Isla’s bump, then suddenly the girls are talking about skincare. Before they can dive deeper into the conversation a hand presses to the small of my back.

Like always I know it’s him even before I see him.

I look up at the tall, handsome man standing next to me and my heart swoops to the bottom of my stomach, setting off the nest of butterflies.

The corner of his mouth lifts. And there it is — that quiet, private thing between us that the headline try to capture.

“I need you now, Mrs. Vale,” he mutters against my hair. “Come here.”

Just a few words and I’m all his.

My legs are already moving before my mind can catch up. Dorian ushers me away from the group.

When we reach the hall he pulls me closer.