Page 70 of Forever We Embrace: The Later Years
I leave her to the work she has already begun and check the final note attached to Josie’s file. Josie continues cooperating with Thane and now has independent legal representation. Her access remains revoked, and her employment has not been restored.
Cooperation does not undo what she did to the residents or to me. It also does not require me to decide the rest of her life today. The independent advocate has Ember House’s public information and can contact the sanctuary if Josie later asks for assistance. Any request will be considered separately from the investigation and without a promise of forgiveness, employment, or a room.
Oliver finds me near the entrance to the expanded wing before I leave. His eyes are damp, and he wipes beneath one of them before reaching for my collar as though the fabric has shifted enough to require his immediate attention.
“The rooms did it,” he says while straightening the edge. “I made it through the board vote, the trust documents, and Blossom pretending she did not care about her seat. Then I saw Maya holding her key.”
I catch his wrist before he can adjust my collar again. “You’re allowed to be happy.”
“I know.” Oliver presses his face against my shoulder for a moment, then draws back enough to look at me. “You’re not walking into the wedding alone. I do not care which side of the aisle they put me on.”
“I already know that.”
His arms close around me, and I hold him inside the sanctuary we both once needed and now help keep open for someone else.The embrace lasts until his breathing steadies and the grip of his fingers loosens against my back.
When we separate, Oliver smooths the collar one final time and leaves it alone. I take the governance folder from Blossom, tuck it beneath my arm, and follow him toward the main hall.
Maceo is waiting in the home nest when I return. His suit jacket lies across the back of a chair, and the document on his tablet disappears when he locks the screen. He reaches for my hand as soon as I enter and draws me close enough that my knees touch the edge of the bed.
“Thane called while you were finishing at Ember House,” he says. “The court granted the emergency victim-protection order. The bite removal cannot be used to prosecute you within the current case.”
I lower myself beside him and set the governance folder on the nightstand. “Ward cannot use it again?”
“Not through Alastair’s complaint or the current prosecution.” Maceo places the tablet facedown beside him. “The order does not change the broader law, but it removes the threat from this case.”
The ruling does not protect everyone who has been threatened under the same law. Lorenzo has begun working with advocacy groups on longer reform, and that work will continue long after Alastair’s prosecution. For me, the part Ward once held over my head can no longer be revived through the complaint.
Maceo’s hand settles over my stomach, warm through my shirt. His thumb moves once beneath the curve before becoming still.
“You’re going to be someone’s first safe place,” I tell him.
His jaw tightens, but he leaves his hand where it is. After a moment, he leans close enough to rest his forehead against my shoulder, and I turn my face into his hair. We remain that way while the sounds of the house drift up from downstairs, thechildren moving through the kitchen and Grayson reminding one of them to carry a cup with both hands.
Later, after the children are asleep, I pass the home study and see Luther step onto the balcony where Maceo is standing alone. Both of them glance toward me before I stop inside the open doorway.
Luther stops beside him. “You have been my counsel, my protection, and the person who stays steady when the rest of us cannot. None of those roles are the reason I want you beside me.”
Maceo turns from the railing. He does not interrupt or make Luther drag the rest of the words out through questions.
“I want you as my mate,” Luther continues. “Our relationship will never resemble the bonds I have with the others, and I don’t need it to.”
Maceo’s shoulders shift with the breath he takes. “I’ve been waiting for you to name it because neither of us knows how to yield without pretending to be someone else.”
Luther reaches for him. “Neither of us has to yield for this to be real.”
Maceo places one hand at the back of Luther’s neck, and Luther mirrors the hold. They stand forehead to forehead, Maceo’s hand firm at the back of Luther’s neck while Luther holds him the same way.
“I can stand beside you as an equal,” Maceo says, his thumb resting beneath Luther’s hairline. “I have been doing it for years.”
Luther keeps his forehead against Maceo’s. “Then stand beside me as my mate.”
26
Grayson
One Month Before the Wedding
I carry the lasagna from the counter while Quentin finishes listing the restrictions Luca has already agreed to twice. Luca sits at the table with his phone propped against the water pitcher, one hand resting beneath the slight curve of his stomach while Blake watches the screen from the opposite end. Maceo’s beside Luca’s chair with the cap already loosened on his water bottle, as Luther divides the salad among the plates without pretending he isn’t listening.
