Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 61523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61523 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 246(@250wpm)___ 205(@300wpm)
The room fills after that, not all at once, but slowly, like everyone understands this moment belongs to us first.
Eventually, her parents arrive. They’re hesitant at the threshold of our bedroom door before moving closer, their expressions softening the second they see their daughter and their new granddaughter.
The Windsors are no longer in the dark about the old elites. They know about the lies and the deception and the truth behind what they thought they were choosing for Blair.
They know all there is to know, and now, because there is nothing to hide anymore, Blair is able to have a relationship with her family.
Both her mom and dad look overwhelmed with joy and love and all the things grandparents should feel when they meet their grandchild.
Behind them, Blair’s sister walks in. But Bonnie doesn’t wait to be invited to Blair’s bedside like her parents; she just goes.
“Finally!” she exclaims as she carefully wraps her arms around Blair and then presses a soft kiss to our daughter’s forehead. “Did it hurt like a motherfucker?”
“Bonnie!” Devney Windsor chastises.
“What?” Bonnie shrugs. “It’s a valid question.”
“Definitely hurt,” Blair answers on a laugh, but then she looks down at our daughter. “But more than worth the pain.”
Bonnie smiles down at her new niece. “Hi, little lady. I’m your Aunt Bonnie, and I plan to spoil you in all the ways that will annoy your mom and dad.”
Blair snorts. I grin.
“I also brought you something.”
“What is it?” Blair asks when Bonnie hands her a gift.
“Just a little something I had made a few months ago.”
Blair opens the wrapped box to reveal a handmade doll.
But it’s not just any doll. It looks exactly like the vampire dolls Blair got from her parents as a little girl. Just like the vampire doll she says looks like me, only it’s the girl version.
Blair goes still for a second, her fingers brushing over it. “But how did you know I was having a girl?”
Bonnie just smiles, a little knowing, a little emotional. “I don’t know.” She shrugs. “I just did.”
The room fills more after that—Rook and Kylie with their baby girl Naomi and Calloway with a smiling but very pregnant Romy.
Later, after everyone has left the room and it’s just me and Blair and our daughter, Blair looks up at me with a soft smile on her lips. “I know what we should name her,” she says.
“Yeah?”
“Destiny.”
I look down at our daughter again, at the tiny life in Blair’s arms, at the future we built without even realizing what we were building toward.
Then back at my beautiful Blair.
“Destiny. Our daughter.” I lean in, pressing a slow kiss to my mate’s lips, letting it mean everything I can’t put into words.
When I pull back, I rest my forehead against hers, my hand coming up to cradle the back of our daughter’s head.
And somehow, for the first time in a long time, there’s nothing left to fight.
Because I already have everything I was meant to find.
PART FOUR
Calloway
Three months later
Romy has never looked more beautiful than she does today. Sweaty, exhausted, and her eyes dancing with the light of a woman about to meet her baby, she finds my gaze and holds it while the doctor tells her to relax.
“Breathe,” Dr. Howard coaches. “The next contraction will be here soon, and you need to rest when you can.”
“You’re doing amazing,” I tell her softly, wiping her hair back from her eyes and holding it with my hand. “I’m so proud of you.”
Hillary snaps pictures from the other side of the room quietly. Her friendship with Romy has only grown since the night of the auction, and as of a few months ago, she bonded with her own mate. Romy calls Hillary her “homegirl,” and that sentiment is clear in the fact that they speak on the phone daily, take frequent trips to the spa, and, by and large, have become family.
As for Romy’s parents, they’re still not a part of our lives. I’ve left it up to Romy to make that decision, knowing that the connection to family goes well beyond hurts and disagreements of the past.
Still, the nail in the coffin for Romy came swiftly after we were appointed as the new Council. She reached out to her mother once, intent on changing their relationship and with the hope that she’d be happy for her daughter. All it took was the word “mechanic,” though, and her mom hung up the phone.
She didn’t leave time for an explanation of my nobility or anything else, and to Romy, that was for the best. If her mother couldn’t be happy for her in its purest form, Romy doesn’t want her to be happy at all.
As such, she hasn’t contacted her since, and today, she’s not meeting her grandchild.
It’s a shame, but it’s my mate’s choice, and I respect and understand it.