He grabbed me away from Rafe and pulled me into a full-body hug. I went willingly and squeezed him back as hard as I could. It was still surreal. Brother. I could barely wrap my head around the concept, much less the reality.
Meanwhile Rafe grabbed our bags and passed them to Montgomery. “Hey, man, will you help us carry our bags down to the car? There’s something I need to do before I leave.”
“For sure.” Montgomery started grabbing bags. He gave me one last kiss on the forehead, noticing the phone in my hand. “Oh good.” He put down the suitcases and took it from me, programming in his number. “Call us this week, I know Grace will want to meet you right away and we have so much to catch up on.”
All I could do was grin back at him like an idiot and nod. Then he was out the door. I looked back at Rafe. He was smiling too, but I noticed a crease in his forehead.
“What? What is it?”
“Nothing,” he said at first, pulling me in again, like he couldn’t stand to not be touching me for even a moment. Then he said, “Well, that’s not exactly true. I want to say goodbye to my brother before I go. He’s buried up at the cemetery on the hill.”
“Oh, hon,” I murmured.
“It’s okay,” he said, pulling back, and looking into his eyes, I believed him.
“I think I’m finally ready to say goodbye. He’ll always be with me, but what my dad said…” He breathed out heavily. “It’s like there’s been this weight on my chest all this time and it’s finally lifted. And I just, well I want to say goodbye the right way finally. Without all the bullshit in the way, you know?”
I wasn’t sure I could ever know or fully understand what he’d been through, but I nodded because I wanted him to know I’d always support him. Always, as long as he’d let me. And I hoped that would be a very long time indeed.
“See you down at the car. I’ll be waiting.”
He smiled at that. “You better be.”
“Always.”
He kissed me deep then, a kiss that promised a future full and bright.
Epilogue
Beau Radcliffe
I walked over to the window to try to keep my eyes off Abilene—something I struggled to do as every hour in the Oleander ticked by at an agonizingly slow pace. I knew the only way I was going to get through these days was to stay focused on the end game. No distractions. Chicks fucked things up for me in my life, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to allow this one to mess up what was the most important test ever.
The goal of the Order was to break the belle.
Not save the belle.
Not fall for the belle.
Not live happily ever with the belle.
We hadn’t been in the manor long, and I already found myself struggling, which wasn’t a good sign. I had questioned if I was cut out for this secret society shit, and nearly bowed out when my time came. But what would everyone think? Would my future be over? Would my family name be ruined?
No… I needed to focus on completing each and every Trial no matter what was thrown my way. Whatever was thrown our way.
Luckily, I saw a distraction down below my window. Rafe walked slowly toward the cemetery, and even though I knew his reason for doing so, I decided to leave our room for a quick minute and go say hello… or goodbye since I knew his Initiation was complete. Mrs. H had told me this morning that it would just be me and Abilene now, though she remained mum on the details.
“I’ll be right back,” I said to Abilene who read a book by the fire which I had a feeling was going to become her normal.
She looked up surprised. “Where are you going? We aren’t allowed to leave the room alone.”
“No,” I said as I quickly put on my shoes. “You, as the belle, aren’t supposed to leave. I’ll only be a second. I’m going to go say goodbye to my buddy.” I looked up and saw the news of being left alone upset her. “Don’t worry. I’ll only be a couple of minutes.”
Not waiting for her to argue or beg to come along, I quickly left the room, jogged down the hallway, and out of the house to catch up with Rafe who was nearly at the top of the hill.
As I approached where he stood in front of a grave, I overheard him talking and decided to give him the space to say what he came to say.
“I should have come here sooner,” Rafe said as he stood before Timothy’s headstone. “It was guilt that kept me away. I always thought it was me who put you here, and although I still wish I had picked up that fucking phone…”