“Cora is head over heels, one hundred percent crazy for you,” Suzette admitted grudgingly. “I’ve never seen her like this. She’s always been levelheaded and responsible when it came to guys, but not this time. I mean, yeah. I get the whole dark and sexy thing you’ve got going for you, but still. The stuff you told me that night at the bar? How you had other multiple women on the hook, and you wanted to keep your options open? That trumps all hotness, as far as I’m concerned.”
Liam pressed the heels of his hands over his eyes, cursing himself for the stupid things he’d said back then. “All right, listen—”
“So, what does this mean, going forward? Well, I’ll tell you. From now on—”
“For the love of all that is holy, woman,” he bellowed. “Will you let me speak?”
Suzette looked surprised at his sudden outburst. Then she gave him a mulish look as if she was undecided on the matter. “Fine. What?”
“Here’s the God’s honest truth of the matter.” Liam enunciated every word, so there would be no confusion. “I love her. With every fiber of my blasted heart, I love Cora McLeod, and that will never change. I will go on loving her until the oceans run dry and the sun burns out and all the stars fall from the bloody sky. And maybe that makes me sound like ‘a big walking cliché,’ but I don’t care. It’s the reality. All that shite I said at the bar? It was just my woeful attempt at creating a smoke screen so you wouldn’t see the truth. I didn’t feel I deserved her. Hell, I still don’t.” He broke off miserably, glaring down at his blunt, calloused hands. The hands of a poor farmer. A thieving peasant. Not a refined gentleman who would deserve someone like Cora.
Suzette studied him for a long moment. “What’s with the Irish brogue? Yours just kicked up about a hundred notches.”
Liam waved a hand. “It does that on occasion.”
She cocked her head. “Why?”
Damn and blast.The woman was wrecking his head. Did she not just hear him declare his undying love for her best friend? When Suzette didn’t look like she was going to let the matter of his accent go, he added, “It sometimes happens when I feel strongly about something. When I get...emotional.”
She nodded and sucked her lips between her teeth. Even though she’d wrestled her expression into a no-nonsense, stern librarian look, he didn’t miss the way her hazel eyes went all soft at his revelation. Maybe he’d get out of this unscathed, after all. She jerked her chin at him and said, “Go on.”
Liam heaved a sigh. “I thought if Cora believed I didn’t love her, then she would be free to choose a better man. I just wanted her to be happy, even if it meant without me. You were right when you said I don’t deserve her. I’ve always known I was unworthy. Cora deserves only the best of everything in life, and I wanted that for her. But she chose to love me, anyway. So now, here I am. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how it’s come to this, but I’m not fool enough to squander this gift. Because that’s what her love is—a precious gift. And for however long this lasts, I’m going to do everything in my power to make her happy. Simple as that.” Only it wasn’t simple at all. He ran his fingers through his hair, utterly confused about what he was still doing in this world.
Suzette’s mouth had fallen open. After a few moments of stunned silence, she said gently, “You love her so much... You were willing to let her go.” It wasn’t a question; it was a revelation.
“Aye.” He let his head fall back on the pillow. Granted, his recent gunshot wound didn’t kill him, but this conversation surely would if it continued much longer. He wasn’t used to baring his soul and talking about his feelings on demand, but Suzette was important to Cora, so Liam had to be straight with her. As annoying as it was to be interrogated while lying prone in a hospital bed with a hole in his side, he rather admired Suzette’s warrior spirit when it came to protecting the woman he loved.
“Okay, then.” Suzette nodded abruptly. “Cora loves you, and you love her back, so that’s that.”
Liam gave her a dubious look. Surely it couldn’t be that easy. Two minutes ago, she’d been ready to tear into him like an angry lioness defending her cub.
“What?” Suzette asked with a shrug. “Far be it from me to stand in the way of true love, and I can see now that you’re just as crazy in love as she is.But.” She held up a finger in warning. Ah, there it was. He knew that she-cat was still lurking in the background. Suzette was fiercely loyal to Cora, which was a good thing. She was a worthy friend. “I’ve still got my eye on you, Liam O’Connor. One false move, and you’ll have to deal with me.”
He gave her the only acceptable answer a man could give when a woman stood over his sickbed, glaring at him like a Valkyrie sharpening her swords. “I understand.”
Suzette gave a perfunctory nod. “Good talk.” Then she left the room, her heels click-clacking down the hall.
Liam blew out a breath. He was glad they’d cleared that up, but he was far from comfortable. The dull ache in his side was becoming more pronounced, and a headache was brewing. He felt like a mighty plow horse was dancing a jig inside his skull.
Cora had told him to rest, but there were too many unanswered questions knocking around in his head. He let out a groan of frustration. Like hell he’d just lie there resting. He’d never been one to sit idly, and wounded or not, he wasn’t going to start now. Grimacing, he tried again to pull himself to a sitting position. If he could just disconnect the needle in his hand, then swing his legs over the edge of the bed, he could go looking for clothes, and then maybe answers, instead of lying around like some inva—
“But youarean invalid,” a stern, familiar voice said. Startled, Liam turned his attention to the doctors who’d been standing in the corner all along. How could he have forgotten they were there? Even Suzette had paid them no mind when she’d been tearing into him.
The short doctor had blond curly hair and a round, cherubic face. He was holding a clipboard. The taller, dark-haired doctor was smiling down at Liam, radiating happiness. With a start, Liam realized who they were.
“S-Samael?” he sputtered in disbelief. “Agon?” He watched as the two angels dropped their mortal disguises and appeared like they always did—in flowing robes with an ethereal, glowing light surrounding them. “I don’t understand. I thought my three months were over, and I was supposed to be gone forever. What am I still doing here?”
“That is the question, Liam O’Connor. And for once, we will give you the simple answer.” Samael floated forward and tapped the clipboard with his hand. Then he slipped it into a pocket of mist, and fixed his unnerving, ancient gaze on Liam. “Though it’s not actually that simple. It seems there’s been a strange turn of events.”
“Indeed,” Agon said brightly. “In all the years I’ve been working at the Department of Destiny, I’ve yet to witness something like this. It’s quite extraordinary, really. So many different factors coming together in such a serendipitous way, and with such a fortuitous outcome. It’s moments like this that remind me what an exquisite honor it is to witness the glorious resilience of the human spirit. Your astounding ability to persevere and learn and grow, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.”
Liam stared back and forth between the angels, biting his tongue before he could point out they were being as cryptic as ever. “I don’t understand.”
“What my colleague means,” Samael said smoothly, “is that you’ve miraculously managed to skip over the warp and weft of your old destiny, and you’ve been woven into a new one. The path before you now has the same outcome that should’ve happened between Cora and Finn, only this time—”
“It’s you!” Agon clapped his hands, unable to contain his happiness. “You can stay and live your life with Cora, as you’ve always wanted.”
The tendril of desperate hope that had been winding around Liam’s heart ever since he awoke and saw Cora’s face suddenly burst into full bloom. His breath sawed in and out of his chest as he glanced back and forth between the two angels. “How can this be possible?”