“In case I forget to tell you later,” she said, pulling back, “I kinda love you.”
Ryan laughed once. “Just remember who said it first.”
She nudged him, and they turned to watch Bex slowly return to Kim’s body. He frowned, trying to hold back the overwhelming sadness that we all felt.
Ryan fetched a sheet from the corner of the room, and Claire helped him to spread it on the floor. Bex lifted Kim’s body from the floor, laying her gently on the sheet. He straightened her bent legs and crossed her hands against her chest.
Eli stood next to Ryan. “We offer Kim’s soul to you, Father. Please welcome her into your kingdom and your arms. Extend comfort to her father and to her friends, and remind them daily that the sacrifice she made was made in love.”
“I’m sorry,” Bex said, covering her face with the sheet.
Ryan choked, and he and Claire wrapped their arms around each other.
My emotions were so tapped that I couldn’t find the tears to cry. I just stared at her outline under the sheet in disbelief. She was really gone. I imagined the horrible task of informing her father and Beth. How we could possibly explain how she died?
“We’ll take care of it,” Jared said. “She’ll receive the burial and respect she deserves.”
“I just want her back,” I said quietly. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have left. We would have all been safe if I’d just stayed in the Sepulchre.”
Jared touched my cheek. “Anxiety is a struggle for anyone. You did what you believed you had to do in the moment, and the survival instinct is nearly impossible to ignore as a Hybrid. You didn’t want this. Kim knew that.”
I nodded but knew the guilt would haunt me always. The threat I felt in the tomb was very real at the time, but looking back, I let my fear get the best of me, and it cost Kim her life. I would carry that for the rest of my life.
Gabe kneeled beside me to better see his grandchild. “She’s absolutely beautiful,” he said, touching her tiny hand.
“Thank you,” I said, my eyes finally filling with tears.
“You don’t understand what you’ve done here,” he said, wiping the tender skin under my eye. “You saved her, and she will save us all.”
“That’s a big job for a little girl,” Jared said, looking down to the precious bundle in my arms. “Good thing she’s strong like her mom.”
I lifted my chin and touched Jared’s lips to mine. His lips were warmer than mine for the first time in months. His scent mixed with our baby’s, and I felt lightness from relief that was vaguely familiar. Feeling safe was like a distant memory, and it came to me in such a surreal way, as if I couldn’t trust it. But our family was safe. We earned a new beginning for us, for all of us, which Heaven had created. With that thought, I looked on the precious beauty in my arms. “Eden,” I whispered.
“What was that?” Jared said, nearly euphoric.
“Her name is Eden.”
Epilogue
My hands were soaking wet. I wiped them on my gown, but they immediately became moist again. You can do this. This is nothing. You’ve definitely been through worse. I had, but there were hundreds of people watching. Waiting.
I turned to look for my husband. My eyes weren’t what they were when I was pregnant, and it was very frustrating to return to a normal human after experiencing life with abilities. An arm waving above the crowd caught my attention, and I saw Lillian smiling from ear to ear. Next to her was Cynthia. Bex, Claire, and Ryan sat in a line on the other side of my mother, with Jared on the end, trying to keep hold on an excited and wiggly Eden. She was ten months old, with rolls on rolls and wavy blond hair. Her cheeks were so chubby that they hung down like a basset hound’s. I could see her big blue eyes all the way from my seat. She stood on Jared’s lap, bouncing and waving, flashing her two gapped front teeth. It seemed to be all Jared could do to see around her, but it was her big brown bow that obstructed his view. I couldn’t help but laugh watching him try to see around it.
We had spent the last ten months in utter bliss. I finished my senior year at Brown as any other student, except with a husband and child. No more looking over my shoulder. No more fear. Life was normal. Better than normal. We were living our happily ever after, and our daughter watched our absolute joy in our new freedom.
“Nina Grey Ryel,” the announcer called.
I walked up the stairs and across the stage, taking my diploma from the president. She greeted me, and I made my way across, shaking the hands of people I’d never met but were obviously important at Brown University.
Beth, Tucker, Josh, and Lisa were among my classmates, and we were all both sad and excited that we had finally made it to graduation.
After the ceremony, we made our way to the gate and danced through the famed Van Winkle Gates with the band and Bruno, the Brown mascot. Beth and I laughed and skipped all the way down the street, meeting my family at the end.
I was surrounded with hugs and kisses from my in-laws and even from my mother. Eden reached for me, and Jared handed our daughter over, trading her for a kiss. Eden wrapped her chubby arms around my neck, tangling her fingers in my hair and opening her mouth to give me a big, wet baby kiss on the cheek.
“Oh, thank you!” I said with a smile.
“I thought we could meet for dinner,” Lillian chirped.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Do we need to bring anything?”
“Nope.” She winked. “I’ve been at it all morning.” She kissed me again and then nuzzled Eden’s cheek before kissing her children goodbye. “See you at six!”
Jared stuffed his hands in his pockets. “We might be a little late, Mom. We’ve got to make a stop.”
“Oh?” I said.
“It’s your graduation present.”
“What is it?” I said, lighting up.
Jared laughed. “You know I won’t tell you!”
I feigned disappointment. “I loathe surprises!”
“No, you don’t,” he said, hugging me to his side.
Claire winked at Jared. “We’ll see you guys at dinner. Congratulations! Bye, Edie!” She kissed Eden’s fat fingers, and then she and Ryan walked to her Exige, wrapped in each other’s arms. Bex rolled his eyes and reluctantly followed.
“I need to change,” I said.
“Okay. We can do that, too.”
Jared drove to the outskirts of town. We were on the same road as the warehouse, so I squirmed in my seat with excitement, believing Jared was taking me to see Eli. But we stopped several hundred yards from the warehouse. I could barely see it.
Jared pulled into the driveway of a two-story house.
“Where are we?”
“Home.” He smiled.
“Huh?” I said, taken aback. I looked at the house again. It was white with green shutters and had a porch with a swing. Very Norman Rockwell.
“Let’s go,” Jared said. As soon as his door shut, mine opened, and then he opened the back door to unfasten Eden from her car seat. “Come on!” he said, barely able to contain his enthusiasm.
I held his hand, and we walked to the front door. Jared used the key and then pushed the door open. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The inside was identical to the loft: the same pictures on the walls, the same decorations, even the same layout. The only difference was that the upstairs wasn’t visible.
“It’s ours?” I said, overwhelmed.
“It is. Our bedroom is upstairs, down the hall from Eden’s, and there’s a guest bedroom, too.”
I hugged him tightly, burying my face in his chest. “Jared! I love it! I can’t believe you did this.”
He suppressed a smile. “Cynthia isn’t happy.”
“She’ll get over it!” I said, looking around in awe.
We trotted up the stairs, and I gasped at our bedroom. It was as if nothing had ever happened to our loft. It was the same. Excited to see the new additions, I rushed to Eden’s room. Jared had made sure to decorate it exactly as it had been at Cynthia’s. He sat Ede
n down in her crib with some toys and then led me to the guest room by the hand. It was empty, and the walls were white and bare.
“You left this one for me, didn’t you?” I said, squeezing his hand.
“I didn’t know how you’d want it, so I thought I’d just leave it alone. A blank canvas.”
“I love it. I love all of it. I’ll sleep better tonight than I have since we lost the loft.” I looked at him. “You gave me back our home. I can’t tell you what this means to me.”
His eyebrows pulled together. “Not even a fraction of what you mean to me.”
I leaned up on the balls of my feet and wrapped my arms around his neck. My lips pressed against his, and I smiled at the warmth that emanated from him. I’d missed how hot he felt against my human skin. His strong hands pressed against my back, and he pulled me closer, every emotion he’d ever felt coming through in that kiss.
“I’m happy,” I whispered. “I’m so happy and it’s all because of you.”
A Note from the Author
Thank you so much for reading the Providence series! I hope you enjoyed following Jared and Nina’s journey and spending time with the characters as much as I did. Finishing my first series, I’m torn. I’m looking forward to writing something new, but I am terrible with goodbyes. Nina and Jared have a special place in my heart, like my first born. I have spent so much time with them that they feel very much like family. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you’ve seen them through to the end.
Thank you.
Jamie
About the Author
Jamie McGuire is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Beautiful Disaster, Walking Disaster, and The Providence trilogy.
She and her husband, Jeff, live with their children on a ranch just outside Enid, Oklahoma, with three dogs, six horses, and a cat named Rooster.
Please visit www.jamiemcguire.com
The Providence Trilogy Bundle: Providence; Requiem; Eden Page 86