Page 109 of Caged Bird

“I needed to know Eddie was still locked in Guerra’s cells. I knew I couldn’t walk down the aisle with you this afternoon without knowing he was never going to hurt us again.”

I barely dared to whisper a reply. “And?”

Scythe rubbed his knuckles across his shirt. “Let’s just say, Eddie sends his best regards and blessings, but he’ll be unable to attend today. Or any day. Ever.”

Zane’s eyes bored into mine. “He’s never getting out of there, Fawn.”

“Not unless it’s in a body bag,” Ophelia muttered. She glanced at me. “You want him dead, you just say the word, little sis. But I’m not going to lie, it’s been very sweet watching him suffer the same way you did.”

That dark part inside me hadn’t been ready to let his suffering end yet. It fed something powerful inside me that I knew I should talk through with my therapist. Maybe it was the part of me that tied me to my siblings.

Or maybe Eddie was just getting what he deserved.

But I knew I had to let it go if I was ever going to be truly free of him. I sucked in a deep breath. And on the day I was to marry his brother, I signed Eddie’s death sentence. “End it.”

Ophelia and Scythe nodded.

Then I tacked on, “Painfully.”

Their eyes lit up like kids on Christmas morning, and Ophelia drew Scythe into the kitchen, the two of them no doubt planning Eddie’s bloody end.

But I didn’t want to hear it. I’d come out the other side, and moving on with my son and the love of my life was all I wanted.

I squeezed Zane’s fingers. “I just want to get married.”

Zane grinned down at me. “Then let’s go make you my wife.”

In a room at the old Saint View library, with dark skies outside, and fairy lights everywhere I looked, I spun around the dance floor in Zane’s arms.

My dress was one I’d found at a thrift store, but it fit me perfectly, swishing around my legs as he twirled me.

When the song changed to something slower, I rested my head on his chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

Because mine was full. Otis and his cousins, Lexa and Mila, danced together at our feet, the three of them laughing hysterically at Otis’s overexaggerated twerking. I stifled a laugh, no idea where he’d learned that, though I suspected it was probably from Uncle Scythe.

Eve swayed in Boston’s arms, their baby son cradled between them, the two of them looking so in love you couldn’t help but feel it too.

Lyric sat at the edge of the dance floor watching the rest of us, her hand on Zeph’s leg, his arm around the back of her chair, while he whispered in her ear.

From the pink blush of her cheeks and the soft grin, I was sure he was whispering something dirty. She’d filled me in on all their kinky adventures, and I would have bet that tomorrow, our girl group chat would be full of the details.

Phoenix, in a three-piece suit that fit him so well, leaned down and kissed Eve’s brother, Dylan, who melted into the bigger man like he was the sun and the moon and all the stars in his sky.

All around me were the people I loved. And in my heart were the people I’d lost who’d made this day possible.

“My mom would have been so happy to see this,” Zane whispered.

I stared at Otis, happy and safe. “She gave up her life for him.”

He nodded. “I know she’d do it all again just to see that smile on his face.”

I laid my head back down and let the slow, soft music drift around us.

The grief and guilt over Margaret’s death no longer crippled me. She would always be with us, a guardian angel we’d never forget.

Little fingers brushed against my leg, and Otis’s voice cut through the music. “Dad?”

Zane gazed down at him. “Yeah, buddy? What’s up? You want to dance with us?”

Otis nodded his head yes, his grin now with a gap since he’d had a tooth fall out last week.

Zane ducked and hoisted him up into his arms, and I wrapped my arms around both of them, the three of us swaying together, surrounded by a love I never could have imagined.

Our captive hearts, finally set free.

THE END.

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