Page 186 of Beau and the Beast

He’d made his mark on the world—and what a mark it was. He and Wolfram and the staff had unwittingly changed the face of the planet forever. They’d gone from being anonymous people to figures who would grace the pages of history textbooks.

And maybe even bedtime stories, too, Beau thought.

But perhaps more profound, Beau had found the one person that he loved above all other people—the man who he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Together, they would forge their own trail.

In the blink of an eye, Beau was back, trying to haul Wolfram to his feet, throwing himself forward to wrap his arms around him.

“Yes,” he said into the fur behind Wolfram’s ear. “Yes, yes, yes.”

Wolfram lifted him off the ground, squeezing him tight, laughing into the air. “Yes, yes yes,” Beau repeated.

“He said yes,” Wolfram said through a laugh, and Beau realized that he’d been speaking too low for anyone to hear him, his words meant only for Wolfram in that moment.

When Wolfram placed him back on the ground, the guests around them were standing, clapping, moving to congratulate them. Violet squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek and issued a quiet,“I told you so.” Noah held him by the face, both of them crying and laughing, and he told Beau how much their parents would have loved Wolfram.

And when they broke, everyone wiping away tears, Beau looked around at the people who had gathered there with them to celebrate his book, to celebrate the changes they’d forged in the world, to celebrate Wolfram and Beau being bound together in the last way possible—and he realized that through sheer force of will, Beau had gathered a family. He’d found the people he needed and he’d held them to himself, tightly and furiously and never willing to let go.

He was full up with love, with the knowledge that he was loved in turn, with the awareness that the world around them was blooming every day, changing and opening itself to the possibility that each person could love his fellow man—be they human or not.

When he looked to Wolfram, he saw the person who he had saved, the man who had somehow saved him. The was nothing like his steady love, the satisfaction they had found together. The two of them couldn’t be more different, but in their differences, there was synergy and music and passion.

When he looked at Wolfram, he didn’t see a monster. He didn’t see their differences.

There was no beast. Only beauty.

“I love you,” Wolfram mouthed, and Beau couldn’t stand to be apart from him, fell into his arms one more time.

“I love you too,” Beau said, “and I can’t wait to marry you. I’m yours.”

“And I’m yours forever,” Wolfram whispered.

“I know, Wolf.”

And Beau knew illogically, impossibly in his heart that together they would live happily ever after.

THE END

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