Page 105
EPILOGUE
Four months later
“How can you say that?” Eleanor gasped. “If I had known this about you from the start, I might never have married you.”
“Then file for a divorce,” Gabriel countered with a large grin.
“I said might,” Eleanor reminded him. “It’s been far too long now, and I’ve grown accustomed to you.”
She paced back and forth across the only wall in the library with no books by the window.
“Why do you think I waited so long to inform you of my preferences?” Gabriel asked.
He strode across the room to her, and Eleanor quickly skipped a couple of steps before breaking into a run around the library. She squealed as he got close to her, and when his hand brushed against her arm without grabbing hold of her, she knew he was toying with her.
Still, she quickly escaped past the point of contention in the middle of the room: the plate of cakes.
Atlas barked from the corner, always protective of Eleanor, but aware enough of his master to know that she wasn’t in any real danger.
Gabriel threw his arms up in the air. “Great, now Atlas is backing you. It’s not fair when it’s two against one.”
“It is fair when I am completely in the right,” Eleanor claimed.
“I don’t trust Atlas’s opinion.” Gabriel stopped chasing Eleanor and looked down at the plate. “I once saw him chewing on a bone he found in the woods. He consumed the entire thing and was ill for a day after.”
“I trust him even more,” Eleanor countered. “Atlas has obviously tried food neither of us would dare, meaning he has a more rounded palate. How can we know what is truly good or bad without trying the best and worst?”
“I really can’t win against you, can I?” Gabriel asked.
Eleanor folded her arms across her chest. “It would seem that you can’t.”
“Then we’ll just have to agree to disagree,” Gabriel conceded. “You prefer lemon cakes, and I prefer lemon tarts, which means there are more of those for both of us, unless Atlas helps himself.”
Gabriel was close to the plate of cakes in the middle of the room, and he collapsed down into one of the chairs before picking up his cup of tea.
Eleanor took the long way around the back of Gabriel. She placed her hands on his shoulders and kissed him on the cheek before sitting in the chair beside him.
She made a show of picking up one of the lemon cakes and devouring it eagerly, moaning as she did.
“Now, don’t go doing that,” Gabriel warned. “I might prefer lemon tarts to lemon cakes, but hearing you moan while eating a cake is only making me want to devour something else.”
“I’m sure that can be arranged,” Eleanor said with a smile.
She picked up her cup and sipped some tea to wash down the cake before reaching out to hold her husband’s hand.
“It worked,” she admitted. “Nate’s list brought us together. You did a lot of things to make me feel special and comforted, but I remember when you brought me the lemon cakes. There was something about that that I really enjoyed. You knew I was upset and crying, and instead of trying to fix it as many men would have, you brought something to help me and let me be upset. I mean, you did abandon me at one point, but you came back.”
Gabriel smiled and shook his head as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the worn and creased piece of paper.
“You still have that?” she gasped.
“I carry it everywhere,” he replied.
“I can’t believe that,” Eleanor admitted. “It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside to see that again. I think about it from time to time, and when I see Nate, of course. You don’t need to carry it anymore, do you? You’ve given me everything I ever asked for.”
“It’s a good reminder,” Gabriel admitted. “I still think about this last one. Above all… don’t let her convince you she’s as fearless as she pretends to be. Sometimes she simply needs someone beside her. I like that one. Not only for you, but for anyone in this world. We all need someone by our side who understands us and makes us better.”
“Yeah, I like that, too,” Eleanor admitted. “I did spend a lot of time pretending to be more fearless than I actually was, but I don’t need to anymore. When you are by my side, I’m not afraid of anything.”
