Page 80 of Crocodile Tears
She weighed her head side to side in mock consideration. “I think we can manage.”
“So . . .” I took another step into her side and kissed her temple. “What are you going to name him?”
“Rook Valestrider,” she answered immediately as the kitten nibbled her finger. “A very strong name for a very fiery boy.”
“Rook Valestrider-Hellfire,” I insisted. “He needs both of his parents’ last names.”
“You two are seriously adorkable,” Heron said, smiling as they shook their head. “Love the new digs by the way. Are you sure it’s big enough for you two fancy pants?”
“Says someone who lives on a boat,” Dove quipped.
“Hey, the two of us like boat living,” they replied. “Especially so we can sail away from Crane whenever he gets too annoying.” Dove laughed and gave Heron another hug before kissing Rook on the head again, as if she couldn’t resist. “I’ll leave you to it,” Heron said. “My better half is cooking dinner.”
I gave them a wink. “Thank you for your help.”
They looked over their shoulder as they waved. “Happy to be your co-conspirator any time.”
As they wandered off, Dove held Rook out and inspected him. “Valestrider-Hellfire might be a bit of a mouthful,” she said. “Maybe I should just take the Valestrider name so we can all be Valestriders together.”
My stomach flipped. “Are you… Do you mean our real last names too?”
She shrugged. “I’m saying I’m open to it.”
I wrapped my arms around her and laughed. “This can’t be our proposal story,” I insisted. “I had a whole romantic thing in Venice planned for next year.”
“Buying us a house and a kitten is pretty damn romantic,” she countered. “I don’t think Venice can beat this.”
“But I wanted it to be perfect and?—”
Dove shifted Rook into one arm and reached under my shirt with her free hand to grab the coin from my necklace. “We’ll let the coin decide.”
“You’re going to let a coin decide whether or not I propose to you?” I asked incredulously.
“It’s how we settle all our big life decisions, isn’t it?” she retorted with a cheeky grin. “Heads you propose now, tails you do it in Venice. Agreed?”
I bit the corner of my lip as I considered her, trying to contain my smile. “Agreed.”
She tossed the coin in the air and I caught it, dropping to one knee with it still clenched in my fist. “It was heads.”
Chapter Forty-Three
One year later . . .
Dove
A knock sounded on the door, followed by Deacon’s voice. “Dove?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t open up yet,” he said quickly. “I need you to hide in the corner so I can use the bathroom.”
I folded my arms and arched a brow at the closed door. “You need me to hide in the corner so you can go pee?”
“I don’t want to see you in your wedding dress before the ceremony. It’s bad luck,” he voiced through the door.
“It’s just a plain, white sundress. You’ve seen me wear it before,” I chastised. I’d dolled up the outfit a little with jewelryand heels. Hannah had done my makeup and braided my hair off my face with delicate purple flowers, but still, at its heart, the dress was just a simple beach dress and I kind of loved that. “You don’t get to see the fancy dress until we’re in Lake Como,” I added, my stomach flipping at the thought of donning a six-figure custom wedding gown.
Deacon and I had decided to have two weddings—a small, informal one in the backyard of the Sea Pearl and a massive, star-studded wedding in Lake Como. The Lake Como wedding had been my idea afterPeoplemagazine had offered us $2 million for the exclusive, all of the proceeds of which would go to the Simon Lachlan Conservation Fund. We’d also asked all our guests to make donations in lieu of gifts, and the funds raised would support over a decade of future conservation efforts.
