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“Leap year? Is that so we only have to celebrate our anniversary once every four years?”
He looked at me with his puppy-dog eyes and pouted. “No. I just thought it would be cool.”
I shook my head and smiled. “Yes, my love. It would be very cool. As if I could ever resist you, especially when you look at me like a sweet little boy.”
“You’re going to be forced to build up your resistance.”
“Why?”
“Once we have kids, you’ll never be able to say no to anything they want.”
I shrugged. “I’ll be the good-cop mom. You can be the mean-cop dad.”
He stood, then lay beside me. “It worked for my parents. I guess it can work for us.” He frowned.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just reminded of a conversation I had with my brother. He said the key to life is to keep loving someone even when their actions hurt you, even when you don’t understand. You just keep loving them. Eventually, they’ll come around.” He kissed me. “Thank God you came around, Alena.”
I shook my head. “You came around, Henry. You found me and showed me you loved me, even though you didn’t understand my actions, even though I’d hurt you. I’m the one who’s thankful.”
The next morning,we left for the UK, stopped and filed our notice to marry, then Henry took me to Wargrave. From the moment I saw his house, the moment I stepped inside, I knew it would be our home.
An hour after we arrived, Henry’s mother, brother, sister, their spouses, nieces, and nephews all arrived to welcome us.
As I met Henry’s family, I immediately knew they’d be my family too.
“Can I call you Aunt Alena?” Henry’s oldest niece, Hilary, asked.
I bent at the waist so I could look her in the eye. “Of course you can because that’s what I am.”
27
ZEPPELIN
Nervousness was never something that plagued me, but I felt it this morning. I had no reason to. Verity was as much a part of the coalition as I was. Yet I worried about the way we’d respond to each other. Or the way I’d react to her. I wasn’t used to her being hands-off. I touched and kissed whenever, wherever, and however I wanted to. Here at the command center, I worried about making her uncomfortable.
“You have a tell too, you know?” she said, reaching over to touch my hand as we sat in the parked SUV. “Your eyes scrunch almost imperceptibly, but I can see it. What are you worried about? Are you thinking it’s a bad idea for me to return to the group?”
I took her hand in mine. “God, no. It’s the best thing that could’ve happened. I’m thrilled you’re back.”
“Tell me what worries you.”
“Truthfully? Keeping my hands to myself. Resisting the urge to kiss you. Pulling you onto my lap if you walk by the chair where I’m sitting.”
“Oh. All that,” she said, smirking. “Just so you know, I have no intention of keeping my hands to myself or resisting the other things you mentioned.”
“Be serious.”
The smirk left her face. “I am, Zep. We’re professionals, and the minute we walk in the door, that is the mode we’ll fall into. Don’t overthink this.”
I nodded. “Ready?”
“We’ve been sitting in the parked car for over five minutes. Yes, I’m ready.” She winked.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, or maybe someone had noticed us pull in, but when we came in the front door, we saw several people gathered in the main sitting room where we held full-team briefings.
“Welcome back,” said Nemesis, the first to approach us and hug Verity.