Page 187 of This Blood that Bonds Us

“Thank god.”

There was a knock on the doorframe. “Here. I don’t know how much you need, but it’s all I could spare at the clinic. I can try to get more tomorrow morning. I also found you all a change of clothes since you all look like you’ve been rolling around in oil.”

“Thank you.” Luke nodded.

“Don’t leave my bathroom looking like a crime scene.”

We nodded and inspected the clothes she gave us.

“These fucking shorts.” Zach held up a small set of shorts. “There’s one set of sweatpants.”

“Can I have them? I’m so cold,” Kimberly said.

“You can have anything you want, Kim,” I said. “The queen has spoken.”

I said it loudly, and we all juggled the weirdness of that sentence, then the strangest laughter trickled out of us one by one. We laughed together for the first time in months. Everything would be different, but I wasn’t scared anymore because we were together again. Now and forever.

Epilogue

Kimberly

Two springs passed before we were ready to leave the gray clouds and cold behind. To feel the sun on our faces and let the warmth in. Something about the frigid air and the dark winters of Alaska gave us a place to hide. To mourn and heal in the shelter of the cold. It was a safe place that allowed us to stay covered and bundled together night after night sitting by the fireplace. Sometimes we sat in complete silence, sometimes with tears, but still together.

“It’s bad luck to see the bride in her dress,” I whispered in Aaron’s ear.

My bare feet warmed in the sun while I snuggled closer to him as he carried me up the mountain on his back.

His smile was radiant. “You know I don’t believe in that stuff.”

“Kim, I don’t think a dress with a big tulle train was really the move for this mountain wedding,” Presley said.

“Maybe you should have thought about that before you teared up at the fitting.”

I smiled back at Presley as he struggled to tame the train behind me and carry it. It took me a year to save for a dress, and another half year for Vera to teach me how to sew floral appliqués over it.

“You’re right, this was the best one.” Presley wiped some dirt from his face. “It’s perfect.”

Our procession consisted of the entire Calem family, including Vera, who was being carried on Luke’s back. Next to him, Zach was in charge of holding my flower crown and veil. He hadn’t complained once.

As we waded through fallen branches and toward the trail head, I laid my head on Aaron’s shoulder. The sun was high in the sky and warmed the entirety of my back and cheek.

After Ireland, I’d never believed I’d be whole again . . . that none of us would. We’d never be the same. That much was true. We couldn’t return to that time in Blackheart—that summer and fall when everything was whole and knit together. There was before Ireland and after.

Some things I’d never be able to unsee or feel, like the sight of everyone I loved dead on the floor. The feeling of no heartbeat in Aaron’s chest, and the queen’s blood coating my hands. Those things were part of me now.

I squeezed Aaron’s arm and played with the ends of his hair at the nape of his neck.

“Comfortable?” His voice vibrated his chest, and I savored it with my cheek still resting on him.

“Mm-hm. I’m very relaxed.”

“Good, because it’s your day.”

“It’s our day,” I whispered back to him.

A day I thought maybe we’d never see. It was true we couldn’t go back, but just because we couldn’t go back to the people we were, didn’t mean everything that came after had to be worsethan before. We made new memories. Things could bebetterthan they were before, and in a lot of ways, they were.

“Are we almost there?” Presley mumbled.