The Guardian Mist

by Susan Stoker

  After speaking with the nurse, Roman’s brothers came over to the corner of the room where Rin and her family were waiting.

  “You’re with Roman?” one of them asked, holding out his hand.

  “Yes. I’m Varinia. I’m guessing you’re his youngest brother, Gus?”

  He nodded. Pleasantries taken care of, he got down to business. “Can you tell us what happened? All we have are sketchy details.”

  Rin swallowed. The last thing she wanted to do was get into it all again, especially before knowing how Roman was. She wished she was meeting his brothers under different circumstances. “Of course. But first, please…can you tell me what you found out about Roman? They wouldn’t talk to us.”

  “He’s in surgery,” the other man told them. “The nurse said the bullet went into the top of his lung and bounced around inside his chest cavity. Her words, not mine.”

  Rin swayed in her seat as the imagery his words evoked raced inside her head.

  “Easy, Varinia,” Max told her, obviously seeing the impact his words had on her. He knelt in front of her and put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. “You’re as pale as the tiles on the floor. Take a deep breath.”

  Rin did as Roman’s brother suggested, feeling the blackness at the sides of her eyes recede. “He’s going to live though, right?” Her words were whispered to Max, a question, but more like a plea.

  “He’s going to live,” Gus confirmed from above them in a voice of steel. “My big brother isn’t a quitter.”

  Rin nodded. “He was protecting me. The guy was threatening to kill us both if we didn’t give him all our money and valuables. When the guy wouldn’t back off, and looked like he was about to shoot us, Roman rushed him.”

  It was as if Gus expected her words. “I figured as much.”

  Max held out a hand. “It’s good to meet you, Varinia.”

  She shook his hand solemnly. “Where are your kids? And wives?”

  “They’re on their way. We chartered a plane to get here as soon as we could. It only had two seats, so we grabbed ’em. Our parents, and the others, will be here as soon as they can. They’re driving out.”

  Rin nodded, relieved that she didn’t have to meet the whole Reese clan right this second. As kind and patient as his brothers were being, this wasn’t the way she really wanted to meet his family. “This is my mom, Cassia, and sister, Tina,” she told Max and Gus, gesturing to them.

  They all nodded at each other.

  Gus pulled a chair over from nearby and Max did the same. They sat huddled in the corner of the room, chatting somewhat awkwardly, getting to know each other.

  “Augustina?” Gus asked.

  “Augustus?” Tina returned with a smile.

  Cassia smirked and commented, “I see I’m not the only one enthralled with Roman history.”

  Everyone chuckled, glad the tension in the air had been broken, at least for the moment.

  It wasn’t until Gus said, “That’s a beautiful ring, is it an heirloom?” that Rin realized she hadn’t talked about it with her mom or sister. They’d seen it in the ballroom when she’d shown up, bloody and freaked out and needing a ride to the hospital, but hadn’t discussed it further.

  “It’s still red, Mom,” Rin said in a soft voice, holding out her hand so her relatives could see it up close.

  “I can’t believe it,” Tina said, turning her sister’s hand right and left so the brilliant crimson sparkled in the fluorescent lights of the waiting room.

  “I take it that’s unusual?” Max asked, confused at the reactions of the women.

  “It’s a miracle,” Cassia breathed.

  For the first time in a long time, Rin saw her mom cry. She threw herself into Cassia’s arms and felt Tina’s arms wrap around them as well. The three of them sniffled for a bit before Rin finally pulled back and turned to Max and Gus with an explanation. She sat between them and held out her hand so they could clearly see the ring on her finger.

  “The legend of the ring states, in a nutshell, that if the daughter doesn’t find true love before she turns twenty-five, then she’ll be doomed to a life of loneliness. No one in my family has found the man meant to be hers in decades. This is the first time we’ve ever known the ring to be anything but gray.”

  “Roman,” Gus stated. It wasn’t a question.

  “Roman,” Rin agreed with a small smile.

  Gus put a hand on Rin’s knee, and Max put his on the other. “Welcome to the family, Varinia. I have a feeling there’s an interesting story behind your relationship with my brother, but I couldn’t be happier he’s finally found the princess he’s been looking for all his life.”

  Rin smiled at Gus and tried not to cry. She thought Roman’s family might balk at their quick courtship—hell, quick was an understatement. But it looked like she just might be welcomed after all.

  “Family of Roman Reese,” a no-nonsense voice said from the doorway.

  They all turned to see a doctor, still in surgical scrubs, standing at the other end of the room. Gus and Max stood—but all Rin could do was stare at the surgeon.

  A mist was hovering around his legs.

  As soon as Rin looked at him, it slowly disentangled itself from the man she had no doubt had saved Roman’s life, and rolled across the floor.

  As Rin watched, wide-eyed, it made its way over to her and enveloped her, wrapping the now-familiar scent of smoke, peppermint and a crisp fall day around her. She inhaled deeply, bringing it into her lungs and her very being.

  “Come on, Rin, you’re a part of this family now, let’s go see what the doctor has to say about Roman.”

  Rin took hold of the hand Max held out to her and headed across the room toward her future. She had no doubt whatsoever that the doctor had good news for them. The misty fog, and the bright crimson ring on her finger, told her everything she needed to know.

  10

  Rin snuggled into Roman’s side a couple of months later. She’d moved to Pennsylvania as soon as Roman had been released from the hospital, not willing to spend even one night away from him if she could help it. Her twenty-fifth birthday had come and gone without any fanfare, which was more than okay with Rin. She’d found her true love; it was the best present she ever could’ve received.

  They were huddled on the huge brown suede couch in his living room. The doctor had told them that it had been touch and go for a while in the operating room, but he’d managed to stop the bleeding from Roman’s kidney, which had been nicked by a bullet fragment. He’d patched up his lung and fixed other small tears as well.

  It hadn’t been hard for her to make the decision to quit her job in Columbus and move to Pennsylvania to be with Roman. She’d interviewed for several jobs and had managed to find a position with a bigger company, with more money and more benefits. She was thrilled with how everything seemed to be falling into place. Including her relationship with Roman.

  The man who’d held them up was in jail. He’d had a warrant out for first-degree murder before his robbery attempt. Apparently, he’d killed his pregnant girlfriend and both his parents before fleeing to the streets to try to get enough money to head to Mexico. The attempted murder of Roman was almost small potatoes compared to the other charges he was facing, but they would both testify if and when it came time, to make sure he never saw the light of day again.

  The entire situation was unbelievable, but Roman was alive and safe. Rin couldn’t ask for any other outcome.

  “Happy birthday, Varinia,” Roman said in a soft voice.

  “Thanks. Although you do realize you’re about a month late, right?”

  He chuckled. “Yeah, but I wasn’t really able to help you celebrate on the actual day.”

  “True. But you know what?” Rin sat up in the circle of his arms so she could look him in the eye. “I got the best present this year. I don’t need anything else, ever.”

  “Did the ring get back to England all right?”

  Rin nodded. “Yeah, I heard from M
acKenzie yesterday. The courier arrived with it right on time.”

  “You tell her we’ll be out to see her sometime next year?”

  “Of course. She was excited. Oh, and she sends her and James’ prayers that you’ll continue to heal without any problems.”

  “I told you I’m fine,” Roman protested. “Even the doctor was impressed with how fast I’m healing.”

  “I know, I know, but I still worry about you.”

  Roman hugged Rin to his chest, tucking her head in the crook of his shoulder. Her favorite place to be.

  “I love you, Varinia. And I have to say, no matter how many pictures we take in our life, that one,” he gestured to the eleven-by-fourteen print that sat in a heavy silver frame on the bookcase across from them, “will always be my favorite.”

  Rin didn’t pick up her head, but moved it just enough so that she could see the picture he’d gestured to. It was taken the day Roman was discharged from the hospital. They were standing next to each other in front of the automatic doors and Rin had one arm around Roman’s back and the other resting on his chest, over his healing wound. One of his arms was around her shoulders and the other was holding her hand to his chest. The sun was hitting them just right and the poesy ring shone bright crimson in the sunlight. They weren’t looking at the camera, but instead at each other. Rin could almost physically see the love between them.

  “Agreed.”

  “Are you sad you had to send the ring back to MacKenzie?” Roman asked, not for the first time.

  “No,” Rin said immediately. “It feels right. It’s where it needs to be. That picture is all the reminder I need. I have you right here with me. It’s enough.”

  “It’s too bad about the smear in the picture though,” Roman said after a moment.

  Rin lifted her head in shock and looked at him. “You can see that?”

  The first time Tina had shown her the picture, she’d seen the mist intertwined around her and Roman’s legs. She’d mentioned it to her sister, but Tina apparently didn’t see it. Just as none of the people that night, none of the hospital staff, and neither of Roman’s brothers had seen the mist when it had enveloped Roman and the doctor. She just assumed that she was the only one who was able to see the light fog.

  “Well, yeah,” Roman said in disbelief. “It’s hard to miss.”

  “Remind me to tell you the story sometime of how that smear relates to that awful night,” Rin told him, snuggling back into him.

  “I will. Have you heard from Tina?”

  Rin smiled. “Yeah. She called from Vegas.”

  “I seriously can’t believe she eloped with Luke.”

  “I know, right? She’d apparently been seeing him behind my mom’s back for months. Given how my mom acted, Tina always thought Mom wanted her to be with someone rich, when all Mom really cared about was her finding her one true love. The fact that Luke was a roofer didn’t faze her at all.”

  “Can’t blame Tina for assuming,” Roman mused. “I have to say, I like your sister a lot more now that she doesn’t have ‘desperate’ tattooed on her forehead.”

  Rin knew she should be offended on behalf of her sister, but she agreed with Roman. She simply said, “Me too.”

  “There’s something I’ve been wondering about, though,” Roman said, lightly running his hand up and down Rin’s back as he spoke.

  “What’s that?”

  “If you only got the ring a few weeks or so before your birthday, how would Tina or your mom have known if she’d found her true love without it? I mean, she didn’t have the ring growing up, so she couldn’t be alerted by it changing color if she’d met ‘the one’ years ago, right?”

  Rin shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I knew you were the man meant for me after only being in your presence for a few minutes. Maybe it didn’t matter if I had the ring on or not. Maybe it was the reason I recognized your scent in the first place. We’ll never know.”

  “I’d like to think it was fated, but Rin, it scares me to death to think of how close we came to never meeting.”

  Rin snuggled as close as she could to Roman and breathed his scent deep into her lungs, reassuring herself before she admitted softly, “Me too.”

  Sensing she needed a change in subject, Roman asked, “And your mom is dating now too?”

  “She’s seeing a realtor.”

  Roman chuckled, then sobered. “Have you talked to her about the legend at all?”

  “A little,” Rin told him. “She swears that she told the nurses when we were born to mark the oldest and they reported that they had. Who knows if they put the right identification band on the right baby.” She shrugged. “But you know what? I don’t care anymore. I love my mom and Tina. She wasn’t the best parent, but I get that she did what she did out of desperation. Maybe we were a glitch in the cosmic blip of the world. Maybe the ring being reconnected with the sword disrupted something in the cosmos and allowed all three of us to find the men we were meant to be with. I’m just so in love with you that I couldn’t really care.”

  Roman pushed Rin until she lay flat on her back on the couch. He leaned down and Rin smelled the peppermint he’d eaten earlier. She’d never get sick of his scent. Ever. She closed her eyes as his mouth brushed her earlobe, then the sensitive skin beneath it.

  “The doctor cleared me today for physical activity,” Roman whispered against her skin as he nipped and sucked at her.

  “Ummmmm.” Rin’s mind had gone blank. All thoughts of legends and her mom and sister gone as if in a puff of smoke. All she could think about was how good Roman smelled and about how she wanted his lips to keep going down her body.

  “I can’t wait until next weekend to make you my wife.”

  His words reminded Rin of the question she’d wanted to ask him. “Your family doesn’t think it’s weird that we’re getting married so quickly?”

  “No, Varinia. They love you. They love you for me. Gus asked me a week after I was out of the hospital if I’d asked you to marry me yet. When I told him I was waiting for just the right moment, he smacked me on the head and told me to get on with it.”

  “Your niece and nephews are cute.”

  “Ummmmm.” It was Roman’s turn to ignore her statement. His hand moved up from her waist under her shirt and closed over her naked breast. “I had thought to wait until we were man and wife before making you mine in every way, but I don’t think I can wait another day, let alone seven.” He lifted his head and rested on his elbow on the cushion next to her. He brushed his thumb over her cheek and held her head still. “Will you let me love you?”

  “For as long as you’ll have me, every night if possible.”

  No more words were spoken between them as Roman’s head dropped and his lips covered Rin’s.

  Every time they kissed, Rin felt as if she had come home. His tongue tangled with hers as his hand caressed her nipple, teasing it until it was as hard as a rock under his fingers.

  “Lift your arms,” he murmured against her lips.

  She did, and the moment her shirt cleared her head, Roman had claimed her mouth again. After several moments, he nipped her lower lip and moved down her body, taking her bra straps over her shoulders as he went.

  Rin looked down at the man she loved more than she could’ve ever imagined loving anyone as he concentrated on unhooking her bra. The look in his eyes when she lay under him topless was one she’d never get tired of. He’d seen her before, but it was as if each time was the first for him. His large hands covered her and he squeezed and plumped her breasts.

  “I will never take you for granted, Rin,” he swore, looking up into her eyes as his hands continued to caress her. “I love you. I can’t wait to make you mine.”

  “I’m already yours,” Rin breathed as he lowered his head and took one of her nipples into his mouth. She shifted under him, bending her knees and squeezing his torso tightly as he worshiped her body.

  “Please, Roman. I want you,” Rin begged.

  At h
er words, he pushed her legs flat on the couch and stood up, holding out his hand. Rin didn’t hesitate and allowed Roman to help her stand.

  Without a word, he led the way down the hall to his bedroom. They’d slept together every night in his bed, but Rin’s heart beat fast in her chest, knowing neither of them would sleep for a very long time tonight.

  It was much, much later when they lay exhausted and replete in their large bed, legs tangled together, sweat drying on their sated bodies, that Rin said the words she’d repeated in her head over and over since the night they’d been attacked.

  “I don’t know you, but I see your face in the clouds.

  I’ve never met you, but your smile fills my soul.

  Some hear words, I only hear you calling to me.

  Time might separate us, but it can’t deny the bond we share.

  With dreams only of you, I close my eyes.”

  Roman sighed and tightened his hold on her as she continued. “I want those words to be our wedding vows. I’ve never heard anything so beautiful in all my life.”

  “Done,” Roman agreed immediately. “Close your eyes, dream only of me, as I will of you.”

  Rin snuggled into her love, smiling as her Guardian Mist settled over the two of them. She fell asleep, secure in the knowledge that the fates had finally smiled on her family and delivered her man to her.

  * * *

  Hours later, in the darkest part of the night, when humans and animals alike are in the deepest sleep, the mist surrounding the couple on the bed swirled around them as Rin dreamed.

  She dreamed of a large banquet hall, filled with people wearing costumes from across the ages. It looked like a costume party, except Rin somehow knew the clothes the men and women wore were authentic. There were men in Scottish kilts with brightly colored plaids thrown over their shoulders, huge puffy Regency dresses, togas, powdered hair, corsets, and enough weaponry strapped to the men to make even the most liberal twentieth-century man nervous.

  It was a party like none Rin had ever seen. She walked into the room and the people parted in front of her, as if they’d been waiting for her to arrive. Rin looked down, nervous about what was happening, and smiled as she saw the mist around her feet, following along with her. Relieved, she looked up—and saw Roman standing halfway down the makeshift aisle that had formed by the spectators at the banquet hall.