by S. E. Babin
I watched as his tan arms filled the last of the beds with natural mulch. His t-shirt stretched against the muscles of his back and I felt a little hitch in my stomach.
I was way past the liking stage. I adored Hank. He nurtured both the plants in the ground and my heart, and his ministrations had made me bloom. He saw me standing on the front porch and gave me a little wave.
I stepped onto the stairs, careful to keep my balance. I was wearing a boot now, so it was cumbersome, but not nearly as horrible as the crutches. Hank wiped his hands on his jeans and stood to help me.
I expected him to put a hand out, but he lifted me by the hips and pulled me tight against him.
“Hey,” he said after he kissed the brains right out of my head.
I slid down his body. “Hey.”
“You want to see the rest of your land?”
I nodded.
“I brought a golf cart from the nursery so you don’t have to walk too much.”
My heart swelled. Thoughtful Hank. He had to be a Hufflepuff, but he wouldn’t fess up his Hogwarts house no matter how much I begged.
He helped me into the cart and lifted my booted leg up into the cab. I waited for him to come around, but he went back to fussing with the mulch. He was a perfectionist like that.
I heard from the Midnight Cove realtors again, but it wasn’t what I expected. They came, with Lucien in tow, offered a sincere apology and announced Lucien would be taking over as CEO. When I gave him a weird look, he mouthed I’ll tell you later and leaned forward to kiss my hand. Ever the gallant gentleman. We both got a good laugh out of Hank’s warning growl when his lips lingered a little too long.
I suspected Portia had quite a bit to do with it and I was right. Lucien came by later that evening and explained the prior CEO had up and disappeared. Portia was the last one to have seen him, but no one wanted to poke that bear any more than they had to. Not even the police. Everyone in the company was completely terrified and Lucien’s promotion had stunned everyone. Including Lucien himself.
A week after Portia left my house, I received a thick manila envelope in the mail. When I opened it, a set of keys and a check fell out. There was also a large sheath of papers included.
The keys were to the door. My heart had lurched a little bit over that one because how in the world could you secure keys to Heaven? It seemed insane that she would even give those to me.
The check was another story. It was for an obscene amount of money. When I read the letter and the papers accompanying it, I had to sit down. Hank thought I was having medical complications related to my foot. I, on the other hand, felt like I was having a heart attack.
As Guardian, I would receive a yearly stipend. A generous one. All I had to do was ensure no one found the door. Easier said than done. But, Portia had reinforced the wards around that particular area of the land, and I had some ideas about how I could keep trespassers off the property. But I would have to be careful not to keep the animals out too. It was a work in progress, but with a yearly stipend of that much money, I thought I could figure it out.
But there was more.
Portia had deeded me a building in the middle of Midnight Cove for my business. She’d even taken the liberty of making me a sign for it that said, “House of the Living Dead.”
I wasn’t so sure about that sign, but the building made me feel faint. But I wanted to do it. It was about time I put myself out there instead of living life in solitude. If people never took the chance to get to know me, then they didn’t deserve to know me. Hank agreed and offered to provide me some urns and plants for the front of the building.
The paperwork also laid out the work that needed to be done to repair the rift. It would not be easy, nor would it be a quick fix. But this was my town, and since I was partially responsible for what happened, the least I could do was help correct it.
So...things were weird. And good.
Then there was Hank. Sweet, thoughtful, sometimes brusque, sometimes still grumpy, but that was just him. He and Pepper were getting on a lot better and he’d even taken some of her input for my land. Lucien was another story, but fortunately he thought Hank’s grumpiness toward him was hilarious.
Hank slid in beside me and started the cart with a lurch. As we rounded the corner and I saw the area where I did my work, I gasped. Hank had not only put numerous urns of spilling flowers, he had build a koi pond with a small waterfall. A large hummingbird feeder hung on a pole over the pond and birds were zipping in and out.
“It’s beautiful.”
“We aren’t finished.” Hank kept driving past that area and as we got a little bit further, I could see he had cleared out most of the brush underneath the trees. He had placed massive rocks all over the place but in such a way that it looked natural. Moss spilled over those rocks, making the entire place look verdant and lush. I gave Hank the side-eye. He might not think he had magic, but I knew moss didn’t grow quite that fast. But Hank kept driving until we were at Portia’s door.
He stopped the cart, got out, and rushed over to help me.
I stepped out and looked around in confusion. “Hank?”
“This was the first place I realized how attracted to you I was.” He moved closer to me and clasped my hands with his. “I thought we would never work. We were too different. But this was the moment where I really began to wrestle with myself and wonder if maybe Portia’s letter did have some merit. Maybe I was the one.”
Portia stepped from the cave, wearing a white dress. Her blonde hair spilled around her shoulders.
“Portia?” I asked, more confused than ever.
“When soulmates meet,” she explained, “there is thin invisible line that keeps them together no matter how much they try to resist.” She gave Hank a disapproving look.
“I’m dumb,” Hank admitted.
“When they are ready to commit, that line becomes something...different.”
“I - I don’t understand.” I looked between both of them trying to figure out what I was missing.
“I can see that line. I know when that bond has been fulfilled. Hank might have come the long way, but he is ready. Are you?”
“Ready for what?” My heart was pounding. Was he ready? “He hasn’t even told me he loves me yet!”
Portia grinned at me. “Like he said, he’s dumb. He came to me. He felt something on the day he came to your house when he started the work on your yard. Few people do. And he wouldn’t let it go until I told him what it was.”
“So he’s known all this time we were soulmates?” I wasn’t sure if I was happy or annoyed.
Portia nodded. “But you never had any doubts.”
“Of course I had doubts. You threw two men at me all at once!”
“Oh yes. Well, Lucien was a distraction. And what I like to call a nudger.”
Hank’s mouth twisted in annoyance. “You wanted to see if I was serious.”
“No,” Portia said. “I wanted to see if you would commit. I have a hundred percent track record, but it has not come without its challenges.”
“I still don’t understand what I’m doing here.”
“Hank is ready to solidify the soulmate bond. Are you?”
“What is the bond?” I was still confused.
“It’s the thread that keeps you together. It makes you stronger. When one of you is weak, the other can draw upon the strength of the other. But it can make you weaker as well. If something were to happen to one of you, the other would be severely weakened.”
“Is this step completely necessary?”
Hank’s face slipped a little bit.
“No,” Portia said. “But this step solidifies your commitment to each other. Once you take it, you will be married under the laws of Midnight Cove.”
“You - you want to marry me?” I asked Hank.
“Of course I do.”
“Right now?”
“I figured this was the best wedding an introvert could ask for.”
H
e was right. No people. No pressure.
“I need to ask you something. And I want you to be honest with me. If you lie to me I will know. It’s very important, Hank. Our entire future depends on it.”
Hank’s eyes widened and he looked suitably freaked out. I stepped up closer to him, brushed my lips across his, and whispered in his ear. “You’re a Hufflepuff, aren’t you?”
Hank crushed me against him and let out a shaky exhale of breath. “You’re the worst, Helen Reaper. But even after scaring the crap out of me, I love you more than anything in the world.”
“So?”
“Total Hufflepuff.”
I knew it.
Also by S.E. Babin
The Goddess Chronicles
The Deadicated Matchmaker Series
Gods of Olympus
