His Everlasting Love: 50 Loving States, Virginia (21 page)

“Good,” he said with a laugh, “Because I’m not letting you go forever.”

He let that statement sink in for a few beats of blissful silence. “Though, now that I think of it, we will have to hand over this house to Josh soon, since Richmond isn’t in his district. Maybe we should think about moving somewhere a little less…ghosty.”

That suggestion brought Willa up on one forearm. “Oh my God, yes!” she agreed with a huge smile on her face. “Let’s get a brand new house, in one of those cookie-cutter developments that used to be woods but are now neighborhoods with HOAs.”

She sighed happily at just the thought of such a thing. “We’d have to come back regularly to visit Grandpa, Dad, and my mom, and your mom, but living somewhere like that would be a dream come true.”

He leaned into her, snickering against her neck. “Willa, baby, you have a very interesting definition of “dream come true.” But you’re my dream come true, so if that’s what you want, I’m going to make it happen for you. One totally new four-bedroom house in a brand new development that used to be a bunch of woods, coming right up.”

This time Willa kissed him, lowering her head to claim the now fully alive man she loved more than any other in this world. Her ghost. Her patient. The father of her children. And now her everlasting love.

No, she definitely would not mind never being let go by Sawyer Grant. Being lost once was enough for one lifetime. No more running away, she agreed to herself. She was happy to stay permanently found for the rest of their lives.

Epilogue

They got married beneath her father’s willow tree the following fall.

Just like Marian said they would. After her mother’s leg healed. After Trevor started kindergarten officially on record as the son of Sawyer Grant. And after her sister unexpectedly returned home for the wedding. Thinner and tremulous with more missing months she refused to talk about.

But Thel threw herself into serving as Willa’s maid of honor. Making all the arrangements, and even volunteering to babysit Trevor—though Grace and The Admiral quickly squashed that notion.

They’d just returned from their own unexpected honeymoon, after deciding to elope while they were on vacation. And according to The Admiral, he and his new wife were owed a week or two with their grandson.

So same old Admiral. But not really. Willa noticed he’d become gentler since his big conversation with Sawyer. He’d even been better about guiding Josh through the more than year-long process of campaigning to become a Congressman. Less demanding than he’d been of Sawyer, and more of a mentor.

He’d been nothing but a wonderful and loving grandpa to Trevor, and had told her personally he couldn’t wait to be the same for little Eve.

Eve. This was the name they’d given to the little girl growing inside her. The consummation of their love in the spirit world and here in the real one. The first woman in the Bible, whose name meant life.

So nearly everyone they loved was present when Willa and Sawyer spoke lifelong vows to each other under the willow tree. And by the time the ceremony was through, both their visible and invisible guests were crying happy tears.

“I wish Other Grandma could have been here,” Trevor said afterwards, wiping his eyes underneath his glasses.

The little boy was still grieving for Kate. A portal had opened behind his ghost grandma at what turned out to be the very moment Grace and The Admiral decided to elope. Sucking her into a new life that would no longer include reading her grandson to sleep every night.

It was a good time to move, Willa thought to herself at their picnic reception as she watched Trevor and Thel sitting together on one of the blankets they’d laid out for their guests. They were both picking at their food forlornly. But for very different reasons.

Only one of which she knew.

But just a few minutes later, Thel shocked the stuffing out of just about everybody by going to stand with the five-piece wedding band they’d hired to play instrumentals for the reception. Then without any announcement whatsoever, she burst into a set of romantic standards, clearly just trusting that the band would keep up.

They did, and soon the guests were all on their feet, the living and the dead jigging it up as Thel sang song after song.

“Any idea what’s going on with your sister?” Sawyer asked when Thel finally took her foot off the upbeat peddle and launched into “Endless Love.”

She smiled, loving that he’d decided to stay on the impromptu grass dance floor with her, instead of returning to the blankets for a breather like quite a few of their guests, including Trevor and Marian.

His new leg was already proving itself to be a great investment. This latest prosthesis had been made with a titanium-web leg frame that fit around the outside of his ghost leg as opposed to slicing it straight through like the slick carbon one he’d had before. Having a physical therapist for a wife had certainly come in handy. Not only had she consulted on its making with the prosthetist, she’d talked his ghost leg through it, making the whole process easy and smooth.

After that, Sawyer had insisted she look into going back to med school next fall after Eve was born. And after she finished up her degree, they had a plan to open up a practice where she could do him and other amputees even more good as a physiatrist.

But now she was only focused on today. On how happy they were. And how handsome he looked in his white suit. And how glad she was that his leg still wasn’t bothering him, despite all the dancing.

Well, at least
one
of his legs wasn’t bothering him. From the feel of the bulge against her stomach, Sawyer was more than ready for their honeymoon to begin.

“I don’t know what’s going on with Thel,” she answered. “But whatever it is, I think it’s bad. And as much as I’m enjoying the music, I’m really weirded out, because I’ve literally not heard her sing anything but opera for six years.”

She peeped up into what she now thought of as his beautiful swamp-mud eyes. “I know you want to get out of here, but do you mind if I go try to talk to her first?” she asked with an apologetic look. “I won’t be able to concentrate on our honeymoon if I don’t at least try to get her to talk to me again.”

Sawyer leaned down to kiss her. “That’s not a problem at all, baby. Go see to your sister. I’ll be right here when you get back.”

Yes, he would. Though she still wasn’t anywhere close to being used to having him around…always there in real, physical form. But they were definitely a real couple now. After resigning his position from Josh’s firm, Sawyer secured another position at a firm that specialized in serving disabled vets. And in a few weeks, they’d be moving into a four-bedroom in a brand new housing development near Falls Church. In fact, they’d signed the closing papers a couple of days ago.

Yet, she still found it hard to believe. That he was truly hers now, and that she was his. Even after he’d pledged “his everlasting love” to her beneath her father’s willow tree.

Maybe after the baby came
, she thought, rubbing her now swollen stomach as she made her way over toward where her sister was singing with the wedding band.

But then Thel froze. And she abruptly stopped singing as an abject look of horror came over her face.

What the…?

Willa followed the direction of her sister’s frightened gaze, and ended up freezing herself.

A huge man, wearing a very well-cut suit, was walking toward the picnic reception across their Pappy’s old field.

A complete behemoth—at least six-six, maybe even six-seven, and covered from head to toe in thick muscles. He had a face that looked like it had been violently carved from stone with a straight-edged razor, a huge hawkish nose, and lips that seemed to be permanently frozen in mid-snarl. Eastern European, Willa thought taking in the very fine suit he was wearing. If not for his eyes, she’d think he was an actor straight out of a movie where the good guys had to face off against the Russian Mafia.

He had almond-shaped eyes that hinted at possible Asian ancestry, but they didn’t soften his face one bit. Mostly because of the two cold, black stones that lay within. His eyes put her in mind of the extremely violent bad guys in the martial arts movies that Sawyer occasionally liked to watch after Trevor went to bed. Villain eyes.

And those villain eyes were completely lasered in on her sister.

The band stopped playing, and the whole wedding went silent with shock, everyone staring at this strange man. It was as if a large and dangerous beast had suddenly invaded their picnic.

All the while Thel continued to stare at him like he was her worst nightmare come to life.

“Who is that guy?” she heard Trevor’s voice say from the blanket he now shared with his only living grandmother.

“That’s Mr. Rustanov, dear, Thel’s husband...” their mother answered from another blanket. “He’s been looking all over for her. And now he’s finally found her.”

Everyone, including Willa, looked from the man to Thel then.

Well, almost everyone. Marian just rubbed her hands together and said, “Now sssshhhh, everybody! This story is going to be sooooo good!”

Thel’s story will be told in Theodora Taylor’s next smoking hot contemporary,
Her Russian Beast,
(coming soon!)

Dearest Readers,

Just a little note to say how grateful I am for your continued support and readership. These characters came to me in a dream and would not stop haunting me until I agreed to tell you their story. But after getting to know Willa and Sawyer, I harbor no bitterness whatsover. And I hope you loved this couple as much as I now do. If so, please do us the further favor of leaving a review for this “rather unusual” paranormal at Amazon.

And if you’re seriously jonesing to find out what’s going to happen with Thel, keeping reading! To tide you over, I’ve included an excerpt from the tale of Bair Rustanov’s older brother,
Her Russian Billionaire,
after the sign off!

So Much Love,

Theodora Taylor

HER RUSSIAN BILLIONAIRE

A Smoking Hot BWWM Romance from the 50 Loving States Series [Texas]

Prologue

ALEXEI Rustanov hailed from a land where one could spot ex, current, and future supermodels walking down the same busy Moscow streets. But in his opinion, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen was currently sitting on the mattress they called their bed in his dumpy efficiency apartment.

When he came out of the bathroom that morning, he found her in nothing but the bikini bottoms from her yellow, polka-dot swimsuit, leaning into the nearby fan’s direct path, blissfully receiving its lackluster breeze on day six of one of the hottest heat waves on record in Dallas history. He ran a hand over the dark beard he’d been considering cutting if the heat wave didn’t break soon, and let his eyes roam over his girlfriend in quiet appreciation. Her ebony skin glistened with damp heat, and her thick, natural hair had been thrown into two haphazard, chunky French braids that barely reached below her ears. It wasn’t the most glamorous look, but he still felt himself go instantly hard, envisioning taking each of her breasts, which were beaded with sweat, into his mouth and lavishing them with the attention they deserved.

Though they’d been living together for almost three months, he could barely believe she belonged to him, that this beautiful and kind woman had chosen him, despite the shabbiness of his un-air conditioned apartment and the two-digit state of his bank account. She made him feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

As if sensing his gaze on her, her own eyes popped open and she unleashed that gorgeous smile of hers, the one that always stopped his heart.

“Hey, baby,” she said, her Texas accent lively as always despite the heat. “I didn’t hear you come out of the bathroom. You know, for such a big guy, you move like a cat.”

“I will replace your female-sounding ‘cat’ with ‘panther’ and agree,” he said, moving his six-foot-six frame to stand closer to the edge of the bed.