When the week had passed, Drag went with me to the Council offices for our hearing. From the door, I saw Monty seated on the other side of the mediation table with Brita and Cas. He looked as unhappy as I felt.
"Nothing to hear," I said. I grabbed Drag's hand. "I can't go in there, but I have to. Help me do this."
"He loves you," she said. "You know that, right?"
I didn't respond.
"According to Brit, he was willing to die with you when you drank that hex. He stayed with you no matter the cost. You cannot deny that he loves."
I knew the truth in her words. It was why we had to divorce, at least from Monty’s perspective. Monty fell in love. He'd sealed the marriage binding by losing his heart. I'd lost mine as well, and now it was broken in a million pieces. But I'd made the deal.
"I don't deny it," I told her. "I just can't have him. Go in and wait for me. I just need a moment to regroup."
I took a seat on a bench outside the room. Someone sat down next to me, and I noticed the camo pants before I could even look up. "Hello, Fate." I couldn't keep the anger from my voice.
"Hello, niece." She propped her elbows onto her knees and planted her chin in her upturned palms and focused her metallic gaze in my direction. "Why so glum?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I gave up my best chance at happiness to save our kind, and all I get for my effort is a lousy divorce."
"And the knowledge that you did the right thing. That you saved a lot of witches and warlocks."
"Yay me."
"The fact that you were willing to give up true love for such a noble cause is a true miracle. Most wouldn't have had the strength. They would not have been so willing."
"Would you stop saying willing over and over and rubbing it in my face," I snapped.
Her hair flew up, and the air around me stirred.
"I'm sorry," I apologized. Jeesh, she was touchy.
"I'm willing to forgive you," she said. "It doesn't mean I have to, but in this case, I will because I know you're having a bad day."
"I'm glad you're willing to--" I blinked at her. "But it doesn't mean you have to? You just have to be willing? Goddess on a stripper pole!" They were all assholes. Destiny, Chance, Fate, Free Will, and even the Goddess, who I hoped was not reading my mind at this moment.
I jumped up from the bench.
Fate smiled. "That's my girl."
I stopped myself from telling her to kiss my ass. Instead, I stormed into the mediation room.
"Monty, I love you," I declared.
"What?" he said.
"I love you," I said again?"
"I can't hear you," he said. "Do you have a silence spell up?"
Shoot. "Release."
"Whatever you have to say, Gigi, you can say to the mediator, the Honorable Mysty Laramie," a council representative said.
"Fine," I huffed. "Honorable Mysty, can I speak?"
A bored-looking brunette, sitting at the far end of the table and wearing a black robe, nodded. "Go ahead, Ms. Wise."
"I am in love with Montrose Abadose. I think I've been in love with him since the first time I saw him at the training academy. Or at least, I was in lust with him. But now, it's love. From the moment he kissed me at our wedding, I was hooked. And, when he saved me from a deadly hex, risking his life to protect me, I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, even if it had been just those few short seconds. I would have died happy, knowing it was in his arms."
"What are you saying?" Honorable Mysty asked.
"I'm saying, I don't want a divorce. I love Monty. I love him with all my heart. Enough that I'm willing to come in here and face potential humiliation if he doesn't feel the same way." I moved my gaze to Monty. "I'm just a witch, standing in front of a warlock, asking him to love her."
"Goddess, she went full Notting Hill," Drag muttered.
"Permission to speak, Honorable Mysty," Monty said.
"Granted," she said, leaning forward and no longer looking bored with the proceedings.
Monty cleared his throat, his blue eyes sparkled like jewels as he stared at me. "You had me at I am in love with Montrose Abadose."
I smiled. He'd Jerry Maguired me.
The mediator cleared her throat. "Is that all you want to say?"
"I'm in love with you, Gigi Wise. And I have been for a long time. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don't want a divorce."
"Case closed," Honorable Mysty said. "Get out." I swear she had a tear in her eye as the Council rep ushered us through the door and into the hallway.
Monty took me in his arms and kissed me until my lips buzzed. After, he said, "I thought you didn't go for the big romantic gestures."
"I do now." I leaned into his palm as he caressed my face. "I just wish you could have seen me on our wedding day."
He smiled. "I did." He pulled a MAN from his pocket. "I wore this the whole time we exchanged vows, and through most of the evening until I could no longer hide it. I saw you, Gigi. I always see you."
I didn't think my heart could fill with more love, but it did. "Truly?"
"Yep. When I told you that you looked beautiful, you know, when I gave you the pin, I meant you, Gigi. Only you."
I threw my hands behind his neck and pulled him down for another kiss.
"Get a room," Drag said. "Children are watching."
"What children?"
Drag pointed to herself, Cas, and Brit.
"Oh." I stuck out my tongue at her. "Maybe we should go somewhere more private," I said to Monty. "You know, a place where we can wear fewer clothes without breaking any public laws."
He laughed. "I know just the place. Hold on."
He popped us out of the Council offices, and when we reappeared, I was in a flowing white gown, flowers decorated my hair, and I was barefoot standing in a stream of petal laden blue water. My hand went to my mouth. This was my fantasy wedding.
"How did you know?"
"Drag might have told Brita who might have told me that you cried a little at this particular scene in a movie."
The stream didn't lead to an altar, though. In its place, was a large bed with white linen decorated with rosebuds in the shape of a heart.
"Where are we?" I asked. "And please don't say the Bahamas."
"India," he said. "Near the Golden Triangle. About as far from the Caribbean as I could think of."
I hiked my skirt up and jumped up, wrapping my legs around his waist. "I have the best husband. Now, take me to bed, stud. You can do that thing you do, you know, that one move with your tongue." I wiggled my brows.
He narrowed his gaze at me. "And what makes you think I know that kind of move."
"Uhm." I shrugged. "Near-death clairvoyance."
"One of these days you're going to have to tell me the truth about that night." He carried me to the bed and threw me down on the blankets, so much like our first time, that I squealed. "Until then," his eyes darkened with lust. "I plan to make you the happiest wife around."
"You already do," I said as he stripped down to nothing and crawled on top of me. "You already do."
The End
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