Though she’d been hoping for it to happen, when Adam’s eyes fluttered open, Belle got spooked and nearly dropped his head. She scrambled to lower him gently, peppering his face with small kisses as she stroked his cheek.
The moment Adam’s arms realized their strength, the only thing they wanted to do was wrap around the woman who’d brought him back to life. His lashes swept shut again as his knee lifted. He tugged Belle closer, holding her face as if he was afraid to let go. Over and over they kissed, sealing the demise of Malaura’s curse as Belle lifted him to sit up, so they could better hold each other.
The kiss broke only when Adam tasted her tears and realized she was shivering. “Inside,” he ruled, running his hands over her arms. “I promised you’d never be cold while I’m around. I’m here now.”
Henry and Remus helped the two up, and the men each draped one of Adam’s arms around their shoulders. Adam stumbled over broken glass and felled chairs on his way to the settee on the other side of the room. The men lowered Adam to the cushion and patted his shoulders as Belle took the seat beside him, still gaping at his transformation.
“How did…” Adam began, but his question caught in his throat. “Lucien!”
Belle’s eyes tore from his face and looked to where he was pointing. The motionless candelabra shook as sparks began to fly from the brass. Adam cried out, but Belle merely gasped when the candelabra she adored stretched rapidly to the height of a man, the thin poles of brass expanding and shifting until, in the next breath, a man in his early forties stood in the center of the room.
Henry swore, his hands scrubbing his eyes to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on him. “I don’t… Lucien? How did… It’s…” He turned to Adam in shock. “You weren’t seeing things?”
Adam threw his hands up, finally vindicated. “I tried to make you understand in the beginning, but after a while it was easier to just let you all assume I was delusional.” Adam leaned on Belle, who helped him stand to greet his butler. “Lucien, old friend.” He didn’t bother with a handshake, but rather hugged the man who’d been even more trapped than Adam by the curse.
The look of rapture on Lucien’s surprised face brought tears to everyone’s eyes. “Master, it’s a miracle!”
Remus shouted when Audra, Bosworth, Thomas, Sultan the dog, and Vivienne were no longer inanimate objects, but were transformed into whole people. They each stood trembling in the study with expressions that ranged from flabbergast to out-and-out weeping.
Adam stumbled to each of them with the glow of a new man who’d been given a chance at redemption. He scooped each of them in a hug, welcoming Simone and Chef Bouche into the fold with a hearty kiss to both their cheeks.
Belle’s love had filled the entire castle, redeeming things that were broken, and breathing life into mere objects, making them purely human again.
Agent McNally had a hard time keeping up when he had to step over the pile of dead bodies to reach the scene of the many crimes and miracles. After taking everyone’s statements, the agents still couldn’t explain everything they’d written in their reports when the sun finally rose.
Belle’s father had been promptly released. The moment he had shoes on his feet, drove to the castle and scooped his daughter in a hug. His love broke the brave face she was trying to put on for everyone. Belle sobbed on her father’s shoulder, confessing how scared she’d been when Gabe had thrown him in the drunk tank. She told Fabrice the entire story that had kept her from coming to him, and how devastated she’d been when she’d thought Adam gone forever.
“There, there. It’s nothing a good pot of tea can’t fix.” His cheek brushed against hers as he held tight to his only daughter. “I’m so proud of you. I knew you could solve it all. You’re the smartest person I know.”
She chuckled through her tears. “I love you, Papa. I was so scared when I found out Gabe had taken you.”
“Now, now. I’m alright, aren’t I? I feel most sorry for those poor Lupine. Foulest meal they’ve ever had, I’m sure.”
It was a grim joke, but Henry loved it, and clapped Belle’s father on the shoulder with a tired laugh. Of course, he was loopy from not having slept, but he was in high spirits. Everyone had a reason to celebrate, including Rory, who couldn’t stop apologizing from the moment she received the call. It was a stream of debasement every time she was near Adam from that day forward, humbling herself for not believing him about the staff all these years.
“Story, it’s okay,” Cordray finally said to his wife. “It was uncharted magic. Adam forgives you, I’m sure,” he said with a hint of a threat at the former beast.
Adam had been attached to Belle all through the morning, but now that she was in her father’s arms, he permitted Rory the hug she’d been craving. His dainty friend who’d stuck by him through too many dark days shook in his arms as all the pent-up grief over his curse finally crested. “It’s alright, Rory.”
“I just… I haven’t seen your face in years!”
Prince Henry encircled the two of them in his arms. “And it’s such a letdown that you’re weeping? Poor girl. Adam, Adam, frightening the sensitive ones, as always.”
Adam’s chest vibrated as he removed one of his arms from Rory to shove Henry. “I’m back, Rory. I’m back, and I’m me again.”
“How I’ve missed you,” she whispered, and then planted a kiss to his soft cheek, marveling at the smoothness of his skin as she touched his face with her delicate fingers.
After a tearful goodbye and a promise to visit the next day when Adam and the staff had been permitted some time to settle down after all the changes, Cordray escorted his wife out of the castle.
Audra and Bosworth were talking to Adam, overjoyed at being able to move about freely and speak to whomever they wished. But Adam had eyes only for Belle, who was still confiding her fears to her father. He was anxious without her, though he knew he was being silly. She was in the same room, only a few feet away. Still, he longed to be nearer. All the uncertainty, the pain of his long-time isolation, and the confusion of the night melted away the moment she touched him. Without her by his side, he felt restless and on the edge of agitation.
“Of course, Audra, take whatever room you like. You won’t exactly be sleeping in the cupboard anymore,” Adam answered while still gazing at Belle.
Bosworth rubbed his round belly and adjusted his spectacles. “I was thinking I would set up in my old bedroom, but Lucien and Vivienne are coupling so loudly in the next room that I think I might prefer something down the hall.”
Adam finally tore his eyes from the back of Belle’s head to look at the two. “I’m glad you’re all going to stay on. I can’t imagine this place without you.”
Audra smooched Adam’s cheek, the same way she’d done when he’d been young. “I could never leave you, my beautiful boy.”
Adam chuckled and scrubbed at his cheek, looking every bit the child she’d helped raise into adulthood. It was nearly noon, and the agents, coroners and crime scene specialists were finally starting to clear out. With the officials and dead bodies gone, it was easier to imagine what the next chapter of his life might look like. He couldn’t stomach the idea of his home without Audra to keep him in line, Bosworth to organize the household, Lucien to see to the details, Chef Bouche to keep him away from dog food, Thomas to greet his guests and see to the upkeep of his cars, Simone to make sure he got dressed every morning, and Vivienne to keep the place clean.
Adam had big plans to relieve Belle of her housekeeping and nursing duties the moment the dust settled.
It was the longest Belle had been out of Adam’s reach in hours. The moment her father released her from their embrace, she returned like a magnet to Adam’s outstretched arms. He’d clung to her as if he’d been waiting to pull in a full breath, but couldn’t unless she was by his side. His eyes closed contentedly as he rested his chin atop her head. “That’s better.”
Audra kissed Belle’s cheek, and pinched it just to seal her role as the matronly figure in the home. “Let me draw you a bath, sweetheart. It looks like the two of you could use a nap after you wash up.”
Belle nodded into Adam’s chest, which for months had been one of her favorite places to rest her head. She worried it might feel different without the soft fur, but it turns out it was the solid nature of who he was to her that made his chest her home. “That sounds nice.”
Remus put his coat on, a yawn doing nothing to hide the sleepiness in his eyes. He ran his hand over his shirt a few times, changing the buttons from white to blue, and then to yellow, almost as if he performed rudimentary magic subconsciously. “Miss Belle, I look forward to starting our lessons. I’ll give you a week to let things settle around here, and then you can expect my call.”
“Yes, Mr. Johnstone. Thank you.” Belle didn’t have any tears left in her, but if she did, she would have shed a few in gratitude for all Remus had done to see them through the trauma of the night. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t…”
Remus held up his hand to stop her with a kind smile. “This was entirely you.” He extended his hand to Adam, knowing the man wouldn’t want to be parted from Belle even a few inches. The two shook hands as men who understood how cruel the twists of Malaura’s magic could be. “Adam, always a pleasure to see your face. Can I expect you’ll come to Miss Belle’s lessons?”
“You can expect that wherever she goes, I’ll be right beside her.”
Remus nodded, as if needing to hear the confirmation that Adam truly did understand how to love, and that he wasn’t holding back anymore. “Excellent. I look forward to pushing you both to your limits.”
Before Adam could do more than raise his eyebrow, Remus turned and exited, leaving Adam with questions, and Belle with concerns. She’d been top of her class in the West Village, but that was largely because of the low value put on any sort of education. She hoped she would be able to keep up.
The hustle and bustle of the household fell into a comfortable rhythm, but Adam and Belle remained locked in their embrace while the world continued to spin around them. They breathed in unison, unwilling to let the smallest of changes pry them away from each other for the rest of their lives.