“It’s one of the Pride,” Peter said at last, as soon as he processed the gift. “Isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Kelly breathed. She was still staring as if she were paralyzed. “It’s Igor. He was the very first one.”
“She gave him to you?”
Kelly had started to breathe loudly, unevenly. Her face twisted as she kept staring at the cat. “I guess…I guess so.”
“But she loves them. Aren’t they her favorites of all her treasures?”
“Yes.” Kelly’s hands were shaking visibly.
Peter reached down into the box and found a lovely, thick, cream-colored card. On it was written in elegant script. “So you’ll always have part of me with you.”
Kelly burst into tears, so sudden and strong that Peter reached over to take the stuffed cat out of her hands. Before he could start to worry, though, her tears turned into laughter. “I can’t believe she gave me one of her crazy cats.”
Peter set down the cat and pulled his wife into his arms. “That’s a gesture of love, if there ever was one.”
“I know. I know. I can’t believe it.” Her storm of emotion cleared quickly, and she gave Peter a quick kiss before she leaned down to pick up the cat. “Where should we put it?”
“We’re going to have to hide that thing from the guests, you know. It would totally creep them out.”
“I know. And some might be allergic, like poor Mitchell.” She sniffed and smiled and gave the cat a little hug. “We can keep it in our bedroom.”
“Oh, no. Uh-uh. It would be staring at me, every time I try to have sex with you. It would be like your grandmother was right there in the room all the time. I’d never be able to get it up.”
Kelly laughed. “Okay. We’ll have to give it a place of honor, though.”
“Maybe far back in a closet. We’ll pull it out whenever your grandmother comes to visit.”
“It’s not going in a closet. It’s a Beaufort cat.” She gave him a look of mock disapproval. “And Beauforts don’t belong in a closet.”
“No argument here. There’s nothing in the world like a Beaufort.” He gave her a kiss, his heart throbbing with how much he loved this woman and the reality that she was really his. “We’ll find somewhere good to put it. As long as you don’t have any crazy notions about beginning a Pride of your own.”
Epilogue
“Do you have any idea how gorgeous you look right now?” Peter asked, pressing Kelly back against a wall in the hallway of her grandmother’s home.
Kelly snorted, since at the moment she was wearing sweatpants, a tank-top, and flip-flops. Her hair was in braids, she wore no makeup, and one of her bra straps was showing.
Peter’s eyes had grown hot in a way she recognized very well. As ridiculous as it was, he must really think she looked gorgeous right now. He cupped her face with one hand. “Don’t you believe me?”
“Not really. You said I looked gorgeous the other night, when I was dressed up pretty and we went out to dinner.”
“You did look gorgeous then. You look gorgeous now. You look gorgeous all the time.” He took off her glasses so he could kiss her without anything getting in the way.
“It’s not even six in the morning,” Kelly said, smiling when he pulled out of the kiss. “It’s a little too early to be that kind of gorgeous.”
His eyes warmed with laughter now, mingling with the heat from before. “It’s never too early for gorgeousness.”
Before he could kiss her again, a childish voice came from behind them. “Why are you kissing? We need to leave now!”
Kelly giggled as she pushed Peter away and smiled down at Jill and Julie, Rose’s step-daughters, who had spent the night in the house. “We’re done kissing now, but we have to wait for Grandmama before we leave.”
“But our brother is waiting!” Jill said, frowning at her sister who was giving her silent disapproving looks, as if reminding her to behave herself.
“I know he is. As soon as Grandmama comes down, we’ll go to see him.”
Kelly and Peter had driven down yesterday, when Rose had gone into labor. The baby was two weeks late, and evidently the delivery had been long and hard. But the news had come at four that morning that the new baby was finally here, and they were all now going over to the hospital to see him for the first time.
“Oh, those flowers are so pretty,” Kelly added, noticing that Julie, the older of the sisters, was carrying a rather motley bunch of blooms she must have picked from the garden out back.
“Yes, I thought we should bring flowers.” Julie’s eyes shifted earnestly from the bouquet to Kelly’s face. “Isn’t that right?”