"I'm Nikhil's wife," Mac told her again.
"I... ah... but why?"
"What do you mean why?"
"Why would you marry him? Did he force you?"
"Of course not!" Mac instantly denied. "Nikhil would never do that!"
Jen just stared at her friend, trying to decide if she was telling her the truth. They'd had only each other to rely on for so long that it had gotten to the point where they could finish the other’s sentences and knew what the other one was thinking. She could tell Mac wasn't lying to her now. "Then why didn't you want to tell me?"
"Because I wasn't sure how you'd feel about it... after Todd... I was worried it would upset you."
Jen felt her throat clog with tears at the mention of her husband. God, she wished he were here with her, helping her. But he wasn't, and she had to go on without him. Straightening her shoulders, she forced back her tears. "Do you love him, Mac?" she asked.
"With all my heart," Mac instantly responded, and Jen could see the love shining in her friend's eyes. "I can't explain it, Jen, but I feel it. Here," she touched the spot on her chest where her heart was, "and now that I've found him, I can't imagine my life without him in it. I know we're going to have some rough times. After all we still have a lot to learn about each other. We're two different species, and then, of course, there's the fact that he's male."
That last comment brought a small smile to Jen's lips. She remembered the times she'd struggled with Todd, and they'd known each other a lot longer than Mac had known this Nikhil. "Then I'm happy for you, Mac."
"You are? You're sure?"
"Yes, but does it really matter what I think?"
"Of course, it matters. You're my best friend and the closest thing to a sister I've ever had. I wouldn't have made it through all this if it weren't for you."
"That's a lie. If it hadn't been for me, you would have headed back down the mountain like you originally planned, and you wouldn't even be here. You'd still be on Earth. Safe."
"Maybe, but I don't regret staying. I've found my place, Jen, and while I will always regret what had to happen to get me here, I'll never regret that I am. I found my Soul Mate. My True Mate." She looked down and touched the True Mate bead in her hair.
"Is that another Ashe bead?" Jen asked quietly.
"No. This is one Nikhil's True Mate bead," Mac told her quietly and the love was easily heard in her voice.
"True Mate bead? Nikhil offered that to you too?" Jen asked.
"No, Kaliszians can't offer their True Mate bead," she told her.
"Then how are you wearing it?"
"It’s kind of hard to explain, Suja beads aren't alive, not in the way we think of things being alive, but they kind of are, and like I said, different ones mean different things. The height of the bead on the braid is also important."
"In what way?"
"The height of any bead indicates the importance, worthiness, or strength of what the bead represents."
"So Nikhil's True Mate bead being more than halfway up your braid indicates..."
"That our bond is very strong and that he loves me as much as I love him."
"I'm happy for you, Mackenzie." Jen reached out to squeeze her hand. "Honestly. We've all been through hell and seem to have lost something of ourselves because of it, but you... you've found something very special and very rare. Cherish it. Hold it close to your heart and never let it go. Because when you lose it," this time Jen couldn't stop her tears from falling, "when you lose it, you lose a piece of yourself that you can never get back."
Mac wrapped her arms around Jen pulling her close. She didn't even have to look up to know that the guys had closed ranks around them, blocking them from everyone else in the room.
"If you love him, Mac, hold on to him. Fight to keep him, to stay with him. Fight with everything you are."
"I will, Jen. I swear to the Goddess I will, but I need you to be there with me, helping me. I can't do this alone. We've been through too much together not to be there for each other now. We're the only human females in this entire universe, and I can't do this without you."
"You can."
"Okay, then I don't want to." She gave Jen a small smile. "I told Nikhil about how humans exchange rings instead of beads."
"You did?" Jen couldn't stop herself from looking at the finger where her rings once rested.
"Yes, I wanted him to wear my ring since I have no Dasho bead to offer him."
"Dasho bead?" Jen frowned.
"It's the bead a female Kaliszian offers to a male making him her husband."
"He's agreed to marry you," Jen couldn't keep the astonishment out of her voice "In a human way?"