Bride stared at her three pastries warily.
"They won't bite you," Vane teased. "Watch." He picked up a napkin and held it underneath the powdered beignet, then took a bite. True to his words, the powdered sugar didn't go flying like it normally did.
Deciding to trust him, she followed suit and quickly found that so long as Vane was with her, she could actually eat one of these without making a total mess of herself.
The thought actually made her giggle.
Bride ate two of hers and sipped her milk while Vane finished all of his.
"Are you not going to eat that?" he asked.
"I'm full." Then at his suspicious look, she added, "I swear. Valerius fed me a full five-course meal."
"Good for him. He better feed my woman."
Shaking her head at him, she pushed her beignet toward him. "Go ahead, I know you want it."
He didn't argue.
As soon as he had polished it off, he stood and helped her to her feet. He draped his arm around her shoulders and held her close as they strolled across the street to where the carriages were lined up along Decatur.
Vane led her to the first one and helped her up into the back. Bride settled herself in comfortably while he paid the female driver, then joined her.
He cradled her against his chest as the driver gently urged her mule, Caesar, onto the street, toward the Garden District.
"Are you two newlyweds?" Michaela, the driver, asked.
Vane looked at her.
"I guess we are," Bride said. Not sure how else to answer Michaela's question.
"I thought so. You got that happy-in-love look about you. I can always spot it."
Bride closed her eyes as she inhaled the warm, masculine scent of Vane and considered just how much she would love to gobble him up. She could hear his heart pounding underneath her cheek while the mule's hooves clip-clopped through the French Quarter. Music would occasionally drift out of the buildings and cars they passed: jazz, zydeco, rock, and even a country tune every now and again.
The air held just the hint of a chill to it, otherwise the night was extremely pleasant. Her hometown had never looked more lovely to her. And when she passed the street to her shop, she smiled as she remembered seeing Vane there for the first time.
In some ways it seemed like an eternity ago.
Vane leaned his head down so that his cheek rested on the top of her hair while he cupped her face with his hand.
They didn't speak while the driver pointed out landmarks and buildings.
Vane couldn't breathe as he held Bride. Caressing her skin was like stroking satin. She was so precious to him. He felt as if he had been reborn the day he first saw her with that touch of sadness in her eyes at Sunshine's art stand.
He didn't want to think about a future without her.
While visiting Fang, he had told his brother everything about Bride. He'd hoped that it might bring Fang out of his stupor.
It hadn't.
If anything, it seemed to depress his brother more.
How he wished he knew some way to reach Fang. A part of him felt guilty that Bride made him happy while his brother was so miserable.
But he didn't want to go back to the way he'd been before he'd found her. For the first time in his life, he didn't have to hide himself from his lover. It was so incredible to be completely honest about who and what he was.
She didn't judge him or hate him for things that weren't his fault. She accepted him and that was the greatest miracle of all.