Bride headed up the stairs to the guest rooms. She found Deirdre in the last room on the hall.
"Hey hon," she said, pushing open the door. "You okay?"
Deirdre's eyes were rimmed in red as she sat on the bed, clutching a pillow to her stomach. Her plate of food was still untouched on the nightstand. "I'm fine. I guess."
Wishing she could do something to help her sister, Bride walked over to the bed. How she sympathized with Deirdre's broken heart. She'd felt the same until Vane had come her way and made her smile. "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. I'm glad the asshole's gone, but you you should let go of Vane."
It wasn't so much her sister's words that shocked her as the rancor in Deirdre's tone. "Excuse me?"
"C'mon, Bride. Don't be stupid. Look at him. Look at you. The two of you don't belong together."
Bride gaped at her sister. "I beg your pardon?"
"Taylor was a great guyyou should have held on to him with both hands. He was reliable and stable. Most of all, he was well respected in the community. But instead of doing what he wanted, you refused to lose weight and he left you because you're fat. Now this guy comes along and you jump all over him like Taylor never existed. Not that I blame you. He is prime, but don't be a fool."
Oh, that was a low blow and, quite honestly, Bride was tired of being the "smart" one while Deirdre was always known as the "pretty" one. "Just because you married a snake doesn't mean that Vane is a dog."
Bride hesitated at that. Actually Vane was a dog, kind of. But not like that.
"Vane would never cheat on me."
"Yeah, right. Look at me, Bride. I was the first runner-up for Miss Louisiana and would have won had I not been so young at the time. I'm still damn attractive and yet my husband ran off on me. What chance do you stand?"
Angry at her "perfect" sister, Bride refused to look at her. Instead, she moved to the window that faced out onto the backyard where she saw Vane and Fury with her father.
"You married Josh for money, remember?" Bride said as she watched them with the dogs. "You actually told me that the night before the wedding."
"Oh, and I suppose you love Vane for his personality? I'm not stupid. You love him for how nice his ass looks."
And yet as Bride watched her mate, she knew the truth. Vane wasn't human.
He didn't think or act like a human. Unlike Taylor and Josh, he would never leave her because she wasn't what he wanted her to be.
He loved her just as she was. Not once had Vane tried to change her or alter her in any way. He just accepted her, faults and all.
Vane would never cheat on her. Never lie. But he would kill anyone who hurt her. And in that moment as she watched him pet a dog that no one had been able to reach, she realized how much she loved him.
Just how much she needed him.
The very idea of living without him killed her.
She couldn't. In the last few weeks, he had become an integral part of her life. Most of all, he was an integral part of her heart.
Her eyes teared as the reality of that thought crashed down on her.
She really, truly loved him in a way she had never known a woman could love a man.
"You have no idea what you're talking about, Dee. Vane is kind and considerate. He takes care of me."
"You've only known him for a couple of weeks on the heels of breaking up with Taylor. It's shameless the way you hang all over him."
Bride looked back at her sister. She felt sorry for Deirdre, but that didn't give her sister the right to try and make her feel bad. "You're just jealous."
"No, Bride, I'm not. I'm a realist. Vane's way out of your league."
Bride glared at her perfect sister, but deep down, she felt so very sorry that Deirdre would most likely never know the love she had with Vane.