months, giving us all another positive thing to focus on. Ed had moved to Bradford Hills permanently and fit so perfectly with our family we sometimes forgot he hadn’t been around from the start. He sometimes had to remind us to catch him up on inside jokes and conversations he hadn’t been around for.
Dot, Kyo, and Marcus were looking for their own place in Bradford Hills—somewhere close to campus so Dot could finish her veterinary course. It still wasn’t possible to marry more than one person, but the way Dot ranted about it, I had a feeling she would make it her own personal mission to change that law.
They were all dressed in bright spring colors—as if we were about to have a picnic and not a memorial.
Dot rushed over to me, her black hair shining in the sun, and gave me a hug.
“How you doing, girl?” She scrutinized me, but I smiled and pulled away.
“I’m good. Focusing on the positive memories. You?” Like me, she’d struggled with all the funerals we had to attend, each one reopening the wound of her own grief and making it hard for the skin to stitch over.
“I’m pretty good.” She sounded a little surprised. “This one feels different.”
“Yeah, it does.”
I threaded my arm through hers, and we wandered over to the others while the guys helped Lucian out of the car.
“Hey, kitten.” Kyo stepped forward and gave me a hug. Not to be outdone, Marcus lifted me clean off the ground when he hugged me.
“How you doin’?” he asked as he set me back down.
“Wishing people would stop asking me that.” I raised my brows at him, and he flashed me a brilliant smile.
“It’s because we care.” Charlie nudged me, and I gave him and Ed hugs too.
“I know.” I smiled at the way they linked hands as soon as their hugs were delivered. Their happiness was contagious, made even sweeter by the bitterness of all the recent loss.
“Evelyn.” Olivia held me at arm’s length, her gentle hands on my shoulders. “You look beautiful, darling.” She pulled me into a hug and stroked my hair in a gesture that was so motherly I almost felt as if my mom were holding me.
“I love you, Auntie O,” I whispered into her neck.
“I love you too.” She pulled away and smoothed my hair before wiping her eyes discreetly.
Henry surprised me by going in for a hug too. He was a quiet man who traveled a lot for work, and out of everyone, I knew him the least.
The hug was brief but warm and not at all awkward. And if the hug was surprising, his words just about floored me.
“Your mother would be incredibly proud of you, Evelyn. I know I am.” He nodded and turned to lead the way up a small hill, leaving me standing there feeling as if my chest were about to burst. I had to take a second to breathe through the emotion.
Lucian appeared next to me. “Let’s do this.” He gave me a smile, and Olivia pushed his chair up the hill—even though that damn chair was the best money could buy and was fully electric. I think she just liked feeling useful.
We climbed the hill as a group. We could’ve taken the winding gravel path to where my mother’s memorial plaque was installed in a low wall surrounded by trees and flowers, but we took the most direct route, even if it wasn’t necessarily the easiest.
As we crested the hill, I had to pause again.
Lucian let his chair race down the hill, a joyful laugh escaping him as he overtook Henry, and Olivia chased after him, half chastising and half laughing. The others jogged down behind them, but my Bondmates stood at the top of the hill with me in a line, looking down at the scene below.
I couldn’t quite believe how many people had shown up.
A handful of chairs faced the plaque, and a simple lectern had been set up for speeches. The sea of people there to show their respects, to share memories of my mother, was overwhelming.
“She was loved.” Tyler echoed my thoughts.
“More than you know.” Alec nodded.
“So are you,” Josh added quietly.
While many people were there because they wanted to remember my mother, many others had never met her—like the Lighthunters and some of the students from the Institute. They were there for me, to show their respect and support for me.
“How could she not be? Look at her.” Ethan lightened the mood, and we