Noah stared into Anaya's eyes, and she stared back at him with a smile. He doubted he had seen her smile like this, free and unguarded, before. He dropped his hand from her cheek and raised his hand towards her,
"Thank you for waiting, Anaya."
When Anaya had woken up this morning, she had woken up with the thought that she would see people getting married but never getting married herself. It was because she didn't plan to marry someone she didn't like, and not to mention, she had a very high taste in men, like Noah Sullivan.
Anaya placed her hand in his, feeling giddy like a child and she marked this day to be the best one in her life.
"Thank you for coming to meet me, Noah," Anaya couldn't stop the smile that continued to bloom on her lips. "I am just happy that we didn't go in too many circles and it was solved right away. Misunderstandings are the worst."
Noah agreed with Anaya's words. He knew with an intelligent woman like herself, there would be no room for such silly misunderstandings because she was a mature and confident woman, who was secure with herself.
"Shall we return to the shop?" Noah had enclosed her hand in his before they began to walk back to the store they had been in a few minutes ago.
Noah's trust had been broken because of his family, but he hoped he would one day come to heal the wounds that were given to him. His first love had not worked because he had meant to keep it that way, but life had given him a second chance.
When they were in the shop, the shopkeeper noticed how the air around the couple, that seemed tense, had now turned mushy as the two kept staring and smiling at each other. The old shopkeeper didn't miss the hands held either when they had returned to the shop.
Once they returned to the Chambers' mansion, Noah climbed down and helped Anaya out of the carriage. He said,
"There's something someone wanted to give you."
Anaya turned curious, noticing Noah walk to the backside of his carriage and push up the little lid. He then took out a glass case, noticing a bouquet inside it. For a moment, she looked confused, but then she remembered and remarked,
"Isn't this... Eve's bouquet?"
Noah gave her a nod, "It is hers. She preserved it since the day she and Vincent got married, and meant to give it to you. Here, this is yours."
Anaya carefully took the glass case in her arms, staring at the flowers, which still looked as fresh as the day Eve held it and walked down the aisle. She said to him, "I gave your gift to her. The music box."
"I figured," Noah smiled, and just like he thought, Eve remembered the music her mother played when she was young. He said, "It was a music box."
Anaya shook her head with her smile revealing her teeth. She said, "You don't have to explain it to me, Noah. I meant every word I spoke in the past. What you had for Eve, it was in the past and I know it holds a special place in your heart. So you don't have to explain it to me, because I understand that Eve was your past."
"You are my present and future, Anaya," Noah stated, his eyes holding seriousness, and his words alone made her lower her eyes.
"I think I might die out of pure happiness. I feel very overwhelmed right now, Noah," Anaya's cheeks burned with warmth and she then raised her eyes to meet his gaze.
"Just a moment," Noah said, picking up the glass case from her hand and stepping in front of her. He then put his other hand around her waist before hugging her. "There are many things I would like to thank you for, Anaya. But I don't think a lifetime would be enough to cover it."
"I barely did anything," Anaya responded, feeling her heart thudding in her chest, and she felt his own beating heart through her chest. She snuggled closer to him.
"Sometimes one doesn't have to do anything. All they have to do is exist and live somehow," Noah took a deep breath before he finished his sentence, "it feels easier."
Noah was constantly slipping into the darkness and the hand that knew and offered to pull him out of there was this woman.
Inside the Chambers' mansion, Mr. and Mrs. Chambers, who heard the carriage stop in front of their house, peeped through the curtains after two minutes had passed. Mr. Chambers remarked,
"It seems like they have sorted things between them."
"What did I tell you? A little bit of anxiousness was what was needed. A mother knows the best," Mrs. Chambers nodded while she smiled looking at her daughter who smiled after many days. She said, "We have to prepare for a wedding now, and not the one for tomorrow. How wonderful! All good things today."
Far away from the West and back at the Skellington mansion, it had turned noisier than usual, which was all thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Moriarty. Lady Ravette was arguing with Lady Annalise,
"Give me my granddaughter so that I can teach her. I will be the one in charge of her lessons as we haven't bonded before."
"For the tenth time, Lady Ravette, Allie will be taught by Eve. You don't have to worry about it," Lady Annalise didn't want to put Allie through what Marceline had been through.
"Worry?" Lady Ravette laughed that only made Lady Annalise that much more apprehensive. "She is my granddaughter. There's no worry here. What do you say, Strix?" She asked her husband, who sat beside her at the dining table.
"Eduard!" Lady Annalise turned to her husband for help with her eyes wide.
"Annalise is right, mother. I am sure you have other things to do, than act as a governess. And frankly I never thought that you were interested in the job," Eduard said to his mother with a pointed look.
Lady Ravette softly huffed and raised her eyebrows, "I want to take care of my granddaughter, why is it so wrong to do so? Unless you are purposely trying to keep me away from her. Are you?" She gave a look back at her son and then her daughter-in-law.
Vincent entered the room along with Eve, who had only returned from Meadow a few minutes ago.
Eduard asked Eve, "How is Lady Aubrey doing now?"
"She's doing much better now," Eve replied to him with a polite smile and took a seat next to Allie, who leaned towards her as if happy to have her back near her. "She was having a little pain earlier, but it's gone now. I will be visiting her regularly to make sure she's doing fine and not in pain."
Eve wanted to ease Lady Aubrey's pain, and wanted her time of life here to be peaceful.
"You should turn her to a vampire," Strix informed, but it was Vincent who replied to him.
"She doesn't want to turn into a vampire. She's happy to be a human, and wants her time to be the way it has been." He then shifted the subject by asking, "What were you all talking about earlier?"
Lady Annalise had hoped the conversation wouldn't come back to it. She said, "Your grandmother wants to be Allie's governess."
Vincent laughed at the thought, and Lady Annalise turned to look at her husband and mouthed, 'See!' No one believed the old vampiress would be able to do it. He asked his grandmother, "If you are missing the bond between your granddaughter, you should perhaps pay her a small visit at the House of Purgatory."
"Believe me. I will," Lady Ravette answered, leaning against her chair, and her husband put his hand around her chair. "If you had let me discipline Marceline myself, it wouldn't have come to this point."
"You mean to say, you would have killed her," Lady Annalise muttered.
Even though Marceline wasn't Lady Annalise's biological child, she had still fostered and taken care of the vampiress after marrying into the Moriarty family. Silence fell in the room, and the two older vampiresses stared at each other.
Lady Ravette said, "I am not so heartless to kill my own blood. The person must have crossed all lines to do that."
Lady Annalise still considered that Marceline's stubborn and useless pride present, when she was young, she had turned into something far worse after spending time with her grandmother. Though Allie was different from Marceline, she still wanted to protect her.
Vincent ran his tongue across his fangs and then said, "Grandmother, Allie is very attached to Eve, which is why even if dear mother here didn't like Eve in the beginning, she still decided to stick with her because of Eve's excellent skills. Maybe... you could join them? Impart your wisdom so that Eve will pick things that might be important, while tell you where to stop and not scare the little hamster?"
This way, Eve could monitor what his grandmother would try to do and help Allie become her best version. Vincent turned to look at Lady Annalise, who held a grim expression before she nodded, and replied, "That sounds fine."
Eve's hand reached for Vincent's hand under the table. A secret grin appeared, as he turned her hand around and squeezed it, while turning to meet her clear blue eyes. Knowing there was nothing they couldn't take on when they were together.
