Chapter Thirty: The Night Before
Fabiola's POV -
I woke to find the bed empty.
I reached across the sheets, found them cold. Evan had been gone for a while.
The clock read 2:47 AM.
Tomorrow ..today, technically was their wedding day. We'd agreed to spend the night apart, traditional bad luck and all, but Evan had insisted on one last evening together at the estate before the ceremony.
"Just a few hours," he'd said. "I need to see you. One more time before everything changes."
I'd laughed. "Nothing's going to change. We're already living together."
But I'd agreed anyway, because the vulnerability in his eyes made my heart ache.
Now she pulled on his discarded shirt and went looking for him.
He wasn't in the house.
Something pulled her toward the windows overlooking the lake and there he was. A solitary figure standing at the edge of the water, barely visible in the moonlight.
My stomach tightened.
He hadn't gone near that lake in years. Not since Lucas died. Not since the healing.
I grabbed a blanket from the couch and went outside.
The grass was wet with dew, cold against my bare feet. The night air raised goosebumps on my skin.
Evan stood perfectly still, staring at the dark water. He'd pulled on jeans but nothing else his chest bare, his hair disheveled, his shoulders tense.
"Evan?" I said softly.
He didn't turn.
I moved closer, wrapped the blanket around both of us, pressed against his back.
"Are you okay?"
"I don't know." His voice was rough, distant. "I couldn't sleep. Kept thinking about tomorrow. About becoming your husband. About forever." He laughed a hollow sound. "And I ended up here."
"Why here?"
"Because this is where it all started. Where Lucas died. Where I..." He stopped. "Where everything changed."
I wrapped my arms around his waist from behind, held him tight.
"Talk to me."
Evan was quiet for a long moment. Then he turned in my arms, and the expression on his face made my breath catch.
Raw. Vulnerable. Afraid.
He pulled me close not gently, but desperately and buried his face in my neck.
And scented me.
Deeply. Frantically. Like the old Evan used to, before the changes.
His nose pressed to my pulse point, breathing in great shuddering gulps. Then my collarbone, my shoulder, back to my neck.
"Evan..."
"I need.." His voice was muffled against my skin. "I just need to.."
He scented again, his hands gripping my waist almost painfully tight, his whole body trembling.
This wasn't the casual scenting he did now. This was desperate. Like he was drowning and my scent was air.
"Hey." I cupped his face, made him look at me. "What's wrong? Talk to me."
His eyes were wild in the moonlight. "I'm terrified."
"Of what?"
"Of losing you. Of waking up one day and you're gone. Of
." His voice cracked. "Of not being enough. Of the darkness coming back. Of becoming the person I was before and driving you away."
"That's not going to happen."
"You don't know that." His grip tightened. "What if the healing doesn't last? What if I wake up one day and I'm broken again? What if I hurt you? What if.."
"Stop." I pressed my forehead to his. "You're spiraling. Take a breath."
"I can't breathe without you," he whispered. "That's the problem. I thought the healing would make me normal, make me independent, but I still need you just as much. Maybe more. And that terrifies me because what if something happens to you? What if I lose you like I lost Lucas? I wouldn't survive it, Fabiola. I wouldn't."
Tears streamed down his face.
I had never seen him like this not since before the healing or changes . The vulnerability, the fear, the desperate need I almost missed.
"Listen to me." I gripped his face firmly. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not Lucas. I'm not leaving you. I'm marrying you in..." I glanced at the sky, "..about eight hours. And then I'm yours. Legally. Forever."
"Promise me." His voice was raw. "I need you to promise me something."
"Anything."
"Never leave me." His eyes searched mine desperately. "No matter what happens. No matter how hard things get. No matter if I'm difficult or distant or broken again. Promise you'll stay. Promise you won't..." His voice broke. "Promise you won't give up on me."
My heart shattered and rebuilt itself in the space of a breath.
This was Evan. My Evan. Still carrying wounds that healing couldn't quite reach.
"I promise," I said firmly. "I will never leave you. Not for anything. Not ever. Do you hear me? You're stuck with me, Evan Harlow. For the rest of our lives."
He pulled me against him again, buried his face in my hair, and sobbed.
Great, heaving sobs that shook his whole body.
I held him, let him break, let him release whatever fear had been building.
"I love you," I whispered. "I love you so much. And tomorrow I'm going to stand in front of everyone we know and promise to love you forever. And I'm going to mean it. Every word."
"I don't deserve you."
"Too bad. You're getting me anyway."
He laughed through his tears, pulled back to look at her.
"How are you so sure? How do you know you won't regret this?"
"Because I've loved you since I was nine years old." I wiped his tears with my thumbs. "I've seen you at your worst cold and distant and pushing everyone away. And I chose you then. I'm choosing you now. I'll choose you every day for the rest of my life."
Evan stared at me like I was a miracle.
Then he kissed me soft and reverent and full of love.
When he pulled back, he pressed his forehead to mine and whispered, "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For staying. For loving me. For being the reason I want to keep living."
"Always," I promised.
We stood there by the lake he place where so much darkness had begun and held each other as the sky slowly lightened toward dawn.
"We should go inside," I finally said. "Get some sleep before the wedding."
"I can't sleep without you next to me."
"Then come back to bed. Tradition can wait one night."
Evan nodded, took my hand, and let me lead him back to the house.
Away from the lake.
Away from the memories.
Toward the future.
But neither of us saw the shadow watching from Lucas's window.
Or the way the lake water rippled despite there being no wind.
Or the smile that formed in the darkness.
Tomorrow, it whispered.
Tomorrow she becomes his forever.
And then she becomes mine.