Kate Serine: Along Came a Spider

He cursed under his breath and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m actually nervous as hell,” he admitted with a chuckle.

Confirming his words, his own fingers trembled a little as he took the ring out of the box and slid it onto my finger. It fit perfectly, as I knew it would. Nicky smoothed his thumb over my hand, then raised it to his lips, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “You know, all those years ago in Make Believe when I was nothin’ but a two-bit thug, scraping to get by, I never thought I’d be so lucky to find a woman liked you. And I sure as hell never dared to dream you’d love me, too.”

I pulled him into my arms, closing my eyes as he buried his face in my neck, and letting the warmth of his love envelop me. “I have a feeling that from now on, neither of us will be afraid to dream.”

I wish I could say that once things were over with Dracula, the concerns about Tale revolutionists ended. And I’d like to tell you that Al’s standing up to the Agency ended their efforts to impose their will upon the Tales. But if anything, it added a whole new dimension to our struggles in the Here and Now. Turns out, the adventures for Nicky and me, for Nate and Red, for Lavender and Seth, were far from over.

And there were others—Gideon, Al Addin, Alex McCain, and Tales you’ve yet to meet—who would end up making all the difference in our struggles to maintain autonomy and to help our kind thrive in our adopted world. The years ahead of us were going to be tough, that was for certain, but—

Well, that, my friends, is a story for another day and for another Tale to tell.

But as far as this story goes . . . well, what can I say? Nicky and I stayed in Chicago after all, rebuilding Nicky’s business empire to what it once was and continuing to serve our Tale brethren any way we could. And Nicky turned out to be just as loving and devoted a husband and father as I knew he would be. It’s been several years now since we joined our hearts, our souls. The home we’ve created together is filled with love and laughter. And each day I think I couldn’t possibly love him more than I do, but then the very next day I discover just how much I’d underestimated the depth of my feelings for the man at my side.

And, so, my friends, I’m happy to report that in true fairytale fashion, we lived—and loved—happily ever after.