Melanie smiled at the two of us before she rose to her feet. “I’ll give you guys some privacy.” She took her meal outside.

I watched her go before I took another bite.

Magnus watched me, his look turning serious. “How are you?”

“Never better.” I took a few more bites before I set the container on the table beside me.

“How’s the pain?”

Pretty fucking painful. “Insignificant.”

Magnus knew I was lying but didn’t call me out on it. “Melanie really loves you.”

A half smile entered my lips. “Damn right she does.”

He didn’t mirror my look. “She was a mess the entire time you were in surgery.”

I could only imagine.

“I’ve never cared for her. You know my reasons. But she really loves you…which is all that really matters.”

“You’re coming to the wedding, then?”

He nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Will Raven be a problem?”

His eyes shifted away momentarily, as if I’d struck a chord. “I don’t think so. Not anymore.”

“I’ll do my best to make amends with her, but I don’t think I’ll ever be successful.”

“Probably not.”

I looked out the window next, the energy in the room changing. The conversation neither one of us wanted to have was on the horizon, like the sun at dawn, almost on the crest of the earth.

“Thank you…for saving my life.”

I didn’t look at him.

He gave me all the time I needed to respond.

Which was a very long time. “Always, brother.” I turned back to meet his gaze.

He was relaxed in the chair, one ankle resting on the opposite knee, hands in his lap. “I would do the same for you, brother.”

I already knew that without his having to say it. “Looks like we won’t have to worry about that again.”

“Guess not.” He rubbed his hands together. “I thought you were dead before I got you in the chopper. But the medic said there was still a pulse…”

I was alive when I shouldn’t be—and I knew exactly why.

“I just can’t believe you pulled through that. Looks like Melanie gave you the will to live…”

“It wasn’t her.”

He watched me, his eyes narrowed.

I looked out the window for a while, seeing the dust motes float in the air from the beam of golden light. “It was Mom.”

All the features of his face softened. His hands stopped moving. He stared in silence, desperate to understand my meaning.

“She was there.”

He didn’t say a word, his eyes still on me.

“And she forgives me.”

I sat on the couch across from Magnus, in a tuxedo with shiny shoes, ready to pledge my undying love to the only woman I’d ever love. I had to vacate the room so she could get ready, and I’d been down here for hours, just waiting.