I was always down for documenting some behind the scenes stuff for posterity sake.
However, Carolina's sudden insistence on it struck me as a bit strange.
Oh well, maybe it was a new coping mechanism for her.
A way for her to observe and separate from hectic events, or a New Year's resolution to document more of her successes and joys.
"Of course," I agreed, not about to rain on her parade. Besides, since cameras were one of the few ways that Rowan could see himself, it was nice to get documentation of us all dressed up and on the town.
This round took a little longer than the mini-shoot we had in my apartment, but I didn't even realize it until the lead caterer stepped into the hall and asked if I minded an interruption.
I hurried off, and before I knew it, our first guests had arrived.
Iko, Carolina, and Orthallow greeted them.
I'd been prepared to have a larger crowd this year, but it was another thing entirely to see about twenty people saunter in right at opening and a steady stream continued after.
Some familiar faces, some I thought I might recognize, but the vast majority were total strangers.
It was wonderful.
My life had seriously changed since that first date in the park with Rowan, and I never could have imagined that it would spread out to affect so many other people.
So many souls connecting, experiencing things we thought were never supposed to be ours.
While there was still the occasional drama, a bad egg every now and then, on the whole everyone was benefiting.
It really was a dream come true.
"Neigh-neigh-naaayooomi!"
I was pulled from my internal wonder by Reggie's voice. Suddenly, I was yanked into a tight hug, and I was afraid he would lift me up off my feet, but thankfully, he didn't.
"You look great!" he said, with one of the biggest smiles I'd received from him in all my life. "The prettiest belle at the ball."
"So do you," I said. He cut a handsome figure in his perfectly white suit and the blue accents in his vest, tie, and shoes. "Where's your date?"
Reggie and I had grown even closer since the app had launched, and I wasn't sure if it was because he was happy to see me succeed, or because he signed up for it himself and started genuinely matching with other supernatural rejects'.
At first I was cautious, because I was very protective of our users, but he'd approached each match with sincere interest and learning a whole lot about what it meant to be othered.
After that, I'd been a lot less nervous, and it'd been amazing to watch him flourish.
"He canceled at the last minute," Reggie said with a shrug.
"What? No! Did he give a reason why?"
"Eh, it's not important. I'm here, and I know I'm going to have a great time.
" Maybe it was just my imagination, but his face seemed to hold a whole lot of emotion as he gazed at me.
He didn't have to put on a brave front if he was hurting, but I was still so incredibly flattered that he would push himself to come to our event.
"And so are you. Go on, go get your socialization on and some food in you so we can all break it down on the dance floor later."
"Like we would ever miss an opportunity to dance," Rowan murmured as he strode up beside my brother, an elderly woman on his arm.
"Naomi, Reggie, I'd like you to make the acquaintance of Madame Bapstisté. She traveled here all the way from Louisiana."
I knew I looked shocked at that, but how could I not be. "Louisiana? That's quite the travel, Madame! We are honored!"
Her milky eyes slowly slid over to me, and I was instantly struck by her gravitas. I knew without a doubt I was interacting with not just an elderly person, but an elder.
"I'm supposed to be meeting another Rougarou here," she murmured, her voice somewhere between a sigh and a booming sort of echo. "Can't say t'last time I met one of my own kind. Thought I was the last one in the States."
A Rougarou! I knew vaguely of our wolf shifter-like cousins, but not much beyond that they were an old-world creature that hadn't really made the transition to coexisting with the technological age.
Unlike my kind, however, who transformed fully into large, quadrupedal lupine similar to a dire wolf, Rougarou were a blend of man and beast in their transformed bodies, standing at over seven feet tall on two legs, with the head of a wolf but thumbs and arms and human shoulders.
They also had thick coats, but not quite like wolf-shifters, their patterning thinning in areas around joints that made sense.
In all my years, I never thought I'd meet one.
"And you're meeting another here?" I croaked.
"That is the plan, my dear."
It was hard to rein in my excitement, but I really did do my best. I didn't want to overwhelm the woman after her travels.
"How wonderful! If you'd like to have a seat, Rowan and I can grab you anything you'd like to drink or fix you a plate.
We have tea, coffee, wine, pretty much anything you could want. "
"The strawberry daiquiri flavor from Sobe?"
"I, uh…"
"She means the discontinued brand with the lizard on the side," Rowan supplied.
She gave him an appreciative look. "You know your stuff, young man."
"I'm older than I look," Rowan said with a smile, "and while we unfortunately can't get our hands on that for you, we do have a mixologist who can make you something similar with a bit more of a kick."
"Merde! Why didn't you say so? Now you're speaking my language! Fix me up one of those and a plate full of all the different meats you got, and I might not care if I get stood up!"
We shared a laugh, then the two of us hurried off to do just that. As jazzed as I was, it just reiterated that we were on the right path. Connections were being made right and left!
When we returned to Madame Baptisté, she was no longer alone, but it was not another of her kind with her. Hertie and Gertie were both asleep and drooling at her feet while Daniella sat across from her, chin in her hands, her expression one of rapt attention.
Despite my intense fascination with the situation, I didn't want to interrupt, so we dropped off her food and drink and went about our business.
And by our business, I meant informing every single one of my friends of what was going on and telling them to keep an eye out for any monumental reunions.
However, as crazy as a double Rougarou meeting was, it did slide to the back of my mind as the evening progressed, and by the time we hit the dance floor, I'd forgotten enough to thoroughly enjoy dancing without having to worry about glancing over my shoulder every other moment so I didn't miss anything.
Besides, as fascinating as the entire thing was, the two of them deserved not to be stared at like… well, like freaks.
"Oh, I love this song!" Carolina cried as a banjo started plucking and the singer belted out how he would have been married if it weren't for a legendary Midwest cryptid that stole his lover.
The next thing I knew, I was pulled into a circle of people jigging this way and that.
Well… attempting to jig. Some more successful than others.
Still, even if some of us were uncoordinated, it was still an amazing time.
I sweated, I laughed, and generally had a great time.
Thankfully, the song didn't last forever, and after that, it transitioned to a slower one, and Rowan and I danced together.
It wasn't a ballad. In fact, I was pretty sure that it was actually an internet meme song in a foreign language.
But that didn't mean I wasn't enjoying it. Just being close to Rowan, wrapped in his arms, our bodies so close to each other, was more that I could have asked for. I closed my eyes, resting my head against his chest and letting myself just drift through the depth of the moment.
I probably could have stayed like that forever, but eventually, the meme song ended but the reduced pace didn't. In fact, I would say it grew even slower, languid and perfectly lackadaisical in its wind down. Honey wine and molasses over my soul, smooth in it—
Wait a moment…
Do I know this song?
My eyes opened and I lifted my head to realize that everyone else on the floor had stopped, forming a loose circle around Rowan and me. Confused, and maybe even a little freaked out, I looked up at my boyfriend's face, seeing nothing short of pure adoration there.
And that's when I recognized it. It was the same song that had played on our first date, when we danced together so entranced that we hadn't noticed the storm breaking right over our heads until the sky cracked open.
There was no description for the deluge of emotions that filled my heart or the thoughts and memories that flooded my mind all at the same time.
So much had happened since then, both of us growing and maturing as individuals but also together. I couldn't believe it. And yet when I looked into my lover's amethyst gaze, I knew we had so many more years of it as well.
"Naomi," Rowan said, and there was something about the tone of his voice that made me gasp. In one hell of a delayed response, my brain finally fully recognized that everyone who was close to us, who was important to us, were the closest, Carolina armed with a camera.
Oh…
OH!
There was no way! There's no way this is happening!
And yet it was, because Rowan sank down to one knee, somehow making my heart thunder along with everything else going on with it. If I wasn't careful, the entire organ might turn into a Rube Goldberg machine.
"You are, hands down, the most incredible woman I've ever met, in any time and of any species.
Your kindness hasn't just touched me, but also the lives of everyone around us.
I truly believe you make the world a better place, and I would love nothing more than the honor of being your right-hand man, to stand at your side and support you in whatever way you need to make those things happen.
"Forever is a long time to promise, and yet I cannot imagine any other lifetime I'd want. So, Naomi Bracken, will you do the honor of marrying me?"
It IS happening!
"Yes!" I cried, jumping up and down, my hands going between trying to grip Rowan, trying to clap, and trying to calmly extend my fingers so the engagement ring could be placed where it was supposed to go. "Yes, yes, yesyesyesyesyes!"
Was it the most eloquent response I could have dropped? No. But who the fuck cared? The love of my life, my immortal soulmate, was proposing!
Cheers rose up all around us, and although I could barely see my friends through my tears, I knew they were there. That they were witnessing one of the brightest moments of my life.
Somehow, Rowan managed to slide the ring onto my quaking finger, then he stood and pulled me into a kiss.
And oh, how we kissed. I liked to think it was the culmination of every kiss that had been stolen from us at the beginning of our journey together, and every other kiss we'd managed to land.
So much love, adoration, and relief all poured into it as we clung to each other.
To be honest, once Rowan and I had spoken about the differences in our perception of time, I'd come to terms with perhaps never getting married, at least not legally, as it opened a whole can of worms for a citizen of the US who immigrated in the 1930s and never died, but Rowan getting down on one knee and proposing anyway told me that I was worth it.
And I would always be worth it. Whether I took the bite or not. Whether I turned old and gray or walked into the night with him for the rest of our existence, that wasn't what was important to him. What he cared about was me, in whatever form I chose.
God, I was so in love.
So, in love, I needed to say it out loud.
"I love you, Rowan Solomon Vincent. From the bottom of my heart. It would make me the happiest woman in the world to marry you. Forever."
The grin that split his features was just beautiful. Or as my beau would say it, resplendent. "Forever sounds just right."
We kissed again, our peers still celebrating and whooping around us. And as I shared the joy of my happily ever after with those I loved, I couldn't help but be glad I'd never fit in before. Because if I had, I certainly wouldn't have become the woman I had, and I never would have met Rowan.
A fate worse than death, in my opinion.
But there was no death here. No isolation. No being unworthy. There was just me and the amazing people surrounding me, the community that we had all built together.
And an entire future to keep on loving, keep on improving.
I couldn't wait!