Chapter 10
Before parting, Alpha Lucas made a trip back home. Omega Camille also entered the house. She wandered through our home, curiously examining everything.
Alpha Lucas disappeared into the storage room and returned with a large black bag slung over his shoulder. Then he went to the closet and pulled out one of my thick coats, carefully draping it over Omega Camille’s frame.
He guided her toward the door, his hand hovering protectively at her back. Before stepping outside, he glanced at me.
“Take care of yourself at home,” he said softly. “If you need anything, you can telepathy me… or Mara… or my mom.”
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Another door closed, and I was left alone.
It wasn’t until a week later when Mara showed me Alpha Lucas’s social media that I realized what he had taken.
On our anniversary, friends joked about looking forward to our golden wedding anniversary. Alpha Lucas wrapped his arms around me with a smile, saying, “Of course, you all have to come then.”
I didn’t quite understand, so I asked him quietly, “How many years is a golden anniversary?”
Alpha Lucas’s eyes sparkled with laughter. “50 years.”
At the end of the dinner, Alpha Lucas presented me with an anniversary gift and a
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bouquet. The bouquet, crafted from sponge paper, looked somewhat rough.
“A golden wedding celebrates 50 years, he explained, “but the first is a paper wedding. So, here’s to one year with my Luna.”
“Luna Emily,” he said with a smile, “you have to stay with me for 50 years. On our golden anniversary, I’ll give you a bouquet made of gold.”
The crowd cheered, and I blushed, my eyes misty.
For the second year, we celebrated with a cotton bouquet, symbolizing the cotton anniversary. The third year featured a leather bouquet for the leather anniversary. The fourth year was marked with a bouquet of fruits and flowers for the fruit & flowers wedding.
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And for the upcoming fifth year, the wooden anniversary, Alpha Lucas had already bought a piece of fine wood, tucked away in the storage room.
These bouquets were not expensive, but each one was lovingly crafted by Alpha Lucas himself. Though his craftsmanship was not the best, every bouquet took him a week to make in secret, making me feel like the happiest person in the world.
The black bag Alpha Lucas took last time contained that piece of wood.
He had carved a beautiful, intricate wooden bouquet, labeled: “Year 5.”
Indeed, he had once spent five years with Omega Camille. And now, before our own fifth anniversary, he had already given the
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gift to someone else.
Tears dripped steadily onto the photo of the bouquet on my phone. I felt breathless and lightheaded.
Each bouquet had been a promise. A future. Fifty years of love.
Now, the wooden bouquet–the bridge between our past and the lifetime we’d dreamed of–had been given to someone else.
Will we still have a chance to celebrate our fifth anniversary? Will I receive the flowers meant just for me?
Staring blankly at the photo, I thought to myself, “There will be no fifth year.”
