Brianna looked at him tenderly, and the pent-up tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I'll marry you, Henry. That's all I want. But I need to ask for two wedding presents. You come with me to Scotland. We'll start our life together in that country... and promise me that if I ever leave, you'll get on with your life. Promise me that you'll remarry and start a family with someone else."
"Why would you leave? I promise I'll do everything I can to make sure you never want to leave. As for living in Scotland, I don't care. Anywhere with you I'll call home."
"At some point, I'll have to leave." Brianna said, remembering her mother's words. "It won't be of my own free will."
"You need to know, Brianna, before you agree to come with me, that I live in a profession that involves danger. I can't give you exact security. Of course, I'll surround you with protection, and you'll have a relatively normal life, because if you stay with me, you'll have to accept that you won't be able to go out without bodyguards. And you won't be forced to go anywhere..."
"But promise me, just like that."
"If that's your only condition, I accept."
Brianna smiled, and felt her soul rise from the depths.
"What do we do now?"
He reached for her hands and wrapped them around her waist again.
"Now you say you love me, and that's what you've been waiting for since you met me, and we seal our deal with a kiss.
"I love you, Henry, but I can't lie. This isn't what I've been expecting since I first saw you. This far exceeds my expectations."
"I love you too, Brianna."
The two kissed again. Then they went to the registry office and got married. Brianna didn't want to get married in church, and Hebry didn't want to either. They went to live in a house in the hills of Scotland, where Henry was in charge, and sometimes received news that Dester was still fighting to find them.
He even sent his trusted detectives abroad. But Henry wasn't known by that name anywhere else, and Brianna went by another name. Henry became the director of a company that belonged to himself, but pretended to be an employee to hide his illegal activities and his true identity.
Sarah was called to live with them in a mansion in a discreet location. After the birth of Anna, their first child.
Brianna befriended her and Henry paid her to look after the mansion.
Brianna called Jasmine and discovered her secret. The two became inseparable friends, and Brianna discovered what she could do with her gifts, and helped Jasmine discover what she could do with hers.
When Anna was six, the first werewolf set foot in their house. Jenna was eighteen, even though she looked no older than thirteen.
Brianna never forgot that day, because that was when she discovered that her husband was cheating on her with Sarah.
Brianna felt a special affection for the girl who moved in with them. With her, advised by Jasmine, she exchanged secrets that she couldn't share with Sarah and they became confidant friends.
After two years of a life full of happiness and joy, despite Henry's secret meetings with Sarah, Brianna discovered her second pregnancy. She told Henry that she would take very good care of the child, and Henry began to believe that Sarah was right. His wife wasn't quite right in the head. He concentrated on his second child, because he thought it was a boy. And he would name him Alex. He didn't tell Brianna because he was so sure.
Brianna spent the time when Henry was busy with business problems or indulging in pleasures with Sarah in the kitchen, teaching the cook how to make the Scottish dishes she loved so much.
In those days, the siege was closing in and various factions were trying to invade Scotland, and everyone was tense. The meals that Brianna presented to the guests, and even to Henry's men, relaxed them, as they laughed a lot, experimented, and came to like her additions to each recipe from that region. That became everyone's moment of relief and relaxation. Henry's allies were beginning to flee the country, and each time they ran out of people to fight the invaders.
Years earlier, Brianna was at Jasmine's house when her husband arrived and everyone was celebrating his victory. Brianna knew that Jasmine couldn't have her child among the werewolves, so she prepared a place for her and took care of her when she was expelled from the family, carrying Allister's child in her womb.
Brianna met Allister's gaze and knew in that instant that Sarah was not only Dester's lover, but also his brother's. And she would bring revenge on that family. And she would bring revenge on that family. He sensed that she was slipping away. When Henry found out about her new pregnancy, he only stayed with her for a few more weeks, then said goodbye and ended his relationship with her. He thought that maybe, now, his life would be peaceful, but he hadn't known hell yet, and the day was approaching when he would know the greatest of his pain.
Brianna felt that she was running out of time as her belly grew. Henry was falling more and more in love, and he was happy by her side. Brianna took care of making him happy while she still had time. She didn't worry about the state of her husband's affairs, nor did she bring her own problems to Henry, in the knowledge that he would relax and always remember her with a sigh of longing rather than pain. A person who arrived one day and made him feel life in all its fullness.
She talked to Jenna a lot, and even though she was crying, she promised her that she would keep what was to come a secret. Brianna left her small fortune, which was to be given to her daughter in the future after her marriage, in her care, as well as all the details she was to follow once she died.
Her body was to be given to her grandparents or relatives in Ireland. Giving them back a death that was partly the fault of her grandfather's ambition. But that wasn't the only reason. Brumas could not be buried in foreign lands. A catastrophe would happen if something like that was done.