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Axel stuck around only for a few more minutes. The emotion in the room was too much for him to handle at the moment.

“He’s different,” Bell said after he had left the room.

“What do you mean?” Ashleigh asked.

“There is something that has changed with him.”

Ashleigh looked at Bell curiously.

“Bell…” she said. “Are you suddenly getting interested in my brother two days before your wedding?”

“Shut up!” Bell growled, slapping Ashleigh’s arm.

Ashleigh laughed.

“She’s right,” Corrine smiled. “Axel, he has been different. Calmer.”

“It’s the lack of sugar,” Ashleigh said.

Corrine and Bell both looked at her.

“What?” she said. “He hasn’t been eating like a toddler the last two days!”

“That’s true,” Bell agreed. “I offered him one of my chocolates, and he didn’t want it.”

“Now that I think of it, I haven’t seen him eating a candy in days,” Corrine said.

“It’s probably just all the changes around him lately,” Ashleigh sighed. “Maybe he’s trying to find something he can control.”

“Maybe…” Bell said, looking back at the door. She couldn’t help but wonder if he was really ok._.

“Bell,” Corrine called her attention. “There is something I wanted to talk with you about.”

“What is it?” Bell asked.

Corrine smiled and took Bell by the hands. Then, she led her to Ashleigh’s bed, where they sat down together.

“I didn’t know your parents,” she began. “I never met your father while he was still with Winter, and your mother never left Autumn. But I knew your grandmother, and I considered her a friend.”

Corrine smiled and squeezed Bell’s hand comfortingly.

“Julia was a bright soul. In the years after your father joined Autumn, and then your grandfather passed, Julia took to taking care of everyone around her. She played with the children at the school. She volunteered at the hospital,” Corrine smiled and looked up at Bell. “I see so much of her in you.”

Bell felt the warmth in her eyes. She pursed her lips together, trying to maintain her composure.

“After you were born, her world lit up even brighter than before. She showed me pictures and told me about visiting you. She loved you more than anything.”

Bell took in a shaky breath.

“When she came back from your parents’ funeral, things were different. She was understandably heartbroken and depressed. I feared we had lost her.”

Bell sniffled; a box of tissue appeared before her. She looked up to see Ashleigh, also crying and offering Bell the tissue box. She smiled and took it.

“After you came to Winter, over time, Julia lit up brighter than ever before,” Corrine continued. “You were her light, darling. You were her everything.”

Bell was entirely in tears now.

“You didn’t get much time together, but you have to know that every moment she had with you was the best moment of her life.”

“I know,” Bell smiled, her voice breaking as she spoke. “She always made sure I knew that.”

Corrine hugged her.

“I’m sorry, dear. I meant for this to be a nice moment,” Corrine said softly.

“It is,” Bell said, hugging her back.

Corrine took a deep breath and continued.

“Near the end, Julia knew her time was short. She knew she wouldn’t be around for this day, but she always hoped it would come.”

“My wedding?” Bell asked.

“Yes.”

“Grandma had high hopes,” she laughed. “When she died, I was still pretty sure I would die, never willing to talk to a man that wasn’t Axel or Wyatt.”

“She was very optimistic,” Corrine laughed. “She gave me something to hold on to.”

Bell furrowed her brows.

Corrine stood up from the bed and walked to the door. She reached just outside and pulled in a shopping bag.

“It has been handed down in your family for generations,” Corrine said as she came back to sit on the bed. “Julia wore it at her wedding, and even your mother wore it.”

Corrine reached into the bag and pulled out a large black jewelry box. She placed the box in Bell’s hands.

“Julia said that your mother didn’t feel comfortable keeping it, so Julia held onto it for you.”

Bell carefully opened the box. From the shape, she had expected to find a necklace inside. But instead, she was surprised and delighted to find something else entirely.

It was a circular band of white metal. Twisting and folding over itself into small knots with two tiny gemstones of blue and white hanging from either side. One of these twisting folds dipped down at the center and cradled a quarter-sized white stone with a bluish luster.

Bell took in a shuddering breath, her smile grew wide, and the tears fell from her eyes.

“The moonstone circlet…” she whispered.

Her mother and father had only one picture from their wedding. Bell couldn’t count the number of times as a small child she would trace the beautiful circlet her mother had worn. She had dreamed of wearing it.

“I forgot about it…” she said with a sniffle. “I used to say my mother looked like the Goddess herself in this.”

Bell ran her fingers over the brilliant stone.

“I asked her about it once,” she continued. “I wanted to try it on.”

She laughed and then let out a sigh.

“She told me that some things were too precious for the world we lived in,” Bell continued. “She must have known that keeping it would only lead to someone else wanting to take it.”

“She kept it safe for you,” Corrine said, placing a comforting hand on Bell’s shoulder. “And so did Julia.”

Bell smiled and looked up at Corrine.

“And so did you,” she whispered through fresh tears.

***

Bell sat on the couch while Ashleigh made the popcorn.

Corrine had stayed for another hour as they all cried and talked and generally felt all of the feelings Bell could feel.

It had been a lot. But it had also been incredible.

Now, she was feeling reflective.

Her mind drifted back to those first few days and weeks in Winter.

She hadn’t spoken to any of them on the drive back from Autumn. Alpha Wyatt, Alpha Cain, or her grandmother. Her jaw was wired shut, so it would have been difficult to speak even if she had felt chatty.

When they arrived at the house, she didn’t know what to expect or what was expected of her.

It was dark, and the moon was high. They got out of the car. A woman was standing near the house. Beside her was a young man, at least a few years older than her.

The Alphas went to the woman, and they talked quietly. Grandma Julia told her she would be right back. She left Bell in the car and went to the house.

At first, Bell had feared the young man… her only real experience with boys his age was her mate.

But after a few days, Bell realized something.

He was always close enough to see but never close enough to touch. If she moved towards him, he moved further away.

For weeks he stayed with her and her grandmother. Bell made no effort to communicate with him or Grandma Julia for weeks.

Finally, one day she was irritated. She wrote on her whiteboard. ‘Why are you always here? Why don’t you talk? Why do you always stay over there? Who are you? What do you want from me!’

He looked at the sign, and then he looked at her. Then, finally, he took one step toward her.

“My name is Axel,” he began. “I am here to make sure you’re safe. I stay away and don’t talk because you don’t know me and didn’t invite me here. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable; I just want to keep you safe.”

‘Why?’ Bell wrote on her board.

Axel thought about it for a moment.

“Because you don’t have a big brother,” he said. “A big brother is someone who looks out for you, helps you, and keeps you safe. I have a little sister. She’s younger than you, but she’s tough. She doesn’t need me to, but I look out for her the best I can. So I’d like to be your big brother if it’s ok with you.”

From that moment on, Axel helped Bell slowly return to the world she had wanted to escape. Through him, she learned to speak again, trust again, and care again.

She grew to accept Grandma Julia, Wyatt and Corrine, and Ashleigh and Renee through him. These were the people that gave Bell the chance to live again.

Bell smiled to herself.

For so long, she had avoided thinking about that time, about the before and the after. Only wanting to exist in the now because the now didn’t hurt as much.

But when she promised her future to Galen. When she was able to see it, she stopped living only in the now.

Ashleigh sat down beside Bell. She took a handful of popcorn and looked at her friend.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” she asked.

“Ash,” Bell said. “I want to ask a favor.”

“What’s up?” Ashleigh asked.

“Would I be ok with you if I asked your dad and brother to walk me down the aisle?” Bell asked.

Ashleigh stared at her but made no response.

“If you’re not comfortable with it, I totally get it,” Bell quickly said.

Ashleigh laughed.

“Sorry,” she said. “I just didn’t realize that you didn’t know that was already the plan.”

Ashleigh smiled and took some more popcorn.

Bell laughed. “Of course, it was.”