Chapter twenty-five: Epilogue

A year later

Engagement: noun. The act of engaging or the state of being engaged; something that serves to engage; a pledge; a promise or agreement to be at a particular place at a particular time.

She had had fantasies but none of them had been supposed to make it to reality. As a matter of fact, she had assumed that she wasn't made for it. Her temper and background history seemed to have made it as clear as it could have got. No. It would never happen and she was fine with it.

Until now.

The sun slid on the diamond; making it shine brightly. Without a word, Maura stared at it and remained still. Of all the rings she had owned, this one seemed to fit in the most perfect way; the platinum almost echoing what sounded now as a mere logic. Random fairness, somehow.

Only idiots never change their mind, obviously. Her own – inner – thoughts made her smile and as she felt a hand slide on her waist, she closed her eyes; resting her head backwards against Jane's shoulder. Such a gesture she had adopted as a habit, now. The brunette's lips brushed her neck before she laughed out loud. Sweetly.

Soon, Maura echoed Jane; holding her tightly against her back.

"We match."

As she felt the detective's left hand slide on hers, the honey blonde looked down and lost herself in the contemplation of their rings. The same – delicate – diamond embraced by the shiny platinum band. A few seconds passed by without none of them to speak nor move then suddenly, Maura pressed Jane's hand before planting a soft kiss on their intertwined fingers.

"I like it."

Abandoning the brunette's hand for her waist, the medical examiner turned around; plunged her eyes in glimmering dark ones. She bit her lower lip, shrugged.

"I like it a lot, actually."

It had been Jane's idea; Jane's wish. Not hers. But it wasn't the kind of thing she could really deny to her. Especially after the precarious beginning of their relationship. Since that Monday at the Division One Cafe, everything had changed; from the brunette's behavior to pretty much every single aspect of their life. They were together and didn't hide it. That was it.

That was their life, their decision.

And as a matter of fact, nobody had really minded about that either. Perhaps they had thought too much about it in the first place.

Then one day, Jane had asked – rather matter-of-factly – and she had said yes. It wouldn't change much for her in the end although now it had happened – now that she was there – Maura was slowly realizing that she had done well to reply by the affirmative.

Slightly putting some distance between them, the honey blonde embraced Jane's figure in a more global vision and couldn't help but smile.

"I can't believe you are wearing a dress."

After months of what-ifs, she had been surprised to see the brunette arrive in a dark red, ankle-length silk dress. She did it for me, I know it. Moved by the gesture, Maura hadn't said much; just smiled at Jane in a silence that had said a lot more words would ever do.

The detective made a face and shrugged.

"I don't get married every day... And I needed to match your empire waist ivory silk one."

They hadn't gone to Santorini – nobody was wearing a Red Sox jersey – and her dress was a lot less sumptuous as her fantasy had announced but she preferred the way reality had turned in. The Atlantic Ocean replacing the Mediterranean Sea and the perfect lawn of a Massachusetts cliff substituting to Greek volcanoes.

The ceremony had been intimate, reflecting pretty well the life they led. Relatives, friends. Colleagues. They didn't need more people in the end when they thought about it.

"Hey, you two...! It's your day... Are you planning on not socializing at all and stay here or you'd mind joining us back at some point?"

Vince Korsak had rarely been so elegant now Jane thought about it. A glass of champagne in hand, he was waiting for them; amused, happy.

"What, I can't talk to my wife for two seconds?"

Her wife. For a few seconds, Jane remained still and pondered the word; the way it sounded. It was the first time she had pronounced it. Until then, she had always alluded to Maura as her partner. It was an odd change. Something more meaningful, perhaps.

Hands up in a sign of abdication, Korsak turned around to join back the guests who were chatting a bit further on the cliff by the buffet.

"My wife?"

Obviously, Maura hadn't missed it either. A mischievous smile had now embraced her lips. It seemed to entertain her; the novelty of the whole thing. Jane shrugged, restraining a laugh.

"Well... We're married, aren't we? So you're my wife just as I'm yours."

Slowly, the honey blonde nodded and cast a glance at the ocean a bit further on her right. Its blue was getting lost with the blue of the sky; far, very far in the distance.

"My wife... My confident... My friend... My soul mate... You mean so many things to me and yet just one in the end: you are the only person I can't imagine my life without, Jane."

It could have sounded awfully cheesy that she didn't mind much. She had needed to say it. To say it out loud here and now.

Jane replied by a soft kiss on the honey blonde's cheek before taking her hand and leading her to the rest of the guests.

She had made an engagement a couple of hours earlier but if she had to be honest, she had taken such decision years ago; at the exact moment she had met Maura. When they had become friends. What was a friendship, in the end? A matter of trust, fidelity and uniqueness; something that even time could not make it fade. A strong, powerful connection to one person and one person only.

A friend of mine... It had always been Maura. And it would always be like that.

The End