The Gender End by Bella Forrest (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📕

of a smile grazed Owen’s face for a second. “In your defense, he can be cruel, and he is weird.”

I laughed, but refused to be derailed. “You need to stop being so hard on yourself, and you also need to go over there and talk to Morgan. She likes you. She likes you a lot.”

His shoulders hunched, and he cast his gaze over to where the dark-haired girl stood, chatting with Drew. Or rather, it looked like Drew was interrogating her. “She… She likes me? Likes likes?”

I blinked, surprised at first by the very childish phrase, and then looked over at Tim, whose face shared a look of bewilderment equal to the one I was sure mine wore.

“You honestly didn’t know?”

He shook his head, his eyes wide. “I… I… I just thought she was being nice.”

Lowering my forehead to the table was dramatic, but it made him laugh, even as I banged my head against the wood a few times. Sitting up abruptly, I looked at him, and then reached out to cup his cheeks.

“Owen. Go talk to her.”

He hesitated, and then smiled, slow and steady. “You know what, I think I will!”

Standing up, he took a minute to run his fingers through his hair, and then moved over toward Morgan. I looked over at Tim, who shook his head at me.

“You right. You will be that wife.”

I laughed—I couldn’t deny it—lightly squeezed his cheek, and looked out at the dance floor. Viggo was now dancing with Ms. Dale, swinging her around the floor while she laughed and then smacked him on the shoulder. They chatted as the music played, something slow and filled with harp sounds, and I smiled. Owen was right. I was happy. “Happy” wasn’t even the word for it. I could feel everything around me glowing with joy, like it was radiating from my insides, impossible to contain, impossible to stop.

Tim and I sat alone for a few more minutes, just enjoying the atmosphere and being next to each other, and then the song ended. Viggo instantly let Ms. Dale go and moved toward my table, his eyes finding mine. Ms. Dale trailed behind him and clapped her hands loudly. The music played on for a second and then was cut off, and Ms. Dale raised her mug.

“Well, we have a few more surprises for you. We have some gifts, which you can open later, if you want, but there’s one very important one that we want to give you now.”

I looked around the room, and watched as Amber and Logan stepped up to join Ms. Dale, followed closely by Owen and Morgan.

“What’s going on?” I asked, and Ms. Dale smiled.

“We’re not letting you go to Patrus alone,” she announced as Thomas pushed forward and came to stand next to Owen. “We’re going with you.”

“And me,” whispered Tim.

“And me,” resonated a deep, familiar voice, and I looked back toward the stairs and gaped.

Solomon took a step forward, and another, moving slowly and steadily. I saw Dr. Tierney standing behind him, a smile on her face, and then I was moving, standing up and racing across the room. I pulled up short, suddenly afraid to touch him, and he stared at me, his dark eyes glittering. He’d shaved, and his hair had been cut. He was wearing pants and a sweater, but they seemed a bit snug on him.

After a moment in which we stared at each other, my mind trying to find words as the events of the attack on the plant played through it again, he simply pulled me into a bear hug.

“Hey, Violet,” he breathed. “Congratulations!”

He lifted me off the ground and then sat me back down, but I kept my hands on his shoulders.

“How… How is this…” The words seemed to dissolve in my mouth, and I looked at Dr. Tierney. “Benuxupane?” I asked, and she shook her head.

“I think… I think they did something to him at the tower,” she said. “I can’t explain it, but when he woke up, he was speaking and behaving as normal. His readings are good and—”

“He’s standing right here, and he wants to officially meet your husband.”

I blinked up at Solomon, my smile growing wider and wider until I felt tears beginning to form. “I… Of course… I…”

“I’m Viggo,” Viggo said helpfully from behind me, and I turned to see him standing there, holding out a hand. “And as I understand it, Violet and I both owe you our lives. Her twice over.”

Solomon took Viggo’s hand and pumped it, hard. “It was nothing,” he rumbled, but his eyes clouded over, and I realized he was remembering everything that had happened, just as I had.

“Solomon, you don’t even know why we’re going to Matrus,” I exclaimed, and he nodded solemnly.

“I do. Dr. Tierney filled me in. It took a while.”

I stared at him for a long moment, then took a step closer. “Solomon, you don’t have to do this. You’ve been through so much. Your mother needs to see you. She’s been so worried, and—”

“Do you think I don’t know that, Violet?” Solomon announced, softly interrupting me. He lowered his gaze to the floor and shifted. “Violet, I… I remember some of the things I did. Not all of it, and I’m not sure which is worse—the ones I don’t know about, or the ones I do. I killed people… and I didn’t have any control over it.”

“Solomon,” I breathed, guilt radiating through me. “Please. It’s my fault that you… that you took those pills. It’s my fault that you were in this mess. I swore I’d do something to help you, and you’re better now. I don’t want that to change. I can’t bear to see you hurting again.”

“Violet, it’s not your fault. It’s Desmond’s. She gave me the pills without knowing exactly what they would do. She used me as her guinea pig, and I trusted her and went with it anyway.”

“Yes, but if I hadn’t been so—”

“You don’t get to be responsible for the