“That all of this would be a dream and he’d wake up in his old life.”
I smiled. “That’s good to hear—that he’s so happy.”
“It is.” She nodded. “But I didn’t know what to say to ease his troubled mind.”
For a moment, I tried to think of something too, but I wasn’t really sure it was possible. Or necessary. It would just take time, that’s all. He could never have imagined this life for himself and so… that was it! “I know what to say.”
“Well then you must share it with me, by all means,” Lily said with an affectionate laugh, taking in my excited face.
“Just tell him it couldn’t be a dream, because he could never have imagined this life for himself.”
“But… why couldn’t he? Is it so unimaginable?”
“For the Jason I knew”—I looked up as he surfaced atop the stairs—“yes.”
Lily nodded, watching him come down.
“Lily, take Beth,” Jase said, looking at his phone.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, handing the baby over. Reluctantly.
“Yes.” He put his phone in his pocket. “And no. I’m afraid I have some bad news.”
Jase led me to the sitting area and sat me down on the coffee table, positioning himself across from me at a lean inward. I tried to read his face, tuning my ears to the Christmas carols in the hopes that they’d ground me, fill me with the spirit of the season and empty away some of the worry.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what?”
“He’s not gonna come back tomorrow.”
I nodded, swallowing down the hurt. For Harry’s sake, after having only one parent for Christmas for the last two years, I owed him a good day tomorrow. I couldn’t let myself fall apart. But we knew, when Jason turned David a few days ago, that there was a chance it might take longer than we wanted, and yet we had both wanted him to be vampire again before Christmas. Now, I regretted that decision. “How’s he doing after the scar removal?”
“He’s fine,” he said, his face warming with a smile. It was so good to see him again—to really see him. I loved seeing him happy, too. I was right in what I said to Lily: things in his life couldn’t have ended better for him if I wrote the damn ending myself, but I couldn’t pay attention to that joy right now because my own day was shaping up to be pretty shitty. “There was a chance this might happen, Ara,” he added.
I nodded. “I know, but I was hoping he’d be here tomorrow.”
“Get over it, sista,” Cal said, landing on the table beside me. “It’s better this way.”
“Why?” I shrieked, elbowing him.
He laughed, rubbing his rib. “Because he won’t be back tomorrow, so what? I thought you’d be happy.”
“How would that make me happy? How could I possibly be okay with him missing Christmas?”
“Who said he’s gonna miss it?” Cal shrugged, winking at Jason.
“You just said he won’t be back tomorrow!”
“He won’t,” Cal said.
Jason stood up. “Because he’ll be back today.”
“Wait, what?”
Cal smiled at me, nodding to my front door. I shot to my feet, only noticing a silhouette through the stained glass a second before the door opened and my David, my sexy, dangerous-vampire-David stood there. He smiled the kind of smile that refused to be held back, and as his lips parted, my eyes went straight to his fangs. But my thoughts, they slipped back more than twenty years into the past to a moment—one moment in time where I’d first laid eyes on him as a vampire—and everything my body experienced then, everything my heart wanted, was still the same.
I shut my eyes involuntarily as I imagined his fangs piercing my skin, his strong, immortal hands lifting me onto his lap and…
“You look different,” he said, suddenly in front of me.
I angled my head as he cupped the side of my neck, almost inviting him in right here in a room full of family. “Look different how?”
“I don’t know,” he said, pressing his body against mine. “I can see you more clearly now, I think.”
I lifted my eyes to his face—to the dark stubble, thicker now than it used to be; the jagged scar on his throat gone, healed by the change; his aged face, so strange now with immortal blood running through his veins. It was like I could accept the older version of him while he was human, that was different, but as a vampire, it seemed odd, and I couldn’t stop staring at him—as if he’d grown older overnight. He was the same guy I married, the same guy I loved all my life, the same guy he was when he was human, and yet I felt right now like I was falling in love all over again—falling in love with someone new.
“Dad!” Harry ran for him, only just realizing he was here. I felt the rest of the family circle us as Harry hugged his vampire father, and I was forced to take a step back for everyone else to greet him in his vampire form.
“Sorry I tricked you,” Jason said, standing shoulder to shoulder with me, watching on.
“You’re a real bastard, you know that?”
He laughed, nodding at the boys as Cal hugged David. “It’s nice to see him accept Cal.”
“Yeah,” I said. “And Bree.”
“I thought for sure he’d keep torturing the poor kid because he had a crush on you once.”
“He’s actually very forgiving, you know.”
“No one knows that better than me,” he said, raising his brows at me.
I smiled, looking back at David and Harry. “He’s different, isn’t he?”
“In what sense?”
“The vampire.” I narrowed my eyes to scrutinize him. “They say vampires lose their compassion for humans when they turn. But…”
“Yeah.” He nodded, folding his arms. “I thought the same thing when he woke up this morning.”
“I wonder why.”
“Who knows?” He shrugged. “Might just be because he’s in love, and happy. He’s got a lot to live for right now.”
“Yeah.” I looked over at Elora, laughing with Falcon, and it warmed my heart to see them that way after everything that had happened between them. He still hadn’t looked me in the eye since I got my memories back, and I hadn’t been given a chance to tell him it was all okay—that all was forgiven. He needed to hear it, but I just needed a moment alone with him. “We’re telling Elora about the baby tonight.”
Jase smiled, keeping his eyes on his brother. “Good. Someone else has an announcement to make too.”
“What announcement?”
“You’ll see.” He winked at me and walked away, leaving my curiosities flaring.
“Mom!” Elora called, waving me over. “Tell her, Falcon.”
Falcon bowed his head, cheeks going pink.
“What did you want to tell me?” I asked.
“He has good news.”
I looked back at Jason, wondering if this was the announcement he’d mentioned.
“Okay, fine. Chicken,” she said, slapping his arm. “I’ll tell her.”
“Tell me what?”
“He got asked out on a date!” Elora trilled. “Isn’t that great?”
“That is great.” I looked at Falcon, then back at my daughter. “Can you give us a minute, Lors?”
“Sure.” She offered me a knowing smile, slinking past to go hug her dad.
“Sit down,” I said in a slightly more commanding tone than intended. He sat down immediately, his elbows on his knees. “What’s the deal, Falcon? Why are you acting so strange around me?”
“I…” He jerked his head at Elora, as if to indicate the obvious.
“Okay, look, I know I wasn’t me when I said this, but I forgive you. What happened between you and my daughter was not either of your faults, and from what I hear, it wasn’t all that unpleasant, either.” I shoved him playfully. “You didn’t hurt her. You didn’t do anything cruel to her, so stop acting like this. I said I forgive you, and I meant it!”
“And what about… can you forgive
me for trying to steal you from David?”
I laughed, rocking back as I did. “Is that a joke? Of course I do. What else were you gonna do? I mean, I was irresistible, right?”
He laughed, actually looking me in the eye for the first time.
“I love you, Falcon.” I touched his arm softly, holding onto that gaze as if it might flitter away too soon. “Nothing will ever change that.”
“And besides,” Mike said to him, entering the conversation as if he’d been in it all along, “if I can put it all aside and Em can put it all aside, it’s about bloody time you did too, mate.”
“Yeah, you’re right.” Falcon leaned back, propping one hand on his thigh. “It’s a strange world we live in, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“So much damage is done to so many of us, even by those we love, and yet somehow we’re all still here—all still together.”
I leaned right over and placed my hand on his. “And we always will be.”
“Okay everyone.” Elora clapped her hands once loudly, stepping back from the group. “We’ve got an announcement to make!”
Emily handed me a champagne glass and Ali walked past, filling them up as we all stood to listen.
“A toast,” Elora said, Eric coming to stand beside her, and seeing him there with her like that, all my friends here in one place—everyone that meant anything to me in my life so far—it made me feel oddly complete.
“For all of us,” she said, “the past year was full of new beginnings. My mother’s return and even Dad’s return to the immortal world, both of them changed, older, wiser.”
Everyone laughed.
“Our new family member Beth.” She smiled at Lily then at Em. “And Mia. Welcoming Ric to the family, and then Cal and Bree.”
Cal waved, bowing his head, while Bree just smiled shyly.
“It’s been a big year. The best.” Elora grinned, raising her glass. “But now, we’d like to announce another new addition to the family.”
“Oh my God!” Vicki shrieked, covering her mouth.
“Yep.” Elora went red in the face, Eric pulling her in close to kiss her head. “We’re expecting a baby.”
I was the first one in there—wrapping my arms around my daughter before she even finished the sentence. I couldn’t believe it. I hadn’t noticed the life inside of her, didn’t feel it at all—not even a flicker. How did they keep this from me?
“Drake,” Jason replied, taking that thought from my mind.
“I used the same protection spell on Elora as I once used on you,” Drake said.
“Why?” I looked from Elora to Drake.
“We wanted it to be a surprise,” Elora said, her eyes moving to my belly then. “And I was waiting for you to tell me about my new little sister.”
My eyes widened. I hadn’t spent much time with my immortal daughter. When I died, she was still human and I was still, to this day, learning about her abilities. So every time she pulled one on me, doing something or saying something that showed how amazing she was, I was lost for words. “So you knew? How long have you known?”
“Since Loslilian,” she said, misty-eyed.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I wanted to wait until you were ready to tell me.”
“I had planned to tell you tonight.”
“Beat ya to it,” Eric said, winking at me.
I smiled at him, seeing the man my daughter married in a layer atop the one that was a close friend to me so many years ago. And I just didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t thanked him yet for all he’d done, had barely even seen him since I got my memories back, but I still loved him so dearly. He’d been the one to save me in that dungeon when I was kidnapped on my wedding night, and before that, he’d been the rock I stood on when David left me to fall. He was such a good friend, and now he was my daughter’s husband, my first grandchild’s father, and I knew Elora couldn’t possibly have done better if I’d chosen him myself. Oh, wait…
Eric hugged me, taking my lack of words for exactly what it was: an inability to express my gratitude to him for everything over the years, especially for supporting Elora when I wasn’t here. “It’s been a long journey, hasn’t it?” he said.
“It has.” I hugged him tighter and then drew away. “And for what it’s worth, I think we all ended up exactly where we were always supposed to be.” I felt it to my core then; I felt like all the bad things in my life, even the things I once wanted to forget, were worth it. Because here, at the end of it all, I was happy. I had the family I’d always searched for, the home I always longed for, and I knew nothing would ever change that. No matter what.
I looked over at Harry then, my eye going to his framed drawing on the mantle behind him, the words in colored crayon standing out above his smile: And they all lived happily ever after. From here, life would go on, rolling from one day to the next, taking us deeper into this new life we’d all created. The new life we’d spent our lives striving for.
And I had to admit that, after so many highs and too many lows, I finally believed it would be a happy ending.
But it wasn’t the end…
Epilogue: Ara
* * *
“Of course, honey. Drop her over,” I said, pulling the curtain back to check on Mia and Aubrey, double-checking that the pool gate was still shut. “I’ve got Mia today too, so we might as well have Eve.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Elora said. “I’d normally just tell Mike I can’t come in on my day off, but he gave me the guilt trip.”
I laughed. “He’s just worried. Last time Aunt Em was this far along, they nearly lost the baby.”
“I know. I shudder to think of it.”
“Well, just keep that in mind when you’re cleaning tables today. I know he appreciates it. And I don’t mind having Eve.”
“I know,” she said softly. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye.” I hung up the phone and checked on the girls again. At just seven years old, little Mia had that same spark Mike did when we were kids, and to see her running around my yard, fighting dragons with a sword, her blonde curls bouncing in the summer sky, it took me back to my youth. Mike had lost his curls by the time he was a teen, and I’d completely forgotten about them until I looked at Mia one day, and the memory of his face flashed in for a moment.
But while the spirited little Mia was happily vanquishing bad guys under the big eucalyptus tree, my daughter was talking to an invisible person.
I narrowed my eyes, leaning on the wall in the shadows to watch her. I’d once seen her laughing at thin air—the way all children did at times, often referred to as talking to the angels—but, lately, she’d been holding actual conversations in her room when no one else was there. If it were a ghost, I’d see it, surely? And if I couldn’t, the question was, why? If Arthur were still around, I could ask him, but it had been years since we’d seen him. I knew he was gone, and I just figured he’d crossed over from the earthly plane either into a new life or perhaps purgatory. I thought about looking for him, but I knew a trip into the spirit realm would cost me months or maybe years away from my daughter. Time moved differently there, and I just wasn’t willing to risk it right now.
“Aubrey?” I called through the window. “Who are you talking to, sweetheart?”
“He says he’s Dad’s uncle,” she called back, her high little voice confused. “Dad doesn’t have an uncle, does he, Mom? That man’s a liar!” She stabbed her finger at the accused.
“Just… stay back, sweetie. I’m coming out to have a look.” I ran past the kitchen and through the toy room in such a hurry that I kicked her glass tea set, breaking a cup against the wall. Whatever was out there, it couldn’t be Arthur. Ghosts couldn’t communicate from the spirit realm. The earthly plane, yes, but if he were on this plane, I should be able to see him.
“Oh, yes, I know you!” Aubrey trilled. “My dad has a picture of you.”
“Aubrey!” I shrieked, charging
down the porch steps. As I whipped around the corner and rushed toward the tree, my feet stopped dead, heart in my throat.
“Amara.”
“Arthur?”
He smiled, and as the wind blew Aubrey’s hair, it also picked up Arthur’s—something I’d never seen happen to a ghost before. My eyes went to his hand then, wrapped around the tiny fingers of my daughter, her big smile expectant of some reward.
“Aubrey,” I said cautiously, walking toward them. “What did you do?”
“I helped him out, Mom,” she said, smiling up at Arthur. “He can walk on this side now.”
“This side?” I asked, squatting down to her level as I came before the solid and very real figure of a man that was dead thirty seconds ago.
“We live on this side.” She pointed to the ground, indicating an invisible line beside her feet. “And they live over there.”
“And… how did you help him come onto this side?” I asked, my voice shaky.
“I dunno.” She shrugged, overemphasizing the movement. “I just took his hand.”
I looked up at Arthur, who seemed to be in as much shock as me.
“It seems your daughter has quite the talent.”
“But you… you crossed over. I felt you.” I touched my heart, standing up again.
“I was lost,” he said with a nod. “I refused to leave the earthly plane until I knew you were all safe and in good hands, which, as you know, has consequences. After a while, Arietta disappeared with our daughter, and I… I think I went to find her.”
“In purgatory?”
He nodded. “Then Aubrey found me.”
“Aubrey?” I looked at her. Her smile wavered away, but she did not let go of Arthur’s hand. “Do you ever see any other people on the other side?”
“I see ’em all the time, Mom.” She nodded. “But I never speak to strangers. Dad said that’s not safe.”
I laughed. “But you spoke to Arthur.”
“Only because he looks like Dad.”
I had to agree with that. I would’ve spoken to him if I were her. “Aubrey, sweetie, do Mommy a favor and don’t touch any more friends on the other side, okay? At least until we figure out how you brought Arthur back.”
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