I would honor their resilience, their survival. I would look to the future, to what we could build from here. Myrddin had taken the building that housed us happily for years, but that wasn’t our home.
Home was wherever we were together, and he couldn’t take that from us.
“I wish you could have known this baby.” I put my hand to my belly where my child with Daniel was growing.
My dad’s lips curved up. “Oh, I know her. She’s strong like her mum. She’s smart and loyal and true. She’s going to have Daniel’s eyes and that razor-sharp mind of his. She’s going to be as kind as Devinshea, and as witty as you. She’s going to bring light into the world. And she’ll be every bit as lucky as her grandad. I won’t be here for her, but you have to know that I’ll be watching that little girl grow.”
“And I’ll tell her stories of her grandfather. The best thief the supernatural world has ever seen.” I took a long breath, some odd sense of peace settling over me. He was good. He was going to someplace good. He was finally complete. “How will you do it? Will you just be gone? Should we bring everyone together?”
“Walk with me.” He threaded his fingers through mine.
He led me through to the door and out into the village where night had taken control. A warm wind brushed over my skin and I could see Rhys had been at work because our brugh had night-blooming jasmine all around the front porch. There were big groves in the distance where only this morning there had been nothing but grass.
“He’s going to be magnificent,” my dad said as we started down the cobblestone walkway. “Never would have thought my grandchildren would be so magnificent. I just hoped they wouldn’t go to jail.”
I had to laugh at that because I’d kind of had the same thoughts. “We had a fund, you know.”
“Course, you did. I taught you that,” he said with a grin. “I left them all notes, even Fenrir, because he’s become one of mine, too. I sat down this afternoon and wrote everyone a letter. Shy knows where they are. Everyone but you. Couldn’t find the words.”
I squeezed his hand. The moment was both surreal and right. I realized in that moment how few people got this. I got to hold his hand. I got to say good-bye, to know how loved I was.
This was a blessing I wouldn’t have gotten if I hadn’t fallen through that damn painting. If I hadn’t, I would have gotten a call someday that he was gone, that he’d had a heart attack on some golf course or a stroke while he was working in the yard.
I couldn’t fix what had gone wrong, but I could find the joy in today. I could embrace the fact that my heart was only breaking because it was so full.
“I don’t need a letter. But I could bring the kids together. I could call Evan and have her come back. I’m sure they want to see you,” I offered, still wanting to put the moment off. Wanting these last minutes to stretch out.
“Please, I just want this. Just you and me one last time.” He pulled on my hand, leading me toward where the nightly bonfire had started. Some of the Fae were already enjoying supper on the common grounds, and a little band was playing.
He stopped before we got to the actual dining area. The music had switched to an old Celtic song, and he pulled me close. “I always wished you’d had a wedding where I could have walked you down the aisle and had that dance with you.”
My weddings hadn’t been regular human-style affairs, and my father hadn’t attended either. Danny and I had followed the vampire rituals, and my Fae wedding hadn’t been anything my dad should ever see.
I knew we were an odd pair. From the outside we were two women dancing under the moonlight, one weeping openly with her head on the other’s shoulder, but I was dancing with my father. The sweetness of the moment pierced through me.
“I left a letter for Christine,” he said quietly. “I know she wasn’t your favorite…”
“I’ll do anything for her.” I’d left behind any bad will I had for the witch long ago, and even if I hadn’t I would have walked through fire for the woman if my dad had asked me.
“Take it to her when you can,” he said. “Let her know that she was a good wife. She was…well, that little witch was my soul mate somehow. I loved her.”
“Then I love her, too.” I was glad he’d found her, glad she’d made him happy. That was all that mattered. Not her age or anything else. She’d made him happy. She’d been good for him.