“I didn’t change,” Mirabel tells the Keeper. “I didn’t think it would be this cold. Have you been waiting long?”
The Keeper takes off his tweed jacket and drapes it over her shoulders.
“Not long,” he assures her, for a few hours are nothing compared to the time they have both waited for this moment.
“She hasn’t opened it yet, has she?” Mirabel asks, looking toward the brick building.
“No, but she will soon. She’s already decided. She left this.” He holds up the bright teal notebook. He presses a red button on the cover and tiny lights flicker around a smiling face. “How is our Mister Rawlins faring?”
“Better now. He didn’t think I’d let him have a happy ending. I’m kind of offended.”
“Perhaps he did not believe that he deserved one.”
“Is that what you thought?” Mirabel asks but the Keeper does not reply. “You don’t have to be there, you know,” she adds. “Not anymore.”
“Neither do you, and yet here we are.”
Mirabel smiles.
The Keeper lifts a hand and tucks a stray lock of pink hair behind her ear.
He pulls her closer to keep her warm, catching her lips with his.
Inside the brick building a door opens into a new Harbor upon the Starless Sea.
Far above the stars are watching, delighted.