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“Our love withstood a thousand lives. It can survive a thousand more,” I said.
“Let’s live this one first.” He chuckled and left the bed. “Tea?”
“I was hoping we might stay in bed all day.”
“But the store will be shut and you have many customers to serve. Although…” He scooped up his clothes and began to dress. “Your customer etiquette needs work. You told that girl her doll would come to life.”
“It might.”
He laughed again. “Your customer service is terrible, but you are a remarkable toymaker.” He leaned in, kissed me on the lips, and whispered, “And a wonder.”
As he left, I flopped back onto the bed. He knew me, knew all my secrets, all the things I had done, yet he loved me. Strange, this feeling. Happiness. It felt like sunshine after a storm, like a jubilant spring after a hard, miserable winter. It felt like home.
I dressed and descended the stairs, and as I entered the storefront, I spotted him standing at the doll display. Ah, he’d found my latest addition.
“We knocked them over last night, so I thought I’d right them, and…” He held one of the dolls in his hand—a handsome male fae with long black hair. “Perhaps this one should not be sold?” he said.
“You’re right.” I took the doll off him. “I’d burn it, but the flames might unleash the creature inside.”
“Then itisAdair?” he whispered.
“Oh yes.”
I tossed the doll into a pile of broken toys behind the counter.
“Will he ever come back?”
“No, he’s trapped as a doll. Forever. Or until I forgive him for twisting my work, for twisting us—which will be never.”
“Will any of the fae come looking for him?”
I recalled the masquerades and the fae there. They’d been so consumed by their own lives that I doubted they even knew Adair existed. “No, I do not think any of them care.”
“Good.” He approached the bucket of broken toys, frowned at the Adair doll, and met my gaze. “Then this is us. You and me and a toy store?”
“It seems that way,” I said. Did he want this life? My galloping heart hoped so.
“Oh, and there’s this.” He picked up a newspaper from the counter, already open at a page, and handed it over. “It was on the doorstep, so I brought it in, and well… take a look.”
Local Constable Charged with Corruption.I skimmed the opening paragraph and spotted Jeremy Russo’s name. “That’s certainly no loss.”
I handed the newspaper back, and his smile grew. “Fate finds a way.” He dropped it in the trash and leaned against the counter. “So, hear me out. I have an idea. Perhaps I should work the storefront while you make your marvelous creations?” He wrapped an arm around my waist and reeled me in. “Devere’s and Valentine’s World of Toys.But only if you want to, of course. People will come from all around, and they will know it was you all along who made their dream creations real.”
For him, I’d do anything. I’d build him worlds and fill them with his dreams if he asked. I pulled him close and breathed him in. “Of all the dreams in all the worlds, this is my favorite. I will make the toys for you. Sell them, give them away, do with them as you wish. Just so long as you are happy, Val.”
He laughed. “This must be a dream, because that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said. And you don’t do nice. Accommodating, that’s more your style. Reluctant tolerance. Some barely contained disdain—”
I kissed his smirk, stealing it away, then murmured across his lips, “Be the summer to my winter?”
“I’ll always be yours, Devere, in whatever world we make together.”
Epilogue
Valentine
Butterflies flitted about the graveyard, their delicate dance erratic. Grasshoppers sprang out of the way of my steps. Summer in Minerva was in full swing, bringing with it warm days, blue skies, and tourists who couldn’t wait to buy the latest wonder from the infamous World of Toys store. I’d left Devere at the shop, telling him I’d collect the groceries, but on the way to the market, I veered into the graveyard.
The grass was almost as tall as me, hiding many of the stones. I fought through the weeds to get to the forgotten corner, where the weeping angel knelt.
