“Tonight?” He looks down at our arms, covered in bruises and abrasions, then at my rumpled dress.
“What are we waiting for, Seven?” I step in closer and place my hands on his face. A few more nurses pass us and glance in our direction, but he doesn’t push me away. “Arden’s made her choice. We’re here together, and for the moment we’re alive and well. I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know what’s going on with your father or Hearst or anything else. All I know is, we’ve only got today, and I think it’s time we told my family the whole truth. They should know before we announce it to the world.”
He breathes a heavy sigh of relief, then pulls me into his arms, kissing me sweetly. “Finally. Yes. Tonight is the night.”
Warmth spreads across my torso and grows so large that it turns the corners of my mouth up. I’m so happy I almost can’t process it. My lips part as more tears start to fall.
He takes my hand, threading his fingers through mine. “Come on. Let’s go relieve Jericho. I’ll drive. We don’t know exactly how this will go.”
I nod. As we start walking to the car, I cough into my hand, and I can’t stop the delicate purple seed that follows. Seven looks down at it curiously.
“You probably think its gross, but sometimes I can’t control it.”
He shakes his head. “Not gross. It’s a pixie thing. It’s part of you. I was just wondering… what emotion is it?”
I close my fist around the seed and give him a shaky smile. “Hope.”
ChapterNineteen
The moment we set foot in my parents’ home, we are bombarded by love. I’ve texted ahead to say Seven would be coming with me and to be prepared because we’re a little beat up. Mom meets us at the door.
“Oh my,” she says, glaring at our wounds with a worried frown. “Should I fetch the first aid kit?”
“No. We’ve come from the hospital. Nothing is bleeding, anymore,” I say. “But we’re both starving. Do you have anything left from dinner?”
She administers two careful hugs. “Who do you think you’re talking to, Sophia? No one leaves this house unfed.” She ushers us toward the breakfast nook where she has sandwiches and cookies waiting.
“Oh, Mom, thank you.” I actually tear up as I bite into a ham and cheese.
“There’s lemonade there too, although you two look like you might need something stronger.”
“Definitely,” Seven murmurs around a bite. “Please, Mrs. Larkspur.”
She nods once, darts into the kitchen, and comes back with a bottle of vodka still frosty from the freezer. I pour a shot into my lemonade and then into Seven’s.
“Are you sure you don’t need anything else? Bandages? Painkillers?” she asks softly.
“No,” I assure her. “We’re fine. Just scraped up a bit.”
“Good. Then Seven, I’d like you to tell me why my daughter looks like she’s been in a fight and why you didn’t protect her.” An unmistakable edge has crept into her voice that makes both of us sit up straighter.
“It’s a long story, Mom, and we only want to tell it once, so you can invite Grandma and the rest of them in here.”
My grandmother pops out from behind the door to the living room as if she’s been waiting there listening and beams like she won the lottery. “I thought you’d never ask!”
She smooths the skirt of her metallic blue gown and tucks herself into the chair across from Seven, resting her chin in her palm.
I narrow my eyes on her. “Do you actually still live in Sunnyville?”
“It’s where they deliver my mail, darling. Now, you were saying?”
“Wait. I want to hear this.” Dad enters the room from the kitchen.
“Where’s Arden?” I ask.
“Out with Edmund again. I think they were going skating in Winter Wonderland,” Dad says.
A wave of nostalgia hits me as I remember what it was like to go ice-skating or sledding in the small section of Wonderland where it always snows but is never cold. I haven’t been there since I was a child. I hope Arden loves it.
