“You can’t take the risk with Dad’s life either.”
“I know. But I can’t just—” Her eyes snapped up to mine. “Allison!”
“Allison?” It took my brain a moment to catch up, the name arriving so out of the blue. “Your ex Allison?”
She nodded, triumph gleaming from her eyes.
“What does she have to do with anything?”
She looked at Mom, no longer caring if I was convinced or not. “I’m not sure why I didn’t think of her sooner. Allison is stronger at healing than I am for sure, maybe even more than Finn and Cynthia, and a hell of a lot stronger than Christina or Ricky!”
“You think she’d help?”
“Of course she would, Mom.” Caitlin almost beamed at finding the solution. “She was part of our family for years. Even after we split up, she still asked about you and Dad. She would have been here already if I’d thought of it.”
Mom considered Caitlin, then nodded. “Call her.”
It was settled. Caitlin, Schwint, and I were headed to the Vampire Cathedral. “Do you think we can get tickets to Costa Rica tonight?”
Mom shook her head. “No, but surly you can in the morning, or tomorrow afternoon at the latest. Empty the savings from Mascarada and Panaderia if you need to in order to pay for the tickets.”
“I can fly down there.” Schwint gripped my hand in his. “It will be cheaper, and I can leave tonight. I’ll get down there before you do.”
“Really? You’re that fast?”
For the briefest of moments, his cocky grin returned. “Don’t you worry about that.”
“How will we find you?”
“I’ll meet you at the airport, outside baggage claim to make it simple, and I’ll see what I can find out before then.”
“Okay.” I hated the thought of splitting up, but it made sense. Then another thought hit me. “How will they know that I’m coming? What if they do something else to try to force me to come to them, not realizing that I’m already on my way.”
There was no question in Schwint’s tone. “They’ll know.”
“You think?”
“Yeah. For sure.” He glanced at Mom and Caitlin, then looked at me, his expression changing, and did some magic that blocked the rest of the room from us. “I hate that now is the time I’m choosing to say it, but it is what it is. I love you, Finn.”
I can’t say his words caught me off guard. While I hadn’t given it much thought, his actions over the past few days screamed “I love you” louder than any words he could have been saying, especially now that he was willing to go with me to the Royals. In some ways, it didn’t even seem like the first time he’d made that proclamation. It rather surprised me to realize he hadn’t said it before. That neither of us had. The last few days seemed like weeks rather than hours. He’d told me he loved me a billion times over that expanse of time, spoken or not. “I know, Schwint. I love you too.”
He smiled. “I know.” He pulled me close for too brief a kiss and then let me go, the magic he’d done falling away as well, Caitlin and Mom returning to focus. “I’ll see you when you arrive.”
“Okay. See you soon.”
He gave a parting glance at Caitlin. “See you in Costa Rica.”
She only nodded, and he turned to Mom.
“Thank you for helping our family, Schwint. We are indebted to you.”
“Not at all, Paulette. I just hope that I’m able to do some good down there. You and Wendell focus on getting better so you’ll be up to celebrating when your children return.”
She smiled at him, tears continuing to fall.
With that, he turned and walked out of the room.
Mom looked at Caitlin. “Call Allison, and then please fill Christina in. Tell her to stay with Wendell until Allison comes.”
