A house key.
A key to a house.
A key to the house on Clock Island.
“Jack…” she breathed. “What—”
“You don’t get the book, but you do get your wish. Lucy Hart—do you still want to be my sidekick?”
Chapter Thirty-One
She sat down hardon the bed. Her feet had failed her. Her vision was blurry. Then everything cleared. The fog lifted. Her heart lifted.
“You’re giving me…”
“The house,” Jack said. “If you’ll have it—and me, because I don’t plan on leaving until I’m carted off in a box. And if you can talk that Christopher of yours into moving to Maine, I’d love to have him here too.”
“I’m not even fostering him yet. Even if I were, I can’t take him out of the state. It’ll take months—” She could hardly think, hardly breathe. Was this really happening?
“Oh, I can help with that. Luckily, I have more money than I know what to do with.”
“You can’t…This is too generous, Jack. I can’t accept—”
“You can, Lucy. You can accept help. And if you can’t, Christopher can.” He took a bundle of papers out of the other pocket of his cardigan and handed it to her.
Lucy unfolded the papers. In Christopher’s sweet, shaky, lopsided crayon-colored handwriting, he’d written,My wish is Lucy can adop me.
She flipped through the stack and found half a dozen letters from Christopher to Master Mastermind. Apparently, he and Jack had been writing to each other for several months. Christopher, with a thousandmisspellings, had told Jack—in his guise of the Mastermind—his dreams of being Lucy’s son, the death of his parents, his fear of phones. In the last letter, Christopher promised that the next time Lucy tried to call him on the phone, he would answer it.
“You helped Christopher get over his fear of phones,” she said, looking up at him. “Not the books. You did.”
“If anyone knows anything about fear, it’s me.”
“You…” She pressed the letters against her heart. Her throat had closed up. Jack had quietly and secretly and without fanfare helped a little boy on the other side of the country find his courage. “That stinker didn’t tell me a thing.”
“He wanted to surprise you. He did, didn’t he?”
Tears fell from her eyes. Jack took her gently by the shoulders, looked intently at her face.
“Lucy Hart, thirteen years ago, you wished to be my sidekick. Wish granted,” he said. “If you want it to be an honorary title, it can be. Or you really can move in and live with me and help me try to start living my life again. And Christopher’s wish was that you could adopt him. Wish granted.” He smiled fiendishly. “I’ve already asked my attorney to start the process for you. She thinks she can get all the ducks in a row in a few months’ time.”
“I know I can.”
Lucy spun around. Ms. Hyde stood in the doorway.
“You?” She couldn’t believe her eyes.
“When you have a moment, Lucy, I’ll need you to sign some paperwork for me. I’ll be in the library.”
“Wait…Don’t you work for Jack’s publisher?”
She didn’t smile, just raised her chin. “I take the Fifth.”
When Ms. Hyde was gone, Lucy turned to Jack.
“I…I’m in shock.”
“If you can’t say yes for me, say yes for Christopher.”
