Finally, Hugo said, “This whole bloody game was a ploy to try to trick me into staying?”
Jack laughed his old laugh. The laugh he laughed when his cleverness astonished even him. He elbowed Hugo in the side and pointed to the escalator where Lucy and Christopher were slowly descending.
Jack said, “We win.”
—
Here we go, Lucythought as she and Christopher reached the escalator. Their new life together in Maine would start the second they reached the bottom. Christopher paused at the top of the escalator and looked up at her.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I can carry you down, or you can try it. Just grab the railing and step onto the top step fast.”
He reached out, touched the railing, snatched his hand back as if ithad been burned. But then, instead of jumping into her arms in fear, he tried it again.
This time he did it. He grabbed the railing and stepped onto the escalator. Lucy held him by the back of his T-shirt just in case.
“Whoa,” he said, then laughed at himself.
“Good job, kiddo,” she said. Christopher grinned in triumph. He’d been doing that a lot lately. The dark circles under his eyes were long gone. The hundred-yard stare he sometimes wore on rough days rarely showed itself. And he smiled and laughed and did somersaults around their house for no reason except he could. Because he was safe now. Because he was loved. Because that safety and love weren’t going anywhere ever again.
Lucy tugged gently on the back of his shirt. He looked up at her.
“Mama loves you,” she said.
He rolled his eyes and said, “I know.” But then he quickly leaned his head back against her, his way of saying he loved her too.
Lucy peered down the escalator and saw Hugo and Jack waiting for them. She smiled but didn’t wave or say anything to Christopher. She didn’t want him getting too excited and running down the moving stairs. Right now, he was chattering away about how crazy it was that he would be taking a boat to school every day when it started in a week.A boat! To school! Every day!He had never been on a boat in his life, and now he was takingA boat! To school! Every day!
Jack waved at her. Hugo was too busy messing around with a roll of what looked like white wrapping paper. She saw him slap Jack on the arm. What on earth were they doing? Then he and Hugo started walking apart from each other and unfurled a banner that was at least ten feet wide and three feet tall that read,WELCOME LUCY & CHRISTOPHER.
Obviously, Hugo had painted the banner. Their names were written inside the bellies of sharks. Hers was an elegant great white shark, and Christopher’s was a hammerhead. When Christopher saw the sign, his mouth dropped open. No stopping him now. He ran down the last few steps and toward the sign.
First, there were hugs for Hugo. And then Lucy got to do something she’d been dreaming about for weeks.
“Christopher,” she said as she took him by the shoulders and gently steered him forward. “This is Jack Masterson. Jack, this is Christopher.” She smiled and, with the greatest pride she had ever felt in her life, added, “My son.”
Christopher stared up at Jack, wide-eyed, silent with awe.
“Say hi,” Lucy prompted.
“Are you really the Mastermind?” Christopher asked.
“What has two hands,” Jack said, “but can’t scratch itself?”
Slowly a smile spread across Christopher’s face. “A clock!”
“Good job, my boy. You’ll do just fine on Clock Island. Let’s go, shall we? Mikey’s waiting with the car.”
When they reached the car, Christopher claimed the middle row with Jack while Lucy and Hugo sat in the back row all alone. As Jack got into the car, he gave them a wink.
For the drive to the dock, she and Hugo whispered to each other in the back while Christopher and Jack competed to see who could talk each other’s ears off first.
“I’ve never seen him so happy,” Hugo said. “Not in all the years…even before Autumn died.”
“Christopher’s on cloud nine, and we’re never going to get him down.”
“And you?” Hugo asked. “Happy?”
She rested her head on his shoulder. “He’s mine. Enough said.”
