42. Connor

No one was running the market anymore.

Okay, that didn't last long, but when Ezra and Martha went out into the woods, just kids instead of the octogenarians they'd been, it'd taken some amount of doing to find someone who was able to run the thing.

We'd... tried to get them to sell it, but they were busy. Playing pirates in the woods. Shit.

Thankfully, Wilson stuck around long enough to help settle matters, which... had turned into him taking the shop over himself. He'd fallen in love with the place, said he was thinking about retiring anyway, and wanted to spend his afternoons fishing close to family.

Then there was Jessamine. She hadn't just disappeared. She came back. She made cookies with Jessie and Mattias and, yeah, it was different, but mostly, it was really good. I wasn't sure how keen I was on Aurora hanging around town like she did, but that was easier to tolerate every day, when the people I loved continued to stick around.

I was finally starting to believe that they would continue to, which was doing wonders for my sex life. When I wasn't obsessively tracking Jessie's every move, sneaking a look into their bedroom multiple times a night just to remind myself they were there—well, it took a while, but we found a balance, and Mattias was quick to check in on Jessie too, to make sure he could always reassure me when I was being... okay, not quite ridiculous.

My kid had been stolen by goddamn fairies. After that, no amount of worry was ridiculous.

This was the first night Jessie was spending the night away from us in Cider Landing. Everett and Peter had invited them over for a sleepover with the kids from the woods, and god, even though I trusted Everett and Peter, even though Jessamine was going to be there, it twisted up my insides to think about it.

Right up until I took a bite of the sinful baked chicken and cheese monstrosity that Mattias had prepared. I'd tried to help with dinner, but all I'd really managed was the salad, which he was nice enough to compliment anyway.

It was weird to be alone in the house. Even Peanut had accompanied Jessie that night, which I hadn't expected, but it turned out that Everett and Peter liked dogs and when Jessie had asked to bring him, they'd said yes right off.

So it was quiet, the restaurant closed on a Monday night.

The renovations had opened up the space, so there were enough tables now for Cider Landing locals to come and enjoy Mattias's cooking. Reviews were good, and it kept money coming in the door. That didn't matter much to me, but Mattias felt better when he was contributing and who was I to tell him that he didn't have to? I loved that he wanted to take care of me as much as I wanted to care for him, so while we'd gotten a lot busier, we'd done it together.

Fatima was rocking it over at Tadpoles. I'd given Yolanda the basic rundown of finding Jessie, needing time to reconnect with our family and make sure they were okay. And hell, that was all true. Dr. Hawking was a great resource for Jessie and me both—turned out she'd dealt with "lost children" before—but I stepped back from Tadpoles and begged privacy. Maybe one day we'd have to answer for some of the strangeness around Jessie's reappearance, but the longer we waited, the less strange it'd seem that they were there and healthy and a bit underdeveloped for their age.

I hoped.

In any case, Cider Landing proved pretty safe for them. And it was... fuck, it was perfect for me. The hiking trail, the candy store, the heron, Houdini, outside our bedroom window.

Mattias.

All of it. I hated how we'd gotten here, but I loved where we'd landed.

And I especially loved getting to eat delicious, home-cooked food every night. "This is amazing," I mumbled after swallowing the last bite. "Too good. Incredible."

Mattias's cheeks pinked. "It's pretty good."

"Incredible," I insisted again.

When he looked up at me again, he was biting his lip. "Well, I wanted tonight to be special. We've worked so hard and—and you've put so much into the inn."

I shook my head. "Renovations to our home to make it really ours."

His lips screwed to the side, but a second later, he nodded. "Fair enough. But I wanted to, ah, thank you. For that. And for everything. For... being here, and for facing all the craziness with me, and I just?—"

He pressed his cheek into his hand for a second, then took a shaky breath. With one deep, steadying breath, he slipped out of his chair to kneel beside mine.

"I asked Jessie for—for their permission first," he said, staring up at me. His face was bright pink and his eyes were glistening. "They said yes. Well, they said if I let them have a tray full of cookies just for them, but... okay, maybe I need to stop bribing them with cookies."

I laughed, a joyous, bubbly feeling rushing through me. "At least it's effective."

Mattias scoffed. "Can't argue there."

He shifted closer to me, staring up with warm brown eyes. I—fuck, I loved him. I loved the soft reddish-brown curls on the top of his head and his big heart and how patient he was even when I was batty. I loved that he didn't want to parade around the city and impress people, that he was happy here, with his people. Our people.

Our family.

I just fucking loved him, and I wanted to make him the happiest man on earth.

"I kept looking for the perfect time to do this," Mattias whispered, emotion choking his voice as he pulled out a small jewelry box and my heart fluttered in my chest. "I thought about doing it when we were in the city last week, at that restaurant?—"

A smile slid across my face. "I know the one."

It was a nice place he'd taken us to while Jessie spent the night with Trevor and Xavier. It'd been romantic and... the wine was good, but the food didn't make me feel warm and full the way that Mattias's did and the little velvet box in my pocket had felt stuck there. That place wasn't it. It wasn't our story.

"Yeah, it... didn't feel right. And I kept trying to come up with ideas for some grand gesture and, just?—"

"None of it felt right?"

He bit his lip against a smile. "Yeah. But this? This is our home. It's you and me here, making it our own. This is where I got to know you, where I saw you rise to every challenge and fall apart and—and where you gave me that first book and it made sense. Here. Just the two of us."

He was staring up at me, his eyes shining. "So," he whispered, "what do you think?"

My chair creaked across the floor as I slid it back from the table. The next moment, I was on the floor with him, kneeling with my hand in my pocket.

I pulled out a little box of my own—the same tiny velvet box I'd been carrying around for weeks. I opened the lid with shaky fingers.

"I think I want to marry you, Mattias Hall. I want to raise our family here and grow our businesses and live our life and it is so fucking wonderful that I've been scared to rock the boat and ask you this, even when Jessie told me I was being a scaredy cat."

"Jessie knew about you too?"

I snorted. "Jessie seems to know everything nowadays. They know how to keep a secret too, huh?"

Maybe it was their time with the fairies or maybe I was just that obvious. In the end, it didn't matter.

"It scares me," I admitted, "how much I love you. But it excites me too. You're who I want, everything I want, for the rest of my life. I'd be honored to be your husband. I—yes, Mattias. Yes, always."

His lips fell slack. Instead of saying anything, he surged forward, his arms lashing out to twine around my neck and pull me down—down into his lips, his tongue, the hot wet sweetness of his mouth.

And I grinned into his kiss, drawing him closer. My Mattias, my partner and husband.

The man who'd given me the home I'd always wanted.