Chapter 55
PANDORA’S DIARY
After a not-so-brief, blissful interlude between the sheets, Leo said, “Speaking of my gift.”
“Oh, Dames,” I said, still sick about his sacrifice. “Your dad and I have been so worried about your business.”
“I’m extremely good at my job, Pan! I don’t need my gift for that. I’ll still love my job even if I never find another hidden manuscript the easy way. But that’s the thing: I no longer feel the itch that brought me to Beane Isle.”
“I know! I’m sorry.”
“I’m not. Because even without an itch, you did bring back a memory.”
“Huh?”
He pointed his chin at my bookshelf. “I know what book I needed.”
“It’s here? It’s been here this whole time?” I padded naked to the bookcase. “Which one?”
“The blue one,” Leo said, though his eyes were on me, not the book.
“That’s Gabe’s yearbook. You weren’t called to the island for a yearbook.”
“You brought it home from the library, didn’t you?” he asked. “With the cookbook for Sheila.”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot.” I pulled the book from the shelf. “So your fancy antiquarian gift sent you to find Gabe’s yearbook?”
“Are you mocking my gift? The body is still warm!”
“Sorry!” I said. “Too soon.”
“Bring it here,” he said, patting the bed beside him. “Turn to your picture.”
I flopped back into bed, then flipped through the pages until I found my senior portrait. Not bad, if I do say so myself, Diary. “Huh. Should I grow my hair out?”
“No.” He settled a hand on the base of my neck and played with my curls. “Read what I wrote.”
Above my photo he’d written “TITO” in indelible ink. “Tito? You called me Tito?”
“It’s an acronym,” Leo said. “I can’t believe I forgot this. I didn’t even tell Gabe what it meant. I just needed to say it somewhere.”
“Let me guess! Tremendously Intelligent… oh, I give up. Tell me!”
“This Is The One,” Leo explained.
My breath caught. Leo had known in his heart that we were meant to be together all along, even if his brain had acted like a prick.
“I guess I was afraid to remember,” Leo said. “But my gift knew exactly what I needed.”
I kissed him and said, “I don’t need a gift to tell me that.”
“What’s next?” Leo asked. “Back to Boston for the school year?”
I leaned into him. “I’m taking a sabbatical.”
“What? No—tell me you’re not leaving Boston!”
“Of course not. I thought I’d join you on business trips. See if I can return the memories of other faerie-kin who never got their gifts.”
“That sounds like the perfect faerie tale ending.”
Leo kissed me, like our future together would last a lifetime.
And that, Dear Diary, was just the beginning.