Page 57 of Hiss and Tell
“Sebastian?”
“Mmm?”
“I love you. Not just for the healing, not just for the magic, but for everything. For being the man who shows up. For seeing me completely and choosing me anyway.”
“I love you, too,” he murmurs against my hair. “All of you. The chaos and the strength and the fierce way you protect the people you care about. For seeing me, the male, not the monster.”
As I get ready to leave our bed, I realize this is what happy endings actually look like. Not perfect lives without problems, but the right person to face whatever comes next.
And with Sebastian’s magic flowing through me, his love surrounding me, and our bond connecting us in ways deeper than I ever imagined possible, I finally understand what it means to be truly, completely home.
Chapter Thirty-One
Aspen
Tuesday morning arrives with the kind of spring sunshine that makes everything feel possible. I’m sitting at my new home office desk—the one Sebastian helped me pick out and assemble—reviewing client invoices while the magical connection between us hums quietly in the background of my awareness.
I have three steady corporate clients now. Three companies that trust me to organize their chaos and handle all the projects their full-time staff don’t have time for. The anxious single mother who could barely manage her own paperwork has somehow become the woman local businesses call when they need real solutions.
“Mama!” Milo’s voice carries from the kitchen where Sebastian’s making breakfast. “Poppa Sebastian says I can help flip pancakes if I use my gentle hands!”
The casual way he calls Sebastian “Poppa” still makes my heart squeeze. It evolved naturally over the past three months—no pushing, no awkward conversations, just a four-year-old’s instinctive recognition of the man who shows up every single day.
Through our bond, I feel Sebastian’s joy at the title, his wonder that he gets to be someone’s chosen father figure. The shy librarian who once believed he wasn’t worthy of love now starts every morning making dinosaur-shaped pancakes for a little boy who adores him.
“Remember what we practiced about the spatula,” Sebastian says in that patient tone he uses during library storytimes.
“I know, I know. Support the pancake, don’t flip too fast, and if it tears, it’s still yummy.”
My phone buzzes with Derek’s ringtone, and my body reacts with that familiar spike of wariness. But the feeling fades quickly—he’s been different lately. Still inconsistent, but trying in ways that feel genuine.
“Hello, Derek.”
“Hey, Aspen. Do you have a minute? I wanted to ask about something.”
His voice sounds nervous but hopeful, not demanding like it used to. “What’s up?”
“Milo’s preschool graduation is next week, right? Would it be okay if I attended? I know I haven’t been great about school events, but I’ve been working on that in therapy, and I thought…”
I blink in surprise.Derek in therapy? Him proactively asking about a school event instead of showing up at the last-minute or not at all? “Of course you can come. Milo would love that.”
“Really? I wasn’t sure if there would be enough space, or if Sebastian would mind, or—”
“Derek.” I interrupt his spiral gently. “You’re Milo’s father. You’re more than welcome at his graduation.”
Relief floods his voice. “Thank you. I know I haven’t earned the right to be included in these things, but I’m trying to do better. The parenting classes I’m taking have been… eye-opening.”
Through our bond, I feel Sebastian’s attention shift toward me—not intrusive, just aware. His support flows through our connection like warm honey.
“I’m glad you’re working on things,” I tell Derek honestly. “Milo deserves to have his dad show up for important moments.”
“He does. And Aspen? I want you to know—I see how happy he is. How secure. You and Sebastian have given him something I never could.”
After we hang up, Sebastian appears in my doorway with coffee and that questioning expression that means he sensed my emotional shift.
“Derek wants to come to Milo’s graduation,” I tell him, accepting the coffee gratefully.
“How do you feel about that?”
