Page 54 of The Vanishing Bookstore
He stared into her green eyes. ‘I’ve loved you forever, Izzy.’
She nods. ‘I know you have and I’m grateful you never let me go. I’m sorry that I left you that night, after all you did to save me. It wasn’t enough, and I couldn’t save myself, but things have changed. Times have changed and it’s my turn to do what I was powerless to do all those years ago. It’s time to end this curse and stop Corwin for good. I know with the book’s help I can do it and if I don’t…’
Ambrose had tears falling from his eyes. ‘If you don’t then I lose you again for who knows how many lifetimes. I cannot bear it, Izzy, we were meant to be together. I could help you; do you know how much I’ve wanted to kill him, time and time again I’ve dreamed of hurting him the way he hurt you all.’
She trailed her fingers across his cheek. ‘I imagine a lot, but it wouldn’t stop him if you killed him and that’s not who you are. It would change you as a person and I’m in love with this Ambrose, the kind, gentle, honourable one. If you did, it wouldn’t make a difference because, like us, he’ll be back, and we’ll be in the same position. I need to be the one to stop him – it’s the only way.’
‘But he hurt you all so much.’
It was all coming back to Dora. She remembered the muggy warmth of that New England day as the rope was roughly placed around her neck, she watched that rickety old cart as it came through Salem town up Essex Street with her family on it and she remembered the looks of grief and shock on her mum, Lenny and Sephy’s faces when they saw her already balanced on the back of an equally rickety old horse-drawn cart. Did she ever explain to them that she’d tried to save them, but failed miserably?
‘He did. He took our lives one by one that day out on the ledge, but he never took our souls. Hades did that, he took us somewhere we were safe until it was our time to be born again. He never let your uncle win and Corwin was furious about it. Hehas carried that anger over into many lifetimes, he really needs to let it go.’
Ambrose laughed and she grinned at him. ‘Now, let’s find Lucine’s book and keep it safe.’
They stepped inside the ramshackle wooden cabin that had stood the test of all this time. The ceiling was low, and it was dark in there, but it smelled gloriously of old books. Dora used her phone torch to light up the small space, letting out a small gasp of delight to see the leather-bound books that Ambrose had bartered for centuries ago sitting on the shelves as good as new, no mildew or mould.
She picked up each one and kissed it, flicking through the pages. ‘I never thanked you for this either. You changed the course of our lives by giving us stories to read when we thought the bible and God were all that there was out there. These books took us on so many adventures; I’m pretty sure it was these books that gave me the courage to go back that night and face your uncle, foolish as it was.’
She clutched a copy ofRomeo and Julietto her chest. ‘They may have been star-crossed lovers, but our story is far greater than theirs ever was. You should write about this one day, Ambrose, it is a story worth telling. Our love has spanned centuries, not mere days.’
He laughed. ‘I might just do that. But you know what all great stories need, don’t you?’
‘Likeable characters, great plots, a villain everyone hates?’
He shook his head. ‘Well, those are important too, and we definitely have all of those ingredients. But a really good story has to have a happy ending, Izzy. I can’t write our story until we have our happy ever after.’
Dora smiled. ‘Then it’s time that we did. It’s time to give it to ourselves, don’t you agree?’
Ambrose pulled her to him, the heat radiating from his body making hers melt into him, and they kissed harder, faster and with more passion than the pair of them had ever known existed. The air inside the cabin was fraught with tension as they began to fumble with each other’s clothes. Dora knew that this had never felt so good, they had never got this far to loving each other in the past. Falling to the floor, they landed on the earthen ground on a bed of leaves, cloaked in darkness, surrounded by the books and the magic that held them in a warm embrace.
After, Dora laid her head on Ambrose’s chest and sighed. ‘Why did we wait so long?’
His fingers stroked her hair. ‘Perhaps we had to wait.’
She smiled. ‘I love you, Ambrose Corwin, even if you do have the shittiest family on earth.’
At that he laughed so loud it echoed around the cabin. ‘I’m sorry, I truly do.’
Dora sat up, hurriedly dressing. ‘Come on, we have to find the book and return to my family.’
She closed her eyes, slowly turned in a small circle then let her feet lead her to the place they had hidden it that terrible night in 1692. She bent and pulled at the loose board by her feet and saw the corner of the heavy leather book. Bending down, she picked it up and clutched it to her chest, tears of joy in her eyes and a newfound belief that this time really was going to be different, this time she would fight Corwin face to face and, with the help of the spells in the book, put an end to his reign of terror, end this curse and get their happy ever after.
36
Ambrose left Dora to go back to the apothecary and relieve Margo, soon Dora heard the familiar flapping of wings above her head and felt the cool breeze as Hades croaked, ‘Dora’s home, Dora’s home.’
She looked up at him and smiled. ‘Yes, I’m home and for good this time.’
He nodded his head at her, flew a couple of loops then swooped and landed on her shoulder where he began to preen at the hair above her ear.
She giggled. ‘Stop that, it tickles.’ He did, but instead rubbed his head against the side of hers and she lifted a hand to stroke his soft feathers. ‘I had no idea I even had a pet crow, but I’ve missed you, bird.’
She walked to the front gate. Anyone watching would have stopped and stared at the beautiful young woman with hair as black as the crow on her shoulder and skin as white as snow, with a huge leather book tucked under one arm. They made a formidable pair and Dora realised that this was where she had always belonged as she walked down the path to Sephy’s pink front door. This was her home, and she wasn’t leaving againuntil everything the English sisters had spent their lives fearing had been stopped for all of eternity.
The front door opened, and she saw her aunts standing there.
‘Lenny, I thought you would still be on your way to London.’
