Page 121 of The Last Wish of Bristol Keats
Gentle, she thought.He’s just a child.But he was already walking into the shop.
Tyghan maneuvered past customers and tables until he was standing beside the one where the boy sat. Rían looked up from the puzzle he was working on and scrutinized Tyghan, like he was noting the similarities too. Tyghan knelt so he was eye level with the boy. “Hello.”
Rían squinted one eye. “Are you my father?”
Tyghan nodded, swallowing back the knot in his throat. “I believe so.”
“You’re a king?”
“No, not anymore. I’m a prince.”
“You got demoted?”
Tyghan’s brows rose. “That’s a big word for a seven-year-old.”
“Seven and a half,” Rían corrected. “My mom reads to me a lot. I know a lot of big words. Are you still a soldier, or did you lose that job too?”
“Yes,” Tyghan said, fighting back a smile. “I’m still a soldier.”
“Will you tell me about it?”
Tyghan looked up at Bristol. She was standing nearby, watching them, and he was certain she had stopped breathing.
“Rían, can you hold on for just a minute? I need to talk to your mother.” Tyghan stood and grabbed Bristol’s hand, dragging her behind the counter and through a door to a supply room.
When he finally let go of her hand, Bristol steadied herself with one hand on a shelf. Her heart pounded so hard she felt faint. “I’m sorry, Tyghan. I am so sorry. I messed up.” She stared at him, trying to catch her breath. They were surrounded by bags of flour, sugar, and coffee beans in the cramped storeroom, and heat poured off him like he was ready to combust. “I didn’t discover I was pregnant until I got back here and—”
“You thought you had tossed out the timemark and had no way back.”
She nodded, tears filling her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
He stepped closer to her, his gaze as stern as the Knight Commander at drills. “Yes, you messed up,” he said.
“I know,” she whispered.
He hovered over her. “But I stumbled like a complete fool in a hundred different ways, especially when I told you to forget me and I walked out. I’m the one who’s sorry. Maybe we should just skip the messing up and stumbling and get to the last part—the part we’re spectacular at. Loving each other. Because I haven’t stopped loving you, Bri. Not for a single day. Because if I can’t take you into my arms and kiss you right now, I’m certain I will die.”
Bristol’s mouth fell open, her thoughts jolting to a sudden stop.
“This would be your chance to say something,” Tyghan said.
She nodded. “I wouldn’t want you to die.”
Tyghan closed the space between them, and they bumped against the shelves, dishes clattering, utensils falling, the rest of the world disappearing. He cupped her face in his hands, and his mouth met hers, her tongue warm against his, and she tasted of tears, hunger, and hope, and all the things he’d been afraid to dream of, forgiveness, tomorrows, and home. Bristol was his home, not a place in one world or another but a place where his heart resided. She was sewn into every part of him that mattered and always would be. “I love you,” she whispered against his lips, tears streaming down her face, and his arms swept around her like they had never been apart.
They heard a tiny knock and looked over.
It was Rían, standing in the doorway. “Does this mean you’re staying?”
EPILOGUE
1 YEAR LATER
Bristol sat alone in her favorite place in the garden, not too far from the house, so she was always within earshot. It was summer, the season she loved the most, bees buzzing over the rows of yarrow, cosmos, and chamomile she had planted, the trees ripe with fruit—especially the peach trees. Those were Rían’s favorites. And there was something about sound in this part of the garden—the way it wove together like a song—thewhiiishof the breeze skimming flowers, the chirps of goldfinches, and the laughter—there was always more of that now. She had bought the fields behind her house years ago, but now, besides flowers, every acre was planted, because Bristol had married a farmer.
From her chair beneath a willow tree she saw Rían running waist-deep down the rows of chamomile. Eris was in pursuit just behind him.His grandfather. Rían loved all the new additions to his family. A little boy could never have too much love, but he especially adored his father. He and Tyghan were inseparable, except when Eris visited. They ran toward the pasture now, where more than a dozen horses grazed, including August and Zandra. Of course, there weren’t always that many here, but today was a special day.
Does this mean you’re staying?
