by Anna Katmore
I was home for the weekend to watch my then nine-year-old sisters. Mom had straightened her curls with a plat-iron and put on very little make-up that evening, which was quite unusual for her, but it made her look young and so very beautiful. Dad took her out on a candlelight dinner for their twenty-seventh anniversary.
They never came back.
A truck slammed their car off the road. There was no chance of survival for any of the passengers the policeman who came to inform us told me.
Jamie was wonderful at that time. Knowing what it means to lose family, he helped my sisters and me through the worst. We took the twins in with us and, since we both loved them above all, we’re raising them like our own children now.
Brittney-Renae struggled with the loss the most, so one night Jamie and I had a long conversation about her. We found a way to drag her out of her depressions. Two Neverland doubloons were enough to buy the three hectare land adjoining to our property. Jamie built a stable there and we got the fairy bug a young horse. She called it Becky, after the doll she got from our parents for her sixth birthday. Hardly a day goes by, where she doesn’t take the paint horse out for a ride—like she’s doing right now. It’s good to see her happy again.
Releasing another sigh, I push the sleeves of my white shirt up to my elbows and continue chopping the veggies.
If it wasn’t for this dreamy place we’ve found for ourselves, with the coast not far and being miles away from the city traffic, I think I would often wish myself back to Neverland. It’s been ten years since that adventure ended for Jamie and me, but I can’t think of a time in my life where I felt more like myself.
“I know where you are…”
At the sound of my favorite voice in the world, a tiny butterfly in my stomach quickly calls his friends out to play. I drop the knife and whirl about, beaming at Jamie, who’s leaning with one shoulder against the wall in the arc. His hands clasped behind his back, the dark leather jacket parts at the front and reveals a firm chest beneath a white tee. He cracks a smile, because he sure notices my staring.
Leaning back against the counter and gripping the edge, I let my gaze skate over him, from his tousled blond hair to the toes of his motorcycle boots. He’s a gorgeous eyeful. Ten years have passed, and he still looks the same. Adventurous with a whiff of danger. A perfect mix.
“You know me too well,” I tease him.
“That’s one of the pleasures of being your husband.”
Naturally, I cast a glance at the ring on my finger and smile to myself. It bears a tiny diamond from Neverland. Jamie proposed to me with this ring. I never take it off and neither the necklace with the ruby heart I carry. It’ll always remind me of the unlikely brothers that found a happy ending after all.
When I look up again, Jamie is holding a shiny red apple. He tosses it across the island counter and I catch it with both hands. Apples have become dear to me, and warmth fills my chest at the small gesture that revives one of my favorite memories with Captain Hook.
“I missed you, Miss London,” he drawls as he slowly walks toward me.
Putting the apple aside, I fling my arms around his neck and surrender when his tongue starts roaming my mouth. By the rainbows of Neverland, I’ll never get enough of his taste. Standing on my tiptoes, my fingers in his hair, I enjoy the feeling of his hands sliding down my spine and over my backside. Shivers of thrill run over me.
But Jamie pulls back all too quickly, his eyebrows narrowed to a confused V. “Did you hear that?”
“No, what?” I gasp, trying to catch my breath, and tilt my head to listen.
He releases me and turns around to glance out the French doors to the terrace. “Is there someone in the garden?”
“Only Paulina. She’s reading.”
But suddenly, I hear it too. The voice of a boy. “…tried to shoot me with his cannon! I barely escaped.”
I freeze on the spot.
Jamie’s eyes grow wide and his breathing hitches. It takes me all of five seconds to find my own voice again. “It can’t be—”
“It must be!” he cuts me of, grabs my hand and drags me outside with him. I’ve never seen him so fevered before, but then I haven’t felt this surge of excitement in a long time myself.
Together we stumble into the garden, where Jamie pulls me to a halt. Paulina is sitting in the shade under a tree, flattening her book to her chest with both hands, and staring with an open mouth to the thick branch above her head.
On that very branch hunches a slim, teenage boy, wearing a grass green tee, his thick brown hair windblown, and with eyes as blue as the endless sea. When he notices us gaping and rooted to the ground, he cocks his head. A mischievous smirk plays on his lips. “Hello, James. Angel.”
“Peter,” I croak, feeling the tight squeeze of my stunned husband’s hand. Now it’s me who pulls him along until we stand right in front of the tree.
“You—came here, you bloody little bastard!” Jamie laughs, his surprise ringing in each syllable.
“How is that possible?” I blurt out.
Peter Pan wraps his fingers around the twigs above him and leans farther down from the branch. His eyes sparkle in the sun as he winks at Paulina, then his mouth curves into a full, wicked grin and he turns to us.
“With magic…”
To all my dear readers,
Thank you for bearing with me when the first book ended on such a mean hook. I still believe that writing a sequel was the only way to solve all the riddles of Neverland. Hopefully, you liked the adventures of Angel and Jamie and found the ending satisfying.
On another note, even though Peter Pan made it out of Neverland, I’m not planning a third book at this point. If I should ever change my mind, you’ll hear it first. ;-)
xoxo
Anna
PLAYLIST
Sunrise Avenue – Lifesaver
(Three guys and bathwater)
Dexter Britain – Nothing to fear
(Shockwave)
One Direction – Story of my life
(The boy who wouldn’t grow up)
Dexter Britain – On my way home
(Meeting Hook)
Tunes of Fantasy – My World
(The dance)
Theme song of Edward Scissorhands – IceDance
(Bits of a treasure)
Christina Perri – Human
(Taking Angel onboard)
Martin Herzberg – Dragostea Din Tei (piano cover)
(Broken door)
One Direction – You and I
(You and I)
Ed Sheeran and Christina Grimmie – All of the stars
(“I thought, maybe if I found a way to keep you happy, you’d agree to stay this time.”)
Once Upon A Time Theme Music
(Saving Angel)
Tunes of Fantasy – White Angel
(The bargain)
Casper Soundtrack – Casper’s lullaby
(Until we meet again)
Jonatha Brook – Second star to the right
(Ten years later. Let’s finish this story the way it started)
Dexter Britain – Conquering time
(With magic…)
Don’t miss Anna Katmore’s amazing teen romance
PLAY WITH ME
Ryan Hunter’s parties are legend. And tonight she’s going to be there.
Liza Matthews has been in love with her best friend since kindergarten. They’re close as can be. They’ve even slept in each other’s bed. But they’ve never kissed. Weeks away from her seventeenth birthday, Liza hopes that soon things will change between them. But when Tony comes home after summer soccer camp, his mind is focused on someone else. And worse, that new girl is a soccer player.
Fighting for her love, Liza gets carried away and makes a stupid decision: Without the least bit of talent or any passion for the sport whatsoever, she goes for the co-ed soccer team.
The tryouts are hell, the first match ends bloody, and the morning after the selection party she w
akes up in the worst place possible—in the arms of the captain of the soccer team. The hottest guy in school. Ryan Hunter.
Special Thanks
To my awesome Street Team!
Jessa Markert, Connie Nguyen, Felisha Miller, Tiffany Williams, Stevie Morell, Shannon R Miller Hodges, Cassi Haley-Munday, Norma Salazar, Ashlynd Kyle, Nikisha Evans McKinney, Diana Terrado, Alesia Jean Farnham, and Jennifer Herondale
You guys rock!!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANNA KATMORE prefers blue to green, spring to winter, and writing to almost anything else. It helps her to escape from a boring world to something with actual adventure and romance in it, she says. Even when she’s not crafting a new story, you’ll see her lounging with a book in some quiet spot. She was 17 when she left Vienna to live in the tranquil countryside of Austria. From there she loves to plan trips to anywhere in the world. Two of her favorite places? Disneyland and the deep dungeons of her creative mind…