by Aline Riva
Christmas morning came with bright sunshine in a blue sky that made the melting snow that still remained glisten like fairy dust. Drake turned over in bed and woke Cherry with a kiss.
“We have a lot of plans to make.”
She smiled as she met his gaze and all trace of sleep slid away as warmth filled her heart and she lay in the arms of the man she loved.
“We do,” she agreed, “Starting tomorrow. I have to call my flat mate and explain I'm busy with my boyfriend who isn't actually dead. Then I need to call my family and tell them I'm bringing someone with me on Boxing Day. I want you to meet them.”
“And when we've done all that we have to decide what I'm going to say to the police,” he reminded her, “I was thinking I'd say that Owen poisoned me and I seemed to be dead but I wasn't and that he faked the rest – and I don't know how he worked it out that way, but I woke up in the glass case. I think we should stay quiet about the part where you brought me back to life with black magic.”
Amusement sparkled in his eyes as he said that and she laughed softly.
“Yes, I think we should keep that bit quiet!”
He paused for thought.
“I wonder what happened to those things I brought to life with the residual power?”
“They're probably out there somewhere, just broken pieces of junk,” Cherry replied, “I can't see that power lasting forever – it must have burned out by now.”
“You're probably right.”
Drake gazed at her for a moment, thinking how grateful he was that he still had his life after losing it - he had a chance no one else had ever been given, to come back from the dead and carry on and make the most of living once again...
“Love saved me,” he said softly as he shifted closer to her and held her tightly, “Not just me loving you – if you'd never fallen for me, you wouldn't have used that spell to bring me back. I think we're both lucky, to love that much and that deeply. We didn't even let death stop us. I want to be with you forever, I love you so very much.”
“I love you too,” she told him softly.
As they kissed and their kisses became more passionate and Drake took her in his arms and made love to her, far off in the distance the church bells were ringing to announce Christmas morning.
Miles away, out at sea, a skeletal mermaid of fish and monkey bones held together by wire dipped under the waves, back flipped out and landed with a splash, then did the dive and rose again as it gave a shrill laugh.
In the town centre, the china doll was still on the top of the Christmas tree, laughing and giggling as she tore off another bauble and took careful aim and threw it, smashing another shop window below as her giggles filled the empty square. And a few streets away, a man in a Santa suit was running, pursued by a flying gargoyle with a cheeky grin.
But Drake and Cherry knew none of this, they were wrapped in an embrace, warmed by each other and the blankets that covered them as they spent the morning together as only lovers would, looking forward to something that had become so precious for all they had been through to win it – they finally had a future to look forward to - a future they deserved, a future that would be spent together.
End