by Zoe Chant
Amy shook her head. “I’m—I’m ready. Let’s go.”
Jack nodded and grabbed a box of Kleenex off a side table, pushing them into her hands before he turned and hurried out of the apartment, clattering down the stairs. Amy wiped her eyes and nose and then followed him more slowly, down the stairs and into his little blue car, the backseat piled with trash and dirty laundry and a battered backpack.
“There you go, you can sleep in the car,” Jack said encouragingly. “We’ll be home in no time.”
***
Amy actually did sleep, at first, only to struggle up out of a frantic nightmare to Jack humming obliviously along with the radio and Teddy’s voice in her head.
Amy? Are you okay? He sounded frantic; she could feel his concern pressing at her as if he was reaching out with his hands, shaking her awake. He sounded like the first time she’d spoken to him on the phone, when he was scared that he was too late for Sophia. What’s wrong, where are you?
Just a bad dream, Amy said, sitting up and staring out the window. I’m...
It was a lie every time she said it, but Amy didn’t know what else to say.
I’m fine. I just have to go back to New York for a little while.
Oh! Did someone—let me get Sophia’s stuff, I’ll pick you up—
Amy squeezed her eyes shut. No, I’m already on my way. My brother Jack is giving me a ride.
She felt Teddy falter; she could almost see his face fall. Oh. Did I... Amy? I... I would have. Whatever you need, I...
Amy was not going to cry. And if she did, it was just because she was tired, and too many things were happening at once, and not because she felt cold without Teddy’s arms around her, or because it cut her to the heart to be the cause of him sounding so uncertain.
It’s okay. I just need to go for a little while. I love you.
I love you, Teddy replied immediately, almost before she finished thinking the words. I miss you already.
I’ll come back, Amy promised, and gritted her teeth against the impulse to tell Jack to turn around. She needed time. She needed a break. She was doing the right thing.
She wrapped her arms around herself and tried not to shiver, ignoring the way that the cold, lonely feeling of her nightmare wasn’t fading.
***
Teddy had thought he would never feel anything as terrifying as the sensation of realizing his daughter was somewhere in New York without him, but it turned out he was wrong. Even with Sophia sound asleep on his shoulder, he felt like his heart was being torn out.
He forced himself to keep quiet in dragon speech. Amy obviously didn’t want him howling after her. He started packing up Sophia’s things instead, because there was no way he could stay in Gray’s Hollow without Amy—not when she’d left like that.
He only realized when he grabbed his own messenger bag that Amy’s purse was still beside it. Amy’s keys and phone were inside. She hadn’t needed them when they went into town, of course.
Teddy slung her purse on his arm along with his bag and Sophia’s, grabbed the heavy suitcase he’d packed the night before, and all but ran out of the house. He barely remembered to reach out to his brothers as he went. Sorry. Have to go to New York. Amy emergency.
He just had to make one more stop before he left.
***
“What did I do?”
Mrs. McCullough raised her eyebrows, looking Teddy up and down, from Sophia asleep in the car seat carrier at his feet to the top of his head, reminding him that he still needed a haircut.
“I don’t know, Teddy Gray, what did you do?”
Teo spread his hands, helpless and pleading. “I left Amy here, I took Sophia to see the twins and Hannah, and then we went up to the house to get her some fresh clothes, and the next thing I know Amy’s gone. I don’t know what I did, or didn’t do—I was going to talk to her about things when I saw her again, I just—please. I don’t know how to fix this. I just know I have to.”
Mrs. McCullough huffed and shook her head, but he thought she was smiling a little as she looked down at the flowers she was arranging. “You boys. All alike.”
She raised her hand to the collar of her shirt as she said it—there was no necklace there, but Teo thought of Amy’s pendant. Her dragon-gold pendant, a gift from her grandmother. A gift to her grandmother, once.
“Who was he?”
She focused on Teo again. “Your great-uncle, Laurentiu. He died before your grandfather ever found his mate—your brother is named for him. I don’t know why your parents ever thought it was wise to put that kind of bad luck on a child.”
“Laurence isn’t unlucky, he just hates us,” Teo said, distracted for a second by the thought of his brother. Fairness made him add, “Well, I don’t think he hates me, but—”
“Even if he did, you think that’s not bad luck? Being unable to bear the sight of your family? Unable to stay in the place that ought to be your home?”
Teo opened his mouth and shut it again. She wasn’t only talking about Laurence now. Amy’s parents—Mrs. M’s son—had moved away from Gray’s Hollow to New York; Amy had only ever lived here for a year as a kid because they wouldn’t come back.
“No,” he said finally. “Is that—is it the town? Is it that she wants to live in New York? Because I don’t want to live here either, not all the time.”
Mrs. McCullough’s lips pursed, and Teo said hurriedly, “I know! I know I didn’t tell her that. I thought we weren’t there yet! I thought we were taking a break from things. She’s on a break from work, I didn’t want to rush into where are we going to live, when are you moving in with me.”
“You proposed to her; you put a gold ring on her finger.” Mrs. McCullough tossed away a bunch of trimmed-off leaves and stems. “That’s a pretty big rush, for someone who’s not rushing.”
“It’s just a promise!” Teo insisted. “For later! People stay engaged for years.”
The thought of waiting years to claim Amy as his mate made Teo’s heart hurt even worse than her absence, though. Surely... surely she wouldn’t want to wait that long?
Mrs. McCullough shook her head. “She’s not a little baby, young man. You can’t just scoop her up and say, I’m going to take care of everything, and not explain! She’s got a job, she’s got a life. She’s got a family that isn’t too excited to have a Gray for a son-in-law, for that matter.”
Teo winced. “She said her brother was taking her back to New York? Did he—did her parents—if they made her—”
“Don’t go telling yourself that. Amy agreed to go—I won’t say she wasn’t pushed, but that girl’s worn to the bone lately. She had to take a leave of absence from her job, did she tell you that? Close to burning out—they would have called it a nervous breakdown, in my day.”
Teo shook his head, but he remembered Amy saying she was tired, the way she had slept against his shoulder even the first night they met. “She... I didn’t realize it was that bad.”
“It’s a hard job. It’s important, and she loves it, but it’s hard. And then there’s her family wanting to tell her what to do, and here you come along with your baby girl, like a fairy-tale prince yanking Cinderella out of the ashes. Everyone pushing her in every direction, no one letting her catch her breath. She doesn’t need to be whisked off anywhere; she needs someone to help her stand firm where she is. Where she wants to be. Can you do that?”
Teo nodded quickly. “I can. I will. Whatever she needs. I just want to be with her. I want her to be happy.”
Mrs. McCullough nodded, and looked down at the flowers she’d been arranging as she spoke. They were roses, yellow at the center shading into red at the tips. Each one was like a living flame.
“Take these to her, then,” Mrs. McCullough said. “They’re her favorite. Might put a smile on her face.”
***
By the time they crossed the New York state line, Amy knew she couldn’t face her mother right now. She’d just cry and cry, and her mother would think that she had been
right, that Teddy was the problem. But Amy knew that wasn’t it at all. She only felt awful when she was away from him.
Amy picked up Jack’s phone where it was tucked into the cupholder and entered her own address on the map. “You’re taking me to my place.”
“Amy, Mom’s gonna—”
“I don’t care,” Amy said. “Mom can talk to me about it, it’s my decision. I’m a grown woman, you’re not kidnapping me. I’m going home. My home.”
“Okay, okay! I’m not kidnapping you.”
Amy closed her eyes and tipped her head back, and a couple miles further down the road Jack said sheepishly, “It’s just, she’s totally gonna make me do my own laundry if I come back without you.”
Amy snorted, thinking of the piles of laundry still undone in her own apartment. “My heart bleeds for you, Jacky.”
***
“You can drop me here,” Amy said at a likely spot a couple of blocks from her apartment. She didn’t have anything heavy to carry, after all.
Jack pulled over. Amy gave him a quick hug, opened her door, and realized abruptly that her purse wasn’t between her feet. It wasn’t anywhere in the car.
“Amy?”
For a second she thought about telling him she didn’t have her keys or her phone. He would drive her to Mom’s. Mom would call Gran to get her things from Mrs. Campbell and overnight them.
And Amy would spend a day being helpless and fussed-over at her parents’ house. Leaving without her purse would be Teddy’s fault somehow, or a sign that she was making bad choices, and—
“Bye!” Amy hopped out and slammed the door, hurrying to the curb without looking back.
Her heart sank as soon as she looked up to see Jack turning the corner out of sight. No calling him back. She was alone in Manhattan with no keys, no wallet, no phone. She would have to walk to work to use a phone, or... she looked around, considering her options.
Amy?
She jumped as if someone had actually tapped her shoulder, but no one was there. Not physically. Teddy was speaking to her silently, his voice diffident and gentle.
Amy hurried across the sidewalk to stand close by the wall of a building, out of the way. I’m in New York, Teddy. Jack just dropped me off.
I know. I could feel you close all of a sudden.
Amy opened her eyes and looked around. Close? Teddy, where are you?
Um. At your apartment? You left your keys. I was going to wait outside, but Sophia needed to be changed, and I thought you wouldn’t mind too much if we borrowed your place for a little while...
Amy turned toward her own apartment, walking fast and then running when she was on her own block. The door clicked open with a buzz as soon as she reached it, and she hurried in and up the stairs, out of breath, heart racing. She probably looked awful, but all she could think was, Teddy, Teddy, you’re here.
The door of her apartment opened just before she reached it. Teddy stood there, incongruous and impossible. He was the most gorgeous thing she’d ever seen in her crappy little apartment. “I’m here.”
Amy flew into his arms, pressing her face to his shoulder. He felt so good—like coming inside on a bitterly cold day, like solid ground at the end of a rickety staircase, like the stillness of the platform after a crowded express train. “Teddy. You—how?”
“We flew.”
Amy froze and pulled back to look him in the face, picturing Sophia held in a dragon’s talons, or a tiny dragon flying beside an enormous one.
Teddy grinned, breathing out a laugh. “Helicopter, actually. Sophia’s too little to fly the other way. Come on, come in.”
Amy let Teddy tug her into her apartment. She had just a second to anticipate the awfulness before she realized that it... wasn’t bad. It smelled like the trash had been taken out, for one thing, and there were two neat laundry bags by the door, plus a net bag full of bras and nylons. There was an old, dead nine volt battery on the kitchen counter, a green light shining on the smoke detector. On the coffee table, above Sophia asleep in her car seat and alongside a few neatly sorted stacks of mail, there was a bouquet of roses in a vase her mother had given her years ago.
The flowers were her favorites, the red-and-gold sunrise roses her grandmother grew. She must have given them to Teddy to give to Amy, a quiet seal of approval.
Amy’s eyes filled with tears again, but she was grinning. “What did you—how—”
“I mean, I do know how to do a few useful things,” Teddy said. “I thought—you’ve been having a rough time, and I should show you how things could be.”
Amy looked up at him, baffled and stunned.
“You know,” Teddy said. “You go to work, you have a hard day, and then you come home and everything’s taken care of, so you don’t have to worry about anything else. You can just relax with me and Sophia and unwind.”
Amy couldn’t quite take it in. “But I—Teddy, there’s no work for me to do in Gray’s Hollow, not like here.”
“Well, there’s nothing for me to do in Gray’s Hollow either,” Teddy said, smiling but still gentle. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I spend most of my time about as far from there as I can get. I thought we should have a house there, just so we’re not crashing with Gus and Cara whenever we want to visit—so Sophia can grow up knowing Elena and however many other cousins she winds up having. Maybe we could live there for a year when Sophia starts shifting, so she doesn’t have to be so careful right away—or if we have a baby, maybe while you’re on maternity leave. It’s a nice place to go for a break, but you’ve got nothing to do there, and everyone in town just thinks of me as the baby of the family. We both need a city where we can stretch our wings, don’t we?”
Amy had to pull him down into a kiss. She could see how her life could work with Teddy now, improbable and perfect.
“That’s just what we need,” she whispered against his lips. “And I need you.”
“And I need you,” Teddy murmured back, his grip on her tightening like she might slip away again.
But Amy was sure, now, that she never wanted to be away from him again, not like she had been today. They just needed to make it official so that they could be sure of each other.
“I guess we, um...” Amy looked up at him, smiling. “I guess we have to go back to Gray’s Hollow soon anyway. I mean, that’s where your pile of gold is, right?”
Teddy’s face lit up, and then he was kissing her again, hard and thorough, pressing her tight against his body.
The thing with the pile of gold was definitely going to be fun.
“We actually don’t have to do it there,” Teddy murmured. “I, um... I packed some things.”
“You packed a pile of gold?” Amy blurted, twisting in his grip to look around. Her gaze fell on a hard-sided suitcase she hadn’t noticed before. “Teddy.”
“It’s just the really important pieces. And my favorite ones. And the ones I thought you would like. And the shiniest.”
Amy laughed helplessly and kissed Teddy again. “So it doesn’t matter at all where?”
Teddy bit his lip, and Amy shook her head. “We got all confused because I didn’t tell you what I needed, Teddy. But you need to tell me, too. If we do have to back to Gray’s Hollow—”
He shook his head quickly. “Not Gray’s Hollow. But—if we did it here I would... probably need to buy this building? My lawyer’s looking into it, but it seems kind of complicated, and it might take a while, and...”
Amy realized abruptly that it wasn’t just that Teddy got amazing customer service because he was a billionaire Gray. “And you already own the hotel, don’t you. Maison D’Or—what does that mean? Golden house? The whole place is your personal pile of gold.”
“Manhattan real estate, almost better,” Teddy agreed with a smile. “Not as shiny, though, and a lot harder to wear. I—when we were there, while you were sleeping, I asked them to start setting up the penthouse. It’s been vacant for years—I set up the room layout and had them paint and everyth
ing when the hotel passed from my father to me, but I never bothered with furniture or anything. There’s at least a bed now, and a room for Sophia. And it’s mine already. But if you don’t want to go there, we can—”
Amy shook her head. “The hotel is beautiful, Teddy. And I certainly wouldn’t mind living with you in your gorgeous penthouse instead of here.”
Teddy smiled again, like she was saying yes for the first time all over again. But Amy thought she was, in a way, because now they were both sure of what it meant, and how it could happen.
“So...” Teddy said. “Um. There’s a car waiting, if...?”
Amy laughed again, but she was nodding as she did. Teddy grabbed his phone and called someone to come up and help them carry things.
***
Teo’s phone rang while they were in the car on the way to the hotel. Sophia was asleep in the car seat, and he and Amy were leaning close to each other from either side. They weren’t kissing or even talking, just touching and breathing together.
Teo thought about ignoring the buzz of the phone in his pocket, but he remembered the voicemail from Amy that had started all of this and reached for his phone. He told himself it couldn’t be anything like that—after all, Amy and Sophia were right here—but Patrick’s name appeared on the lock screen.
“Teddy?” Amy straightened up a little, looking toward him, and Teo tilted the phone toward her.
“My lawyer,” he said, feeling a weird sense of dread. Even when he’d done something really stupid, he’d never felt worried about talking to Patrick, but—
“Your lawyer who went with you to court for Sophia?” Amy’s hand squeezed on his arm.
Teo nodded and hit the green button, then quickly put it on speaker. “Patrick? I’ve got you on speaker, Amy’s here. And Sophia, but she’s sleeping.”
There was a little pause, and then Patrick said, “Duly noted. Hello, Ms. McCullough. Teo, if this is a bad time—”