“I’m not sure how you got past my barriers. But you have been pushing through them since the moment we met.”
“Only fair since you did the same to me,” she said.
“No way. You’re the witch who cast a charm and drew me to her.”
“Maybe it was Ford who cast the spell,” she said with a laugh. “He knew what he was doing when he gave me those books.”
“He might have. Speaking of books... I have one for you.”
He went and got the package he’d had in his hands when he came in and handed it to her.
Sera opened it carefully, peeling back the craft paper he’d wrapped it in. He heard her breath catch as she looked at the book’s cover. He’d made a photo collage of Sera’s family. Liberty and Poppy, Merle and Greer and Grandpa and Hamish. Then, hoping for the best, he’d put himself and his father and Oz on there too. And he’d used the calligraphy he’d perfected in his old manuscripts to write “Sera’s Family” and foiled it with gold leaf.
“It’s empty, but I did embed an intention in it,” he said.
“What did you write?”
“‘Sera’s family is full of love, laughter and happiness that never ends.’”
She hugged him tightly, burying her face in his neck, and he felt the warmth of her tears against him. “Thank you, Wes.”
“For what?”
“The magic of you and me.”