Jack frowned. ‘The necklace did belong to my mother, along with a lot of other jewellery that she had inherited from her own parents. The only picture my father had of my mother, she was wearing that necklace in particular. I guess I associated with it the strongest. But my father and I were poor, and he sold all of my mother’s jewellery at the marketplace when I was six years old.’
‘He sold it? But … he didn’t even recognise the necklace when I wore it.’
Jack rolled his eyes. ‘He sold a lot of her jewellery that day. I wouldn’t expect him to remember a particular piece.’
‘Oh.’
‘Anyway, when Madeline came into the picture, Noah was constantly showering her with gifts; gold, chocolate, flowers, and various other oddities, my mother’s necklace included. The first time I saw Madeline, she was wearing it. Perhaps that’s why I took such a fancy to her in the first place.’
‘Noah bought the necklace from the marketplace?’ I said, my eyes wide.
Jack nodded. ‘I recognised it at once. After all, I stared at my mother’s picture on my wall every night. How could I not recognise it?’
‘So you stole it back?’ I asked.
He nodded, and bowed his head. ‘After she died, Camryn helped me, but she didn’t understand the full story. She thought I was just a love-sick kid.’
‘Weren’t you?’ I asked.
Jack gave me a smile. ‘I was a little boy with a crush on a woman far too old for me, Avalon.’
‘I thought you gave me the necklace so I would look like her. I thought you wanted her, not me.’
Jack stood up and snaked his arms around my waist, pulling me close.
‘You’re not really jealous of a childhood crush, are you?’ he asked.
I grumbled. ‘Maybe.’
Jack cupped my chin in his hand and tilted my head upwards. ‘Don’t be,’ he said, scanning my face. ‘I gave you that necklace because you are my family now.’
My face broke. ‘I’m sorry, Jack. I thought … I thought-’
Jack grinned, and I realised how much I’d missed his smile. ‘It’s all right,’ he said, threading his fingers through my hair. ‘It once belonged to a woman I loved dearly; my mother. Even though I never knew her, I held onto the idea of her. But I feel as though I can finally let go, now that I have found someone to love equally as much.’
I stared, my heart pounding frantically. ‘R-really?’
Jack nodded. ‘Of course,’ he said with a smile. ‘Don’t you know that I love you?’
And just like that, I was his again; all of my jealousy and anger forgotten. I melted into Jack’s arms and allowed him to kiss me. Our mouths found one another, and moulded perfectly together. He smiled into the kiss, and held me close. I exhaled deeply through my nose as though a great weight had been lifted off my chest.
Pulling away, Jack looked me in the eye and said, ‘Does that mean you love me, too?’
I answered his question with another kiss.
Epilogue
I watched out of the window as the children played in the tall grass. A small, black haired boy was trying to fly a kite, but to no avail. His legs were far too short. His mousy haired, human sister helped, showing him how it was done, and soon the kite was high in the sky.
I smiled, pressing my forehead against the windowpane. An arm around my waist told me that Jack had sneaked up behind me. He rested his chin on the top of my head and watched the children play too.
‘It’s unnatural, don’t you think?’ he said, watching them.
‘What is?’ I asked.
‘For siblings to get along. It’s weird.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘I get along with Helena perfectly well, thank you very much.’
‘Yeah, but you’re an oddball,’ he smirked, squeezing me around the waist playfully.
I scoffed. ‘You’re the idiot who married an oddball, then.’
He pursed his lips. ‘True,’ he said, kissing my cheek.
‘MUM! MUM, LOOK! LOOK AT WHAT I CAN DO!’ the black haired boy screamed at the top of his lungs. I turned my attention to the child, who was waving at me enthusiastically.
I opened the window and called out to him. ‘I see, Dear. Very good!’
The child was clearly overexcited from flying the kite, so much so, that the string caught fire and snapped. The boy watched in horror as the kite was blown away.
‘MUM, IT’S GETTING AWAY!’ he cried, pointing to the sky.
Jack couldn’t help but laugh. ‘You’d better learn to fly then, Son.’
The five-year-old ran inside, tears streaking his face, his twelve-year-old sister slouching in after him.
‘It’s gone!’ he wailed. ‘It blew away!’
‘Lance, just ask Auntie Helena to make you another one,’ said his sister.
‘Shut up, R?ven! This is all your fault.’
‘I’m not the Fire-Mage,’ R?ven retorted with a roll of her eyes.
‘Mum,’ Lance said, ignoring his sister and gripping fistfuls of my dress desperately. ‘Can we go see Auntie Helena? Please?’
‘Of course, maybe later in the week.’
Lance gasped. ‘Why can’t we go now?’ he asked.
‘You know she works during the week, Sweetheart.’
‘Mum, I think the kite is more important than work,’ said Lance, matter-of-factly.
Jack laughed and stooped to pick up his son, dangling him upside down. The boy shrieked with delight.
‘Since when are you such a know-it-all?’ said Jack, swinging the boy from side to side.