“You could tell people that one of the bandits hit your head and say it’s amnesia.”

“I wish I had thought of that at the beginning. Mom thinks it’s post-traumatic stress disorder. She’s got me scheduled for a doctor tomorrow.”

“Well, you’ve got your excuse then.” Hudson left the windowsill and walked the length of my room.

His smile vanished. “While my mom was sleeping, I checked my e-mails, text messages, that sort of stuff—so I’d know a little bit about what I did over the year.”

I waited for him to say more. He didn’t. He paced back the other way.

“So who’s your girlfriend?” I asked.

He gave a short laugh and looked at the ceiling. “I’m embarrassed to tell you.”

“Why? Is she an idiot or something?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” He paused, then said, “Donna Hatch.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know much about her except she was a cheerleader and beautiful and had an entourage following her around in the hallways.

348/356

“You know, in my real last year, she never talked to me after I dropped out of football. She didn’t even tell me she was sorry about my mom or try to reach out to me—and now she’s my girlfriend.”

“Apparently the person you would have been had no taste.” He kept pacing. “It seems like everything I did and said over the last year was stupid and shallow. The girl I dated before Donna—I dumped her in an e-mail. What kind of jerk does that?”

“You wouldn’t. I mean you wouldn’t now.” I sat up straighter.

“Wait a minute, did you come here in person to dump me?” He stopped walking and turned to me. “No, I’m not dumping you.

I’m two-timing Donna until I can dump her later tonight.” He ran his hand through his hair again and went back to pacing. “See, I really am a jerk. I just didn’t realize it until all this happened and I got a good look at myself.”

I stood up, took hold of his hand, and made him sit down beside me so he would stop pacing. “You’re not a jerk. You’re someone who has learned a lot over the last year. That’s not a bad thing, is it? You don’t have to be that other person. You can keep what you’ve learned.” He squeezed my hand. “I’m keeping you. I know that much.” He leaned toward me and brushed a strand of hair away from my face.

“Speaking of two-timing, I’ll have to show you some of the messages you and I sent to each other. They were downright flirty.” That made me smile. “You and I sent flirty messages to each other?”

“Yeah, apparently I started going over to your house to see Nick a lot after you moved in. And you were pretty nice to me, considering you’re still dating Bo.”

I stopped smiling. “I’m what?”

“The library isn’t closing. He never took you to vandalize city hall.”

349/356

I tilted my head back and groaned. “What am I going to tell him when I break up with him? I’m dumping him because I know if we ever did vandalize a building, he’d leave me to face the cops alone?”

“You’ll think of something.” Hudson leaned closer and gave me a look that sent shivers racing down my back. “I’ll help you come up with some reasons right now.”

Before I could build on that sentiment, a frenzy of sparklers went off in the middle of the room. Chrissy stepped out of them, smiling happily. She wore a tight floral dress, a Hawaiian lei, and a pair of green sunglasses. “I’ve been celebrating our success by throwing a luau.” She moved her sunglasses to the top of her head. “I see you’ve been celebrating by … sitting on the carpet. How nice.” She bent down, picked up Stetson, then dropped a kiss on his forehead that sent a swirl of glitter flowing around him. Her voice softened into a lullaby tone. “I need to get you back to your own time period before your mommy notices you’re gone.” She snapped her fingers and the baby blanket rose from the floor and floated to her hand.

She tucked it around him and looked at me. “You don’t need to worry, by the way. After you have him, you can just remember he was fine through the whole adventure. There’s no need to put all those anti-magical charms around his crib like you’re going to do in a few years.” Chrissy was right. Even though my trip through the Middle Ages had turned out fine, I knew that in the future, I would still try to stop her from taking him. I would be every bit the overprotective mother.

Hudson and I both stood up. Chrissy turned the baby so he faced me. “Say good-bye for now. You’ll meet him again later.” I hadn’t imagined saying good-bye was going to be so hard. After all, it was only temporary, and I was sending him to myself, an older me who loved him and could take care of him better. I stroked his hand and memorized his features: the dark lashes, the smooth skin, 350/356

the full cheeks, and tiny parted lips. I kissed his head and felt a lump well in my throat. “Make sure you tell the future me that the baby went and came back, so I can stop worrying about him being taken.”

“I will,” she said reluctantly. “Although I can imagine what a fun conversation that’s going to be. You’ve got an entire bookshelf in your house devoted to magical creatures and how to overcome each one.

That’s a little paranoid, don’t you think, considering how well everything turned out?” Chrissy tucked the blanket around Stetson. “I bet you won’t even let him put teeth under his pillow for the tooth fairy.”

She was probably right about that too. I wouldn’t want to risk him being turned into a squid. I didn’t say this though.

Chrissy turned to Hudson. “For someone who wasn’t even supposed to be in Rumpelstiltskin’s story, you did quite a bit. Do you want to say good-bye too?”

Hudson brushed his fingertips against the baby’s dark hair. “Take care, Stets. No more time-traveling around.” He leaned over and kissed the top of the baby’s head, then returned his attention to Chrissy. “Am I in the story later on?” Chrissy smiled, an enigmatic expression that reminded me of Mona Lisa’s famous one. “You’ll have to find out for yourself. I’m not one to ruin endings.” She let out a satisfied sigh, and held the baby to her shoulder. “If this doesn’t get me into Fairy Godmother University, I don’t know what will. I mean, how many other applicants have rid the Middle Ages of Rumpelstiltskin during their projects? Not Belladonna Spritzpetal. Let’s see her brag about being at the top of the class now.” Chrissy slipped her sunglasses over her eyes. Lights flickered around her like a convention of lightning bugs circling for a landing. “It’s been a pleasure doing magic with you,” she chimed out, and then she and the baby vanished.

351/356

In the place where she’d stood, a thin book lay on the carpet. It was, I saw at once, a picture book retelling of Rumpelstiltskin.

Like I would ever want to read that story again. I ignored it, opening the card that sat on top of it instead. But Hudson picked up the book and flipped through the pages.

Meanwhile, I read the card out loud.

To Tansy, I thought you’d enjoy a copy of the real story to read to your children. Remember, heroines are always beautiful!

I turned the card over, but there wasn’t anything on the other side. “I’m not sure if that last bit was a compliment or instructions.” Hudson was only half paying attention to me. He had turned to the end of the story and was reading. I peered over his shoulder to see what he was looking at and blushed. The moral was there on the last page in my own handwriting. “Give me the book.” I reached for it, but Hudson effortlessly held it away from me.

“Hudson,” I said, making another grab for the book. “That’s private.”

“Morals are meant to be shared.” He held me away for another moment, reading, then grinned and handed me the book. “I like this one.”

I shut the book, but it didn’t matter. In my mind, I could still see the sentences I’d written, framed on the page.