Bay hoped that was true. Some nights Sydney would sit on the edge of the bed before Bay drifted off to sleep, and she would talk about Henry. She spoke in broad and tentative terms, obviously not wanting to overwhelm Bay with the thought of a new man in their lives. But Bay wasn’t overwhelmed. She was impatient. With her dream not exactly replicated yet, Bay was anxious about the way things were going to turn out. What if her father had ruined everything? What if his coming here had thrown everything off?

“Maybe the seeds don’t mean marriage, maybe they mean a baby,” Evanelle said.

Sydney laughed. “Well, that rules me out for now.”

Claire looked thoughtfully at the packet in her hand.

“Claire?” Sydney said.

Claire looked up with a small knowing smile, one that Bay had never seen before, but one that Sydney seemed to immediately recognize.

“Really?” Sydney exclaimed, taking her sister’s face in her hands. Bay thought she’d seen her mother growing happier lately, but she’d never seen her like this. Yellow joy was radiating from her. When you’re happy for yourself, it fills you. When you’re happy for someone else, it pours over. It was almost too bright to watch. “Oh, my God. Really?”

Claire nodded.

Bay watched the three of them hug, then they walked out of the garden in a Waverley cluster, talking with their hands, touching, laughing.

The tree was shaking with excitement, like it was laughing along with them.

It threw an apple after them.

Bay rolled onto her back after they’d left the garden. She stretched in the grass under the tree. As the tree shivered, there was the sound of paper flapping above her. She looked up at the photographs the tree had picked up that night six weeks ago. They were fluttering slightly. The sun was now beginning to fade the images, and Lorelei was slowly disappearing.

The longer Bay stayed out here, the more her father faded too.

She loved this place so much.

Things were only halfway perfect, because there still weren’t any sparkles and rainbows on her face, but wasn’t this good enough? Everyone was happy. It was as close to her dream of this place as she was probably going to get. And it was close. So close. She really shouldn’t worry.

She put her hand to the brooch automatically, for comfort.

Her fingers suddenly clutched the pin.

Wait a minute.

Was that it? Was it really so easy?

She pinched her lips together as she unhooked the brooch from her shirt. She was so excited that her fingers were clumsy and it took several tries.