Lex winced and curled his lips into a smile. “Liar.”
Carter laughed and held his uninjured hand out to Ivy. “Try to get in my head. Go on! See how hot I think you’re gonna be when you get all swollen with our baby.”
Ivy took his hand, but I already knew the truth. Our gifts had returned to us. My dreams had been right.
“They’re coming,”the trees said. I didn’t know who or what they meant, only that I needed to stand to greet our new guests. I glanced around, exhilaration filling me when the heavy rustling of undergrowth announced multiple visitors.
“What is that?” Lex said.
“Who’s here?” Carter called.
I didn’t know what we would find in the woods, but whatever it was, we were together. We could face it as long as we were a four. Gone were the days of insecurity or questioning when they would leave me. Gone was thinking I could protect them by staying away.
I loved our little family, and once I’d dug in my heels and pressed the issue, my grandparents relented. It had taken time, but they had started to recognize Donnelly as a member of their family, if not yet a part of the royal household. But I knew they would come around to all of it. Even if they didn’t, I no longer placed such emphasis on their opinion. The only family I needed was the one I had with these three humans.
The strength in that knowledge had me standing firm, gripping Lex’s fingers on one side and Ivy’s on the other, her free hand in Carter’s.
But when the visitors broke through the tree line, relief lifted the weight off my chest.
Siobhan walked ahead with a fully grown Poppy standing next to her, now almost the same height as our fairy friend.
“Poppy?” Carter called in disbelief.
The changeling raced toward my husband and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a hug. He laughed and held her, spinning her around in his embrace. Then she went to Ivy, holding her arms out. I thought my wife might turn her away, but she didn’t. She hugged Poppy like an old friend, tears in her eyes and a smile on her lips. I likewise greeted our adopted daughter with a grin.
“What is this?” Ivy said, turning to Siobhan. “I thought you were banned from this realm. I claimed it as my own.”
“Aye, you did,” Siobhan said with a nod. “I told you Poppy was special. She’s the key, and she always has been.”
“Are you staying?” Carter asked. “Are you home for good?”
“For a while,” Poppy said. “We have a lot to catch up on.”
“And we have the rest of our lives to do it,” I said, joy swelling in my torso that we’d all been reunited and things had worked out the way they were meant to. In this fairy tale, the princess wasn’t rescued by a knight in shining armor or a king who had faced a dragon or a queen with an axe to grind. Instead, I was saved by all three, and now, I knew how to stand on my own. No one and nothing could separate us again.
Like Lex had said all those years ago, I deserved to be happy. So I would be.
