“Not even for a second,” he says, hand at my chin, turning me toward him again. “Not even once.”

“You were right, you know—about the magick?” I bite down on my lip and gaze at him shyly.

But he just nods, it’s not like I didn’t just admit to anything he didn’t already guess at.

“I—I did a spell—a binding spell—and, well, it sort of had the opposite effect of what I was hoping. I accidentally bound myself to Roman.” I swallow hard, seeing him continue to gaze at me with a face so expressionless, it’s impossible to read. “And—at first I didn’t tell you because—well—because I was too ashamed. It’s like—like I was obsessed with him, and—” I shake my head, grimacing when I remember the things I said and did. “Anyway, the only place I was healthy was right here in Summerland. That’s why I was begging you to come. Partly so I could feel whole again, and partly because the monster—the magick—wouldn’t let me confide on the earth plane, every time I tried it shut down the words and wouldn’t allow them to come—and all this is to say—”

He places his hand on my cheek and looks at me. “Ever,” he whispers, “it’s okay.”

“I’m sorry,” I mumble, feeling his arms circling around my back as he presses me to him. “So very, very sorry.”

“And so it’s over now? You’ve fixed it?” He pulls away and tilts his head, taking me in.

“Yeah.” I nod, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. “It’s all good now—I’m better—and my obsession with Roman is over. I—I just thought you should know. I hated keeping it from you.”

He leans toward me and presses his lips to my forehead, looking at me when he says, “And now, mademoiselle, would you like to begin?” Waving his arm in a wide arc and bowing down low.

I smile, my hand clasped in his as he whisks me across the field and inside that gorgeous pavilion, a building so beautiful, so exquisitely wrought, I can’t help but gasp yet again.

“What is this place?” I ask, taking in the polished white marble floors, the domed ceilings covered in the most jaw-dropping frescoes featuring luminous, pink-cheeked cherubs frolicking among other celestial beings.

He smiles, motioning me onto a creamy white couch so plush, so soft and cushy, it’s like a giant marshmallow cloud. “It’s your birthday present. And, as oddly coincidental as it may be, it’s your anniversary present as well.”

I squint, my mind running backward, pilfering through a long list of memories, and coming up empty. It’s not yet been a year since we first got together—or at least this time around anyway, so I really have no clue as to just what “anniversary” he’s referring to.

“August eighth.” He nods, seeing the confused look on my face. “August eighth, sixteen oh eight, to be exact, was the day we first met.”

“Seriously?” I gasp, it’s all I can manage, I’m so shocked by the news.

“Seriously.” He smiles, leaning back against the cloud of cushions and pulling me close. “But you don’t have to take my word for it, you know. Here, see for yourself.” He picks up a remote from the large table before us and points it toward the large circular screen that surrounds the entire far wall of the room. “In fact, you’re not limited to just seeing it, you can even experience it if you wish, it’s really up to you.”

I squint, having no idea what he’s getting at, no idea what’s happening here.

“I’ve been working on this forever and I think it’s finally ready. Think of my little invention as a sort of interactive theater. One where you can either sit back and enjoy the show or jump right in and participate—it’s your choice. But first there are a few things you must know. One, you can’t change the outcome, the script is predetermined, and two”—he leans toward me, his finger trailing over my cheek—“here in Summerland all endings are happy. Anything even the slightest bit tragic or disturbing has been carefully omitted, so no worries. You may even enjoy a surprise or two. I know I did.”

“Are they real surprises or ones manufactured by you?” I snuggle against him.

But he’s quick to shake his head. “Real. Totally and completely real. My memories, as you know, go way back, so far back that sometimes, well, they get a bit fuzzy. So I decided to do a bit of research over in the Great Halls of Learning, a sort of refresher course if you will, and as it just so happens, I was reminded of a few things I’d forgotten.”

“Such as . . . ?” I glance at him briefly, before pressing my lips to that wonderful spot where his shoulder meets his neck, instantly soothed by the almost feel of his skin and his warm musky scent.

“Such as this,” he whispers, shifting me so I’m facing the screen and not him. The two of us snuggling into each other as he squeezes a button on the remote and we watch as the screen comes to life, filling with images so large, so multidimensional, it’s as though we’re right in it.

And the moment I see that busy city square with its cobblestone streets and crowds of people all hurrying around each other much as they do today, as though they all have somewhere important to be, I know just where we are. There may be horses and carriages instead of cars, there may be overly formal attire compared to our modern, casual wear, but with the abundance of vendors loudly hawking their wares, the similarities are astonishing—I’m looking at a seventeenth-century mini-mall.