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“But I do. I told you, there was a confession.”
“Mikos is your own flesh and blood. How can you speak of killing him?”
“Blake, I know it’s hard. But my world is much harsher than yours. I know you don’t understand, and maybe it’s always been too much to ask of any human to even try. To go to my planet, which is so vastly different from yours and try to build a life there. Maybe it’s impossible.”
Blake turned away from him and buried his face in his hands, feeling shattered.
“Having you here with me like this has been like a dream. But I’m afraid it can’t last. I asked you earlier to consider coming home with me. But I think it would never work. Too much has happened. Too much time has passed. My people would never accept it.” He kissed the side of Blake’s face. “No, I’m afraid it’s too late for us to go back. Our lives have strayed too far apart for us to ever truly be together again.” He kissed Blake tenderly. “I’m sorry, nobyo. I’m afraid this has all been just a dream.”
Blake felt stunned with sadness. For both him and for Davos. For Mikos and Ryan and all the other children. For the family they’d never had and now never would. Those boys had lost their way with no one there to guide them. And he wished…he wished so hard there was some way to make it right. Some way to change things. Some way for them all to start again and be happy. If only things had been different. If only he’d stayed on Tygeria years ago and had Davos’s children and raised them himself. He could have taught them right from wrong. He could have taught them what it was like to love and be loved in return.
It might have made all the difference.
He closed his eyes and felt himself slipping. From a long distance, somewhere far away, he heard a bell ringing. It was insistent and annoying, and it kept on and on. Then from just behind him, a voice was telling him, “Wake up now. Wake up, Blake. It’s time for you to open your eyes.”
Chiel, the little guardian angel in training, was standing over him and tapping his foot with impatience.
“My goodness, it’s so hard to get you to wake up.”
“W-what? I’ve been asleep? It was all a dream?”
“In a way. This was like I told you. A little peek into what might have been if you’d lived a different life. Made different choices. If your wish had come true and you had never stayed on Tygeria and never married Davos and had his children. That’s what you said you wanted. Wasn’t that right?”
“No. I-I might have been angry and said some things I didn’t really mean. Allegedly.”
“Oh really?”
Chiel snapped his little fingers and a cloud sailed over to them and began to glow. In the center of the cloud was a picture of Blake, holding a box of yellow cake mix with a swath of red velvet material on the countertop of a kitchen behind him. Chiel snapped his fingers again, and the picture came to life.
“This is a total disaster! Somebody tell me why I ever came to this godforsaken world in the first place! I wish I’d never seen this crazy planet. No, I wish I’d left it years ago when I had the chance and I wish I’d never come back!”
Blake hung his head and sighed. “I do say that sometimes. But never again. I didn’t mean it. You have to believe me. I would never wish away my children or my husband. Not ever. Sometimes, I may get a little carried away, but that’s all. I love my family.”
And I hope you realize now that because you came to Tygeria and stayed there to live with Davos and have his children, it really changed so much for so many others. You made a huge difference in their lives. You made Davos nicer and more merciful. More willing to make a treaty with the Alliance. That alone saved millions of lives. You raised Mikos to be a fine, brave man and a good father. You raised all your children to know right from wrong and above all else, to be good, kind people. You really did have an impact on people. You had a wonderful life.”
“And I want it back. I never truly meant the things I said. Please. I just want to go home and have everything back to the way it was. I want my family again.”
“My grandfather’s little experiment worked then? You feel better about your life on Tygeria now?”
“Yes. Send me back.”
“Oh good. I’m so pleased. Stand very still and close your eyes. Try to get a vision of sugar plums dancing in your head.”
Blake opened one eye. “Sugar plums? Why?”
“I don’t make the rules. It’s almost Christmas. Sugar plums are required.”
“What do they even look like?”
“I’m not really sure. Like plums I guess—dipped in sugar,”
“Okay, got it.”
“Are they dancing in your head?”
“Should they be?”
“I think so. Yes.”
