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White noise filled my head and I could hear Gran scolding me, asking what I was hesitating for. “Yes,” I laughed and cried. “I want all of that and more. With you. I’ll marry you.”

He leaned in to kiss me, but I pushed him back. “Daniel.” I looked back at his unconscious figure.

“He’s in an enchanted sleep. I won’t wake him up until we’re somewhere safe and the Book of Shadows is hidden where he can’t find it.”

I got up and held my hand out for him, pulling him up and nearly breaking my back. “Then let’s get cracking. We have a future to get to.” My cheeks hurt from how wide my smile was, and I did not think I would be stopping any time soon.

EPILOGUE

JACOB

Two years later…

I had a mountain of paperwork waiting for me at the office, but I could not be arsed to look over any of it. I was starting to regret accepting the deputy headmaster position offered to me by the school board of the Hawthorne Institute instead of a regular teaching position. Sometimes I suspected I was doing the work meant for the woman whom the Mystic Cove School of Magic had been named for. Catherine Hawthorne had given up her position at the local high school to head up this academy that she’d worked so hard to bring to her small town.

But like me, once classes began, she’d found that she much preferred being in class, shaping the minds of young witches and warlocks and putting her knowledge to use—something she felt she hadn’t been able to do enough of at her old job. So, she was often found in a classroom rather than the headmaster’s office, and all her admin tasks were passed on to me. I planned on bringing in an assistant so that I could pick up a few classes myself, but for the moment, I had to be content with ditching my work and making my way down the halls to my new favorite class.

Potions and Herbology with Mrs. Sophia Buchanan. Technically, she was to be addressed as Professor Buchanan, but I preferred the former title to the latter. My wife had taken to her powers like a fish to water, though there had been some mishaps along the way. Looking at her now, you’d never think that she’d lived the majority of her life without being able to use magic. But, of course, her skills with potions and knowledge of herbs and plants were second to none, which was why Catherine had offered her a teaching position. She was still part owner of The Midas Touch and pitched in when she didn’t have any classes, but most of her time was spent at the school and in our home.

This day’s class was taking place in the greenhouse. Soph mentioned something about teaching her class how to brew a sleeping draught. A smile stretched across my face as I wondered how many of her students were still awake. Her voice rang out from the greenhouse as I exited the administrative building and walked a short distance to the greenhouse, which was almost as big as the admin block itself. She spotted me almost immediately when I snuck into the back of her class, a familiar scowl on her face, but she ignored me and continued teaching. As I suspected, half of the class was slumped over their workstations, snoring away. The bell rang about fifteen minutes after I came in. With a snap of her fingers, the students who’d been knocked out jolted awake.

“Everybody, clean up your workstations before you leave, and I’ll see you next week. Have a nice weekend.” The replies she got had varying levels of enthusiasm and energy.

“Are you ever going to stop sneaking into my classes?” she asked me when I walked up to her desk, rubbing her barely visible baby bump. We were coming up on three months soon, and then we would tell everyone, but for now, the two little bundles of joy in there were our precious, little secrets.

“Nope. I like watching you teach. It feeds all my hot for teacher fantasies,” I said quietly so that the students would not hear us. Soph rolled her eyes and took off her apron while I helped gather her stuff.

“Actually, I came here to convince you to bunk the rest of the day with me—” It was only lunchtime. “—and we can get started on our anniversary weekend early.”

We would be married two years to the day this coming Sunday, and I’d never been happier. The events that happened at the Coven Circle were well and truly behind us. My great-great-grandfather’s Book of Shadows was hidden where no one would ever think to find it, under layers and layers of protective spells.

Daniel had been stripped of his powers. It wasn’t something that happened often or easily, but my grandmother and father—albeit reluctantly—both agreed it had to be done. He was living out his days in a psychiatric facility after we all realized that Rosie’s death had messed him up more than we knew.

All in all, life was good, and it would be better once our little ones arrived.

“I can’t. I have another class after lunch,” she groaned, which turned into a yawn.

“Cancel it—orders from the boss. C’mon, you know you want to. We can order in some Chinese and maybe cupcakes from that new bakery you love so much and I’ll even give you a massage. Spoiler alert, it has a happy ending.” I winked.

“You’re a horrible influence.” She laughed.

“So, is that a yes?”

Uncaring of the students still in the room, she tugged on my tie and lowered my face to hers, giving me a chaste peck on the lips.

“It’s always a yes with you. For as long as you shall have me.”

The End