Grim gave them a couple of hours to rest and chat, then hurried them upstairs, while his team prepared for a very hard few hours’ work. The meeting room had been redecorated and now resembled an old-fashioned cinema. At either side of the screen was a curtained door, all ready for big entrances. Nobody should have been surprised that Grim had a flair for the dramatic – all of that ominous music and scythe-waving was a pretty huge clue, after all.
At his insistence, Sam and Sophia sat down in the middle of the front row. The lights dimmed and the screen lit up.
“Remember this?”
“Oh no!”
Sophia shrank into herself. She remembered what came next: what she’d said.
“It’s all right, Sophia. I’ll spare your blushes. Just think of it as an establishing shot. This is only the edited highlights, after all. There won’t be anything too personal.”
And he quickly moved on to their helpers.
“Thanks to them, you were soon able to build your first house – a home for Adam, the first child of the dynasty.”
“…And, eventually, all three of your children found their own partners…
“Although some took longer than others.”
Emmaline had been watching Grim intently. Now, at a nod, she whooped, bounced out of her seat and threw herself on to the stage.
Hang on! Emmaline and… Luke?!
Grim seemed to realise they needed time to get over that surprise. He talked about their later years, settling into retirement and seeing their two eldest grandchildren grow up…
“…But your two grandsons were soon outnumbered by your granddaughters.”
He continued, telling of Phil’s successes as a fireman and the arrival of the next generation. Sophia couldn’t help noticing that Grim had rather skated over the matter of Dora’s mother. She glanced across at Lily and saw that her daughter-in-law’s expression was unusually hard. What had happened there?
She resolved to ask Lily about it later and turned her attention back to the screen and the story of Dora and Jack.
“…And so Michael finished his tasks and the first museum was complete. It was time to move on and start again in a new town. Michael and Tansy left Hidden Springs…
“…and made their new home in Monte Vista.
“Yet again, the family owes a lot to its helpers – and, in this case, particularly to Carlotta Gils-Carbo, who agreed to leave her husband and small son and move in with the new arrivals in town.
“It wasn’t until Goopy had grown all the way from toddler to young adult that the family was reunited – and Carlotta and Eduardo lived to see their grandchildren become part of the family they’d helped so selflessly.”
For Sophia, everything started to blur together at about this point. She began to wish Grim would call a halt – it was too much information to take in all at once. So many descendants! So many careers, so many skills!
Such diverse personalities!
Pirates? Really?
And not just humans, either. She remembered Adam’s doll arriving in the post and Sam trying to convince her that imaginary friends were real in his world. Now it seemed that one of her many-greats-grandsons had married one – and had produced generations of imaginary descendants.
Then there was the girl who had grown from a seed – and the one who had been so envious of her plantlike state that she had briefly emulated it.
So many stories! Lovers who had been inseparable even in death…
…and others who had been separated for far too long.
Life after life after life… And then Sophia realised that the story had reached the final move – Abigail’s sudden decision to leave Barnacle Bay and move before everyone and everything she loved was destroyed.
And on to Starlight Shores, a world of stardom and fame. A world of mermaids. Of jugglers and acrobats. Of a singer who had found renown but despaired of ever finding a mate – until she met a dashing Frenchman who shared her love of music.
And so, finally, it came back to the distant descendant they’d already met: Hannah Pauline Gold, five-star chef. The pictures on the screen faded to black and the house lights came up. The room, which had seemed so empty when they arrived, was now packed. Every seat was full – full of their descendants. Hers and Sam’s. She hoped Grim would give them a day or two to talk to everyone, relax, settle down into their new status as patriarch and matriarch. No, that was never going to feel right. Far too grand. But at least she and Sam could get to know these people – think of them all as their kids, their family, instead of a load of confusing strangers.
They were all preparing to leave their seats when Hannah walked over to Grim’s podium and stopped them.
“Everyone, please wait! I know it’s been a long day – or whatever – but please stay a few minutes longer. I want you all as witnesses. This is Shermine. As you’ve seen, I met her in Egypt but then I lost her. Now Grim’s brought her back to me and I don’t want her to get away again.”
And she fell to one knee and pulled out a genie ring.
