I finally got a text from Matty two days later. I was dead-heading roses, showing Teddy how to do it as well, when my phone dinged. I checked it, saw who it was, told Teddy and went inside to get a drink and read it.

    I sat down on the sofa and scrolled through the words.

    'I'm sorry for having been silent for so long, darling, I really am. At first, I was just so upset and hurt, and yes, jealous, and I didn't want to respond. I remembered what I said to you, way back at the beginning, about not holding a grudge, about just wishing you well and moving on, and I tried, I really did, but, Tinker Bell, I am in love with you, I am so in love with you...I don't think I've ever been in love before. I thought I had been, but I've never felt like this before, ever. You are so special, do you even know how special you are? I love Theo so much, but I've never seen him make things work with anyone, ever, so why should I believe he could make things work with you? I'm so worried that he's going to break your heart, your valuable, precious heart, and leave you with nothing but broken pieces. All I can say at this point is if that ever happens I'll be here for you, I'll be waiting for you, I'll try to help you put the pieces back together. You are like my heart, you are so dear to me...I don't know what else to say, except to apologize again for being silent for so long, I know it must have been very difficult for you. Please tell Theo I'll communicate with him when I can; I can't just yet, it's too painful, but I still love him and bear him no ill will.'

    "Teddy?" I called, choking back tears. He came flying into the living room; he must have been hovering in the back hall.

    "What, darling? What?" He reached for me, not knowing what was required. I debated whether or not to hand him the phone. Was it private? Would Matty mind? I decided that when he sent it to me it became mine, and I wanted Teddy to see it. I gave him the phone and waited while he read it, hand covering my mouth.

    "Oh no," he said after reading it through. He embraced me, saying, "I'm so sorry, darling, this isn't what I was expecting at all, not at all."

    "Me either," I whispered into his chest. "What am I supposed to do with that? I mean, really, how am I supposed to respond?" I just let him hold me for a few moments before I pushed myself away from him.

    "And more importantly, what does this mean for the band?" I asked him. "I mean, I know you guys aren't scheduled to do anything for a while, but what if he isn't over all this by then? What happens then? When's your next official function together?"

    "Next February we're supposed to get together to start working on a new album," Teddy said distractedly.

    "What if he still feels this way then?" I asked. "Oh my god."

    Unexpectedly, Teddy smiled and scooped me up into a huge hug, swinging me around the room. "Birdie, I love you so much!"

    "Have you lost your mind?" I asked while holding on for dear life. "Put me down, you lunatic!"

    He carefully set me down, making sure that I wasn't going to lose my balance and fall over first. He cupped my face in his hands and looked into my eyes, smiling, giving me the full Theodore Shelley dimple treatment. "What?" I said, smiling back in spite of myself.

    "That's the first time you've ever, ever, referenced that far into the future without putting conditions on it, like 'if we're still together then', or 'if we make it that far'. It's like you've finally admitted to yourself that it's possible we might make it seven months into the future." He took me into his arms. "Are you finally starting to believe in me a little bit, my darling little hummingbird? Hmm?" He kissed me. "Are you finally starting to trust me, just a little bit?" He kissed me again. "Please, please, say you are," he whispered. "It would mean so much to me to know that you're beginning to have a little faith in me, in us, just a little?"

    "Yes," I responded, kissing him back. "I love you more than anything, and I trust you, I do, I do. And now I'm going to cry, Teddy, because that's just what I do." I unsnapped all of the snaps on my blouse at once, revealing my pink leopard print bra. In another quick motion, I unbuttoned and unzipped my shorts, lowering them swiftly and stomping them off. I unhooked the front hook closure on my bra, knowing that the way this looked drove him crazy.

    I pulled his shirt off him. "Love me, Teddy, show me how much you love me, and I'll show you how much I love you, okay? I don't want to think about Matty right now, just you and me." And I stepped into his arms, feeling them close around me, feeling his hands on me, feeling his mouth on me, how much he loved me. The sofa rose up to meet us as he laid me down on it, and we were no longer separate and alone, but together, and one.

    "When are we meeting your parents again?" I asked Teddy as we were getting ready for bed that night.

    We had decided to leave the topic of Matty and his text alone for the time being and just let it sit for a couple of days. Just thinking about what he'd said made my heart hurt.

    He spit out his toothpaste and thought for a moment before saying, "August third. They come back from their holiday on the thirtieth, and they're having a family get together on the third so everyone can see my cousin Charlotte's new baby, Juliet. It's not a party, exactly, because they had a baptism or whatever it's called for the religious members of the family, but a lot of us were out of town, so this is just a big barbecue kind of thing, so we can all see each other, you know, and the little ones can swim and fight and stuff like that."

    "Are you getting baby Juliet a gift?" I asked as I washed my face.

    He nodded. At my look of inquiry, he said, "Membership to Uncle Theo's School Trust." I continued to look curious. "That's really what it's called," he grinned. "I have a trust set up for all my little cousins to pay their school fees."

    "Which school fees?" I asked. "I thought university in England was free, or close to it?"

    "Well, first, uni's not free, though it's not nearly the scandal that is in America," he said, talking to my reflection in the mirror. "But getting there can be quite expensive."

    I thought about this. "Are you saying you're paying for all the children in your family to go to private school? Like, those crazy expensive places? Harrow? Rugby? Like Tom Brown's School Days? St. Andrews?"

    "Who's Tom Brown?" He asked, curiously. I waved the Thomas Hughes book away.

    "You're paying for your entire family's private education? All of them?" My voice was quiet with awe. "How many cousins do you have?"

    He considered. "I think, with the addition of Juliet, there are fourteen at the mo',"

    Whoa. I stared in amazement. "Well, it's not like I can't afford it, is it?" He said, laughing. "I like it and they like it, so it's good all around, you know? I mean, I'm not saying that they must all go to uni or anything, but still, it's nice, I think. I didn't get to go, you know?"

    Nice? Nice? "My mother moved heaven and earth to get me into that Japanese immersion school in LA," I told him. "I still remember the phone calls, the interviews, trying to show the principal that I was worthy, that I'd work hard, even though we couldn't afford it." My eyes were locked on to his in the mirror. "She told Ms. Matsuda that she'd do anything, she'd tutor the students for free and stay and clean after school...my grandparents were well educated, especially my Ojichan, but they spent their money on good schools for my mom when she was young, like you're doing, and then my mother threw it all away when she dropped out of college to marry my dad.

    "She was barely twenty-one, alone with a child in a foreign country." My voice was quiet.

    "Why in the world didn't she just go back? To Japan, I mean," Teddy asked gently as he put the cap on my facial scrub.

    "She felt like she couldn't. She was ashamed, felt she'd brought shame on her parents. And even in this day and age, to raise a child who looked like me with—with no husband would have been difficult. There would have been a stigma, you know?" I looked at him, facial scrub in my palm, forgotten.

    "She let them pay my airfare every summer, so I could spend time with them, be with them, but that was all." I shook my head, putting the scrub on my face.

    "What you're doing is incredibly generous," I concluded.

    I quickly rinsed my face and jumped on his back, hugging him from behind, kissing the back of his neck and smiling at him in the mirror. "That's for being the kindest, most generous person on the planet, Theodore Shelley," I declared. "You're going to get the extra good loving tonight," I said as I slid off his back and exited the bathroom.

    "What?" He asked, following me. "What have I been getting until now, then? Hmm?" He grabbed me and fell on the bed, holding me. "Birdie, answer me!"

    I just yanked his pants down and put my head in his lap, and he stopped talking after that.