Epilogue

She watched him walk back from the backhoe, he had an irritated look on his face. Randy really had no idea what was going on, he'd dragged her out of nice nap and brought her to his property. In all the years he had been cursed no one had ever reclaimed the land, so after a month of red tape they were able to make it officially his—or hers for now as they were still working on making him exist legally. Once here he'd paced around the property and finally pointed out where he wanted the man to dig.

Jareth glanced over his shoulder at the machine as it revved up, then to her and gave her one of those smiles that heated her whole body. He'd been whole and fleshy for six months now and each day was like a dream for her.

Caressing her face lightly, his expression turned to concern. "You’re well?" He glanced down at her slightly swollen abdomen, "the babe isn't making you queasy again is she?"

Laughing, she leaned into his warm body. "What if she is a he?"

Lifting her chin so she had to look at him, he shook his head. "I was a boy. Trust in me when I say we do not wish for one of those." Dropping a soft kiss on her mouth, he gave her one of his heated looks again. "We're havin' a beautiful daughter, just as her mother is."

"You want a daughter? Just like me?"

He frowned, "In looks, yes, although she shall be obedient and tractable." His tone made her chuckle. "We shall negotiate this early in her life."

"Of course," she mimicked his posturing tone, "and yes, I feel fine. I'm just wondering what we're doing here."

Turning he glanced over at the backhoe. "We are digging."

"Clearly." She smiled. "We're really going to build a house here?"

He nodded slowly. "We are...and there will be no walking on the roof it."

She grinned. "Okay. So what are we digging for?" Pointing in the direction of where the house was going, "if the house is going over there why are we digging on the other side of the property?"

His eyes were lit up in a mischievous way. "If my blade survived all the years, I have hope that something else did as well."

"And that would be?"

"I don't want to be spoiling the surprise—if it's not there then the result won't be disappointin' either." He scowled as he watched the backhoe dump another bucket of dirt out. "I don't know why I can't have a go at that."

Randy snorted. "Well, it could be that you haven't yet mastered driving a car safely yet..."

He held up his hand, "Twas not my fault, the road is in such ill repair that keeping the wheels on it is an impossible task." Waving a hand at the machine, "there is no driving involved in this, just digging."

Rubbing a hand on her belly, she nodded. "True but I hear it's harder than it looks."

He studied the machine. "It may be."

"So where did we come up with a backhoe and operator?"

His head snapped back to look at her, a slight smirk on his face. "Wanderin' around listening and observing people for two hundred years does give you a wee advantage for secrets other don't want shared."

She knew her mouth dropped open but didn't care. "That's blackmail..."

Shrugging, he smirked again. "I was a pirate." He waved his hand around, "it's not like I know who killed JFK, I just know dirty little secrets people don't want shared—so mister," he frowned in thought, "what's his name was kind enough to loan me his machine and son to operate it ... for a time."

The sound of the backhoe idling down had them both turn. Sitting beside the pile of excavated soil was a trunk about the size of a hope chest.

Jareth grinned. "Those few trinkets from the cliff can't sustain us for long." He grabbed her hand and started walking.

"I thought you said you weren't greedy."

"Indeed I did," he laughed, "not once did I ever claim to be addlepated either, little one. Now I must go pay, ensuring our bounty recovery stays off the lips of others and the foundation of our home will be done." He winked at her and then released her hand to go to the trunk.

She stood there, not sure if she wanted to go see what was inside. Her whole life she'd known of Jareth...or the possibility of him, but the last seven months had been one out of a fairy tale—or pirate tale in her case. The expression on the man's face as he peered into the small bag Jareth had just handed him confirmed that he also was experiencing the shock and awe that was now her world. Also, she was pretty sure their secret was safe if the speed he was nodding his head to whatever Jareth was saying was any indication.

Slowly she walked over to see what the next chapter of her life was going to be about. Inside the trunk were small cloth bags and several tarnished items that she was sure would polish up to be quite valuable, and probably more so historically. Looking at him, she was just about to ask one of the hundreds of questions that came to mind when a taxi came to a stop on the dirt path that would eventually be their driveway.

Jareth frowned. "And who could this be?" He raised an eyebrow at her, "the mysterious reason you left a note on the door?"

She nodded. "That would be the great-great... well, a lot of greats, granddaughter of the sister of the gypsy that cursed you."

"Good Gods! Have you lost all your senses? Why would you invite her here?" He immediately stiffened and gone was his polite posturing and once more he was the pirate version of himself.

"Relax. She's not going to curse anyone. She's here to get her family heirloom and take it back to Portugal where it belongs. It seems that cursing you brought many generations of bad luck to them also, or so they believe." Randy watched a woman close to her own age get out of the vehicle. "Can you go get the chalice from the bag in the car?"

He looked from the woman to her and pointed his finger at her in a stern way. "Once home you and I need to have a dialogue about things that may come about if you catch a pirate unawares."

Smiling, she stretched up on her toes and placed a light kiss on his mouth. "I'm sure we will."

He scowled at her once more and stomped toward her car, all while mumbling something to do with infernal women and that living a thousand years would not enlighten him. Grinning, she nodded to the other woman standing there and began to walk toward her. Time to close a chapter that had been in limbo for the last two hundred years, she thought, who knows what will be next.