photo.”
It took a lot of ruckus, but she finally managed to get everyone arranged. She even managed to convince Simon to get into the shot. Carefully balancing her camera on a stack of chairs to get the right height, she set it to a ten second delay and ran to join the group. She stood in front of Simon, who placed his hand on her shoulder.
It took three attempts before she finally got a photo where everyone was looking at the camera. She gave up trying to get everyone to smile. There was no getting Rudy to do anything but glower. But at least he agreed to stand there.
After the photo was taken, they all went back to their spots in the sand.
“Ms. Cora.” Turk got her attention from across the way. “If you find the means to get the image out of your camera, I would love a copy.”
“Of course.” She smiled sadly. “I just wish Clown and Ludwig were here.”
“As do I. But all things come to an end, and it was their time.” He smiled sadly back to her. “It doesn’t mean we can’t remember them here with us in spirit.”
She nodded and sank against Simon, flipping through the images on her camera. The lights went dim. The movie was about to begin. Diva was, as Simon predicted, launching into a tirade about how she was “denied her greatest role and was deeply wronged by that little hussy” or something like that.
She wasn’t really listening. She was looking down at the photo.
There were nineteen of them sitting on the sand in the tent. They were missing two.
She smiled.
There were twenty-one in the photo. She touched the screen. There in the back was gigantic man, towering over the rest of them, even Turk. It was Ludwig, smiling broadly, his arms around the people to either side of him, an expression she had never seen him wear. But there was life in his eyes, and joy in his smile.
And there, standing beside her and Simon…was a skull-painted man, making a ridiculous cross-eyed face with his cheeks puffed out.
She nudged Simon in the thigh and pointed at her screen.
She felt the sound he made more than she heard it. As the overture for The Count of Monte Cristo played loudly over the speakers in the tent, he leaned in and kissed her temple. He whispered to her. “You see? You belong here.”
“I…” She looked down at the image. She hoped this illusion stayed on her camera for once. She wanted the photo of them all together. Even if it were all about to fall to pieces. “I didn’t do this.”
“You did. You took the photo. It was your idea. ‘Mr. Harrow’ simply helped you make it whole.”
“It’s a lie.”
“But it could be reality. If you fight for us, we can be a whole Family again.”
He kissed her temple again. She caught Louis and Elena smiling at them from where they were sitting nearby. The music was too loud for them to hear their conversation, but it was clear they found her relationship with the Puppeteer adorable. Louis looked at Simon with happiness and hope.
Hope.
Was that really what she was to them?
“Why does this mean so much to you?” Simon nudged her gently as she sat there silently looking at the image on the screen.
“Because…everyone looks happy.”
“Even you?”
“Even me.”
He turned her head to his with the press of two fingers to her chin. Simon kissed her then, slow and tender, uncaring about the others seated around them. And, for once, she didn’t think it was showboating. A piece of popcorn bounced off her shoulder.
“Get a room, you two,” Aaron quipped from nearby.
She broke the kiss with a laugh and grinned at the Barker. “You’re just jealous it isn’t your room.”
“Please, don’t make me throw up. The dinner was nice. I’d like to leave it in my stomach.” Simon sank back onto the blanket, pulling her down with him.
She laughed and shifted to lie next to him, using his arm as a pillow. The opening credits were just finishing. They really didn’t do movie overtures like they used to. Probably for good reason. They were long.
Diva had finally stopped telling her story about the injustice of it all when the first bits of dialogue began.
Simon tilted his head close to hers and whispered, “Careful, Cora Glass. You might just start believing you belong here. Then what will you do with yourself?”
She didn’t answer him. She didn’t know what to say. Because she