Chapter 52

“Patience, sweetheart. That wasn’t what I meant.” He reached into his jacket pocket.

“Really, Gabriel? What is it?”

“Close your eyes.” He took Noah’s hand and ran his fingertips over his palm.

Noah gave a little gasp and shivered, then moaned when Gabriel took his fingers away. “More, please!” He wanted more of that feeling.

Gabriel placed something cool and metal in his hand, and Noah opened his eyes and looked down at it. “A pocket watch?” The case was yellow gold and looked very old.

“It was Remember’s.”

Noah turned it over and over, then pressed the outer knob, and the lid popped open. Engraved on the inside were the same words he had seen on Remember’s gravestone. For where thou art, there is the world itself, and where thou art not, desolation

“Now it’s yours. Happy birthday, sweetheart.”

“Oh, Gabriel.” He closed his fingers around the watch, then threw himself into Gabriel’s arms and held on. He was never letting him go. “Thank you!”