Thank you tremendously for the peppermint toads! I have been feeling a bit under the weather for the past week or so, and the treats have lifted my spirits considerably. It was a very thoughtful gift, I only wish there was something I could send you in return.

The shop can only benefit from well planned Gothic Nights. You could even make it a monthly festival, Mystery November, 12 Days of Christmas, and so on. Romantic February that concludes in a visit together. We have to make our distractions where we can, the distance seems so far and lonely otherwise.

You can never be certain in the failure of the women or your mother's attempts at matchmaking. I certainly never anticipated caring for you as I've come to. In fact, before you I never once gave thought to sharing my life with anyone else. I only fear the distance will grow to be too much, that someone else will be present and a cheerful distraction. Sometimes, I believe you would be better for it instead of pining for a woman half a world away.

We began exploring further into the ruins, though I remain certain there was some code hidden in the bricks. There were too many details signaling otherwise, we simply didn't interpret them correctly. Lorenzo disagrees, of course, but he just wants credit for a change in direction. I've been studying the artifacts we believed would lead us to the tomb with a few others during the evenings. Should we crack the code we'll just return to the site of the tapping and work from there.

I hope you're well. The new year will be here soon.

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beautiful set by mj