The Tooth Fairy, unmasked

We don't do Santa, because I think it's silly. Why do I want some idiot in a red suit to take credit for gifts that I bought during the shopping season from hell, brought home, wrapped with no help from a Grinchy husband, and put under the tree late at night on Christmas Eve? No thanks.

But when Imogen's teeth started falling out, I figured, there's a fairy tale I can get into. Sure, she's taking credit for giving your kids money, but it's only a couple dollars. It's mysterious as well, all the unanswered questions.

Unfortunately, Imogen doesn't get along well with unanswered questions. So she asked them all. Who was the tooth fairy? What did she look like? How tall was she? How did she get in the room? What did she do with the teeth? Where did she get all the money? What did she do when she had to visit lots of kids in the same night? I finally had to say "How should I know?? I haven't met her!"

Imogen is very literal. To Genevieve, I think, these things didn't matter, because somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew. But to Imogen, the tooth fairy was a real person. She started keeping up a correspondence with her. I was constantly having to scribble replies from the tooth fairy and slip them under her pillow, thanking Imogen for various notes and pictures and drawings.

But she has long been suspicious. Tonight, the truth came out.

"Mommy, I think you're the tooth fairy," she said.
"Oh you do?" I said. My usual strategy is to neither confirm nor deny.
"Yup! Guess how I know," she said.
"How?"
"The hearts," she said, referring to the hearts the tooth fairy drew on notes and envelopes.
I gasped. "The tooth fairy and me make our hearts the same?"
"Nooo... You are the tooth fairy! You and daddy," she said. "Also, your handwriting is the same."
I reflected that maybe I should have made at least the slightest effort to mask my handwriting. I had decided it was unnecessary, given the ages of my children, but I underestimate Imogen's observational skills. I tried for surprise again.
"The tooth fairy writes just like me too!" I said.
"Nope! We figured it out," she said, giving Genevieve some of the credit. "You're the tooth fairy!"

Does this mean I don't have to pay her for her teeth any more?