by K. S. Thomas
My dad’s smile falters ever so slightly. “So, it’s you then who hasn’t sorted it out yet.” He nods slowly, turning away again and making his way toward the sofa. I’m not sure I’m ready to venture back there for another chat tonight.
So, I opt to stand on the other side of the coffee table, directly across from him, instead. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about the thing you’ve been scared of your entire life.”
I drop my gaze to stare at the floor. Of course, my father would cut right to the chase. “That someday I would turn out just like mom and leave.” In some ways, it feels like that’s exactly who I’ve become tonight.
“That’s not the thing you’re scared of,” my father says softly. “That’s the thing you tell everyone you’re scared of, including yourself. Because it makes you feel like the thing you’re scared of is in your control. But the truth is, what you fear isn’t that you’ll be the one who leaves. You fear you’ll be the one who gets left. Again.”
“Dad, that’s not it,” I insist, but the words are breaking up before they even come out. Still, I persist, “Yes, mom broke my heart when she walked out on us, but for all her abandonment, you were there to show me how it felt to have someone in your corner unconditionally. I’ve felt safe and loved every day of my life because of you.” I pause to collect my unraveling emotions. “I don’t have abandonment issues. I have issues with being too much like the woman I hate and a fear of becoming so completely like her, I have to hate myself as well.”
My father takes a long breath in and sighs it out loudly. “You have your mother’s lovely hands. And the same shade of deep brown in your beautiful eyes. And you have your mother’s vision for life, the ability to dream big. But Greer, beyond that, I’m afraid you’re your father’s daughter through and through. And that’s why it’s scary. Because I’m not the innocent child who was left behind by circumstance beyond my control. I’m the adult who fell in love, made a promise, gave my all, and did it with a clear and conscious mind, only to be disappointed and betrayed. I fell in love and wasn’t loved in return. And if you’re just like me, maybe you won’t be loved in return either.”
“Dad.” I clear my throat, trying to move the lump that’s been increasing in size with every second of this conversation. “That’s not...I mean, I would love to be just like you...but...” my voice trails off before I can make real sense of anything I’m trying to say.
“You are,” he assures me. “You’re just like me. And not just because we’re both the sort of suckers who would give our all, risk our hearts and do crazy things – like come here – but because we both still think love should be a fairy tale. The only thing you haven’t learned from me yet, is how to believe in it. And you have to, Greer. Take it from the fairy godfather and his magic bookstore,” he pauses to wink at me before his mouth curves into a smile filled with his tender wisdom and he goes on, “you have to believe in the fairy tale. That’s the only way it’ll ever come true.”
LACHLAN
ABBAS STILL HASN’T come back, but Chase has properly taken over my room. After everything that’s happened today, I’m not ready to have him dissect my life and explain it back to me yet. I need time to sort through it myself first.
Monroe is sound asleep in her bed, but her company still fills my heart even in her dreaming state, and I sink into the rocking chair beside her dresser enjoying the view of her beautiful face. She’s smiling in her sleep. There’s something tremendously comforting in knowing she’s so content even her subconscious mind, one that holds the painful moments of her past she’ll probably never fully grasp while awake, can’t conjure anything to take her joy from her.
I let the chair dip back and forth and sink into my body. I’d expected a wide variety of reactions to Greer’s decision to leave. Everything from going numb to collapsing in an ache that could consume me seemed possible when I walked out of her room tonight. But the truth is, I don’t feel either.
I’m not sure if it’s denial or a deep sense of knowing that our story hasn’t finished yet. That despite her best efforts to convince me otherwise, this isn’t the end.
“Lachlan.” Her voice draws my eyes to her. I didn’t even hear her come in.
“Greer.” I get up from the rocking chair and move toward her. A million thoughts fight for their chance to be heard, but not a single one comes out. Instead, I usher her toward the glass doors leading out to the balcony where we won’t wake Monroe.
“I found this while I was packing.” She holds up her hand where I can see it. Even in the dark of night with only a crescent moon to light the sky, I can make it out.
“Monroe’s shoe.”
She nods. “Another twist.” She smiles and it’s the first I notice the tears glistening in her eyes. “In our fairy tale.”
“The one where the prince needs saving?” I ask, smiling at the memory of that conversation. I think it was the first time I understood why she was different. Why we were different for each other. We didn’t share the same perspective, but we were able to show each other, to share in each other’s points of view. It wasn’t about conflict; it was about growth. A small, but significant insight into what we could offer each other.
“The one where they save each other,” she barely breathes the words, but I still hear them. More importantly, I see the ring. My mother’s ring, on her finger.
And it’s all I need to pull her in closer, until my arms are wrapped tightly around her and she’s reaching up to snake her own around my neck. Until I know, without a doubt, she’s mine. And she’s not going anywhere. “There’s one last thing I need from you,” I whisper, touching my forehead to hers, on the verge of getting lost in the depth of her eyes.
“Name it.” She smiles softly, and I know, in this moment, there isn’t anything she wouldn’t do for me. Or my daughter.
“You,” I say. “I need you, all of you, the real you, perfectly restored. Septum piercing and all. Tattoos on display for the world to see along with vibrant streaks of color in your wild hair. No more hiding, no more pretending. Just you.”
She nods ever so slightly. “Done.” Her finger reaches up to graze the edge of my mouth. “But I need you to be wholly you as well. I miss your New York smile and laugh. I like being the one who makes you grin all goofy-like. Even if it is at my expense.”
“I can do that.” I wrap my arms around her tighter. “Anything else?”
“Yes,” she breathes reaching up on her tiptoes to touch her lips softly to mine. “You can kiss me.”
I do. And this time, no thoughts of whether or not it’s as real as it feels linger within me. It’s real. Always has been. From the moment she came storming into the apartment and into my heart.
EPILOGUE
GREER
“You wanted to see me?” I say, announcing myself when I enter the tearoom. Lachlan’s grandmother is sitting with her back to me at the window. Even after I know she’s heard me, she waits several long moments before turning around to face me.
“I know you have a big day today, so I’ll keep this visit short,” she says curtly, nodding toward the chair beside hers. When I move in closer and have a seat, her eyes zero in on the center of my face and her nose twitches back and forth. “I don’t suppose you’ll be removing that for your wedding?”
“I could,” I offer. “If it bothers you.” Lachlan and I made a deal that I wouldn’t change for Linden’s sake but removing a piercing for a few hours to make his grandmother more comfortable shouldn’t break the promise I made him.
“It’s no bother to me,” she says, turning away to reach something from the stand to the other side of her. “I just wonder if it will clash with this.” When she turns back, she’s holding a magnificent tiara. Unlike my nose ring made of yellow gold, the delicate crown is made entirely of white, adorned with a multitude of aquamarines, the same beautiful shade of blue as the one I wear on my finger. “Of course, there’s still a few hours’ time,” she says.
“Perhaps a piece can be located to wear on your face to match the one you wear on your head.” She holds the tiara out toward me. “That is, if you do me the honor.”
My hand moves to my chest, calming my thundering heart. In a million years, I never would have guessed her invite to tea today would result in this moment. “I’m the one who would be honored.”
She smiles demurely, gesturing for me to lean in. “I wore this on my wedding day,” she says with the air of someone traveling back in time even as they speak in the present. “It was given to me then by my fiancé’s grandmother, same as I’m giving it to you now.” She places it carefully onto my head, where it rests softly among my curls. Up until this very moment, I was still debating how I might wear my hair today. But as soon as I catch my reflection in the mirror across the room, I know it’s already perfect just the way it is. Wild and princess-like all at once.
“I’m...speechless.” And that never happens.
She sighs, placing her now empty hands into her lap and folding them. “I like tradition, Greer. I find comfort in it, knowing that no matter how life chooses to unfold, there are celebrations and ways of being which never change. Things we can return to when the outside world leaves us feeling lost or uncertain.” She pauses to collect her thoughts. I get the feeling whatever she still means to say, is hard for her to share. “When Lachlan chose a path less familiar and more challenging, it worried me. Not only for Linden’s sake, but also his own. Then, when he brought you home on a whim, I feared his judgment had been entirely compromised.”
I swallow down the instinct to defend him. To defend us. And I’m glad I do when she continues.
“My fears were for naught, of course. Any fool could see within days of your arrival that choosing you, not only put him back on a path well-travelled, it filled him with strength and confidence and courage – the very sort every good king needs and the very reason our tradition of marriage matters.” She reaches up to touch my face, tenderly placing her palm on my cheek. “I watched my own son blossom in the light of true love and wilt in the loss of it. Lachlan is the reason he’s remained the light-hearted person he is today. But I won’t ever forget the hurt he suffered when our old ways of being wore too heavily on his new bride.” She smiles, but it’s bittersweet. “I like tradition, Greer. But not nearly as much as I love my boys. As much as I intend to love you. Not just with all of your new ways of being, but because of them.”
LACHLAN
“YOU’RE SURE THE VISIT went well?” I ask Katia for what may well be the twentieth time now.
“I’m positive,” Katia reaffirms. “I know it’s hard to believe me, given I’m telling you your grandmother ordered us to find a nose ring for Greer to match the tiara the Westergaard matriarch passed down to her over tea, but it really is true. All went well.”
“Okay.” I can’t remotely imagine how that visit played out, but I suppose I can let it go for now and get the details later directly from Greer. After the wedding. Until then, I’ve been forbidden by Mallory to contact her. Apparently, despite being a scientist, she’s quite superstitious.
“Is there anything else?” Katia asks, hovering near the door. She’s been trying to leave for several minutes now, I just can’t seem to give up the only tie I have to my bride today.
“Just, tell her I love her, and I can’t wait to see her.” Yes, I’ve become that man.
“Yes, your highness.” She smiles, then takes her chance to escape. It’s strange to think only weeks ago, Katia was someone we avoided at all cost. Now she’s become one of the most invaluable people in our circle. And not just because she’s terrific at her job. She’s become a true friend. One I’ve been eager to help in every way possible since Greer told me about her daughter’s health struggles, including having her daughter spend her days here at the castle with Monroe to ease the burden of finding childcare while also giving Katia more time with her and giving Monroe a much-needed playmate.
“Mom said to tell you to remember to go pee before you head for the altar. You know how nerves affect your bladder,” Chase announces as he comes strolling in, Abbas right behind him.
“Thanks.” I roll my eyes. “Mom have any other words of wisdom for me she hasn’t already shared?” Turns out, our mother was Chase’s plus one. And she in turn, brought her own guest, my stepfather. Chase and I briefly went over how many ways his plan could have backfired, but in the end, he had it to his advantage, that they hadn’t. Everything worked out just the way he said. Greer and I are in love. We’re getting married for real. And I never would have forgiven myself if my mother hadn’t been here for it.
“She also said to stop being stupid and man up already,” he adds. “But I think that was meant for Abbas.” He smirks, patting his friend’s back. “Not to worry though. Greer said she has big plans to make Mal catch her bouquet. Even if she has to pelt her in the face with it.”
“It’s all very romantic,” Soren says dryly, coming in from the balcony where he’s been on the phone making sure everything is in perfect place for the wedding. “Just tell me you got her to agree to acknowledge you as her date, so I don’t have to sit with her at the reception.” He makes a face at me. “She scares me.”
“We agreed to go dateless together,” Abbas says, shoving both hands in his pocket and sighing with defeat.
“I see now where the stop-being-stupid-and-man-up comes into play,” I tease. I’m going to miss these guys and all their antics when they go back home. At least now, I have even more reason to go back and visit and to do so often.
“Alright, if that’s all settled, there’s only one thing left to do,” Soren says, gesturing for the door. “Let’s go get you married, your highness.”
I don’t need to be told twice.
The ride to Gerard’s goes smoothly and once we arrive, I’m pleased to find everything has been perfectly prepared.
Where before the day was dragging, now time finally flies. Before I know it, I’m standing in the arbor, watching the most magnificent sight walk toward me like a dream becoming real. Greer is more stunning than ever, and my heart threatens to overflow as she walks hand in hand with Monroe down the aisle. My entire world wrapped up in two people.
They make it halfway down the aisle before Monroe slips one slipper from her foot and attempts to carry on without it. Greer laughs, coaxing her back to return her shoe to her bare little toes.
When they make it all the way to me, I hug Monroe close and kiss her cheek, before letting her go to find her seat. It’s Papa Reads my daughter chooses to sit with for the ceremony.
“She knows a fairy godfather when she sees one,” Greer whispers to me, smiling. “I’m not surprised. After all, she is the true Cinderella of our tale.”
I suppose she is. The orphaned girl who lights up the world, claims the heart of the prince and becomes a princess. “I can’t believe I never saw it.”
“Come on.” She winks. “All that always losing her shoes business, what did you think that was about?”
I just smile in response. The preacher just cleared his throat for the second time. I suppose we ought to let him start. After all, I can’t wait to marry this woman.
The most precious minutes of my life follow. We exchange vows. Tears. Laughter. And finally, it’s time to seal out fate. I bring my lips in to meet hers and just before I kiss her, she says it:
“And they lived happy ever after.”
THE END.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I think I came up with the original seed of this story somewhere around high school, maybe shortly after. It was one of those ideas I loved at the time but tucked away and let time bury. Until last year.
Last year was strange. And I know most people felt that way, pandemic and all, but the truth is that my year was strange for so many reasons that had nothing to do with lockdowns or scary viruses (though those things certainly made for a strange setting for my already strange year).
The simple truth is, I lost someone and lo
sing that person made me feel very lost as a result. I needed something to anchor me, somewhere to go home to. And for me, ‘no place like home’ means ‘no place like a story’.
Only I didn’t want to write anything that would remind me of the present. And anything new I felt compelled to write seemed to come back around to my current state of mind. I wanted something else. Something that felt safe. And happy. Something from before.
And so began the digging up of old stories. Ideas I collected but never used. Like this one.
Once planted, the roots took hold in my mind all over again, but this time it grew into a tale beyond anything I was expecting. It was a lovely, fantastical trip that did both, help me escape and bring me back. And now that it’s complete, I feel more complete again as well.
So, I want to start by acknowledging the strangeness of 2020. While it sent me on a journey riddled with pain, self-doubt, and questions I’ll probably never see answered, it also brought to life a story I’m quite proud of. One I’m so excited to get to share with all of you.
As is sometimes the case, I got derailed while writing this one. Thankfully, I had Stephanie (you all may know her better as author S.A. Hussey) to bring me back on track. Wonderful friend that she is, she was also first to brave the very rough draft and give me feedback.
From there followed an amazing group of beta readers – Debi, Rachel, Anna and Mallory P. Thank you all so much – Greer and Lachlan (and Mo!) wouldn’t be ready to meet the world without you!
Of course, my writing game would never be strong enough to complete ANY story, if it wasn’t for my wildly awesome family who continues to support my dreams on every level. The gratitude I feel for them will fill my heart for the rest of my life.
Also, A Cinderella Twist would be far less than it is were it not for Cheese, who might never have made it into the story had it not been for my friend Mallory L. who has pet rats and thinks they’re pretty awesome ;)