Petty clapped. “That is positively inspired!”
“I love it. I’d also like for our guests to be here for the spring carnival. Do you have the lodging space?” Anna asked hopefully.
“We definitely do,” Jonquil said.
Zuri wasn’t sure about that, but she decided that Jonquil probably knew better than Zuri did about their housing capacity.
“Oh, thank you! I knew you were the right choice to plan this wedding. We were thrilled to see you’d moved to Ever After.”
Zuri blinked. “So you know about Chicago, and you still want me?”
She couldn’t have been more stunned.
“It’s because of Chicago we want you,” Jordan said. Anna nodded. “None of that was your fault. And the wedding, before the fire, was really beautiful. Or at least what we were able to stream. Jordan was supposed to be in that wedding, but we were in Bali. We want you to have your fairy tale, too.”
Zuri tried not to jump to conclusions. She didn’t want a pity plan, but the couple did seem genuinely in love, and she could tell they really wanted everything she had to offer.
That was when Zuri decided to trust.
Things in Ever After were good. She couldn’t pretend like Chicago hadn’t happened. Or that Alec hadn’t happened. She could only go forward and keep building on her foundations. Whether she liked it or not, Chicago and the Wedding That Wasn’t were part of her past, part of the foundation of who she was. It was time to accept it and forge on.
“Let’s not worry about mine. Let’s just make sure you and your guests get the experience you’ve dreamed of,” Zuri said.
“Speaking of,” Jonquil jumped to her rescue. “Is the rest of the wedding party on the way? We’d like to get your measurements in with the dressmaker today, so after you choose your colors and your style, she can get started.”
“Oh, yes! The best man should be here any minute,” Jordan said. “The rest of the wedding party will be here this evening.”
“Good, good,” Jonquil said, and then turned to look at Zuri. “My dear, are you sure you’re okay?”
Zuri was a little warm, but she’d chocked it up to all the caffeine she’d had that morning. “I’m fine.”
Her phone buzzed, and she saw that it was Zeva.
“Will you excuse me a moment? I have to take this.” She got up and headed just outside the door to the boardroom.
“Are you okay?” Zeva said with no preamble.
“Why is everyone asking me that? I’m fine.” She cleared her throat again, and a spot in the middle of her back began to itch like the devil.
“You’re not fine. I feel it. I’m coming.” Zeva hung up before Zuri could say anything else.
When she went back into the conference room, everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her.
Anna’s mouth fell open, and her jaw worked, but no sound emerged.
“What?” Zuri’s cheek began to itch and when she reached up to brush away whatever errant bit of hair that had dared to be out of place, her fingers met a strange bump.
“Oh dear!” Petty gasped.
“Not good. Not good a’tall.” Bluebonnet got up and walked toward her slowly.
“By the powers,” Jonquil gasped. “Lord, child. Don’t touch it.”
Suddenly, her whole body itched. It was as if she were one giant, angry mosquito bite. She wanted to scratch her face off.
“What’s happening?” Zuri asked, trying to remain calm. Then she realized it was going to get a lot worse before it got better because Zeva had felt it and it had activated that twin connection, which was almost magical.
“I think it’s an allergic reaction,” Petty said to Anna and Jordan. “I’m sure you’re fine and there’s nothing to worry about.”
“I just hope she’s okay,” Jordan said. “The best man is a doctor. He’s going to be here any second. Let’s not panic.”
“Can you breathe?” Anna asked. “If she can’t breathe, I have an EpiPen!”
Zuri took a deep breath. “I can breathe. I’m just very itchy. I need to go to the restroom.”
Bluebonnet held up her hands to caution her. “I don’t know if that’s a good idea. Being calm is good. The mirror will not engender the calm.”
“Just tell me, or I’m going to freak out. I already want to rip off my face. It itches like hell.”
“You look like you have some . . .” Jonquil nodded slowly as she obviously looked for the right word. “Hives.”
“Chicken pox,” Anna said helpfully.
Everyone kept staring at Zuri, and she coughed again. “What else? Just tell me.”
“They’re green,” Bluebonnet whispered in an awed tone.
“I haven’t seen this since 1898.”
“Green?” she shrieked. “Green?” They would have to be neon green to show up on her dark skin. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No, no. We’re not losing our minds. We’re breathing,” Petty said.
“You breathe. You’re not green!” Zuri yelled.
“You’re not green, either,” Petty reassured her. “You’re having an allergic reaction. I’m not sure to what, though.”
“Oh. Oh no.” Jonquil shook her head. “You kissed the frog yesterday. Are you allergic to amphibians?”
“The poor dear. She must be!” Bluebonnet reached out to take her hand. “Yes, just like that case in 1898.”
What the hell was she talking about—1898? That was not helping.
Zuri looked down at herself and watched as the itchy lesions erupted over her arms and her hands.
“She kissed a frog?” Anna interjected. “Why would anyone kiss a frog? Unless it was one of those you lick to get stoned, which, I mean, no one could blame her, right? After Chicago? I would, too. Are you stoned?’
“I’m not stoned!”
“It’s a thing we do in Ever After.” Jonquil waved it off. “It’s a rite of passage. But I’ve never seen this happen to someone.”
Zuri inhaled deeply with tears in her eyes. Of course she was allergic to the stupid frog.
Of. Fucking. Course.
“Can this get any worse?” she murmured out loud.
Almost as if she hadn’t learned that lesson about asking if it could get any worse. The universe, invariably, always had an answer to that question that the questioner would definitely not enjoy or even remotely like.
The door to the front of the shop opened, and a familiar voice called out, “Anna? Jordan? I’m here.”
“That’s the best man! He’s a doctor. He can help!” Jordan said. “Back here, man.”
Zuri turned to face the owner of that voice and saw him.
The destroyer of her future.
The beast that chewed up her heart and spit it out.
Dr. Alexander—Alec, or Xander if he was being duplicitous—Marsh.
And of course instead of seeing her thriving, happy, and living her best life, he had to appear now, while she was down, out, and looked like Shrek.
Chapter 9
After Zuri had been carried to her room and tucked in with some Benadryl and cookies, Petty gathered her sisters in the kitchen of the castle.
And, incidentally, also booted Alec Marsh off to his own quarters. He wasn’t helping matters at all. Petty knew it was a magical affliction, anyway. All the MDs in the world wouldn’t be any help in that department.
The castle supplied some snacks of cucumber sandwiches and lemonade, as well as snacks of crispy capers.
Petty was munching furiously while trying to think of what to do for their poor, darling Zuri.
“We were making so much progress with her, too,” Bluebonnet said with a sigh.
“I know! Did you see the way her whole manner softened and the stars in her eyes while she was listening to Anna and Jordan tell their story?” Jonquil sighed as well.
Then, the three of them gave another collective sigh.
“Did you know about this best man situation, Jonquil?”
Bluebonnet accused. “Is that why you’ve been on the closure wagon for the last week?”
Jonquil looked sheepish. “I might’ve known.”
“And might you have enchanted the cabbie not to take that fare?” Petty narrowed her eyes.
“Listen, you can’t be mad at me for that one. It was on my magical to-do straight from FG Academy.”
“Hmm,” Petty said. “I suppose.”
Bluebonnet squirmed in her chair and couldn’t seem to get comfortable. “Well, I suppose it’s a good thing you did. They really are the cutest couple.”
“All except for the part where the groom is best friends with Dr. Jackass,” Petty said. “I told her to answer his text, not to look at his dumb face.”
“His face really is dumb. I hate it,” Bluebonnet agreed. “Could we give him the frog pox? He deserves it.”
“I seem to recall we weren’t doing things of that nature anymore?” Petty asked, although she felt a surge of hope. She’d love to give him frog pox. In fact . . . “You know, if we’re going to be bad fairies, we could give him carnivorous anal warts? He has it coming.”
“Oh, yes! Like a colony of Venus flytraps but on his colon. I like it.” Bluebonnet munched harder.
“Sisters. Sisters,” Jonquil said. “Far be it from me to interrupt our little vengeance jag, but you know he’s going to get what he deserves. Fate will teach him his lessons. That’s not for us to do. We spread the love. Not the lessons. Remember?”
Petty crossed her arms. “Maybe I want to spread the lessons this time.”
“Uh-huh. Lesson,” Bluebonnet said in solidarity.
“Sisters.” Jonquil looked at each of them in turn with a stern frown.
“Fine,” Petty caved. “I know you’re right.”
“But fate isn’t going to give him anal warts,” Bluebonnet protested.
“She might,” Jonquil said helpfully.
“If we help her,” Petty said as she perked. Then she sagged in her chair. “No, I know you’re right. He just made me so mad.” Petty had to keep reminding herself that she’d learned her lesson about doing bad things to people.
“He makes us all mad, dearie.” Jonquil patted her arm. “Here, let’s make ourselves feel better. We can look at Jenn’s love thread.”
“Jenn?” Bluebonnet cocked her head to the side.
“The bride who lit her dress on fire? Duh.”
“Oh, right. Let’s.” Bluebonnet nodded.
The sisters all used their fairy godmother powers to peer at the threads of fate and love that were spread out before them.
Petty loved looking at the threads, it was one of her favorite things to do. They were so beautiful, and each thread represented the path of a soul. Her biggest problem had always been touching, but the threads were much like butterfly wings. No touching, at least not from this vantage point.
She could do things on the ground to move the threads, to balance them, to twine or unwind, but never with her actual fingers.
They found Jenn’s thread.
“How lovely! See?” Jonquil said.
Petty did indeed see. Jenn Gordon, on her not-honeymoon, with her tribe of girlfriends, had met the man of her dreams. And most every other woman’s, too. He was tall, dark, handsome, and . . . British. He was an actor in a popular franchise, and he just happened to be vacationing at the same time. It had been love at first sight.
Well, actually, it had been “cunning linguistics” at first sight in one of the hotel cabanas, but Petty could see it was true love.
She sighed. “Oh my. He really is quite handsome, isn’t he? How do mortal men that beautiful exist?”
“They don’t. He’s got a fairy in the woodpile. By the looks of it, a dark fairy. That’s why his cheekbones and jaw do that thing.” Jonquil nodded.
“You know what else does that thing?” Bluebonnet snickered. “Oh, our Jenn is a lucky lady.”
“Pish. He’s the lucky one,” Petty said.
“Too true,” Jonquil agreed. “He’s the luckiest to get dear Jenn. But . . . back to Zuri.”
“I’ve been looking up frog pox in Mama’s spell book, and it looks like the only cure for frog pox is to kiss the frog that infected her,” Petty offered.
Bluebonnet clapped her hands together. “That’s juicy! I love it.”
“Hmm. Could be a problem, though, because we’re going to have to tell Zuri about magic. She’s not ready for that. Not mentally, and definitely not emotionally,” Jonquil said.
“Oh, right. Because Phillip is going to have to tell her not only that he’s a frog, poor dear, but also what he did to get cursed,” Bluebonnet replied. “Damn.”
“You know, maybe it’s better that she finds out now. Then they can work on building trust.” Petty tapped her wand on the table as she considered.
Then she peered at the threads of fate again.
“Hmm. This will never do. Things are a mess!” she cried.
“What’s wrong, sister?” Bluebonnet asked.
“Stupid Prince Charming. I swear!” she muttered as she clenched her hands to keep from physically grabbing the threads and yanking on them. “Everything is tangled up.”
“How do you know it’s his fault?” Bluebonnet asked.
“Oh, because he went to Ravenna to ask if she could break his curse,” Petty grumbled.
“Really?” Jonquil rolled her eyes. “Didn’t you tell him precisely not to do that?”
“I did. But now, all the threads are a mess. Ravenna’s thread is tangled with Hunter’s, and I don’t know if there will be any untangling.” Petty closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“No, no. We can’t have that. That does not end with a Happily Ever After!” Jonquil cried. “Not for anyone. Zeva goes with Hunter.”
“Wait, she does?” Bluebonnet asked.
“Do keep up.” Jonquil sighed. “After she goes to Fairy Godmother Academy.”
“At least she’s on the way. That will help.” Bluebonnet nodded and then fidgeted with the hem of her dress.
“What did you do?” Petty asked when she noticed her sister fidgeting.
“I might have made things worse. Or I could’ve helped,” she said hopefully.
“Bon-Bon.” Petty eyed her.
“Fine. I told Hansel that he should meander up to the dark castle and see if Ravenna needs any help. With. You know. Anything.”
Jonquil cackled. “Ravenna is going to lose her mind.” Bluebonnet lifted her chin. “I wasn’t trying to matchmake, but they’re both lonely. I thought maybe they could. I dunno. Have some fun together.”
Petty patted her shoulder. “That’s a lovely idea, Bon-Bon. I’m sure you were trying to help, and maybe this will be the thing that helps to untangle all these threads. Where are we with the Roderick and Gwen situation?”
“We’re leaving it alone. For now. Gwen specifically asked us to,” Jonquil said.
“When has that ever stopped us?” Bluebonnet demanded to know.
“Eh, well. We could give it a minute. Lucky asked me specifically if we could give it a rest. So. There’s that,” Petty said.
“Are they still enjoying their honeymoon? When will they be back? I miss them.” Bluebonnet stuck out her lower lip.
“It’s better that they’re there than here, lovie,” Jonquil consoled her. “They’re enjoying each other thoroughly, I’m sure. We’ll get a visit in about a month, I think.”
“Does that mean what I think it means?” Bluebonnet asked happily.
“It might. We’ll have to see. The threads aren’t clear yet, but if there’s a baby . . .” Jonquil trailed off.
“Then we’ll just have to get Juniper her Happily Ever After!” Petty declared. “Always work to be done!”
“Have you heard back from Fairy Godmother Academy yet on Phillip’s situation?” Bluebonnet asked.
“Not yet, I’m afraid,” Petty said. “I suppose I can’t blame him for going to Ravenna.”
“We can’t blame him, bu
t we sorta can,” Jonquil conceded.
Bluebonnet nodded. “Sorta. Yeah.”
Petty tapped her wand on the table again. “Back to the matter at hand. One of us needs to go tell Phillip that he has to kiss Zuri.”
They looked around at each other before Bluebonnet’s and Jonquil’s gaze both settled on Petty.
Petty huffed. “Oh, fine. I’ll find him.”
“Good on you, dear.” Jonquil stuffed a little sandwich in her mouth. “We’ll keep the kitchen company.”
“Hmm, yes. That works.” Bluebonnet nodded and poured herself another cup of coffee.
“Should you really be drinking all that caffeine? You’re going to be buzzing around like a mosquito from hell, and just as annoying,” Petty told her.
“No, Pets. That’s you. I need this much magic-bean juice just to keep me stable.”
“Oh, you’re right.” Petty laughed and tapped her wand again. “I suppose there’s nothing to do but to do it.” Then she put her hands on her hips. “No, I have a better idea.”
“Oh Lord.” Bluebonnet shook her head.
“It should be you, Bon-Bon.”
Jonquil snorted. “Why? Other than the fact you don’t want to be the one to tell him.”
“I don’t mind it, honestly. I’m the eldest, I always get stuck doing these sorts of things.” Petty rolled her eyes. “He’s apologized to me. A real apology, and he asked me to tell you, Bluebonnet, that he was sorry.”
Bluebonnet raised a brow. “And you’re just now getting to this?”
“Slipped my mind.”
Bluebonnet’s face wrinkled with displeasure. “We’ve beaten this to death. No need to rehash.”
“But he hasn’t apologized to you. He needs to. For his journey. Let him.”
“Fine.” She dropped her cup back on the table and looked longingly at the sandwiches. “But I’m really hungry.”
“Chop, chop, Bon. Poor Zuri is suffering.”
Bluebonnet narrowed her eyes and shoved a whole sandwich in her mouth. “Ugh. I’m going,” she said around her prize.
After Bluebonnet walked out the door, Jonquil asked, “Is that really why you sent her, or are you just trying to hog the cookies?”
Petty was offended. “I’d never do that.” Then she flashed a sheepish grin. “At least, not while one of our charges was suffering.”
Men Are Frogs Page 10