She smiled in spite of herself.
“My first girlfriend, in high school, she said that it seemed like my family led a charmed life. We were all smart, good-looking people, whom everyone liked. She said—and, looking back, I think this is pretty wise for a seventeen year-old—she said, every family had at least one person no one liked or who wasn’t as successful or something. She said it was like one person took all the family’s bad luck and held it, and we didn’t have that person. We still don’t.”
Nissa tilted her head just a little. He could be…convinced? Really? She wouldn’t have expected it. Although she had never tried to convince anyone in the Greater World before.
His gaze met hers. That jolt—again. She wondered if it would ever go away, and then she realized that she didn’t want it to. Not ever.
Her heart twisted.
“You said that I seemed grounded here, in this place, with my university and my students. But teaching is getting repetitive. And I found myself wondering if there’s anything more. That’s one of the reasons I wrote the book.” He sipped more of the coffee. “That kind of more, I can do without.”
“Yeah,” she said. “So you’re not tied here.”
“I love my family. But they have their own lives,” he said. “And I’m single.”
He put an emphasis on single, as if he thought she might not believe it.
“You want me to help you believe,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said.
“You’re sure?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said, and he sounded certain. But how could he be certain? He didn’t know what he was asking.
She could talk him to death or she could take him home. She grabbed his right hand across the desk, and whispered, “Home, please.”
And hoped that this extreme gesture would work—even though she didn’t really think it would.
22
HER HAND WAS warm. His was too hot, from that weird coffee mug that had just appeared. And it took all of his strength not to be impressed and/or weirded out by that. He still clutched the mug in his other hand as she whispered, “Home, please.”
Then snowflakes whooshed around him like a television snowstorm, perfect little cartoon flakes against a blue-black background. He felt faintly dizzy, but Nissa’s hand in his steadied him. And the coffee mug. Somehow he hadn’t let go of the coffee mug.
The swirling stopped, and he found himself in a too-hot living room that smelled faintly of cats. It looked like someone had vomited Christmas decorations all over the furniture—Santa blankets, red-and-green crocheted pillows, gigantic plastic candy canes on the walls along with family photos rimmed by those fake holiday frames that seemed to overrun the malls at Christmas time.
Bing Crosby and David Bowie dueted on “Little Drummer Boy,” and Ryan was about to ask if this was all some kind of strange dream when a woman swore behind him.
He turned, saw a round woman with red cheeks and white hair. She held a frozen dinner in her right hand and a loaf of French bread in the other. She was looking at Nissa, who was standing beside him, not across from him like she had a moment ago.
“I wasn’t going to eat the whole thing,” the round woman said, as if she’d been caught doing something bad. “I just—”
“It’s all right, Mother,” Nissa said in a tone that implied it wasn’t all right. “I didn’t mean to drop in on you like this.”
“I’m trying to follow the diet, honestly I am,” Nissa’s mother said in that defensive way that alcoholics who had been caught drinking used.
“I know, Mother,” Nissa said sadly.
She squeezed Ryan’s hand, then let it go. He felt the loss as if he’d lost the only real thing in the room. (Except that damn coffee mug.)
“Mother, I’d like you to meet Ryan Palmer.”
Her mother smiled, and then—finally—Ryan saw the resemblance. Her mother had been stunning once, the kind of stunning Nissa was. Only her mother was shorter and had probably always been rounder, even decades ago. Her skin was lighter too, and her eyes were the same color blue his were. But that smile was spectacular. Heart-stopping. No wonder she had found love on vacation; men had probably followed her everywhere.
“The infamous Professor Palmer,” her mother said. “I should have recognized you.”
“Mother…” Nissa said. “When would you have seen him?”
“You think I wasn’t going to watch you on television?” her mother asked. “I never miss anything you’re on. Sometimes I’m late to the party, but I eventually get to see it all.”
Nissa looked horrified. But her mother didn’t seem to notice.
“I knew from the way you two looked at each other,” her mother said, “that I’d end up meeting you eventually. I suppose this is your first time to the North Pole, Professor?”
Ryan opened his mouth and then closed it. He realized, in that second, that he could deny it all. He could shake that coffee mug at Nissa and say, You drugged this, and she would look at him with great disappointment. Or, he could choose to believe—and yes, it was a choice—and go with the vision. Or the truth. Or whatever this was.
“Yes,” he said. “It’s my first time.”
“Well,” her mother said, that impish smile still on her face. “I’ll bet you don’t believe any of this. My husband didn’t on his first trip. And he froze his sexy butt off.”
“Mother,” Nissa said.
“He did,” her mother said. “He refused to change out of his Speedo before I brought him. Didn’t I tell you that?”
“No,” Nissa said flatly. “You never mentioned that part.”
“Oh, how your grandmother laughed,” her mother said. “At least you’re dressed properly, Professor.”
“It’s January,” he said, and then remembered that people wore Speedos in Hawaii in January, which had to be what Nissa’s mother was referring to. That Vacation Meet. “In New York, anyway.”
“And you’ve decided to convince him to what?” Nissa’s mother asked her. “To fall in love with you?”
His heart pounded. It couldn’t be a spell could it? The way he thought about Nissa? That wasn’t magic was it?
“Mother, I don’t have that kind of magic, and if I did—”
“It’s too late anyway,” Ryan said.
They both looked at him. Nissa looked like she was about to cry. He realized in that moment that she believed he was going to demand to return to New York, to get out of this craziness, to be somewhere else.
“I think,” he said, because he decided it was time to tell the truth, no matter what he believed. “I think I’m in love with you already.”
23
NISSA HADN’T EXPECTED it. Especially now, in her mother’s too-hot living room near the frozen dinner that would probably contribute to her mother’s early death. The cats were hiding, it was snowing outside, and Bing Crosby’s last Christmas album was on a loop. Apparently, her mother had been feeling down.
She wasn’t down any more. She was trying not to laugh. Her eyes twinkled, like any good elf’s eyes did when they were extremely happy.
“I just want you to know we can’t do that kind of magic spell,” Nissa said. “It’s not possible—it’s black magic, dark magic, and the Pole neutralizes—”
“Shut up, child,” her mother said. “He didn’t ask.”
Nissa would have asked. She had a hunch he thought of asking. But he hadn’t asked. He hadn’t asked.
“You believe me?” Nissa said.
“About the magic?” he said. “Either this is the most vivid dream I’ve ever had, or there’s more in this world than dreamt of in your philosophy, Horatio.”
“Hamlet,” her mother said, clasping her hands together. “You found a man who quotes Hamlet.”
“Only when I’m rattled,” Ryan said.
Her mother’s laughter trilled through the room. Nissa smiled as well.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” her mother said. “Kiss him already.”
&nb
sp; Nissa glanced at him, then decided not to take her mother’s advice. Because the kind of kissing she wanted to do was the kind of kissing a woman did not do in front of her mother.
Nissa sent that message to Ryan with her eyes, and he seemed to get it, because he smiled at her.
“So,” he said, “is this the entire North Pole or is there more to show me?”
“There’s an entire world to show you,” she said. “May I borrow some coats, Mother?”
“Be my guest,” her mother said. And then she touched Ryan’s arm. “Welcome to our little corner of the universe, Professor Charming.”
“That’s not my—”
“Don’t even try,” Nissa said. “Mother’s magical ability is to identify magic. She was calling you that for my benefit. I figured it out on my own, Mother.”
“Hmm,” her mother said. “There’s hope for you yet.”
Nissa grabbed two coats and hustled Ryan outdoors. The air was no colder than it had been in Manhattan that morning, but the snow was drier. It crunched under their feet.
This part of the village glowed yellow with artificial light. Contrary to myth and television legend, no one had Christmas lights on here year round. If they could have made the place into a tropical paradise in January, someone would have done so.
“Sorry about my mother,” she said.
“Don’t apologize,” he said. “She’s the one who convinced me.”
“Convinced you of what?” Nissa asked as she stopped on the path.
“That this is real. She loves you. I can feel it. And she’s lonely.”
“Yeah,” Nissa said. “She is.”
He threaded his fingers through hers. “I’ll be honest. I’m deeply and thoroughly freaked out by all of this. And, at the same time, it feels right.”
“It does?” she asked.
“Like I’ve known it all along,” he said.
She smiled. “That’s just because of the myths and legends.”
“I actually suspect the commercialization of Christmas. My favorite movie as a child was Miracle on 34th Street.”
“No, it wasn’t,” she said.
“Yes, it was,” he said. “I always wanted Santa to walk into my life. And now, apparently, he can.”
She felt that tightness in her heart. Was he here for Santa then—
“And no, it’s not about Santa,” he said. “it’s about magic. I’ve always believed that love is a form of magic. The kind you get in real life.”
“It is,” she whispered. “Just not love spells.”
“I know,” he said. “Speaking of, you’ve left me hanging.”
“What?” she asked.
He paused for a half second before he spoke. “Your mother said you should kiss me.”
But that was obviously not what he had meant to say. He’d declared his love for her, and she hadn’t said anything in return.
She wrapped her fingers through his. Somewhere along the way, he had set down that silly coffee mug. Probably on one of her mother’s over-decorated tables.
“When I was little,” she said, “and I heard my parents talk about how fast they fell in love, I didn’t believe them. I told my mother I would never bring anyone here unprepared.”
“Yet you brought me,” he said.
She nodded. “Because I love you. And I didn’t expect to.”
“I thought you were trying to drive me away,” he said.
“I was,” she said. “I was so afraid that if you rejected me or what I am that I couldn’t take it. But I can’t lie to you, Ryan. From the moment I met you, I couldn’t. And believe me, surviving in the Greater World requires a lot of finesse.”
“You don’t live here, then?” he asked.
“I prefer New York,” she said.
He smiled. “We come from two different worlds.”
“No kidding,” she said.
“I meant, I’m a professor and you’re a media consultant.”
“Image Specialist,” she said.
“I stand corrected. Image Specialist,” he said. “Those worlds are very different.”
“As different as this one and the Greater World,” she said.
“Maybe even more so,” he said. “But I’ve been thinking about it. I want to keep teaching. Just in a different way.”
“Meaning?”
“I don’t know,” he said, and then looked around the area. “I think I have a lot to learn.”
“I think you have a lot to teach,” she said. “The people here need to understand how media image has an impact on lives.”
“I’m not a media consultant,” he said, his fingers loose in hers. She liked the feel of them against hers.
“But you have a lot to say,” she said, “and it’s sensible.”
He sighed. “It doesn’t look like I belong here.”
“We need you,” she said. “My mother needs you, and everyone like her. They need to change some things about their lives—”
“No one likes a nag,” he said, and she winced. Then he frowned. “Is that what your mother meant when you came? That you’ve been—”
“Oh, don’t say it,” she said. “She’s got so many health problems.”
He turned so that he could face her, keeping his hand entwined with hers. “That’s what you meant about teach?”
She nodded. “I’m losing this fight. I’m losing her.”
“But the magic—”
“Doesn’t stop death,” she said.
He looked both startled and sad.
“We can work together,” she said. “I can help with imagery back home, and you can help with education here.”
“Back home,” he said. “Isn’t this home?”
She made herself smile. “New York is home for me.”
“I know you live there, but—
“It’s home,” she said. “I don’t think I can live here anymore.”
He pulled her closer. “So if we—are—together, then we live—?”
“In the United States,” she said. And wondered if that disappointed him.
He smiled. His wonderful eyes started to twinkle. “We’d have both worlds?”
“Yes,” she said, “and I can explain them to you.”
“Good,” he said. “Because I want to hear all about this. After you fulfill your promise to me.”
It was her turn to smile. And then she leaned in for the kiss. It was the kind of kiss no one gave in front of their mother. It was deep and passionate and warmed her right up.
“I have an apartment in Manhattan,” she said.
“Not here?” he asked against her lips.
“A room in my mother’s house,” she said.
“Can we get back to New York?” he asked.
“Your wish…” she started, but he put a finger on her lips.
“Don’t say it,” he said. “That’s too close to I Dream of Jeanne to me, and that show creeped me out.”
“You have magic too,” she said.
“But I don’t know how to use it,” he said.
“Oh,” she said as she spelled them back to her Manhattan apartment, “yes, you do.”
EPILOGUE
HE COULD CHARM her mother. Ryan could charm anyone, but the fact that he could charm Nissa’s mother surprised Nissa more than she could admit. He was the one who figured out that her mother wouldn’t go to Greater World doctors because Nissa had wanted to take her to New York.
He simply said they should go to Hawaii, and have her mother see doctors there.
Of course, he didn’t tell her mother that. He told her mother that she would be attending a wedding.
Which she did.
After her doctor’s appointments.
And Nissa’s entire Hawaiian family showed up, along with Ryan’s family—charming people all. The wedding didn’t even feel cobbled together, although it took place in February, and his family seemed to think it had all happened fast.
Maybe. But she was getting used to fast. She had fal
len for him fast. He said he had fallen for her fast. And they had progressed from disbelief to belief to oh, my God, this is fantastic in the space of an afternoon.
Waiting a month for a wedding seemed like an eternity.
They had already decided to work together. They knew they could help each other, with family, with their jobs, with their strange magicks. But she figured it would all work out.
Because he had gotten her mother to see doctors who could actually help her.
And Nissa believed that to be a miracle.
Almost on par with the miracle of meeting him.
He called it all magic.
And, she had to admit, he was absolutely right.
Once Upon A Time…
Not too long ago…but long enough to be somewhen else…
1
RAINE WILKINS STOOD in the ankle-deep snow, staring over the hedge. The mansion’s golden interior light spilled across the massive yard. All of the trees and shrubs beside the building were covered in silver fairy lights, with a touch of red and green, tastefully placed to hint at the season. A gigantic Christmas tree stood in the floor-to-ceiling bay window of the ballroom, but the other windows—also large—revealed couples waltzing as if they were extras in a Fred Astaire movie.
The women wore long dresses that flowed with their every movement, their hair short and styled or long and piled on top of their heads, held in place with tiaras and bows and jewelry that glittered. The men wore tuxes with tails that added to the sense of motion.
She could almost hear the music.
Someday, she would dance like that. Someday, she would be invited to these glitzy, glamorous parties. Someday, she would be one of the glittering women, swirling around the dance floor as if bred for it.
She wasn’t bred for it, of course. She stood in the snow, her ancient boots starting to leak, her ratty (but warm) parka wrapped around her, her gloved hands tucked inside the sleeves, creating a makeshift muff. She had forgotten a hat, and she didn’t want to put the hood up because it would block her vision. The parka was heavy-duty, the kind built for a good Midwestern winter, the kind they’d had when she was a kid, the kind the weather forecasters said they would have this year.
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