The Truth About Fairy Tales

by Annie Walker

  “I know, but he’s different, and you can deny it all you want. You ain’t fooling anyone. All of the others were weak. You could tell them what to do and they’d do it. This one ain’t weak and he’s definitely not the type to let you call all the shots. He’s different, so you might as well admit it. And I’m pretty sure I just lost my partner.”

  “This conversation is ridiculous. I have five more months left before I’m finished with school and then I’ll be back here, so don’t you get any ideas.”

  “Uh huh. You just keep telling yourself that, but don’t except me to believe it. Not that I would mind one little bit, Maggie. I want you to be happy and if Jackson Riley can do that then wherever you end up will be fine with me. To be honest, Maggie, you know I’ve never expected you to go through with that plan of yours to join my firm in the first place. I never believed you would when you made that little promise in the first place. I always figured you’d grow tired of that idea a long time ago and find yourself some fancy firm in Austin.”

  “I want to be your partner, Lee. I’ve been working my whole life for this. No man, no matter who he is, is going to change that for me. It’s too important to me.”

  “Maggie, you’re about to find out when you love someone things change. It’s just a part of life, honey. Your whole world is turned upside down. I felt that same way the second I met that wonderful woman in there.”

  That surprised me enough to take all of my anger away. Lee never talked to me about his feelings for Gran before. He’d always kept them secret, although, I have to confess I’d always wondered. I mean, he looked for reasons to spend time with us. The only thing I knew without a shadow of a doubt was that he and my grandmother were friends. Good friends, that’s for sure, but just friends. Now I wasn’t so sure.

  “You love Gran? You never told me you loved her. Gran never mentioned…”

  “No I just about bet she didn’t. I told Sarah a long time ago how I felt about her. I’ve been waiting patiently ever since for her. I don’t know why she’s holding out, really. She tells me she’s too old to get married again. She tells me it isn’t possible to find love twice in a lifetime and I tell her that’s crazy. You have to take the opportunities the good Lord gives you and not be afraid of them.”

  “I don’t know what to say. I guess I’ve always thought of the two of you as just really good friends.”

  “Well, honey, we are that and a whole lot more to each other. You don’t need to say anything, but maybe that you don’t mind too much. Your grandmother would hate the thought of our relationship, whatever it is, making you unhappy. I know we never talked about this stuff before, Maggie, and I guess that was because I still think of you as my child, and well, you don’t talk about some things with your kids. I’m not sure why I’m telling you now except that maybe I want you to be okay with this. Are you okay with it, Maggie?”

  The old Maggie would have snorted at the thought of my two favorite people in the world falling in love, but the new me went easily into his open arms

  “I think it’s just wonderful. It’s perfect. You know I’m crazy about you. I’d like nothing better than for you to be officially part of our family. You’ve been the only father I’ve ever known. I’d like nothing better than for you and Gran to share your lives, but you’re right about one thing. She’s one stubborn lady. It will take some convincing to talk her into marrying you. But don’t give up, okay?”

  He patted my shoulder, unaccustomed to so much affection from me. “Yeah, I know she’s a hard nut to crack, kind of like her granddaughter. That guy of yours had better have a whole lot of determination and patience in him is all I can say.”

  That left me speechless again. I didn’t want to consider Jackson as my guy. I couldn’t. He was just someone I was with for the moment. It meant nothing to me more than that. I wouldn’t let it mean anything, because I had plans. My future was here with Lee and Gran. Bright, promising—the perfect career. I wouldn't wait around for Jackson to choose me over all those other women past, present future in his life.

  I stayed outside for a long time after Lee left. What was wrong here? What had the two people who I cared about so much really seen in me lately? Were they simply seeing all the unusual behavior that I’d exhibited since meeting him, which I hated to admit, was so completely out of character for me that I hardly recognized myself. I could only imagine what the two people who were my family must be thinking.

  If I was being honest, and I should at least be that with myself, I hadn’t been acting like me since that first night I’d met him. Was I changing, or was it simply the effects of someone so unexpected like Jackson on me? If it was more than that, if it wasn’t just the sex, then where did that leave all my well-planned-out goals for my life? I’d tried to convince myself, Jackson, my grandmother and Lee that nothing had changed, but that wasn’t the case. I was only kidding myself and not doing a very good job of it at that. I wasn’t the same—physically, emotionally. I’d changed and there was no returning to that old Maggie, no matter how desperate I might be to prove to everyone including myself that I could have it all. I no longer believed that. I no longer wanted it all. I only wanted…

  The screen door closed gently. I turned to see Jackson’s dark silhouette against my grandmother’s porch light and I tried to kill the uncertainty growing inside of me. All of my new unwelcome awareness and, yes, longings returned.

  “Maggie?” I caught the questions in his voice that I couldn’t answer. I could only pray that he didn’t have any idea just how lost I felt at this moment.

  “Hi.” I went all too easily into his arms. I let him hold me close and nothing in the world felt more right than being here in the only place that I could ever remember calling home with the man that had changed my life more than I could ever allow him to know.

  “You’re grandmother sent me out to find you. She’s ready to turn in—her words not mine,” he said when I pulled away from him. “Come inside and tell her goodnight.”

  My grandmother was standing in the doorway waiting for me when Jackson and I walked back inside.

  “There you are. Did Lee go home?” I could only nod in the face of her intense gaze.

  “Well, I’m off to bed. You kids stay up as long as you like.” She kissed my cheek and gave me one of her little hugs before turning to Jackson. I could almost swear I saw some little acknowledgement pass between them. Something along the lines of co-conspirators up to no good. They’d been talking about me I was almost certain of it.

  After she’d gone to bed, Jackson and I stayed up for a long time talking. “I like your grandmother, little bit. She’s a lot like you? Straight-forward, honest…caring.”

  I didn’t know how to answer him. I didn’t believe I was any of those things. In my eyes, I was still that scared, frightened little girl I’d been for so long, hiding in her secret place, waiting for life to knock her down again and take away her happiness.

  “Come on, we should probably turn in as well.” I suspected as he helped me to my feet, this was going to be Jackson’s new favorite saying.

  He stopped in front of my door and looked down at me. I didn’t want to let him go. I didn’t understand all of this need inside of the new Maggie. I’d never been this taken aback by anyone before.

  Jackson kissed me, which was nothing but a mistake, feeling the way that I did. I couldn’t stop my reaction to him any more than I could keep from returning his kiss with all of this new gentle wanting inside of me.

  “Maggie,” he whispered against my ear when he was the strong one again and ended the kiss before it went any further down the forbidden path. “You know we can’t do this, don’t you?”

  “Why not?” I answered and pulled him closer, thrilled by the way I could feel him waver just a little. He wanted this as much as I did, but he was the strong one.

  “Because we’re in your grandmother’s house and she’d never forgive me if she found out. She wouldn’t exactly approve of me deflowering her
little girl.”

  This captured my full attention and had me wondering just how much Jackson had guessed about that first night.

  “Go inside and we’ll talk until you get sleepy.” He came into my room, smiling at my little girl white painted furniture with canopy bed. “Get ready for bed. I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep.”

  I started to undress, not really thinking about what I was doing, when he stopped me. “Maggie, what do you think you’re doing? How strong do you think I am?”

  I looked up at him confused. He’d seen me wearing absolutely nothing more times, than I could remember. What was the problem now?

  He pointed toward the bathroom. “Go in there and undress before I change my mind and forget where we are or how I’m trying very hard to make a good impression on your grandmother.”

  Jackson held me while I tried to fall asleep that night, but being close to him even though he was still fully dressed and laying above the covers was making sleep the last thing on my mind.

  “So what did you and Lee talk about?” I asked while stifling a yawn. “It must have been some talk because you guys were certainly gone long enough.”

  “That, my sweet Mary Margaret, is for me to know.” I tried to pull away from him to argue the point but he wasn’t having any of it. “Sorry, little bit, but I’m not telling you. So be nice now and go to sleep.”

  Chapter Eight

  Jackson turned out to be nothing like the man I believed him to be. He surprised the heck out of me by attending church with my grandmother and me. I’d made it a point to let him know that my grandmother attended regularly and even though I’d gotten into the bad habit of not going to church in Austin, I always went with Gran whenever I was home.

  I woke up late the following morning and had to rush to get dressed in that new dress I’d actually bought more for Jackson’s benefit than God's. When I was finally presentable, I went downstairs to find that he was dressed in his Sunday best and just about as surprised as my grandmother to see me in a dress.

  There was no mistaking just how impressed Jackson was by my dress, because I could see it in his eyes. The poor man was probably in shock.

  While my grandmother went to get her Bible, I told him again that he didn’t have to go with us if he didn’t want to.

  “Oh, I think I do now, even if I didn’t feel the need before. After seeing you in that dress, well I’m definitely having some very impure thoughts.” He leaned over and kissed me while I was still trying to compute those words.

  Luckily, Grandma Sarah came back just in time to rescue me before I could show Jackson just how naive I truly was.

  ****

  Everyone in the small congregation came by to say hello and meet Jackson. I think no one expected me to be there with someone like him, which only proved how mismatched we truly appeared to everyone.

  I spent the rest of the day showing him around the town where I’d grown up. I’m sure for someone like Jackson who’d attended the most exclusive schools around the tiny little building that housed all twelve grades probably seemed very old fashioned.

  Lee took us all out to dinner. It was such a nice evening and I couldn’t understand why I felt this sad. I’d certainly had to say goodbye to them enough before without all this emotion. Now it felt as if I were letting go of something important.

  That night, just like the night before, Jackson held me while I tried to find sleep, which was just as illusive tonight as it had been in the past.

  “Maggie, why is it that you never talk to your mother?” Jackson asked me that unsettling question as I lay against his chest, listening to the rhythm of his heart. In an instant, I was a frightened little girl again.

  I pulled out of his arms and he didn’t try to stop me. “I don’t want to talk about her.”

  “I can see that you don’t like talking about your mother, but maybe it’s time you did. I know what you went through growing up, little bit, but maybe it’s time that you did, to face the hurt once and for all and get beyond it.”

  I got out of bed and went to my window, looking out at the stars above. “No, it isn’t. You have no idea what it was like growing up with her. I still can’t think about it without…”

  I couldn’t think about it. Not now, not ever. I hated that time in my life so much that I’d tried to suppress it though it was never that far from me. Jackson propped himself up against my pillows, watching me, no doubt aware of everything I felt.

  “I know it’s hard, but you don’t have to go through it alone. I’ll be there with you every second of the way. Maybe it would help you to make peace with the past once and for all and leave it in the past.”

  I turned from him then. I didn’t want to make peace with it or my mother. I wanted to bury it away so deep that it would never see the light of my memories again. I’d tried that for more than twenty years now and it hadn’t worked.

  Jackson came to my side and pulled me back against his body. “Just think about it. You don’t have to make any decisions tonight. It’s just something to consider. Now, come back to bed…”

  ****

  It was so hard saying good-bye to my grandmother the following morning. I’d almost forgotten how much I missed her in the months that I’d been away.

  The drive back to Austin was a quiet one for me. I remembered too clearly our conversation from the previous night. My mother still lay between us, weighing heavy on my heart.

  When we got into town, Jackson didn’t drop me off at my apartment as I'd expected. Instead, he drove to his house, dropped the bags by the door, put sweet little Sidney out in his fenced backyard, and took me upstairs to his bed.

  “I’ve been going out of my mind…I can’t wait any longer.” And so for the rest of the afternoon, until he dropped me off at work later that night, we spent our time together catching up on touching each other.

  Jackson walked me to the door of the restaurant and kissed me good-bye and I tried not to behave like some foolish girl in a romance novel. He’d told me he and Sidney would keep each other company until I came home.

  “I’ll pick you up after your shift.”

  I tried to tell him that he didn’t have to do that.

  “I can just take a cab.”

  "No way, Maggie. I'll pick you up."

  I was on cloud nine. This little scared girl from Santa Anna couldn’t believe someone like Jackson Riley would be interested in me. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I knew it was only a matter of time before it came. It had to. I was too happy and that definitely wasn’t allowed for little Maggie Monroe. I was waiting for my old life to catch up with me again.

  I was spending so much time at Jackson’s home lately that it was getting hard to remember all the things I needed to keep with me to function. Like books and well, a comb. He’d told me to leave some of my things at his place, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t ready for that type of letting go. That meant he held too much importance in my life and after all, my days here in Austin were numbered.

  It was just a few weeks before Thanksgiving. The days were rapidly speeding by to that fateful day when I would be finished with law school and I would need to back up all my tough talk. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that when I was so in love with Jackson.

  We’d been seeing each other for months now, but my friends still didn’t have a clue about Jackson. I was keeping him under wraps, although Serena was more than a little suspicious about this newer softer Maggie.

  I think she’d decided something was definitely up and she was determined to find out what. She phoned me on my day off to pretty much call my bluff.

  Jackson’s work schedule had him spending long hours at the office and me being the scared frightened girl that I was had convinced myself that this was just his way of getting rid of me.

  I’d just about talked myself into believing he was secretly seeing Miss Monday through Friday again. At least that was the only explanation I could come up with to make sense of why I was so anx
ious to agree to Serena’s ridiculous idea that Friday night.

  “I know this guy who I think would be perfect for you,” she told me in that challenging voice of hers that made it clear she was waiting for me to crack. I couldn’t.

  “Um, really…who is he?” I resisted the urge to become physically ill. Here I stood in Jackson’s living room, talking to my best friend about another man. But then, my guy was probably out with Miss Friday Night right now.

  “His name is Drew, and you’re going to love him. Meet us at The Club at eight.” She didn’t really give me time to back out. She just hung up the phone while I stood trying to decide what to do.

  I couldn’t go through with it, could I? After all, I had absolutely no interest in this Drew person whoever he might be, no matter how perfect Serena thought he was for me. But then I remembered Jackson’s call just a few minutes earlier telling me he wouldn’t be home until late. Why not? I didn’t owe him anything, did I? I was just someone he slept with. I’d be gone from his life and probably forgotten soon enough.

  By eight, I’d just about lost my nerve as I stood waiting for Serena outside of The Club, one of those trendy spots that twenty somethings hang out at. The kind with too loud music and too outrageous clothing.

  Tonight was no different. It was so loud that I couldn't hear a word poor old Drew said, not that it mattered. The second I shook his hand I knew he was just one of those foolish boys who wouldn’t hold my interest long.

  Serena and I attempted to chat while Drew tried to convince me to dance with him. I refused and Serena’s curiosity went into full alert. I thought I heard her ask me what was up with me, but I couldn’t be sure, so I pretended not to hear a thing.

  I’d never felt so guilty before. Where was this coming from? I hadn’t exactly done anything to feel guilty about had I? I was just out with my friend and her boyfriend…and my date.

  A few minutes later, my cell phone rang and I almost lost it when I heard Jackson’s voice.