by J. M. Stengl
“I’m watching the gate tonight, and I saw you drive in,” he commented as the cart glided between rows of cars. Was it electric? I could hear no motor. “Is Lady Beneventi all right?”
“I think she will be after she sleeps it off.”
We approached the castle before I was ready. Kai parked the cart, came around to the passenger side, and assisted Lady B to her feet. “Need help getting her inside?” he asked.
“No.” The last thing I wanted was to make a big entrance. “We can make it from here.” Realizing I sounded ungrateful, I amended, “Thanks for your help though. I mean it. I don’t know how we would have made it to the castle without you.”
He smiled. “Any time.”
Supporting Lady B with one arm around her shoulders, my hands gripping her arms, I teetered toward the glass doors in my glittering shoes. The lobby appeared to be mostly empty at this hour. Perfect. I could see only Sten at his desk. Did the man ever sleep?
I paused to open one of the doors and helped Lady Beneventi inside. She had withdrawn into herself, her head tipped forward, her shoulders hunched, and she leaned on me more heavily with every step we took. When the door closed behind us, I heard loud voices approaching and looked up just as a large group descended the grand staircase, young people dressed for a party.
But I saw no more, since Lady B began to flail in my grasp, shoving me away, dropping my hoodie to the floor. “Let me go!” she growled. As I grappled to keep her upright, my clutch purse and the fast-food bag slipped from beneath my elbow, hit the floor, and spilled their contents across the polished entry tiles. Half of a cold hamburger, filthy napkins, cold chips, a paper cup, my lipstick, keys, wallet, and coin purse scattered across the floor.
Swearing and wailing, Lady B struggled harder and nearly pulled me over. I heard laughter and mocking voices as the crowd approached. “Look at that!” “Is it Gillian?” “It can’t be! No, it is!” “Who’s the old scarecrow in gold lamé?” “What is that horrid smell?” “Oh, gross! Gillian was sick on herself!” “What a comedown . . .” “She deserves it, if anyone ever did—always thinking herself so much better than anyone . . .”
I glanced that direction and saw Max—the low life!—laughing with the others. Laughing at me—stinky and stained, wrestling with a scrawny old woman dressed for a nightclub.
What could I say? Less than a year ago, I would have laughed along with them!
Just as I got Lady B calmed, I stepped on the pack of greasy cold chips. My stupid shoe went out from under me, and I fell hard . . . right on my backside . . . on something that squished. The burger, of course. Lady B wailed again, more frightened than ever. My first thought was to catch her, but when I looked up, a bearded man was supporting her and gently wrapping her in his suit jacket. “Oh, thank you! Gentlemen do still exist!” I gasped.
Then he looked down at me, and the rest of the world faded away.
“Manny!” I gaped. I gasped. I tried to smile. “You’re here!”
“I’m here.” He offered a hand and pulled me to my feet. My heels skidded on the greasy tile twice more before we made it to the carpeting.
“Things went kind of crazy, as you can see.” Feeling nearly dizzy, still trying to smile, I brushed at the mustard and ketchup on my bum, then turned back to clean up the mess—just in time to see the garbage scuttle back into the sack and fly into a wastebasket. Then my possessions gathered themselves, leaped back into my purse, and flew into my hands.
As I stood dumbfounded, I heard Max make a laughing comment about Lady Beneventi’s outrageous attire.
That did it. I whirled on him.
“You! Of all people to— You’re the one who made promises to a girl and got her drunk!” I scanned the group, meeting startled stares and derisive smiles. “And the rest of you, how dare you ridicule an old lady who has dementia! Not one of you offered to help. I hope you’re proud of yourselves!”
I felt Manny step up beside me, still supporting Lady B, who tried to bury her face in his side. “Even more shame on you all”—his voice was gruff—“for taunting a young woman who places an old lady’s needs ahead of her own convenience and pride. I hope you all think long and hard about your behavior tonight.”
Several of the girls tried to laugh and hurried away, but a few others looked shamefaced. One young man stepped forward. “I really am sorry for laughing at your grandmother, Raoul. I didn’t think straight. I hope she’ll be all right.” He looked at me, his eyes wide. “And Gillian, you’re . . . well, you’re awesome. I mean, I never thought you had it in you.” His face turned red. “No, I mean . . .”
“Better quit while you’re ahead, Dino,” Manny said, sounding amused. He looked down at me. “Ready?” He held out my hoodie.
I took it, looked into his eyes, and nodded, suddenly shriveling inside, my brain buzzing in denial and realization. Like a robot I walked to the elevator beside Manny and Lady Beneventi, stealing glances up at his face.
Manny was Raoul Trefontane. Better known to me as Bird-nest Beard.
We stepped into the elevator, and I stood across from him and his grandmother. He didn’t look at me. He focused on the top of Lady B’s head or the floor numbers flashing above the doors. His beard was short—I now remembered the black scruff the last time I saw him, after my across-the-world adventure. It was longer now, but neat and shaped to frame his strong jawline. Nothing like the mass of hair he’d worn last summer.
How could I have spent weeks hanging out with this man, playing sports, dancing, laughing with our crowd, and not once register anything other than that beard? I had never bothered to learn his name, apparently never even looked into his beautiful brown eyes! I maybe faintly recognized his voice that first day at the airport but hadn’t placed where I’d heard it.
What a blind fool! What a self-absorbed jerk I was! This man had treated me like a treasure, even proposed marriage to me. Sure, it was part of the plan to repay my father’s debt, but he could have refused after meeting me and realizing how shallow and dimwitted I was. I couldn’t remember the words of his proposal, but I knew he’d been sweet . . . and then I laughed and rejected him without a qualm, without a moment’s consideration.
What must he think of me, practically throwing myself at a supposed building contractor after flatly rejecting a future lord simply because of his beard?
I covered my face with my filthy hands and drew a shaky breath.
The elevator doors opened. “Please lead the way, my lady.”
I stepped into the hall, clutching my purse. I must look and smell like something a dog would roll in. When we reached the suite, I unlocked the door and pushed it open. “Maria, we’re back.”
Silence.
“Come on in,” I invited, and he half-carried Lady B into the room, settled her on the sofa, and knelt to remove my stained sneakers from her feet.
“How many drinks did she have?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I saw her drink two shots of something, but she was already tipsy by the time I found them at the Grande casino. I am so sorry—”
“No apologies. You can tell me the rest of the story after we get her settled.”
Maria emerged from her room, blinking as if she’d been asleep. Seeing Lady Beneventi, she took charge at once. Manny helped Maria escort the old lady into the bathroom, and I could hear them talking quietly.
When Manny emerged, he said briskly, “I’m headed down to the castle kitchen to get something to soothe her stomach. Why don’t you shower while I’m gone? Maria gave me her key.” He paused. “Maria told me a little, but I want to hear the whole story from you.”
I nodded, feeling dismissed, and took refuge in my room. One look in the mirror, and I just about died of horror. My thoughts ran wild while I showered, blew my hair dry, and pulled myself together. I stared into the fogged mirror, a mascara wand in one hand, vaguely uncertain what to do with it.
My chances of marrying Manny were pretty much nil.
I swallowed, f
licked the mascara at my eyelashes, and smeared a black blob on one cheekbone. Drawing a sharp breath, I grabbed for tissues and blotted the mark away, my hands shaking.
All the while, pain twisted in my gut like a knife.
I had to focus. We needed to get that magical help before Lady B could make the same wish in the morning. I needed to not think about Manny . . . Raoul . . . and me . . .
When I ventured into the sitting room, I heard voices from Lady Beneventi’s room. I knocked on the frame of the open door and said, “Hello? It’s just me.”
Lady Beneventi was warmly clothed and propped upright in her bed with Manny seated at her side. He glanced up as I entered, giving me a brief smile while the old lady’s withered, age-spotted hand stroked his bearded face. “Darling Arturo, I knew you would come.”
“I’m your grandson Raoul, Nonna,” he reminded her gently, but she just smiled and patted his beard and his arms and chest.
“You’re so handsome. Bigger than I remember you.”
“Well, it’s been a few years,” he began, but she was in another time and place.
“I miss you so much. Your visits are my life’s blood, you know.”
Her words sobered me. What would she do without Arturo? Would removing her wishes send her into a decline?
“I promise to visit you from now on, Nonna. I fixed up your villa this summer, you know.”
“Did you? You should come and visit me. I have a very pretty social secretary. Your grandfather always said redheads have fire in their blood as well as their hair. Do you like red hair?”
His gaze flicked my way, and I’m pretty sure he blushed. “I do, Nonna.”
I heard a knock at the suite’s main door, and Maria passed me to answer. In stepped a tall young man and a pretty girl with glossy black hair braided down her back. “Good evening. I’m Geoff, and this is Rosa.”
Maria silently pointed at me. Geoff turned my way, and I’m sure I saw him give a start. His smile stiffened. I could only hope I hadn’t offended him at some time in my checkered past.
“I’m Lady Beneventi’s companion. Are you the Magical-Creature Controller?” I asked.
He bowed slightly. “At your service. I apologize for not being available sooner; there was an unavoidable emergency having to do with trolls.”
Trolls? Even the word made me shudder. “There are trolls at Faraway Castle?”
“No, but occasionally they do try to break through the barriers. Anyway, Sten mentioned the possibility of fairy involvement in your situation, so Rosa came along with me. Since she’s our head gardener, she has more experience with fairies than I do.”
I returned her polite nod. “Thank you both for coming. Lady Beneventi is in bed but still awake. If you’ll come this way—”
He raised one hand to stop me. “Before we disturb the lady, would you please brief us on the situation?”
I related the history of the wishes, from before my arrival to that day’s debacle. For the most part they listened in silence, asking only a few clarifying questions. Rosa was as cool in her manner as Geoff. I must have insulted them both at some point. Well, there was no fixing the past. I could only try to be pleasant in the present.
“Do you know the approximate time when these wishes began?” Rosa inquired. “Had any changes been made to the house or the gardens?”
“The house was renovated over the winter, but the wishes started before that. I know there was a row of trees chopped off or something nearly a year ago. Lady Beneventi was furious when she realized the trees were missing, but the gardener reminded her that she had ordered them cut down in . . . May, I think he said. They’re not dead—he said they would grow back into a hedgerow.”
“They were coppiced,” Rosa guessed.
“Yes! That’s the word.” I smiled at her, and her dark eyes widened in surprise. Exactly how nasty had I been to this girl?
She and Geoff exchanged looks, and I saw her give him a nod. “We’re ready to meet Lady Beneventi,” Geoff said.
They followed me into the room, and Manny rose to greet them. “She’s asleep,” he said quietly.
“I don’t think it will matter,” Geoff replied, and I heard Rosa give a little gasp.
“There she is.” She approached the bed with Geoff at her heels.
“Where?” he asked.
“Greetings,” Rosa said, and bowed formally, apparently to Lady Beneventi, who was asleep with her mouth hanging open.
“Greetings, humans,” said a tiny voice.
As soon as the voice touched my ears, I could see and hear the speaker—a tiny, silvery-green fairy curled up in Lady Beneventi’s hair. Everything went rather blurry for a time there—I thought I might pass out. It really was a fairy! All this time . . .
“I’m sure you know why we’re here,” Geoff said.
“I do,” the fairy replied, her voice sad. “I have made many mistakes, but I didn’t intend to harm anyone.”
Fascinated, I moved closer, and the fairy turned her incredibly bright gaze upon me. “Gillian,” she said, “I’m truly sorry about what happened on the far side of the world. I made sure there were merfolk near and sent the dolphins, but I didn’t realize your life would be in danger from the cold.” She bowed her head.
I swallowed hard, my knees going weak. “The whole episode feels like a dream to me now. I-I can’t help wondering . . . Why do you grant every wish Lady Beneventi makes?”
She stared at me, her eyes wide. “Oh, I don’t grant every wish,” she said. “Not even close! Sometimes her wishes are beyond my powers or too wicked. But I try to grant one wish each day and repair any harm it causes at sundown—I know I miss things sometimes, but I do my best. Visits from her husband always seem to do her good, so I give her that wish every time.”
Finally, some answers to my questions! I tried not to think too hard about the fact that I was speaking to a tiny magical person with wings. “Is Arturo a ghost or a memory?”
“Yes.” The fairy didn’t seem to understand my question. “And when she wishes for the parties she used to have, I bring back the people and music from her memories, even the ones who are still alive. They all enjoy pretending they’re young again.”
That explained the old people at her cocktail party. I almost asked how a ghost or memory could play the piano or dance with me but thought better of it. I probably didn’t want to know. But regarding certain other matters . . .
“Why did you give me troll ears and feet?” I asked. “And you shut me up in the bathroom, and made the one hundred dogs that chased me, and took away my voice . . .”
The fairy shrugged her shoulders, and sparkling dust fell upon Lady Beneventi’s hair. “I didn’t like you then. Lady Beneventi thought you would spoil her life, and I believed her. But she hasn’t hated you for a long time now. I granted her wish at Christmas so they would send her home to you, because she was lost and lonely at her son’s house. They don’t care for her like you do.” She pointed at Manny. “Are you really her grandson?”
He nodded. “But I hadn’t come to visit her for several years, so she doesn’t recognize me. She mostly thinks of me as a little boy.”
Rosa broke in: “Fairy, why did you start granting Lady Beneventi’s wishes in the first place? Was it connected with the trees she ordered chopped down?”
“Yes.” The fairy sounded truculent. “My entire family had lived in those trees for many years—ever since Arturo planted them. I heard Lady Beneventi give the order for them to be chopped down and burned, and I was so angry that I decided to cause trouble for this selfish human by answering one wish a day. But she enjoyed the trouble! It was most frustrating. Once I lost my temper and shouted at her, and from then on, she could see and hear me. And . . . I got attached to her. She is so lonely and unhappy! When the family hired her a new nurse and a companion, I did my best to help her chase them away. But the nurse can see me and wears a charm to thwart fairies, so I couldn’t touch her.”
Well, that explained
a few things about Maria . . .
“Lady Beneventi and I got rid of three companions, but Gillian wouldn’t quit, so both Lady Beneventi and I started to like her. Now that I understand Lady Beneventi better, I know she didn’t really want our home trees cut down and she misses them.” The fairy looked at me, her tiny face sorrowful. “She doesn’t think clearly, does she? I like her so much, but she doesn’t always act or think right. I want to make her happy, but it isn’t easy. She changes her mind all the time.”
“This sometimes happens to humans as they age,” Geoff said. “Does she often talk to you?”
“Usually she likes having me around. But sometimes she forgets I’m here. Sometimes she forgets who she is, I think. It makes me sad.”
She turned to Manny. “I’m sorry about today. I thought being young for a day would be fun for her. And she was happy at first, but then that Max man gave her drinks that made her foolish and sick. She forgot about sundown and swatted me away. At the end, I didn’t know what to do.” The fairy pointed at me. “Gillian rescued her.” She hopped to her feet, then darted through the air to hover in front of me. “I’m sorry about the bathroom and the troll feet and ears,” she said. “I’m sorry I let Lady Beneventi embarrass herself and drink too much and get sick all over you. I-I panicked and forgot things.”
Staring at her beautiful, sorrowful face, I hardly knew what to say. “Your wish-granting made for the most exciting year of my life, that’s for sure. Some of it was kind of fun, now that it’s in the past and I know what was going on. I forgive you.”
A bright smile made her even lovelier.
Geoff spoke up: “Where is your tribe living now?”
She turned in midair, her wings a glistening blur. “Oh, most of them have moved into nearby cedar trees and bushes.”
“Then maybe it’s about time for you to rejoin your family?” Geoff suggested. “Your wish-granting has caused trouble and embarrassment for the Trefontane family, who have never done you or your people any harm.”
The little fairy’s sparkle dimmed. “I must leave Lady Beneventi?”
Geoff looked to Rosa for support. The gardener spoke in her low, accented voice: “If you choose to stay with her, you must stop granting her wishes. Humans find such magic frightening, and a human with dementia might not understand the possible repercussions of wishes.”