The Boy is Back in Town

by Nina Harrington

  All he needed now was a pair of sunglasses and he’d pass for a Hollywood movie star.

  Ethan Chandler looked stunning, and her poor sensitive heart did a little flip. This was her date for the evening. Oh, yes. Was that possible?

  Gulping away a sense that she was totally out of her depth here, Mari nodded slowly as she tried desperately to come up with a witty comment which would not betray her total wistful joy at seeing this man standing on her sister’s doorstep.

  ‘Um … I can see that your life as a fashion model was not entirely wasted. Looking good, Ethan.’

  ‘Oh, this little old thing?’ he joked and brushed an imaginary speck of dust from his jacket and then gave a low snort and his face instantly relaxed. ‘I took myself off to Swanchester this afternoon and threw myself at the mercy of a menswear shop who specialise in formal wear. It was a new experience. But I like challenges. And these are for you.’

  Ethan regally lifted up a small but perfect bouquet of the most beautiful roses, freesias and tropical greenery and made a small bow before presenting her with the flowers.

  ‘I have no idea what kind of flowers you like, but my mum loves these. Are they okay?’ he asked through gritted teeth.

  Mari took the bouquet with both of her hands and brought the flowers to her nose so that she could drink in the heavenly scent. ‘Oh, that is so gorgeous. I adore freesias. It’s like summer in one place. Yes, they are okay. In fact they are better than okay. Thank you.’

  Ethan blew out one long breath of relief, then thrust his chin out and wriggled a forefinger down under his stiff white shirt collar.

  ‘Comfy? Mari asked, chewing the inside of her cheek to fight down her laughter.

  Ethan lifted his head and regally raked the fingers of his right hand back through his hair. Then relaxed and grinned at her.

  ‘Not in the least. But my suffering is all in a good cause. This is our first date. I think it’s traditional for the boy to be dressed by his mother for this rite of passage. I had to improvise.’

  Mari stepped forward to straighten Ethan’s black bow tie, making sure that, as she did so, their bodies were in contact from hips to chest. Her reward was the telltale increase in his breathing so that she could almost hear the beat of his heart under her hands.

  ‘You look fine. Just. Fine.’

  She dared to glance up and blushed from neck to toe at the look she saw in Ethan’s eyes, which was positively indecent.

  Sliding back down from tiptoe to the floor along the length of his body was no hardship at all.

  ‘Every Valentine Fairy should have her prince. And I think you will do quite nicely.’

  Mari caressed the front of Ethan’s shirt, sensing the bands of muscle that lay beneath the fine fabrics. Gulping down something close to exuberance, she gave his chest one final pat, then stepped back.

  ‘Don’t I have the chance to see your dress for the evening?’ he replied. ‘Although your shoes are quite delightful.’

  Mari looked down at her snow boots, which were sticking out from below her long padded winter coat, and waggled her toes.

  ‘Ah. There’s a reason for that. Think of it as a surprise. There’s been a slight change of plan.’ Mari sucked in a breath. ‘Rosa had agreed to be the Valentine Fairy for the kids tonight at the party. Only with her arm out of action, she asked me to take her place.’

  She pushed her lips together. ‘I am so sorry about this, but the Valentine Fairy is quite a tradition in Swanhaven and I couldn’t let the children down. The good news is that I only have to work for my supper for about half an hour, and then the rest of the evening is ours. Is that okay? Because Rosa has already gone ahead with all the props we need. And she says thank you for your understanding.’

  Ethan smoothed back a wisp of hair which had fallen forward onto Mari’s brow.

  ‘Well, this is going to be a first in more ways than one. I’ve never had the pleasure of a date with a Valentine Fairy. It almost makes me feel special. Even if it does mean sharing my date with the good citizens of the town.’

  ‘Then I shall have to make it up to you, won’t I?’ Mari said, fluttering her eyelashes at him. ‘And the sooner we get the party started, the sooner we can really start our date.’

  ‘I like the sound of that even more. Shall we go, my lady? Your carriage awaits.’

  ‘One more minute.’ Suddenly inspired, Mari reached into the bouquet of roses and freesias and selected a full pink rose and presented it to Ethan.

  ‘Would you do the honours of completing my fairy crown, kind prince?’

  ‘I would be honoured,’ Ethan replied and pressed the stem of the rose into her hair behind her right ear, his fingers lingering on her cheek as he secured the blossom. Then they moved in slow circles across her temple into the wave of curls which had taken Rosa an hour to spray tight, and down into her neck.

  ‘That’s perfect. You are perfect.’

  She could not resist it. She giggled. A proper girly giggle. Then stretched out both of her hands and gently clasped hold of Ethan’s.

  ‘Now look what you’ve done.’ She laughed. ‘Our first date and I am giggling already.’

  And they just stood there, holding hands, smiling at one another like teenagers, as though nothing else mattered in the world.

  It had taken Ethan five minutes to park his car in the snow, after dropping Mari at the entrance to the yacht club, and he opened the door just as a great round of cheering and applause went up from the other partygoers. He strode inside to see what all the excitement was about.

  And instantly stopped in his tracks, scarcely believing what he was seeing.

  Rosa and Mari Chance were skipping, arm in arm, into the clubhouse. But it was their choice of party-wear that was the main cause of the excitement.

  Rosa and Mari were wearing identical pink ballet tutus and tight sparkly tops, waving tinsel wands with glitter stars at the ends. Plastic tiaras completed the ensemble, tied under the chin with a pink ribbon tied in a huge flower bow. Mari’s crown was decorated with the pink rose and, apart from the strapping on Rosa’s arm, they could have been twins.

  And they were laughing like loons. Real laughter. The kind of laughter only sisters and close family could create in rare moments. He had missed that.

  The magic fairy wands did not go unnoticed by the older members of the Chance extended family, who simply shook their heads and mumbled something about the crazy sisters and the dangers of alcohol at this time of year.

  He thought they looked fabulous.

  As for those legs? Those long, long legs? Well, it seemed that some things had improved over the years. Mari was about two inches taller than Rosa and he could look at her legs all night. She was wearing tiny ballet shoes with pink ribbons winding up each calf. Oh, boy.

  At least they were a distraction from the tight tops. And he was not the only one to notice. Half the young and not-so-young single men in the room had abandoned their Valentine dates and made a beeline for the girls, who were obliging with twirls of their ballet skirts.

  This was too good to miss, so Ethan resisted the temptation to reclaim his date and decided to watch for once and allow someone else to be the centre of attention.

  The local police officer won a round of applause for pretending to arrest Rosa for causing a public disturbance, only Rosa stole his police hat while he was concentrating on writing down the details of the pink garter she was wearing, and he had to chase after her out of the door and onto the harbour, leaving Mari laughing her head off, calling out, ‘Officer in hot pursuit.’

  Where had this Mari come from?

  He stared for a moment and listened to her laughter. Laughter so genuine and real that it eased its way into his heart like a great fire and stayed there, warming him through and through.

  She really was quite remarkable.

  And then she was swallowed up by the rest of her family, just as the Chairman of the Yacht Club came up to shake Ethan’s hand. Did he have a few minutes t
o talk to him and Mrs Morris about how they would keep up Peter’s sailing lessons? Apparently last night’s accident had made Peter even keener to carry on. Ethan looked over one shoulder just in time to see Mari settling down with a cluster of exuberant, energetic ladies and decided that he could spare a couple of minutes. Just a couple.

  By the time Ethan returned from supplying the entire yacht club with enough mulled wine to intoxicate a small army, he had somehow agreed to find Peter a place on one of his training ships and Mari was sitting on a bar chair, surrounded by a group of young girls listening intently to the story she was telling. She lowered the book just long enough to stare intently into the faces of each child in turn as she begged them to believe in fairies, who could give every girl and boy Valentine wishes and kisses.

  A great chorus called out, ‘We believe. We believe.’

  Ah. Peter Pan and Tinkerbell. Nice one. The book snapped closed, the mothers clapped in applause and drifted away to eat burgers and hot dogs and chicken legs, each child taking a tiny tinsel star from Mari as they came for their hug.

  Ethan casually strolled up and picked up a fallen star. ‘Any hugs left, Tink?’

  She looked up from refastening her thin-soled ballet shoes, seemingly unaware that she was displaying a healthy amount of leg in the process.

  ‘You have to be under ten and female to qualify. And preferably less than six feet tall.’

  ‘Ah! My faith has been restored. Ageist, sexist and heightist! All qualities to admire in the average Valentine’s Day Fairy. Speaking of which—I thought Peter Pan was a Christmas story. You could be in great danger of confusing a lot of people here tonight.’

  He casually returned her tinsel wand. ‘Not that I’m complaining,’ he added with a wink. ‘Especially in that outfit! It truly is quite remarkable and I am officially a lucky man.’

  Mari looked down at her pale pink pumps and wiggled her toes inside her pink tights.

  ‘You can consider this a special performance. One night only. Never to be repeated.’

  ‘Shame. So far, it is totally working. Where did Rosa find those costumes?’

  ‘Apparently there are boxes of clothes up in her attic. My loving sister gave me two choices. It was either the Christmas Wish fairy or Mum’s Dorothy costume. Complete with ruby slippers and a stuffed toy Toto that barks if you pull a string.’

  Ethan nodded. ‘No contest. I particularly like the tiara. It pulls the whole thing together.’

  Mari reached up and touched the plastic rings with the crystal lampshade droplets.

  ‘I think it suits me. Rosa looks weird. But on me? Cute. It’s the rose that makes all the difference.’

  She peeked out at him between her eyelashes and tried out a wide-eyed cheeky grin before asking, ‘Do you think I look cute, Ethan?’

  ‘You look very special, Miss Chance. Cute does not cover it.’

  Mari curtseyed, holding out one side of her tutu, and then paused and waved her wand as a family passed by, then looked at him, hard, before going on, her eyes never leaving his face. ‘There is another reason my lovely sister persuaded me to come dressed like this and make a fool of myself.’ Mari sucked in a breath and the words gushed out. ‘Now that Rosa is leaving Swanhaven to run a craft shop, this could be our last opportunity to be here as sisters. It’s the end of an era, Ethan.’

  Ethan looked out across the crowd and gestured towards Rosa as she chatted to friends and neighbours. ‘Then good luck to her. That’s a brave decision. Who knows? Maybe there will be two Chance sister entrepreneurs out in the world soon. That’s a very scary thought.’

  He gestured across to the barbecue with one thumb. ‘So. Want a hot dog, Tink? Barbecue? You’re going to need sustenance before I take you dancing!’

  Mari shook her head in disbelief. ‘The mulled wine is starting to kick in on an empty stomach. Because I thought you just asked me to dance. And you don’t dance!’

  Ethan smiled and planted his hands on his hips before nodding. ‘Nothing gets past you, girl. I thought it was time to make an effort. Show you a few new moves I’ve picked up over the years.’

  He reached out and meshed his fingers into hers. ‘Come on. Take a risk, Mari. This could be your last chance.’

  Mari sighed as Ethan stepped back, drawing her from the plastic chair, and was fluffing out her tutu one-handed to brave dancing in public with the most handsome man in the room when Rosa almost ran up to them.

  ‘Come on, you two. The line dancing is just about to start and I’ve saved you a place in the front row. What are you waiting for? Get this show on the road. Let’s rock this joint.’

  Mari looked at Ethan. Ethan looked at Mari, then he stood ramrod straight, reached out, seized Mari’s hand and whispered the magical words, ‘I’ll risk it if you will.’

  CHAPTER TEN

  ‘THIS has been quite some day!’ Mari managed a faint smile as Ethan opened the passenger door of his car, and then shivered when the freezing-cold air hit her.

  Without asking, Ethan slid off his sheepskin coat and wrapped it around her shoulders, before sliding one arm under her legs. ‘Here. This coat suits you better than me. Keep it. And you’ll never make it across the sludge in those magical slippers, Tinkerbell.’

  Mari’s arms instinctively wrapped around Ethan’s neck as he swung her out of the seat, pushed the car door closed with his foot and strolled calmly down the path to Rosa’s doorstep as though she weighed nothing and this was something he did every day of the week.

  He didn’t speak and she couldn’t form the words. Her personal space expanded to include Ethan and it felt so amazing, so precious, that somehow words would only ruin the moment.

  The movement of his steps ended only too soon, and he stood in the light of the porch. He simply looked down at her and her heart melted.

  His arm moved slightly so that her legs slid gently to the sparkling frost of the stone step.

  ‘Thank you,’ she murmured. ‘For the coat. For last night. And for being there today. I don’t know if I could have got through it without you. And, most of all, thank you for tonight. I had a great time.’

  Ethan’s other arm freed itself from around her waist to press against her back as he opened his mouth to speak, then shook his head and lowered it so that his brow was pressed against her forehead. His breathing was hard and fast against her cheek as he opened his mouth to say something, then changed his mind and braved a small smile.

  Whatever he wanted to say was probably not going to be good, but she knew she had to hear it before she changed her mind.

  ‘Look at me,’ she whispered. ‘You can tell me. I may not like it, but after the day I’ve just had, I don’t think anything could surprise me.’ Mari reached out and meshed her fingers with Ethan’s as her eyes scanned his face. The blue of his eyes was iridescent in the reflection from the snow, from the streetlights and the warm glow from Rosa’s cottage. His tan was a distant memory. His cheeks were burning red, and his lips were tinged with cold.

  He looked absolutely gorgeous.

  ‘Perhaps that gives me some hope that maybe, just maybe, you might let me into your life one of these fine days. And forgive me for surviving that accident when Kit died, because I’m not sure I can do it on my own.’

  ‘Ethan!’ She had started to speak, desperate to tell him that he was the last person who needed to be forgiven and the past was the past, but he gently pressed one fingertip to her lips.