"I didn't,” she started, then switched to, “I mean I just picked up a few things. With two younger sisters, I'm used to it."
"Well, thanks,” he said, still looking around the room with a perplexed look on his face.
Myrtle couldn't believe she'd done that. It was something Blossom might do. She was the one who fixed problems, not caused them.
Oh, this being a fairy again was the pits.
She listened to Zak's excited chatter after they'd packed up the car and started out on their picnic. She studied Gordon as he drove and didn't have a clue how she was going to fix this particular problem.
Because even though she knew a mixed relationship wouldn't work, she didn't want to give him up. But she couldn't think of a way to keep seeing him..
"...and then Billy, he said, well, my sister eats boogers, and we all laughed and laughed,” Zak was saying.
Myrtle made the appropriate gagging noises, much to Zak's delight.
Gordon reached over and gave her hand a small squeeze.
Really, it was just the tiniest gesture.
But Myrtle treasured it, knowing that after she broke things off with him, it would become just one of her memories.
She tucked away small moments from the rest of the outing.
They spread a huge quilt on the sand. She laughed as Gordon and Zak tossed bread to the greediest seagulls she'd ever seen. There were so many things she didn't want to forget. Laughing over more of Zak's stories and just visiting with Gordon. Listening to him tell of his day at the office, of the people he worked with. She told him stories of her sisters, of herself, not lying, but omitting any reference to magic.
"It's nice, isn't it?” Fiona asked as Gordon played a wild game of tag with Zak.
"Yes, it is,” she said.
"These are the moments I enjoy most with Bernie. The quiet, nothing-very-special, but very special nonetheless sort of moments."
"But in your case, you have years of those kind of moments to look forward to. This is it for Gordon and me."
"Why?” Fiona asked.
"Because we come from two different worlds."
"You don't have to. Nothing says you have to go back to Fairyland."
"Not go back,” she murmured.
It was a new and dangerous thought. After all, her sisters needed her.
The moment she thought it, she knew it wasn't true. They didn't need her. They were doing fine on their own.
"Can I go back?” Myrtle whispered, more to herself than to Fiona.
"I wasn't sure you were brave enough to ask yourself that question,” Fiona said. “Things have changed, and I wasn't sure you'd recognize how much."
"Blossom and Fern have changed. I know we all said we were just staying a while longer, but I don't think either of them are coming back, at least not to being fairy godmothers."
"Have you asked them?"
"No. We haven't talked since Bernie changed us back, but you're right. Things have changed."
What she didn't add was I have changed, but she had. Maybe it was all the quiet time to think. She couldn't remember how long it had been since she didn't have a fairy-case, or even just her sisters to deal with.
"What do you want, Myrtle?” Fiona asked, voicing a question Myrtle had been afraid to ask herself.
"I'm not sure. But even if I wanted Gordon and Zak, I couldn't have them."
"Why?” Fiona asked.
Gordon scooped up Zak and was twirling him around and around. They were both laughing themselves silly even as they fell to a dizzy heap on the sand.
"Hey, Myrtle,” Zak yelled.
"It's impossible.” Saying the words almost broke her heart.
"Myrtle, after all these years of being a godmother, haven't you learned that there is no such word as impossible. Don't you think you owe it to yourself to find out if it is possible?"
"I—"
Gordon and Zak came barreling to the blanket and sat down. Zak was shrieking with glee. He threw his arms around Myrtle's neck and screamed, “Save me."
Before she knew what happened, she and Zak were paired against Gordon, the three of them running around the beach, laughing.
This, her heart whispered.
This is what she wanted.
Was it possible, after all?
She had to talk to her sisters first.
Then she'd talk to Gordon.
How would he feel about dating a fairy?
Chapter Twenty-One
Blossom
One week.
One week from now the play would open.
It was scheduled to run for two weeks, and after that...
Blossom stared glumly at Rom who was busy berating some poor stage hand.
...after that, she'd have to go back to being a fairy godmother and making other people happy.
"A penny for your thoughts,” Herbert said as he sat next to her.
She smiled at the older man. He'd been a good friend to her, and now that she was a fairy again, she might be able to pay him back. She hadn't forgotten his problems with Stella. “One more week and the show starts."
"I know,” he said. “A lot of ladies from the home are planning to be here opening night."
"And Stella?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I don't think so, dear."
"Maybe I can help."
He patted her shoulder. “It's nice of you to want to, but I don't think there's any help for Stella. Sometimes you can't change the way things are."
But sometimes you can, Blossom thought.
Especially if you were a fairy.
"Uh oh, here comes your young man. I think I'll just make myself scarce,” Herbert said.
He was gone before Blossom could protest that Rom wasn't hers.
Oh, maybe there was some chemistry between them, but that was before, when she was human. Now, she was just a fairy playing at being a human for a few more precious weeks, until the play was over and she went home.
Only problem was, Fairyland didn't feel like home anymore.
This did.
Here.
At the theater.
With Rom.
"Hey beautiful,” he said, a smile on his face.
He reached for her, but Blossom took a step back. If he touched her, she'd melt, and she couldn't do that. She couldn't lead him on. Couldn't let him think there was anything between them, when she was leaving as soon as the play was done.
"What's wrong?” he asked.
"Nothing,” she said, which was a big fat lie.
As a fairy, she wasn't supposed to lie, but she didn't care. Everything was a mess.
"Nothing's wrong at all,” she said again, as if saying it enough would make it so. But some wishes obviously didn't have lives of their own, because she was still depressed.
She was a fairy again.
"Don't feed me that,” Rom said, looking more than a little annoyed. “I can tell that there is."
"I ... I just don't want the cast to get the wrong idea about us."
"Oh, and what wrong idea would that be?"
"That we're ... You and I ... That...” She couldn't think of how to put it, so she settled for, “that we're something that we're not."
"And what would that be?” he asked softly.
"I—"
"Never mind, don't answer. I suspect whatever you're planning to say will make me mad, and I don't want to go there.” He paused a moment and said, “I think we need to talk. It's obvious there are some issues we need to deal with."
She sighed. “Yes, talking. That's probably for the best."
She was going to have to tell him that she couldn't see him outside the play. As soon as it was over, she'd be leaving and going back to Fairyland, going back to being a fairy godmother and finding happily-ever-afters for her godchildren. But never getting one of her own.
She wanted her own happily-ever-after, she realized.
She thought she might have one with Rom. Oh, he was a human, and she was a fairy, but they could
make it work.
And if they couldn't?
She still wasn't sure she could go back to being a godmother. Too much had changed.
She had changed.
"We'll talk then, after rehearsals tonight?” he asked.
She shook her head. “How about tomorrow night, instead? There's something I have to do first."
She was a fairy.
Her sisters were expecting her to finish up here and then go back to being a fairy godmother—go back to the way things were.
Blossom watched Rom head back to the crowd on the stage.
She wasn't sure she could go back, even if she wanted to, which she didn't.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Interlude with Fiona
Fiona sat in one of Myrtle's overstuffed chairs and looked at her godchildren.
All three looked positively morose. If she was weighing her effectiveness as a godmother by their expressions, she'd be flunking her first assignment. But Fiona had learned that looks could be deceiving.
Why, she'd sued the three because she'd been so unhappy, but in the end...
She patted her stomach and settled deeper into the chair, with a smile on her face. She'd purposely picked the most comfortable looking chair in the house because ... Well, because she was feeling decidedly uncomfortable. Her stomach seemed to be growing at an unusually fast rate, but even Berrybelle assured her that time passed differently in Fairyland, so while it might not have seemed that long, she was probably already into the second trimester of her pregnancy.
Fiona wondered if she should go see a human physician, just to be sure, but she quickly discarded that idea. Berrybelle would be hurt. And she was sure the fairy wouldn't allow any risk for her grandchild.
Her granddaughter.
Oh, my!
Fiona knew that the baby she carried was a girl. It was just a sudden sense of assurance that she was carrying a daughter.
Her daughter.
Yes, despite the fact she'd sued the fairies, they'd made her unbelievably happy.
She sniffed loudly.
"What is it, Fiona?” Blossom cried. “Is everything all right?"
"Everything is perfect. It's a girl!"
The three fairies all rushed over, hugging her as they oohed and aahed.
"Oh, a girl,” Blossom said. She seemed to feel a special connection to this baby, as well she should. Fiona decided then and there, that Blossom should be her daughter's godmother.
Actually, all three fairies would be.
Bernie would have a fit, but Fiona knew that, in the end, she'd win.
Speaking of winning...
"Thanks. Not only for the hugs, but for my current state of happiness. I owe all of you,” she said.
The three fairies moved back to their seats and made rumblings about how Fiona didn't owe them a thing. She wasn't going to argue, but she knew differently. And she knew she was going to do everything in her power to see that they all ended up just as happy. “So, what is tonight's meeting about? You all said it was important and that you wanted me here."
"Well,” Myrtle said, back to her old self and taking charge. “I think we need to talk about the future."
"Before we start, I'd like to invite you all somewhere,” Blossom said.
Everyone's eyes were on her, and so she continued, “I know I've been secretive, but I wanted to do this on my own. I wanted this one thing to be all mine. Someplace where I wasn't always the goof-up, someplace where I was just me, Blossom."
"Blossom, you were never the goof-up,” Myrtle reassured her. “We all had our share of problems."
"Yes, yes, we did. But I don't want to talk about who goofed the most. I want to know what you've been up to. Don't leave us hanging,” Fern said.
"I'm performing in a play, and it opens next week.” Blossom was beaming in a totally non-fairy, simply happy way. “I hope you'll all be there."
"A play?” Fern asked. “I didn't have a clue what you were up to, but I hadn't thought of a play."
"Neither had I, but of course, we'll be there,” Myrtle said. “After all, no matter what, we'll always be there for each other. What play is it, by the way?"
Blossom chuckled. “A Midsummer Night's Dream. I'm—"
"Titania,” Myrtle and Fern said at the same time, laughing.
"Oh, wait till Titania finds out,” Myrtle said. “You know how vain she is about that play. Why, she'll be calling out suggestions from the audience."
"She's known for a while,” Blossom said. “She's been giving me pointers."
Fern turned to Fiona. “You knew all this time and didn't tell us?"
"Of course I did. I'm her godmother, after all. And now that the mystery of what Blossom's been doing is solved, the question is one the table. What are all of you going to do now that you're fairies again?"
"I can't leave until the play's done,” Blossom said.
Fiona gave her a look that she'd perfected on Bernie. It was a look that said, You know there's more.
Blossom obviously read the look with no problem, because she blushed and said, “That's not the only thing holding me here. There's the director, Rom."
"But, Blossom, you know how hard a mixed relationship can be,” Fiona said, just to get the ball rolling.
She'd planned this whole meeting and had told Bernie it could be a while. But now, she didn't want this to take all night. She wanted to hurry home and tell Bernie they were having a daughter.
She'd wait a bit to tell him who she wanted for the baby's godmothers.
All three fairies were talking over each other, defending or attacking the notion of a mixed relationship between a human and a fairy.
"Hey!” Fiona yelled. “That's not the point of this meeting. All of you know that you can't force love. You can't will it to happen, and you can't will it away. Whatever is destined to happen will, whether you want it to or not, whether it's a fairy and human relationship or not."
"So what's the question?” Myrtle asked.
"Whenever you're finished here, when your plays are run and your relationships are settled one way or another, do you go back to being fairy godmothers?"
They didn't say a word. All three sat there looking back and forth from one to another.
"So?” Fiona pressed.
"I can't,” Blossom blurted out. “I've been trying to think of how to tell you two, but there's just no good way to do it. I can't go back. I don't know what's going to happen with Rom. I agree, mixed relationships don't tend to work out well, but ... I can't go back. I love what I'm doing. After Midsummer's Night is over, I want to do more plays. I want ... I want to be an actress."
She was crying.
Fiona knew that all the fairies had to suffer a bit before they got their happily-ever-after. It was only fair, after all. Love shouldn't be easy. But she hated to see Blossom cry.
She tried to spring out of her chair to comfort her, but found that she wasn't springing very well. By the time she got up, Blossom was already being hugged by her sisters.
Myrtle was saying, “It's okay. I can't go back either. You'd think I'd be the first one in line to head back, but I can't."
"Me, either,” Fern assured her.
All three were a crying, yammering mess.
Fiona leaned back in the chair and let them go at it. She smiled and patted her slightly mounded stomach.
Her first assignment was going brilliantly, if she did say so herself.
And she did.
"So, you're going to tender your godmother resignations?” she asked.
The three beautiful young ladies turned and slowly nodded.
"Blossom is going to be an actress. What about you two?” she asked Fern and Myrtle.
"I'm going to stay with Les Magik, at least for the time being,” Fern said.
"Myrtle?"
"I ... I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'm not ready to leave. Zak doesn't need another woman walking out on him."
Fiona noted that Myrtle didn't mentio
n Gordon, but that was okay, since Fern hadn't mentioned Nico, and Blossom had barely mentioned Rom.
They all need just a little more time, and a little bit of a push.
She patted her stomach.
Yes. She was brilliant.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Blossom
How was she supposed to tell Rom she was a fairy?
Blossom didn't have a clue. There weren't any fairy handbooks that covered this type of situation.
She'd worried all night as they went through a dress rehearsal. It had gone wonderfully, despite her nerves.
And now, sitting across from him in one of the back rooms, she wanted to blurt it all out, but she didn't know how.
"Great rehearsal,” he said, as he reached for her hand.
She pulled away. “We have to talk. I've been keeping something from you."
"You're married?” he asked.
"No."
She laughed. After all, despite all the weddings she'd arranged, she'd never felt the urge to get married herself. She'd never found anyone she wanted to spend her life with. Until now, a small voice in her head whispered.
She immediately shut the thought off.
She was going to be lucky if Rom didn't try to have her committed when she was done telling this story.
"If you're not married, then what's the problem?"
"To tell my story," she said, quoting Hamlet. Then switched and started with, “Once upon a time, there were three sisters. They had a dream. They wanted make people happy. They wanted to be fairy godmothers..."
She expect Rom to protest, to say something, but he simply sat and listened as she told of becoming a godmother, of meeting Grace and then the rest of the Aaronsons. And finally, of Bernie's casting them out of Fairyland.
"So now, we have our powers back. We could go back, only we've discovered there's no going back. I'm not ready to leave. This play, having something of my own, something I'm good at, means so much to me. And, as Shakespeare said, That's the humor of it."
He leaned closer and studied her a moment. “You're telling me that you're a fairy?"
"Yes. I know it sounds crazy. I know that you're probably thinking I need some heavy psychoanalysis, but truly, I could have Max come and tell you that I'm not crazy. I'm just a fairy. And—"
"Kiss me,” he interrupted. “Then we'll talk about crazy."
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