by Cara Malone
The entire room erupted in applause and for the first time since she found out she’d be getting the award, Cyn smiled about it in an unreserved way. The people in this room were her family and they loved her, and no matter what Samantha and Drew had to say, or what her subconscious feared in her nightmares.
When the applause died down, Marigold talked about how she met Cyn in the middle of her own personal tragedy, beaming proudly as she recounted how Cyn had worked to preserve what she could of the garden.
“I was blown away by her compassion, which only continued as she worked tirelessly to do whatever she could to find the arsonist and help me recover from the fire,” Marigold said. Then she added with a slight wink, “Of course, I later found out that her interest wasn’t entirely professional, but if it took an early morning fire for the universe to bring us together, I guess it was worth it.”
People chuckled at that and Cyn looked self-consciously across the table at Marigold’s father, but he was smiling along with everyone else. Cyn’s father took her hand and squeezed it, whispering, “I’m happy for you, and I’m so proud of you. Your mother would be, too.”
“So, when I met Cyn’s best friend, Gus, at the police station and he told me that I could make a nomination for Firefighter of the Year, I didn’t hesitate to recommend Cyn,” Marigold went on. “She’s a dedicated firefighter and an incredible woman, and I’m so proud to be standing here honoring her. Now I’m going to turn it over to fire chief Frank Estes, who I imagine has some things to say about Cyn that are less colored with personal bias.”
Everyone chuckled again as Marigold turned over the microphone to Frank, then she came and sat down next to Cyn and wrapped her arms around her.
“Thank you,” Cyn whispered, giving her a quick kiss that half the room observed. She blushed, then turned her attention back to the podium.
Frank talked about Cyn’s hard work – including little things she didn’t even know he’d noticed, like the time she’d gotten bored and begun digitizing all the fire department’s old files. He talked about her rapid rise in the ranks over the last four years, and her role in tracking down the arsonist.
Wait til he finds out who it was, she thought to herself, but then she pushed that self-doubting thought aside and allowed herself to enjoy the moment as Frank called her up to the podium to accept her award.
The room broke into another round of applause as Frank handed her a heavy glass trophy with her name etched below the words Grimm Falls Firefighter of the Year. She looked into the crowd and saw none of the things that her nightmares had been preparing her for – her father was beaming at her, the rest of the town was clapping happily, and most importantly of all, Marigold was looking at her with eyes full of admiration and that pretty turquoise necklace in its rightful place on her delicate neck.
This was all that mattered.
As Cyn returned to her seat, everyone went back to their meals and resumed their conversations. Cyn’s dad congratulated her, then returned his attention to Marigold’s father as they talked about his impending retirement. It was the perfect distraction and Cyn took Marigold’s hand, pulling her out of her chair.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To our own private celebration,” Cyn said. “Your hosting duties are complete, at least as far as the podium goes, right?”
“Yes,” Mari said, a smile coming to her lips as she caught Cyn’s drift.
“Then let’s go find your co-conservator and tell her she’s in charge for the rest of the evening,” Cyn said, sliding her arm around Marigold’s waist. “There’s one more thing I want to do tonight.”
She brought Marigold upstairs to her living quarters and set her award on the entryway table, then scooped Mari up in her arms and carried her to the bedroom. She lay her down on the bed, the shimmering black fabric of her dress pooling around her, and then flipped her onto her stomach so she could slide the zipper down slowly, kissing every inch of her back as she went.
Epilogue
One Year Later
To the untrained eye, the garden looked as if nothing had ever happened to it by the following summer. Of course, Marigold could still see evidence of the fire if she looked closely – there was the subtle charring of the paving stones where she hadn’t been able to scrub away the soot, and the new plants had been thriving but they weren’t quite as full or large as the mature ones they’d replaced.
It was an ongoing project, one that Cyn had gotten into after that first introduction to gardening at the teen center in the early days of their relationship. Mari taught her how to clone plants and deadhead the flowers at the end of the season, and they’d spent many a spring evening tending to the garden.
It was looking really good again now, and just in time for the most important event of the year – or as far as Marigold was concerned, the most important event that Grimm House would ever have.
She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, kneeling in front of a little sapling that she’d grown in the greenhouse and transplanted to the garden this morning, when Emily came up behind her.
“I can’t believe you’ve got your hands in the dirt right now,” she chastised. “I figured you’d be running around like a chicken with its head cut off, your trusty clipboard in hand.”
Marigold stood and brushed the dirt from her hands, then grinned at her and said, “Well, that’s what I have you for, right?”
“Yep,” Em said, then waved her phone at Mari, “except I live in the twenty-first century and I keep my to-do lists in the cloud.”
“How’s it all going?” Mari asked.
“Nope,” Emily said, cutting her off. “This is my event – you had your chance to weigh in on how you wanted it to go, and now you just have to leave it to me. No questions.”
“Fair enough,” Marigold said. “I do have one question, though.”
Em let out a belabored sigh and asked, “What?”
Mari grabbed her gardening shears and went over to the bluebell that Cyn had given her the previous year at her father’s retirement party. She snipped a couple stems from it, then tied them together with a blue satin ribbon that matched one she’d secured around the trunk of the sapling when she planted it. She handed the small bouquet to Emily, then pulled a sealed envelope out of her back pocket and asked, "Can you deliver this to the bride? I believe she’s in my office getting dressed.”
"As you should be," Emily said. "The ceremony starts in an hour – at this rate, you’re going to be late to your own wedding.”
Marigold laughed, then went obediently into the house to shower and get dressed. It was bad luck to see each other before the wedding, so she’d arranged for Cyn to dress in her office instead of their shared living quarters, but it was killing her to go all morning without seeing her. Mostly, she wished she could see Cyn’s expression when she read the note.
To my gorgeous bride on our wedding day.
As you walk down the aisle, look for the small sapling with a blue ribbon around its trunk. It's a hazel tree grown from a cutting I took from the cemetery when we visited your mother last fall. I wanted all of our loved ones to be here today, and now she has a place in the garden, too.
I love you and I can't wait to start the rest of our lives together.
Mari
Emily popped her head into the bedroom as Marigold was pulling her dress out of its garment bag and she asked, “Did she read the note?”
“Yes,” Em said. “She said you better watch out or you’ll turn into a romantic after all.”
Cyn waited with her father on the terrace, her heart in her throat and a smile on her face that she simply could not wipe away. The rest of the wedding guests were already in the garden, their chairs set up in a large, flat grassy space in front of the trellis where Cyn and Marigold would be married.
“Are you nervous?” her father asked when he noticed her fidgeting with her tie.
He straightened it for her and she kept her eyes fixed on the door to the esta
te as she said, “My body is. My pulse has never been faster and my legs feel like jelly. But in my heart, I just can’t wait to see her.”
“I felt the same way when I married your mother,” her dad said. “Enjoy this day – it’s going to go by so quickly.”
As if to prove him right, Cyn caught a flash of white through the window and then the door opened. Marigold came outside in a large, lacy gown that made her look every bit the princess that Cyn knew she was. Emily was walking behind her, holding up the train, and Mari’s father brought up the rear, keeping the door open for them.
Cyn’s heart skipped a beat and she wanted to run over to Marigold and kiss her. Instead, her father held her back and said, “You have to marry her first.”
While they walked to the garden entrance, Cyn told Marigold, “You’ve never looked more beautiful. I’m so happy.”
“Did you get my note?” she asked.
“Yes,” Cyn said. “Don’t remind me of it or I’m going to cry.”
In fact, she’d cried once as she read the note, and she felt the tears welling in the back of her throat again, but she was determined to at least make it to the vows before she allowed the waterworks to begin anew.
When they got to the path that would serve as their aisle, the wedding march began to play from the clearing and Marigold hung back with her father and Emily while Cyn and her father made their way to the trellis first. She noticed the little hazel tree with the blue ribbon tied around it and managed to choke back her tears, and then all their guests stood as she marched past. She saw Gus, James and his wife, and Samantha, who wore a tea dress, a cap-sleeved jacket and a diamond necklace that almost certainly cost more than Cyn’s entire outfit.
Drew was absent – serving out his ten-year sentence at the county correctional facility – but he probably would have found something to complain about if he’d been at the wedding.
To Cyn, it was absolutely perfect. The garden was green, the sun was shining, all her favorite people were here, and Marigold was a vision in her wedding dress. They had a quartet playing live music and the Scarlet Begonias were playing the reception, and Cyn had arranged for a surprise for Marigold – a horse-drawn carriage to take them at the end of the night to the luxurious hotel and spa where they’d be pampered before their honeymoon officially began the next morning.
It was the perfect wedding, but if they’d gotten married in an empty field during a thunderstorm, alone and caked in mud, it still would have been perfect.
Cyn’s father left her beneath the trellis with the pastor, then found his seat next to Samantha. There was a little pause for dramatic effect as everyone shifted their attention to the back of the aisle again, and Cyn was the only person who noticed a pure white bird flying across the clearing and landing in a nearby tree.
Well, she was the only one who noticed the bird itself.
“Oh my god!” Samantha shrieked.
“What’s wrong?” Cyn’s dad asked as Samantha shimmied out of her jacket as if it were on fire. “What?”
“A bird just pooped on me,” she hissed, throwing the jacket to the ground in disgust. Cyn tried her best not to smile, and then the quartet’s rendition of the wedding march rose to a crescendo as Marigold appeared at the end of the aisle.
Radiant.
Beautiful.
All mine, Cyn thought.
Samantha’s predicament was entirely forgotten and Cyn only had eyes for her bride. She watched Marigold come toward her, the large gown bobbing with every step as if she were floating, and time seemed to slow down. Cyn tried to commit every detail to memory – the strand of Marigold’s fair hair that was tucked behind her ears, the birdsong coming from the tree branch above them, and the look in Mari’s eyes that said she couldn’t wait to reach Cyn at the trellis.
Her father gave her away and found his seat, then Gus and Emily came to stand beside Cyn and Marigold as their bridal party. Cyn and Mari faced each other and joined hands.
As the pastor made his opening remarks and talked for a little while about love, Cyn had the sudden urge to pinch herself. Just a year ago, she thought that Marigold had no idea she existed, or worse, she knew but she wasn’t interested. And ever since she’d gotten up the courage to go back to the Grimm House with a couple of coffees and two sandwiches, she’d been living a fairy tale.
Was it real? Did this happily ever after really belong to her?
“I love you so much,” Cyn whispered to Marigold.
“I love you, too,” she answered.
Then Cyn leaned in and stole a kiss. She couldn’t help herself – Marigold’s supple lips were calling to her.
“I didn’t tell you to do that yet,” the pastor chastised and their audience laughed.
"I'm sorry," Cyn said. "I've been waiting my whole life for that and I couldn't wait another second."
Cinderella
By Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
A rich man's wife became sick, and when she felt that her end was drawing near, she called her only daughter to her bedside and said, "Dear child, remain pious and good, and then our dear God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you." With this she closed her eyes and died.
The girl went out to her mother's grave every day and wept, and she remained pious and good. When winter came the snow spread a white cloth over the grave, and when the spring sun had removed it again, the man took himself another wife.
This wife brought two daughters into the house with her. They were beautiful, with fair faces, but evil and dark hearts. Times soon grew very bad for the poor stepchild.
"Why should that stupid goose sit in the parlor with us?" they said. "If she wants to eat bread, then she will have to earn it. Out with this kitchen maid!"
They took her beautiful clothes away from her, dressed her in an old gray smock, and gave her wooden shoes. "Just look at the proud princess! How decked out she is!" they shouted and laughed as they led her into the kitchen.
There she had to do hard work from morning until evening, get up before daybreak, carry water, make the fires, cook, and wash. Besides this, the sisters did everything imaginable to hurt her. They made fun of her, scattered peas and lentils into the ashes for her, so that she had to sit and pick them out again. In the evening when she had worked herself weary, there was no bed for her. Instead she had to sleep by the hearth in the ashes. And because she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella.
One day it happened that the father was going to the fair, and he asked his two stepdaughters what he should bring back for them.
"Beautiful dresses," said the one.
"Pearls and jewels," said the other.
"And you, Cinderella," he said, "what do you want?"
"Father, break off for me the first twig that brushes against your hat on your way home."
So he bought beautiful dresses, pearls, and jewels for his two stepdaughters. On his way home, as he was riding through a green thicket, a hazel twig brushed against him and knocked off his hat. Then he broke off the twig and took it with him. Arriving home, he gave his stepdaughters the things that they had asked for, and he gave Cinderella the twig from the hazel bush.
Cinderella thanked him, went to her mother's grave, and planted the branch on it, and she wept so much that her tears fell upon it and watered it. It grew and became a beautiful tree.
Cinderella went to this tree three times every day, and beneath it she wept and prayed. A white bird came to the tree every time, and whenever she expressed a wish, the bird would throw down to her what she had wished for.
Now it happened that the king proclaimed a festival that was to last three days. All the beautiful young girls in the land were invited, so that his son could select a bride for himself. When the two stepsisters heard that they too had been invited, they were in high spirits.
They called Cinderella, saying, "Comb our hair for us. Brush our shoes and fasten our buckles. We are going to the festival at the king's castle."
Cinderella obeyed, but wept, because she too would have liked to go to the dance with them. She begged her stepmother to allow her to go.
"You, Cinderella?" she said. "You, all covered with dust and dirt, and you want to go to the festival?. You have neither clothes nor shoes, and yet you want to dance!"
However, because Cinderella kept asking, the stepmother finally said, "I have scattered a bowl of lentils into the ashes for you. If you can pick them out again in two hours, then you may go with us."
The girl went through the back door into the garden, and called out, "You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come and help me to gather:
The good ones go into the pot,
The bad ones go into your crop."
Two white pigeons came in through the kitchen window, and then the turtledoves, and finally all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and swarming in, and lit around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick. And the others also began to pick, pick, pick, pick. They gathered all the good grains into the bowl. Hardly one hour had passed before they were finished, and they all flew out again.
The girl took the bowl to her stepmother, and was happy, thinking that now she would be allowed to go to the festival with them.
But the stepmother said, "No, Cinderella, you have no clothes, and you don't know how to dance. Everyone would only laugh at you."