“Ask your mother.”
“I will.” It was possible that her mother hadn’t recognized him. He didn’t look anything like the way her mother had described her father and if he’d told her that his name was James, she wouldn’t have made the connection.
“Did she by chance come with you?”
“No, she’s waiting for me to get back so we can go to Paris. After all of this, we need a vacation.”
“I can see why you would.” He nodded slowly. “Tell me more about your childhood. Did your mother ever marry?”
“No, my mother had no interest in marriage. Or relationships more than casual. She had to leave her family to have me.”
“But you did get along okay? You had everything you needed?”
“I did. I spent a lot of summers in Ever After with my godmothers. It’s a great place to be a kid. It was magical for me. I’m very lucky.”
For the first time, she actually believed it. She believed her name wasn’t a curse.
She wasn’t a curse.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go. We have each other’s numbers to stay in touch.”
“I meant what I said. Ask your mother if I can call her.”
“I will.”
“Another hug?”
“You’re a glutton for punishment, huh?”
“You bet.”
She allowed the hug, and it was a little less awkward this time. A little more like something she might even look forward to. Someday. She made a quick exit. This was not what she’d been expecting, yet it was exactly what she asked for.
On the way back to Ever After, Lucky felt as if she’d been reborn. She’d scrubbed all of the old barnacles off, the things that clung to her like fear and shame. She’d been able to shed them after she’d faced them.
Lucky had needed to take this journey.
She’d found herself.
She’d saved herself.
Lucky Fujiki was ready to live her life.
Whatever came, good or bad, she knew now she was ready to deal with it. Ready to be open, vulnerable, and she wasn’t afraid to love or be loved.
She’d wanted that love to be with Ransom, but she’d faced that fear, too. Even if he didn’t feel the same way about her as she felt about him, that wasn’t the end of the world.
Losing him was no longer her worst fear.
If he didn’t love her, it didn’t change her worth.
“Welcome to the rest of your life,” Lucky whispered to herself as the castle came into view.
Castles. Plural.
One white and one black.
A lot had happened since she’d been gone for an afternoon.
As soon as she landed, she ran from the helipad to her mother’s room to find her much as she’d left her.
She was still sitting in the morning sun, eating. This time, it was tacos from this place she loved in Texas. Her arm was bandaged.
“What happened?”
“Oh, I had an interesting lunch with an evil queen. It was all very exciting. How did your errands go? You look like a completely new woman.”
“I feel like one. I had some realizations while I was making amends.”
“Oh? Is there to be a wedding after all, then?”
“No, of course not. That would be ridiculous.”
“No more ridiculous than seven dwarves named after beers. Or a werewolf who bakes,” Fortune said casually.
“Or a father who came to his long-lost daughter’s press junket.”
Fortune spat out her water. “Excuse me? What did you say?”
“Oh, I believe you heard me.”
“Yes, I heard you, daughter of mine. The problem is, I’m not understanding. Those words strung together in that particular way make zero sense to me. It’s all road noise.”
“Melvin James. The one who wrote that awful story about me?”
“Why, that grifter! That man is not your father. I would know.”
“I didn’t think he looked anything like the way you described him; you said his name was James, not Melvin, although I’d go by James, too, if my name was Melvin. He said he looked for us after he got married. He said his wife knows about you and me. He asked me to give you his number.”
“Yes, give it to me right now. Then when he tries to extort money out of us, we’ll have him caught red-handed.”
Lucky gave her the number, and Fortune typed it into her phone and then put the phone down. Then picked it up. Then put it down once again.
“Ma, if you want to call him, I can wait.”
“I do not want to call him. I don’t know if I’m more furious that it could be him, or that someone would try to use this to hurt us. Either way, I’m livid.”
“I figured we could just start packing for Paris.”
“Oh, honey. I know you don’t want to go to Paris.”
“Yes, I do.” Lucky put her hands on her hips.
“Maybe you do want to go,” Fortune conceded. “You don’t want to go right now. Your heart is here in Ever After.”
“It is, Ma. It’s with you, too. I want a trip with my mother.” Lucky smiled. “It seems like I’m getting everything I asked for. So let’s get packed.”
Gwen rushed through the door with the kids right behind her.
“Oh no, what could I do?” Fortune said in a mocking voice. “Oh well, she’s here. Might as well hug her.”
Brittany wrapped herself around Lucky’s left leg, and Steven chose her right. Gwen hugged her tight.
“You’re back!”
“When I said this was temporary, we both knew I meant longer than the afternoon,” Lucky said.
“Maybe you did, but I decided it was long enough,” Gwen said.
She looked to her mother. “I thought you were the one who told me to take myself out of the equation.”
“Mm-hmm. That was until I saw that Roderick had taken on her case. Nancy agreed to be a witness for Gwen after your visit.”
“That’s amazing,” Lucky cried. “I almost can’t believe it.”
“Me either,” Gwen said. “She called and offered her apology, her support. We talked for a long time. I guess I’m supposed to be mad at her, but I’m not. Not anymore. I don’t want to fight a death match over a man who doesn’t love me. That’s canceled. If he wants to see the kids, I’ll let him. I mean, I want him to want to be a dad, but this punitive behavior. . . the kids deserve better than that, too.”
“They do. They’re the best monsters in the world.” She hauled Steven up into her arms and smooched his cheek. “The sugariest!”
Steven giggled and smooched her cheek back. “No, you.”
Almost everything had started to work out exactly as she’d hoped.
Did that mean she and Ransom would, too?
Even though she loved him, he hadn’t believed in her. He hadn’t trusted her, and while she understood why, she really did, Lucky had come to believe she deserved better than that.
She wanted Ransom, but she didn’t want any half measures. She wanted someone who was either all in or nothing at all.
She wanted the fairy tale.
She wanted the Happily Ever After.
If Ransom couldn’t get with the program, it was time for her to move on.
That didn’t mean she’d stop loving him. Lucky believed that real love was forever. It could grow and change in so many ways, and the root system was still there, nourished in the fertile soil of the heart.
So yes, she’d always love Ransom Payne.
But Lucky was ready for a mature love that would last her all the days of her life. Not only was she ready for a real partner, but she was also ready to be a real partner.
She refused to settle for anything less.
Chapter 26
Ransom Payne, CEO, billionaire, and grown man, had come home to his godmothers’ house to ask their advice on how to fix his relationship with Lucky.
“What do I do?” he said to the circle of three women sitting at their kitchen table.
“Well, Ransom. It’s good that you took that first step and admitted that you were absolutely, unequivocally, patently wrong,” Bluebonnet said.
“Should we take this to mean”—Petty faked a gasp—“that you want us to”—she faked another for effect—“meddle?”
“Hmmmmm?” Jonquil added for good measure.
“Yes, Godmothers. Yes, meddle. Do whatever you want. I just want to win Lucky back.”
“Good.” Petty clapped her hands together. “We roll ready to fight.”
“Wait, I don’t want to fight,” Ransom said, panicked.
Bluebonnet patted his hand. “It’s just a saying, dear.”
“So you three have a plan? Will you clue me in on it?”
“Hmm. You know how these things go, Ransom. Sometimes, you have to ask for what you want,” Jonquil said.
“I did ask. I asked for advice.”
“Advice is usually rather useless. It’s either unsolicited, which is the very worst, or you do ask for it, and what you’re looking for is someone to tell you what you want to hear. Let’s cut out the middle man. What do you want to hear?” Petty asked.
“I want to hear that she’ll forgive me. I want to hear that she still loves me. I want to hear that . . . I want to hear . . .” He was startled by the direction of his own thoughts. “I want to hear that she’ll spend the rest of her life with me. I want to hear that she’ll marry me tomorrow. I want the freaking cliché. That’s what I want.”
“You know the extent of our powers, dearest. We can’t make her love you. Other than that, make a wish,” Bluebonnet said.
“I’ve never had to make a wish before, why do I have to start now?”
“Because it amuses us. Because we said so. Because we want to make you dance like a puppet on a string. Does it matter?” Jonquil asked.
“Why are you so sassy? Did Bluebonnet put starch in your girdle again?” Ransom asked.
“I will thank you not to mention my girdle.” Jonquil wrinkled her nose.
“Ransom, certain magics require certain things. You know this. Ask for the action you want us to perform, please. Just so we’re up to godmother code,” Petty explained.
“There’s a code? Next thing you know, you’ll be telling me there are fairy godmother inspectors and—”
“We don’t have time to explain the OFG to you at the moment,” Bluebonnet replied.
“OFG? I’m lost.”
“Original Fairy Gangster. Get with the program, Uncle Ransom,” Brittany called to him from the front room, where she played with a potions set Jonquil had made for her.
“My apologies. Fairy Gangster.” He grinned. “Fine, I wish for Lucky to meet me at the cathedral just like we’d planned.”
Jonquil nodded. “Yes, that should do it.”
The fairy godmothers raised their wands, but instead of launching their magic into the air, they opened a window for the obese cardinal that pecked on the glass.
“Shouldn’tve eaten that last piece of pizza. I’m dyin’ here.” He landed on the sill and wheezed.
“When you’ve caught your breath, you can tell Rosebud she needs to cash in that favor tomorrow,” Petty said.
“Hold on, woman. I’m still wheezin’ like I’m dyin’. Gimme a minute, will ya?” The cardinal huffed and puffed, his little ball of a body expanding and retracting dramatically with every breath.
“Bronx. Time is of the essence. So. Rosebud. Favor. Tomorrow, she needs to redeem that favor to get Lucky to the cathedral at the arranged time.”
“Gotchyouse.” He wheezed a few more times before lifting off into the air.
“Is this the part where you use the poppets, Petty?” Bluebonnet asked.
“No, of course not. That was a joke,” Petty said.
“Poppets? What?” Ransom asked.
“Never you mind that,” Petty said. “Have you thought about what you’re going to say?”
“Yeah.”
“Well?” Jonquil prompted.
“I don’t want to practice too much. If I do, it might sound rehearsed.”
“Sometimes rehearsed is good. Why don’t you give us a little preview?” Bluebonnet asked gently.
“Basically it adds up to this. I got my company back and the first person I wanted to tell was her. It didn’t matter to me as much without her. I made her a lot of promises I didn’t keep because I wasn’t worthy. I was scared, but I’m not scared anymore and I hope she’ll take one more chance on me and spend the rest of her life with me. Starting with the date I asked to take her on after the wedding.”
Bluebonnet sighed. “You’re going on a date after your wedding? That’s so romantic.”
Jonquil sniffed. “I suppose it’s okay. Where were you planning on taking her?”
“Monaco.”
“Well, that could be nice.” Jonquil looked at him pointedly.
Ransom laughed. “Jonquil, would you like to come on our honeymoon with us?”
“Well, when you put it that way.” She crossed her arms over her chest and huffed.
“If Lucky says yes to marrying me, I know she’ll say yes to having you come with us. Family is the most important thing to both of us,” Ransom said.
“Lucky did say she wanted her whole family at her wedding, so why not the honeymoon,” Bluebonnet chirped.
“Stop, you silly old goats. You know very well why we’re not following them on their honeymoon. They need the room-room to do the boom-boom,” Petty said with a titter.
“If you could never say that again, Pets, that would be wonderful,” Ransom said.
“Bam bam?” Bluebonnet offered.
“Furgeling?” Jonquil tried.
“Bandicooting?” Petty said.
“Oh God, please stop,” Ransom begged.
“The hibbety-dibbety-do?” Bluebonnet cackled.
“Good one, Bon-Bon,” Petty praised.
“Kill me. Kill me now,” Ransom said when Roderick walked in the front door.
“I thought we were getting the girl? Why does he want to die?” Roderick asked.
“He thinks we’re too old to know about the hurkey-jurkey.” Petty grinned.
“The rumpy-pumpy, you mean?” Roderick offered. “Or would that be playing Tetris?”
“Polishing the porpoise?” Jonquil questioned.
“I’m going upstairs to hang myself,” Ransom said conversationally.
“Oh, you mean where you MOVED THE FURNITURE?” Petty cackled.
“Is that what they’re calling it these days?” Roderick asked.
“You’re all the absolute worst,” Ransom said, but from the expression on his face, it was obvious he didn’t believe a word of it.
“So, you’re really going to ask her this way?” Roderick asked. “You’re going to get everyone dressed up for the wedding, but you’re not going to ask the bride until she gets there? That seems”—Roderick paused to find the right words—“like a bad idea.”
“I think it’s perfect,” Petty said.
“How is putting her on the spot like that perfect?”
“She’s not on the spot,” Petty explained. “Ransom is. His biggest fear was having people mock him. Humiliation, basically. He’s giving her the keys to his fear, his pain, his vulnerability. He’s trusting her with all the things he didn’t before. You’ll see.”
“I’m glad it makes sense to you.” Roderick peered around the godmothers in the kitchen.
“Are you looking for something?”
Roderick cleared his throat. “Just checking to see if anyone was drinking sodas. If they were, I wouldn’t mind one.”
“We’ve converted him!” Jonquil cried with glee.
“That’s how it starts. It’s the sodas, and next thing you know, you’re dressed up in breeches and getting married behind a castle. It’s how they get you.”
“Not me,” Roderick said. “I just want some ice cream.”
“It’s a gateway drug, I’m telling you.” Ransom shrugged. “Don’t sa
y I didn’t warn you.”
“Oh, we have news on that front, Mr. Roderick. Your FG is on the mend. She’s asked us not to meddle. She doesn’t like Gwen.”
“What do you mean, she doesn’t like Gwen? No, I won’t tolerate it. She hasn’t even met Gwen. She’s not paid attention to me all this time and wants to drop in now? No.”
“That’s what I said,” Jonquil replied. “If she wanted to be involved, she should’ve made sure her cases were covered.”
“I mean, not that Gwen and I are like that. I just respect her. I like her,” Roderick said.
“Mm-hmm,” Bluebonnet said agreeably. “Because you’re not supposed to like and respect the person you fall in love with. I see.”
“Here we go.” Ransom laughed. “At least it’s not me anymore.”
“If I surrender, will I get ice cream?” Roderick asked.
“Maybe.” Petty tied a clean, crisp apron over her pink and yellow dress, then grabbed her trusty ice cream scoop and brandished it like a sword. “Sodas all around?”
“Definitely,” Ransom agreed.
There was nothing for him to do now but wait until tomorrow. Wait until Lucky showed up at the cathedral and decided whether or not to take a chance on him.
Whether she said yes or not, Ransom would know he’d faced his fears and surrendered utterly and completely to the love he had for this woman.
The godmothers were right again.
It was worth it, it was always worth it.
Another knock sounded on the door and Gwen walked in. “Did the kids wander over again?”
“I’m over here, Mama. I’m playing magic potions.”
“You have to tell me when you come over, and you have to ask the godmothers. They might be busy. Like now,” she corrected Brittany.
“They’re busy planning Lucky’s wedding. Shhh.”
“What?” Gwen said.
Everyone stopped and looked at Gwen with sheepish smiles.
“We weren’t going to call you until tomorrow. Can you keep a secret?” Petty asked.
“Oh, I don’t know if this is a good idea. Ransom, you can’t just . . .”
“She’ll understand the gesture,” Ransom said. “At least, I think she will.”
“The gesture is a proposal,” she said, as if he didn’t know that.
“Yes, and I want her to say yes. It’s the real thing, but doing it this way, it has significance. I promise. I just need you to show up in your dress, just like we planned,” Ransom said.
A Hilarious and Charming Feel-Good Read Page 25
