“That’s not it.” I put my hands on his strong shoulders. “The Queen’s Quest taught me that I enjoy helping a person achieve his heart’s desire. It’s one way I can give back what others have given me.”
“But you helped me, and you will always be the most important person in my world.”
“And you will always be the number one man in my life. I will marry you, but I also want to continue accepting projects from the queen.”
His shoulders relaxed. “Since I love you exactly the way you are, I’ll take that as a “yes” to my proposal.” He lifted me up and whirled me in the air. “My bride!”
“Yes!”
And when I looked at Kaylee, I saw the wedding ceremony already set up. Kaylee had a veil for me, and the queen gave me a bouquet of orchids and mistletoe from the Lanai Luau.
The next magical moment brought swirls of sparkles, and we’d all been transported to Lanai Luau. Liam stood in front of the queen who held a book instead of her wand, and she wore robes instead of her faery gown or tiara. Mike Bierman and Jay Jacobs stood beside Liam, and all were facing me.
My hand was on the crook of Papa’s arm. He still wore his Christmas garb. Kaylee and Mary walked up a long, orchid-lined aisle ahead of me, and in the left side sat the entire Shoreline Sharks baseball team with their girlfriends. Along the other side the motorcycle riders from Jay’s bar sat with some women who looked like they had a few miles on them, but all were smiling.
Love floated around us and filled us, each and every one.
’Twas a Faery Merry Christmas and a Happy Wedding Day!
Author’s Note
Quite a bit of literary license was taken with the places, events, and organizations of Faery Merry Christmas.
Shoreline, Washington, wasn’t incorporated until 1995, although the name has been applied to the area north of Seattle to the county border since 1944. But it wasn’t a city in 1956 and certainly wouldn’t have had the population density implied in the story.
As for Liam’s minor league baseball team, the Shoreline Sharks, well, that’s my fantasy baseball team—champion of our league in 2008, and second in 2009 (injuries on my pitching staff). Liam would have actually played for the Seattle Rainiers, a minor league team affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds in 1956. You’ll find lots more information about the Rainiers on my website.
The Toot ‘n Tell was a fast food drive-in but not in Shoreline—it was located in my husband’s home town, Nampa, Idaho. They had wonderful food, and the carhops even used roller skates in the early years. My step-grandmother really did get a raw hamburger with cooked onions from there, which has been a source of family amusement for longer than I can remember.
Also mentioned is Dick’s Drive-in Restaurants, a Seattle chain still in business. If you want a tasty burger, order a Dick’s Deluxe. They use the walk-up style similar to the original McDonald’s. Dick’s is one of our favorite places to eat.
About the cars: Mike’s 1954 Chevy used in the book is owned by Martin DeGrazia—you can see a picture of it on my website. The pink Metropolitan that Liam owned would have been a custom car. Pink was certainly very popular that year (remember Elvis’s pink Cadillac?) but Metros didn’t come in that color.
Why 1956? Because Don Larsen pitched a perfect game in the World Series that year, so any book about a pitcher in the ‘50s, well, it just had to be 1956. Besides, with Elvis Presley’s success and the rapidly changing music scene, 1956 gave me a massive amount of material to play with.
For more fun facts about the mid-1950s, go to my website: http://www.jacquierogers.com/fmc.html
Dedication
Thanks and hugs to:
Mark Rogers, who proofread, wrote the HTML conversion program, and put everything together.
Alex Herod, the model for the cover.
Chesterene Cwiklik for providing inspiration and for being a wonderful friend.
Jay Jacobs, who swears he can’t catch a baseball.
Mike and Mary Bierman, who keep me laughing.
Martin DeGrazia, who owns (or is owned by) the 1956 yellow and white Chevrolet—a beautiful car!
Mercedes Christesen, my publicist.
Tresa Hiatt, who drew pictures for the book video.
DeborahAnne Macgillivray, who helped me with the cover and so many other things.
To JTSOD: Sherry Walker, Ann Charles, Wendy Delaney. To the Goofy Girls: Judith Laik, Sherrie Holmes, and Leanne Shawler.
To Norman and Suzanne Wilson—great friends and very supportive.
Te Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews who always gives me ideas for my next book.
And special thanks to Stella Cameron, a generous and encouraging friend.
Copyright
Kindle Edition
Published by Melange Publishing on Smashwords
Copyright 2009 Jacquie Rogers
All Rights Reserved
Cover model: Alex Herod
Cover designer: Jacquie Rogers
Edited by Judith Laik
No portion of this book may be reproduced in any way without the author's written permission, except for snippets used in reviews of this story. This digital book is licensed to you for your personal reading pleasure only. This digital book may not be re-sold or copied, other than for use on your personal reading devices.
Print publication date: February 2011
Mélange Publishing
About the Author
Before the author gig, Jacquie Rogers tried several careers. She was a software designer, campaign manager, delicatessen waitress, and cow milker. When she was three years old, her burning ambition was to be a baseball announcer just like Dizzy Dean, but that didn't work out. Many jobs later, she decided to write romance novels.
Before she came to Mèlange Publishing, she had two books published. One is a short contemporary novel, Down Home Ever Lovin’ Mule Blues, which has earned two Top Picks, Two Keepers, and several 5-heart reviews. The other is Faery Special Romances, which won the Night Owl Romance Award for Best Print Sci-fi/Fantasy Romance.
Jacquie and Ann Charles co-wrote Growing Your Audience: Workbook for Published, Unpublished, and Under-published Writers, and Nail It! The Secret to Building an Effective Fiction Writer’s Platform: Level 1, Laying the Foundation. Watch for other books in the Nail It! series.
Website: http://www.jacquierogers.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jacquierogers
A July 2011 release from Mélange Publishing!
Much Ado About Marshals
by Award-Winning Author
Jacquie Rogers
Western mayhem salutes Shakespeare!
Unforgettable! I cannot recommend this title highly enough.
~~Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews
http://www.jacquierogers.com/maam.html
http://www.melangepublishing.com
You know any Jacquie Rogers book will be a fun read and give you a satisfying Happily Ever After, so enjoy her other award-winning books, too!
Discover other titles by Jacquie Rogers
at Amazon.com:
Faery Special Romances (Fantasy Romance)
Down Home Ever Lovin' Mule Blues (Contemporary Western Romance)
Western Historical Romance
Much Ado About Marshals (Hearts of Owyhee #1)
Much Ado About Madams (Hearts of Owyhee #2)
Much Ado About Mavericks (Hearts of Owyhee #3)
Western Fantasy Romance
Willow, Wish For Me (Short story, historical)
Jacquie's website
Romancing The West
Melange Publishing
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