No Such Luck
Page 18
Her eyes widened as she counted it out, then grinned as she grabbed her purse and headed for the door. “Thanks.”
Jared had probably just overpaid, but he didn’t care. He went to his room and grabbed some clean clothes that didn’t have lace covering them, and took a long, hot shower. When he was back into jeans and a nice button-up shirt, he brushed through his hair and went to grab Abby.
Abby sat in her room, playing with her blocks. When she looked up, she stared at Jared for a few seconds before bursting into tears and running to him. “Jared back.”
“Yes, Jared’s back.” He hugged her to him, amazed at how much she’d grown in just a couple of months. “Want to go see Mom and Dad?”
“Mom?” She looked toward the door.
Jared carried her out to the minivan and set her in her car seat. She stared at him, but didn’t say anything as they drove to the hospital. He parked near the front entrance and headed to the gift shop first. He let Abby pick out a gift, then picked out some roses—his mom’s favorite flower.
When he got to the maternity ward, he asked to see his mom, but the nurse wouldn’t let him in without a code. He grumbled before pointing his ring toward the desk and made the nurse change her mind. She stared off into space as he hurried past her. A quick glance at the dry erase board told him what room his mom was in, and he stopped outside the door.
He took a deep breath. “Ready, Abby?”
“Ready.” She hugged the stuffed elephant tightly to her as Jared opened the door.
Jared’s dad saw him first and stood, knocking his laptop to the floor. “You’re back.”
“Yes, I am.” Jared put Abby down and let her run to her dad. He stepped past the curtain and found his mom lying in bed, holding a tiny baby in her arms. “Hey, Mom.”
Her hand flew to her mouth as she gasped. “Jared?”
Jared stepped past the medical equipment and small bassinet so he could hug his mom tightly. “I can’t believe I missed everything.”
“How can you be back? We thought you were gone forever. When Megan’s grandma showed up at our house, I believed the worst.” His dad’s voice was rough as he fought his emotions.
“I was fine. Just trapped. We finally found a way back, and we got home about an hour ago.” Jared stared at his little brother. “Can I hold him?”
“Of course.” His mom handed Jared the baby and smiled through her tears. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
Jared didn’t answer as he stared at his brother’s delicate features. “What’s his name?”
“We haven’t named him yet. We hoped that you’d be here to help, but when you didn’t come home, we had a hard time deciding.”
Thoughts of a tiny leprechaun baby with a red beard and large green eyes filled Jared’s mind. The baby who had just helped save Megan and the entire fairy world. “What about Isaac?”
“That’s one name your mom and I had discussed, but we weren’t sure if it fit. But if that’s what you want, I think it works great. What do you think, honey?”
His mom smiled. “I think it’s perfect.”
ONE YEAR LATER
MEGAN
I stared at myself in the mirror and smiled. The day I’d never thought would come was here. I pushed my veil out of the way and reapplied some lipstick.
Giggles erupted behind me as Maddie ran past, chasing our mini unicorn, Muffins. Although, now that we were in the fairy world again, the unicorn was growing larger every day.
“Okay, Maddie. What do you think?” I turned and smoothed out my long wedding gown.
She stopped chasing Muffins and turned to look. “You look pretty. But I still think you need a crown.”
I laughed. “I wore one for long enough already. It’s someone else’s turn.”
Mom held up the shoes she’d been looking for. “Here you go. Did you need anything else?”
“I don’t know. What am I forgetting?” I turned to look at her. “I have the rings, my dress, my veil, the shoes. Anything else?” I was never this nervous. Ever. I’d battled big monsters and excelled at every sport I played. Yes, I got scared, but nothing like this. And it was silly. It was Jared, after all.
Mom hugged me gently so she wouldn’t ruin my dress. “Sweetie, you’ll be fine. You’re getting married among your friends. O’Malley’s gone, remember? Nothing bad is going to happen.”
I took a deep breath. “You’re right. Thanks. Have you seen Beth?”
“Last I saw her, she was sneaking away with Adam.” She sighed. “One of these days, he’ll grow up and marry the girl.”
“Yeah, right.” I lifted my skirts so I could slip the shoes on. “Let’s do this.”
We made our way to the back of the castle with Maddie and William running behind us. I barely had time to move before Muffins darted past me.
Mom took William with her to sit in the front, and I waited for my turn to go down the aisle. Dad came out of the castle and stopped when he saw me.
“Could this be my little girl? When did you grow up?” He hugged me tightly and didn’t let go for a few seconds. “I have to say, I’m thrilled we’re holding the wedding here. I’ve wanted to come ever since I was young, but your grandma never let me.”
“It was the only way to let Louie and all my other fairy friends attend my wedding. Besides, all my friends back home are off at college. This works great.” I’d planned to have the wedding near our house, but when the fairy queen, Catriona, offered to perform the wedding, I knew I couldn’t turn her down.
“The Wedding March” began, and Maddie walked down the aisle first, throwing handfuls of rose petals as she went. A fairy flew past, and Maddie stopped to watch until Grandma urged her on. I tried to get the small fairies to take time off from gardening while we held the wedding, but they insisted they needed to collect the nectar from the flowers.
Dad took my arm, and we walked slowly behind Maddie. I smiled at all my friends as I walked past. Jared’s best friend, Matt, still looked a little dazed as he stood next to Adam and Jared up in front. He’d known about my luck, but convincing him that this place actually existed was a whole different story.
Colin and Alleya sat next to Eoin, Íosác, and Patrika. Jared’s parents were in the next row, and had the same dazed look as Matt. It had taken a lot to convince them to let us make this happen. The only way we’d appeased them was to let them throw a huge reception when we got back into town.
When we reached the front, I stood next to Jared, and Dad went to sit next to Mom and William. Beth winked from the stage, making me giggle.
Queen Catriona stood and smiled out at the audience. “Welcome to today’s celebration of the union between Jared Larson and Megan Crenshaw. It is our pleasure to hold the ceremony in this humble garden. Many of you here know Megan and Jared from your town in the human world, while others know them as the fairy king and queen.”
A small murmur ran through our families and friends. Jared must have forgotten to tell his friends about that part. Not that I blamed him.
“Normally, I would be the one to perform the wedding, but as a token of our peace between races, I have asked Louie to take my place.”
I teared up as Louie stood beside the queen. His usual green suit was replaced by a white suit and top hat. His eyes no longer carried the mischievous glint I’d known so well. He smiled proudly and opened the small book he held.
“I’m going to keep this short and simple, since I can’t compete with the beautiful words our queen spoke. Jared, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife as long as you both shall live?”
“I do.” Jared smiled, and his eyes lit up.
“Megan, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband as long as you both shall live?”
“I do.” I felt like I was going to burst with excitement. The nerves from before had completely left, and I knew this was exactly where I wanted to be and he was the exact person I wanted to be with.
“By the power vested in me by th
e Fairy Queen, Catriona, I now pronounce you, Megan and Jared, as husband and wife lawfully wedded before God. You may kiss the bride to seal your union.”
Jared leaned down and kissed me with a tenderness that made my knees go weak. I barely registered the crowd cheering wildly around us, or the fairies dropping fairy dust over our heads. When he pulled away, I wanted to capture that moment and keep it forever and ever.
Because seconds later, chaos broke out. Someone had forgotten to tie Muffins up, and the mini unicorn—who was not so mini anymore—charged through the crowd and ran straight for the dessert table. The large wedding cake blew up and flew everywhere, landing on the guests. The fairies started dive bombing the unicorn, screaming at him for messing up their beautiful flowers.
Guests stood and ran for the castle to get away from the creatures. Within minutes, our beautiful wedding had been turned into a madhouse. I could have gotten angry, or thrown a fit, but I just started laughing.
Jared wiped the frosting off my cheek and joined in with me. Beth rolled her eyes at our craziness and grabbed Adam’s hand before running back to the castle with him, and the twins chased after Muffins to try to stop her from destroying anything else.
“Would you kindly clean this up, Jared?” I asked after I was finally able to breathe.
“Of course, my darling.” Jared waved his hand, and the mess disappeared. “I suppose you don’t want to go into the reception looking like that?”
I looked down at my dress. “I’m thinking that’s a no. Although, I hear cake dresses are all the rage this year.”
“Perfect. We’ll be completely in style. No? Okay, fine.” He waved his hand again, and my dress was spotless.
“Thank you. That ring comes in handy, doesn’t it?” I turned to climb down off the stage, and he caught up to take my hand.
“Well, since your magic is gone, and luck only goes so far, I figure I’ll keep it and enjoy it while I can.” He led me into the banquet hall where our guests waited.
After the reception, it was time to say our good-byes. Jared’s parents were done with fairies and left first, but were gracious enough to give the excuse that it was because they had last-minute preparations to make for the reception. Jared’s new little brother, Isaac, was an absolute doll, and Abby was so cute in her little princess dress. She was still shy around me, but I hoped that would change soon.
Colin and his friends were next to leave. Adam and Beth would be going with him. Colin had promised to let them visit in return for them teaching him archery. I hated to have Beth go, since we hadn’t seen much of each other in the last year. She had stayed home to go to the local college in Twin Falls, while I’d gone with Jared to college in Washington.
Louie’s family wouldn’t be going anywhere, now that he was an advisor to the queen, along with Ethan. Catriona knew she was born from Íosác’s laugh, and even had a touch of luck in her. Things just seemed to go right around her all the time. Well, except for where Muffins was concerned.
Soon, it was just my family left. Jared walked over to the table where Maddie sat. He spoke softly, but whatever it was he said made her bounce up and down.
He handed her his wand and walked away. Oh, no. I hurried over just as she giggled and ran straight for the door. Mom looked at Jared in horror and ran past me to go find Maddie.
“Uh, would you like to tell me why you gave my sister Merlin’s wand?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t need it anymore, and I didn’t like having it near my ring. It was too much power. Besides, she promised me she wouldn’t use it until she was older.”
I smacked my forehead. “You realize she’s the one who wished Muffins into existence, right?”
“Oh. Right. Maybe we should warn your mom.”
Mom came inside, frazzled. “I think Maddie just tripled the amount of garden fairies that were in the garden. Are you sure you can’t just keep the wand for a little longer?”
“I guess we didn’t have to warn her. Sorry, Mrs. C., but I needed to keep it away from my ring, and I figured Maddie would be a good guardian for it. Maybe you should lock it up until she needs it.” Jared checked his watch. “Megan, we should get going. Our flight leaves in a few hours.”
“Oh, right. Mom, you remember how to get out of here?”
“The queen is helping us get home. You two go ahead.” She kissed my cheek and gave Jared a hug. “Stay out of trouble.”
That’s exactly what we planned to do. We were going to travel the world using actual airplanes, hotels, and just a hint of luck and magic.
Also by Jaclyn Weist
The Luck Series
Stolen Luck
Twist of Luck
Best of Luck
More Than Just Luck
No Such Luck
Just My Luck
Lost in a Fairy Tale
Timeless
Fearless
Endless
Gates of Atlantis (Middle Grade)
Magicians of the Deep
Celtic Fairy Tale Romances
Leana
Keela
Jaclyn is an Idaho farm girl who grew up loving to read. She developed a love for writing at a young age and published her first book in 2013. She met her husband, Steve, at BYU, and they have six happy, crazy children who encourage her to keep writing. After owning a bookstore and running away to have adventures in Australia, they settled back down in their home in Utah. Jaclyn now spends her days herding her kids to various activities and trying to remember what she was supposed to do next. Her books include; Endless: A Modern Cinderella Tale; Timeless; Fearless; Magicians of the Deep; Leana; Keela; and the Luck series, which helped feed her obsession with all things Irish. You can learn more about her at www.jaclynweist.com
If you want to know more about Colin and his adventures, you should check out the Gates of Atlantis!