“So this is the girl, Henry? Everyone has been very worried about you, you know. You are quite loved,” said the King, his head tilting as he studied her. Finally, he nodded. “Young woman, I have only one question for you.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Cinderella, even as Henry said warningly, “Father…”
“Hush, Henry,” the King said. “Young woman, this is what I want to know. Yesterday at this time, before the ball, when you knew nothing, did you love Henry the messenger?”
Cinderella looked at the King for a long moment. She gently pulled her hand from Henry’s, giving him a reassuring smile when he would have held her close to keep protecting her. Missing the warning glare Henry sent his father, she walked to the King, taking his hands in hers. She stood on tiptoe and put her lips to the King’s ear. “My heart didn’t know how to beat until I met him,” she whispered. “And now it beats for him alone.”
She pulled back, still holding his hands, waiting for his response. He gave it a moment later, leaning down and kissing her forehead. “Welcome to our family, daughter.” Then, with a twinkle in his eye, he added, “If you will have my very difficult son, that is.”
She glanced back at Henry. “Don’t try to deny me, lady,” he said to her, a smile coming over his face as he walked towards her.
“Why is that?” she asked, smiling herself as she waited for him to stand beside her.
“Because I will never let you go. Not when my happiness exists only in you.”
* * *
“Congratulations on your HEA. I’ve just received word that the Elf King’s petition has been officially denied.”
Tiernan kept skipping pebbles in the lake, his actions not changing in the slightest with her words.
Reina continued. “I’m glad you were there. I’m not sure I could have convinced her to go back.”
Tiernan didn’t bother to look over at Reina, but he did answer her. “You are a fantastic Fairy Godmother. I’m sure you would have gotten her to come.”
“No, I wouldn’t have, because I couldn’t honestly tell her to follow her heart. It’s not something I’ve had any luck with.”
He looked over at her then and saw her eyes were raw and puffy, very similar to how he’d found Cinderella hours earlier.
He stomped on the impulse to pull her into his arms. She didn’t want that, and he wasn’t going to keep hoping. Motioning her to follow, he said, “Cinderella has her HEA, Reina, we can go back.”
“I was supposed to be your Fairy Godmother, not Naomi.”
Those words got his attention. “What?”
“I was supposed to be your Fairy Godmother,” she repeated.
That long ago day, the obvious inexperience, well, incompetence, replayed in his mind. “Why weren’t you?”
“The excuse I used was that Naomi needed the exposure, but the real reason was because I saw your picture and I read your profile. I read who you were, and I couldn’t breathe for wanting you.” The color was high in her face, but she refused to look away. She was showing him everything, not letting herself be spared.
“After you joined us,” she continued, “every time I looked at you, I felt like a hypocrite. I really thought I loved him, and after he left, I thought I was so much better than he was, so much more loyal, but all I had to do was look at you to forget that I ever loved him. How was I any better than he was? How was I any better than the sluts that surrounded you? Hell, I needed the crown of sluttiest of them all, because I wanted you forever. I wanted your heart as well as your body.”
His mouth dropped open from surprise, and it took him several moments to get it to work again. “Reina, I never knew you felt anything for me. Believe me, I never knew, or I would have dragged you into my chambers and never let you out.”
“Don’t try to excuse yourself by saying you couldn’t read me, Mr. I’m-Celibate-for-Thirty-Years!”
“If I even started walking in your direction, you turned the other way!”
“Maybe that’s because Katarina somehow always found a way to have her head somewhere in the vicinity of your crotch.”
He burst out laughing. “You are crazy, woman! Do you know that? Compared to you, the Holy Grail…cakewalk!”
Her lips curled upward in response to him. “It’s a flaw in me, one you’ll have to live with if you stay with me. I think too much, and I can make poor choices because of it. The poorest choice I ever made was I chose to listen to my head instead of my heart, and I lost thirty years with the man I love,” she said, her voice slowing, breaking over those last few words.
Reverently, he drew her to him, into his arms, into the space he wanted her to fill forever. His mouth covered hers, and his world, which he thought destroyed forever, was just like that rebuilt.
“You are going to marry me,” he said, pulling his mouth away slightly.
“I am?”
“You are making an honest man out of me, or no more nookie for you.”
Her grin was so wide he almost thought he saw the shadow of dimples on her face. “Fine, but I’m only doing it for the nookie.”
He nodded. “Understood. After we get married, we are not returning to the compound for a month, and during that month, you aren’t allowed to put on clothing.”
“That seems fair.”
“Also, I no longer wish to be a Fairy Godfather.”
That caught her attention, and her smile vanished. “After all this to keep you?”
He shrugged. “The Elf King can’t touch me now, so with that worry gone, we can do what is best for us. Think about it, Reina, just me with all the other Godmothers…”
Reina shook her head. “Tiernan, I trust you.”
“I know you do. I just don’t want that for our life, because it will always be that.” His hand cupped her face, following the arch of her eyebrow, the bridge of her nose, those wonderful lips that he’d never get enough of. Finally, she was his to touch. She was his. “I’ve been thinking about it, since we’ve been here. I don’t know why I made that wish, but I’m glad I did. Even with that, it’s not something I feel I must do. It’s not a calling for me. As long as I can help people, I’ll be happy. Besides, don’t tell me you wouldn’t hate it with everything in you.”
She sighed in relief at his words. “I’d hate it passionately.”
“Promise me you’ll love me forever, Reina.”
“Only if you promise me to keep your sword skills sharp.”
Epilogue
“Fairy Godfather Tiernan, so good to see you again. It has been a long month without you here! I see many congratulations are in order. A HEA, fully attributable to you so not even the Elf King can dispute it, and a marriage in our FG ranks! It’s been a very exciting time.”
Tiernan and Reina stood in front of Sara, having been directed to her office as soon as they arrived back in the FG Compound. No debrief seemed to be needed, as Sara had started reviewing all that had happened almost as soon as they entered. He inclined his head to the elder Godmother. “Thank you, Godmother Sara.”
“Yes, yes,” she said, waving her hand. “As you two grew quite close to Cinderella, I am pleased to share with you the news that she is currently expecting her first child.”
“So soon?” Reina asked in shock.
“Well, Prince Henry had been in love with her for years. It seems that as soon as the woman he loved accepted him, suddenly he was no longer seen outside of his bedchamber. Does this sound like something you two can relate to?”
Reina’s face burned as she looked anywhere but at Sara. Tiernan, damn him, merely got a smug grin on his face.
However, the delight and the embarrassment faded all too soon and only the weight of telling their decision to Sara remained.
“Uh-oh,” said Sara, showing once again why she was the one in charge, as she immediately sensed something unpleasant was about to unfold. “What am I not going to like?”
Reina wrapped her hand with Tiernan’s, taking strength from his touch. “We can’t re
main FGs,” she said, deciding the blunt approach was the best way to break the news.
Sara blinked once, twice, then nodded her head in a sharp, decisive movement. “Hmm, can’t say I’m surprised at that. Let’s face it, Tiernan is catnip here, and you will constantly be beating down the other FGs. You’re right, it is probably best you two leave.” Sara looked up at Reina and saw Reina’s eyebrows furrowing together. “What is it? Something else wrong?”
Reina shook her head. “No, no. This sounds very immature, but I am strangely disappointed at how easily you took that news.”
“I can throw myself on the floor and start wailing if it will make you feel any better.”
“That’s quite alright.”
Sara shook her head in bemusement. “I will miss you both, because of your professional abilities, and because I enjoy you so much. Just because you won’t be FGs anymore doesn’t mean you can’t come and visit.” Sara’s eyes brightened noticeably, and she said, “I know exactly what you two need to do. There’s this new guy up north, works incredibly hard a few months at the end of the year, otherwise your time is your own. Deals with peace on earth, goodwill towards men, you’ll love working with him.”
“Up north, huh?” Reina said, and promised herself she wouldn’t cry as she had this last goodbye with Sara.
“Beautiful country,” Sara reassured her.
Reina looked at Tiernan. “What do you think?”
“Summers off? Sounds good to me.” Tiernan leaned close and whispered into Reina’s ear. “Remember, we have to get started on that decade in a bedchamber to make up for our lost time.”
* * *
Several hours later, long after Reina and Tiernan left the FG Compound for their newest assignment, Irene found her way to Sara’s office. “What have you decided to do in regards to the Elf King, Fairy Godmother Sara?”
Sara looked up, a pleasant smile on her face, and a downright demonic light coming from her eyes. “You mean that Elf King who thought he was so sneaky with his handling of the Cinderella situation? Let’s just say I’ve had a discussion with the Green Man, and you just truly might see a pig or two flying overhead.”
Irene threw back her head and laughed. “Perfect.” She settled into a chair, her gaiety fading. “I am going to miss that boy so much. Not to mention the girls are going to be nothing but bundles of depressed moping wrapped in pink tulle.”
“Maybe it is time to reassess our policy on males joining. That is one side effect I never thought would happen when I took on this case.” Sara looked down at the open file in her hands. Two pictures dotted the file, on one side Tiernan in his knightly armor, the other a picture of Tiernan and Reina together, their smiles so full of love, secret smiles meant only for the other. She closed the folder, and in big red block letters stamped HEA – CLOSED over the cover. “I guess both Reina and I were short-sighted in that way.”
“Suggesting he wish to be a Fairy Godfather, pure genius. That boy has a way of stirring things up, I give him full credit. Moreover, I give you full credit. I’m sure that was the longest time for a HEA ending in FG history, over thirty years. The Green Man sends his congratulations.”
Sara clucked her tongue. “You can’t rush events, Irene. Precision is key.”
“I am going to miss Reina, though. That girl was so good at her job. I’m not sure how long it will take to find another one like her.”
“Yes, well, when all is done, only the Happily Ever After matters.” Sara stood and grabbed a bottle along with two glasses hidden behind a door. “Ambrosia?”
“Oooh, please.”
Sara poured the thick liquid, handing a glass to Irene. She lifted her glass in a toast. “To Happily Ever Afters.”
Irene clinked the glasses together. “Happily Ever Afters. May we all have one.”
The End
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Epilogue
Loving a Fairy Godmother Page 9
