by Holly Jacobs
“‘Cause it’s your turn,” Sophie said, an evil twinkle in her eye.
Sophie was going to be fine here. Joy was sure of it. She smiled at the thought and played along with the game. “My turn for what?”
“Time for tickles,” Sophie screeched. She broke for the left, Gabriel broke for the right, and they both cornered Joy.
“I’m allergic to tickles,” Joy protested as she let Sophie tackle her.
“You can’t be allergic to tickles,” Sophie said and dug in.
“Help!” Joy shrieked. “Gabriel, don’t just stand there, get this wicked monster off me.”
Instead of helping Joy escape, he pinned her feet to the ground.
“I’m a guest,” she protested to no avail.
Sophie tickled mercilessly, and finally Joy said, “Okay, uncle! You win, I lose. You’re the champ of tickles.”
“I win, and we get pizza,” Sophie hollered and jumped off Joy’s battered frame.
“You can let go of my legs now,” Joy said as she tried to raise herself into a sitting position. Gabriel leaned towards her as she finished sitting up, and their heads cracked. “Ow,” Joy squealed. She began to rub the offended spot.
“Let me look,” Gabriel said, reaching for her head with his left hand even as his right massaged his own injured skull.
“Kiss it, Daddy. Make it better like you make my boo-boos better,” Sophie prompted.
“Would you like a kiss, Joy?” Gabriel asked.
Her heart kicked into hyper-drive. “Kiss?”
His hand pushed hers aside as he massaged the small bump. “Would you like me to kiss your boo-boo like I kiss Sophie’s?”
“I don’t think I need a kiss.” Joy’s voice sounded foreign to her ears. What she wanted to say was, oh, yes, I’d like you to start at my boo-boo and work your way down to—
The front door flew open, interrupting Joy’s lusty thoughts. A beautiful woman stood there scowling at the scene.
“Joy, help! It’s the wicked witch,” Sophie squealed and ran for her lap.
Gabriel’s hand froze in Joy’s hair. “Helen,” he said.
Four
JOY GAVE GABRIEL a little shove, trying to remind him that he was practically sitting on her with one hand still resting in her hair.
“Gabriel, what’s going on here? You said you were taking a sick day. I came here to nurse you back to health. What are you doing with this woman and kid?” Helen’s voice didn’t raise a decibel, but her annoyance was as readily apparent as if she’d been yelling.
Joy was used to dealing with all types of people. It was her job, after all. Some she liked, and some she loved. Very few did she actively dislike.
Helen moved to the top of that very short list.
“I know this doesn’t look very good,” Joy said, more to help Gabriel, who wasn’t saying anything, than to offer up an explanation.
“Gabriel?” Helen had obviously decided that Joy was to be ignored.
In a voice colder than any Joy had ever heard from him, he said, “Helen, this kid happens to be Sophie, my daughter. And the woman is Joy. I’m sure she’d appreciate being addressed as such. She’s a friend who has graciously agreed to put her own life on hold to give me a hand getting Sophie settled.”
Sophie’s wicked witch did an about face. A smile appeared on her lips, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Oh, so this is Sophie.” She walked toward the child, who still clung to Joy, and from her imposing height said, “I’ve heard so much about you. I hope you and I can learn to be friends during your visit.”
“Sophie’s not just here for a visit. She’s here to stay permanently,” Gabriel said. “And I have Joy to thank for that.”
Joy rose, Sophie still clinging to her. Even standing she still she had to look up at Helen—way up. At five-three, Joy was accustomed to craning her neck when talking to people, but she would have rather met Helen-the-Amazon face to face. “Yes, Sophie’s here to stay, so you’ll have plenty of time to get to know her.”
“Oh, isn’t that wonderful,” Helen said. Her smile grew broader, but her eyes seemed to grow even harder. “So you’re not sick?”
When Gabriel shook his head, Helen looked almost disappointed. “I thought I’d spend the day nursing you back to health, but since that obviously isn’t going to be necessary, I think it’s time for me to leave. I can’t just walk away from my work whenever the whim strikes me.” She gave Joy a meaningful look.
Gabriel took her by the elbow and walked her towards the door. “Thank you so much for coming. I know we have a lot to discuss—”
“We can do that at dinner Saturday night.” She stopped and looked at him. “We are still on for dinner, aren’t we?”
The last thing Joy heard as they walked through the door was Gabriel saying, “Of course.”
“She’s a wicked witch, I just know it,” Sophie whispered after Gabriel had shut the door.
Though Joy was inclined to agree, she sensed that this particular witch was going to be a part of Sophie’s new life. That she had come to nurse Gabriel back to health and that they were going out Saturday night indicated more than a casual relationship. “Helen isn’t a witch. She’s someone who is obviously important to your father, and I’m sure when you get to know her you’ll like her.” Yeah, when pigs fly, she thought, but held her tongue.
“No, I won’t like her.” Sophie sounded sure of herself.
“Why don’t you just give her some time?” Joy soothed. “And it seems to me we’ve got some boxes to unpack.”
“Okay, but I’m not going to like her.”
This could be trouble, Joy thought. But she couldn’t think of a way to avoid it.
LATER THAT AFTERNOON, Gabriel had, after a great deal of fast talking, convinced Sophie to accompany him to the store. Sophie still wasn’t quite ready to trust her father, but she’d regain that trust in time. Gabriel loved her. If Joy could see it, eventually Sophie would, too.
While they were gone, Joy decided to make the phone calls she’d been putting off. The call to Ripples was easy enough. But she was sure the call to Max wouldn’t go as smoothly.
She dialed the number. “Hello?” answered a definitely feminine voice.
Granted a reprieve, Joy smiled and greeted her sister-in-law. “Grace, and how is our beautiful little Charity?”
“Joy? CheChe is doing fine. Actually, if I had one-tenth her energy level, I’d . . . well, I’d get a heck of a lot more done.” Grace’s rich laughter floated over the wire. “Max told me you met The Girls.”
“Your fairy godmothers? Maybe you can explain it better than Max did.” A part of her still wanted to have someone tell her that the fairies were just some big joke.
“I’m not sure I understand it myself. I thought I was crazy, and that’s how I met Max.”
Joy couldn’t imagine her brother accepting the existence of fairies without proof. “And Max didn’t have you committed?”
“I think he wanted to believe me right from the start. There was this . . . oh, I don’t know how to explain it. But there was something. He didn’t dismiss the fairies, or me, right out of hand. And after a time, he came to believe in them as well.” Her voice dropped. “You’re not crazy. Or, if you are, then Max and I are, too.”
“I’m not sure if I feel relieved or not.”
“Do you know who it is they have their eye on?”
“I really didn’t call about the fairies,” Joy answered. She might have thought they hinted about Gabriel being the one, but she’d obviously been mistaken. Gabriel needed her. That’s what they had said. Obviously, he just needed her to stay with Sophie, and that’s why the fairies were content to let her stay here for two weeks.
For himself Gabriel needed someone classy. Someone like Trudi, or Helen. There was no ro
om in his life for someone like Joy. The thought was strangely disheartening, and Joy changed the subject. “I was calling to tell Max it looks like I might be in the area for a while, and I was hoping to get over to visit you.”
“How close?” Grace asked.
“Actually, in Greene Township.” Just on the outskirts of Erie, Gabriel’s house was only about a half hour from Max’s. “I’m helping a friend out for a couple weeks.”
“What friend?” Grace asked. “Never mind. I sound like I’m cross-examining a witness. Maybe I should ask Nick for a job? Max says one of these days my curiosity will get the best of me.”
“Oh, I’ve heard Max say a couple other things about you,” Joy teased. “I’m just staying here for a few weeks to help Gabriel—”
“Gabriel?”
Joy cringed. She should have known Grace would pounce on a name.
“He’s just someone I’m helping out. Helping is what I do—it’s what Ripples does.” There. Let Grace think Joy was here working for Ripples. “Plus, Gabriel’s seeing someone, so I’m sure he’s not the one.”
Suddenly, Joy was surrounded by fairy godmothers. “Darn,” she muttered as she nervously eyed the colorful trio.
“Oh, yes, Gabriel’s the one,” Blossom said merrily. “When we said he needed you, we meant it. He needs you in his life. He’s the one.”
Joy covered the receiver and hissed, “He’s not.”
“I think you’re definitely protesting too much,” Fern chuckled.
“But Gabriel’s not married, is he?” Grace asked over the phone line.
Joy glared at the grinning fairies. “No, actually he’s divorced, and he’s currently involved with a lovely woman named Helen.” She crossed her fingers behind her back and said a silent prayer for forgiveness. Lovely and Helen were two words that didn’t belong in the same sentence.
Blossom must have thought so, too, because she snorted.
Carrying on a five-way conversation was too much for Joy in her befuddled state. “Really, he’s not the one. I don’t think there is one. Listen, I’ve got to run. I’ll try to make it over this weekend. Tell Max I’ll talk to him. Bye.” She hung up quickly and faced the fairies. Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dumber.
“Hey,” Blossom shouted. “That wasn’t nice.”
“Eavesdropping on my thoughts as well as my phone conversations?”
“You’ve read the books. You know we can sense our godchildren’s thoughts. So, I wasn’t really eavesdropping. And, you’re a loud thinker.”
Since Joy couldn’t argue about how loud her thoughts were, she simply continued her offensive. “If you’re going to listen, you can’t expect to hear good things. I thought you all were going to give me a break until I’m done here?”
“No, we didn’t say that. We told you that Gabriel’s the man for you, and that means you need us to help.”
“No, you said he needed me. I assumed you meant he needed me to take care of Sophie. And, he’s got Helen.” A woman who could model for any fashion magazine. “So, I don’t need you.”
“He doesn’t have Helen for long.” The expression on Fern’s face made Joy feel a momentary stab of pity for Helen.
“You wouldn’t hurt her, would you?”
“I can see we need to clear up a few rules.” Myrtle was suddenly all business. “We don’t hurt anyone, not ever. It’s one of the first fairy laws. And Gabriel can’t see us. You can tell him about us if you want, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll believe in us.”
“He’d think I was crazy.” Which wasn’t much of a stretch. Joy herself thought she was crazy, despite Max and Grace’s reassurances.
Fern smiled. “You’re luckier than Grace was. You have two people assuring you that you’re not crazy.”
“Plus the three of us. We’d tell you if you were nuts.”
Somehow, mind-reading fairies reassuring her of her sanity didn’t make Joy feel better. “If I’m not nuts now, with the three of you popping in on me all the time, it shouldn’t take me long to get there.”
“Now, Joy.” Myrtle wagged a finger at her, like some neon-haired teacher. “We’re only trying to help.”
“I don’t need your help.” She was a simple woman who lived a simple life. At least life had been simple until she met three fairies.
“Yes, you do. You want someone to love.” Blossom looked as if she was going to swoon in a very Scarlet O’Hara sort of way.
Thoughts of fairy matchmaking didn’t make Joy want to swoon. It made her quake with fear. Her doubt in their abilities must have shown in her eyes, or they were eavesdropping again, because Fern laughed. “Oh, yes you need us. More than you’ve ever realized.”
“Please. Why don’t you three take a vacation. I’ll call you when I need you.” They’d be waiting a long time for that particular phone call to come through.
“You need us now.” Myrtle obviously wasn’t buying Joy’s ploy. “If you didn’t, we wouldn’t be here.”
“Now about this Helen,” Blossom said. “She’s our biggest hurdle to date. We’ve been thinking maybe a disease—”
“No way,” Joy warned.
“Joy.” Exasperation tinged Myrtle’s voice. “Remember we can read your mind, and we’d never do anything that would really harm her. Just a nice little illness that would keep her out of the way while Gabriel realizes he loves you.”
“But I don’t love him.”
“You love Sophie.” Fern seemed determined to see this thing through.
“That’s not enough of a reason to fall in love with her dad.”
“You love watching him with her.” Blossom’s voice was more sing-songy than usual. “You love seeing him smile.”
“And his boxer shorts,” Fern added. “Don’t forget the boxer shorts.”
Joy couldn’t deny it, but it still wasn’t enough. She wanted what Grace and Max had, what her mother and father had. She wasn’t settling for less.
“And we’re here to give you that.” Myrtle smiled. “With Gabriel.”
“Listen, you do whatever you want, but Gabriel’s never going to love me. And, if you have fairy rules, then I think it’s time I put down some goddaughter rules. First and foremost, you may not do anything to Helen. No illnesses, no kidnappings, no broken bones . . .” She searched him mind for some of the fairies’ other tricks in Grace’s books. “No deserted islands. Nothing. Leave her alone.”
“Spoilsport.” Fern looked disappointed. “I was thinking of a mysterious rash that turned her face green. I’m rather fond of green.”
“I was voting for yellow,” Blossom added merrily.
“No rashes, no matter what color. No diseases.”
When Fern and Blossom started to object, Myrtle raised her hand, silencing their objections. “No diseases. As a matter of fact, we promise to leave Helen alone.”
“And Gabriel? You won’t cast some spell to make him think he loves me?”
“Honey,” Myrtle patted Joy’s hand reassuringly, only Joy wasn’t reassured. “There are many things we can do, but love is a magical process not even we can influence. So, put your mind at ease.”
“I don’t think my mind will be at ease until this is over.”
“Then we’d better get you and Gabriel together as soon as possible.”
With that the three fairies blinked out of the room.
Joy decided their visit had only made her more nervous. If they weren’t going to mess with Helen, just what did the fairies have in mind?
“‘. . . PLEASE, TELL ME, where is my dearest Beast?’ Beauty begged.” Joy paused and looked at the sleeping little girl curled so comfortably against her. Sophie’s red hair, released from its braids, fanned over her pillow in little waves. Joy stroked a strand and gently kissed Sophie’s forehead.
She’d grown up the younger sister of two phenomenal brothers. Max and Nick had always seemed so at ease with themselves, so sure of where they were going. With Joy, nothing had come as easily. She’d been an awkward child who physically developed long before her peers. She had curves and padding when the ideal female body was emaciated and straight. She’d been an average student who enjoyed quiet evenings at home more than wild party scenes.
Max had gone into psychiatry, prying into people’s psyches. Nick was an attorney, champion of the underdog. For years Joy had wandered, not sure what sort of job would fulfill her. It wasn’t a job that required college—one term of classes had been enough to convince her of that.
Her family wasn’t rich, but they could all live comfortably for the rest of their lives without working a day. Thanks to her grandmother, Joy’s personal trust was large enough that work wasn’t a priority. But she’d known living as a lady of leisure wasn’t what she wanted, either. Then one day she found out an acquaintance had been abused for years by a spouse and that the woman had nowhere to escape. That’s when the idea for Ripples was born and became Joy’s passion.
The first Lily’s Pond had opened, providing a place for women to go and be safe. A place where they could heal. And from there, Joy had found her calling. She’d had no desire for some high-powered career, but she did know people and genuinely liked them. And, in addition to helping others, she’d discovered that she had a knack for relieving people of their money to support her cause.
What had started as a local foundation was now a national one. The fairies were wrong. Joy didn’t need anything else. Running Ripples was enough to fulfill five people’s lives.
She stroked Sophie’s hair one last time. No, she didn’t need anything, but that didn’t stop her from occasionally dreaming of having a child to love. And Gabriel . . . She shut off the thought.
