by Holly Jacobs
“It’s a start,” Blossom said. “And don’t forget the sparks. He did say sparks.”
“And I said I dreamed of a man who’d drool over me and fall madly in love with me.”
“Oh, he’ll be drooling over you before everything is done.”
Softly, Joy asked the question that haunted her. “But will he ever love me?”
“Joy—”
“Never mind.” It was time for Joy to put away her fairy tale version of true love. Maybe she should settle. After all, Blossom was right, Gabriel had said sparks. “I guess the way you three see it is beggars can’t be choosy.”
“Oh, Joy, I think—”
Joy cut her off. “We’ll worry about my love life later. Right now I’m more concerned with getting inside and getting some help.”
Ignoring Blossom, Joy tried to remember how the windows latched, but for the life of her she had no idea. She reached in her pocket and pulled out a quarter. Gently, she wedged it into the crack between the window frame and the screen. She levered it, trying to pop the screen outwards. It didn’t move. There had to be some latch locking the screen in place.
“Now what?” Joy murmured. She ached all over, and she was pretty sure the knee underneath the torn jeans was bleeding. She could try the other windows, but it was too dark to see, and it was a pretty good bet that however this one latched, the rest did too.
She knocked on the door again, though she held little belief that it would prove successful. It didn’t.
“You could curl up on the porch and wait until morning,” Blossom said cheerfully. “Or . . .”
“Or?”
“You could climb up to Gabriel’s window. The roof over the porch isn’t all that high. You could use the little tree over there, and you should be able to get high enough to climb onto the roof.”
“What if it’s locked?”
“You bang on it loud enough to raise the dead.”
“I think I’d rather bang on his thick skull than his window,” Joy muttered.
“That’s the spirit.”
She was too tired to think of a better plan, though having read about Blossom’s plans in Grace’s books, Joy was pretty sure there had to be a better one. But since she couldn’t think of it, she trudged to the small tree, resigned to her fate. She didn’t have to climb too far, just high enough to boost herself onto the roof.
Ten minutes later, feeling her spirits rise slightly because of her totally awesome climbing abilities, Joy was on the roof and inching towards Gabriel’s window.
“Did you see that, Blossom? I’m a goddess—a tree climbing, problem-solving, deer-sparing goddess.” Patting herself on the back wasn’t difficult at all, despite her aching shoulders. The end of her ordeal was at hand.
Blossom hadn’t followed her. Chicken.
She reached the window. “Way to go Joy,” she whispered. Talking to herself probably meant she was losing what little sanity she had left, though talking to herself was preferable to talking to fairies.
“Gabriel?” she called, rapping on the screen, which wasn’t overly effective. “Come on Gabriel, I need you.” How could the man sleep through the commotion she was causing? “Gabriel?”
Now what was she going to do?
She might have made it up the tree, but she doubted she’d make it down in the dark without breaking her neck. Suddenly, the absurdity of her situation struck her. She was stuck on a roof in the pitch black night, injured and cold, with little hope of rescue. It was all the fairies’ fault. No, it was all Gabriel’s fault. It had all started when he had asked her to marry him.
Joy giggled, a small tiny squeak that progressed into a full-fledged belly laugh. She was known for her ability to attract catastrophe, but this took the cake. Calamity Joy, her brothers used to call her, and in this instance, they hadn’t been much off the mark.
Movement inside the house caught her eye. “Joy?” Gabriel’s form was silhouetted in the window. He opened it, which left them separated only by the screen. “Joy, what are you doing on my roof?” Through the screen she could see he was wearing boxer shorts and nothing else.
Joy’s mouth went dry, but she forced herself not to let it show. She’d seen him in his boxer shorts that first day when she’d spilled coffee all over him. And it was too dark to make out much. She could handle the fluttering in her belly.
“I’m just admiring the night sky. That’s the Big Dipper, isn’t it?” she asked innocently.
Gabriel looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. Well, she probably had. “Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer,” she told him.
“You think asking what a woman is doing on my roof at,” he glanced at the digital clock, “two sixteen in the morning is a stupid question?”
“I think a better question might be, Joy, would you care to come in?” She edged towards the window. The end of her ordeal was at hand, or rather at foot, since she was edging feet first. “Just open the screen, however the darn thing opens, and let me in.”
“Are you going to marry me?” he asked out of the blue.
“What?” Of all the things she expected to hear him say, that wasn’t one of them. “Gabriel, stop playing games and just open the window.”
“Just tell me, are you going to marry me?”
“Gabriel.” She was slipping. She was going to fall to a gory death all because of Blossom’s absurd plan and Gabriel’s warped sense of . . . What was it, humor?
“Gabriel, let me in.” He just studied her. She’d have known he was looking even if the darkness that enveloped them was total. As it was, the slight illumination of the moon was enough for her to see his serious expression. There wasn’t a hint of humor in it. Humor wasn’t on her mind as she whispered, “Yes.”
The word momentarily surprised her. There were a thousand reasons she should have said no, not the least of which was that saying yes was probably the dumbest thing she’d ever done. But there had never been anything Joy wanted to do more than to marry him.
The fairies had bumbled again. They’d found Joy her own true love, but they’d forgotten to make sure he loved her, too. For Sophie’s sake, maybe she could learn to settle for half the prize.
“Yes?” his whisper echoed her own.
“Yes.” Feeling vulnerable, and not because she was going to fall off the roof at any moment, she said, “Now let me in before we have to get married in the hospital. The paper can report, The bride wore a beautiful white cast, accented by a stunning metal pulley system.”
“Come on in, Joy.”
“Why do I suddenly feel like a fly being beckoned into the spider’s web?” she grumbled. She inched towards the window as Gabriel released the latches and lifted off the screen. He held out his hand. Reluctantly she took it and allowed him to guide her into his room. It was the only room in the house that she’d never entered.
“I . . .” Joy started saying, then stopped. She had no idea what to say. She tried to pull away from Gabriel’s embrace, but he held her tight.
“We’ll talk later about why you were sitting on my roof at two o’clock in the morning, but for right now, just tell me again, will you marry me?”
“I said yes, and I meant it. I’ll marry you for all the reasons you pointed out. You and I are compatible. We both adore Sophie. And leaving her breaks my heart. I’ll accept your marriage of convenience. I’m sure we’ll get along just fine.”
Gabriel held her. The clock glowed two-two-two. Two twenty-two, that was the time that Joy had forever changed the course of her life, she thought as she allowed herself to be drawn into her future husband’s arms.
“I think we should seal our bargain,” he murmured.
“How do you suggest we do that?” she whispered, her lips almost touching his.
“Like this.” His lips melded with hers
until nothing at all stood between them. Gently he forced her lips to part and tenderly explored her.
“Joy,” he whispered, taking a step towards the bed. “I want you.”
Those words brought Joy back from the fog he’d cast over her. She pulled back, fighting his arms to get some distance between them. “I can’t.”
“Can’t what?” he asked, moving after her.
Joy continued to back up, needing some space, needing to keep her head. “I can’t go to bed with you. Not now, not after the wedding.”
He froze. “What are you talking about now?”
“Gabriel, you listed all the reasons we should get married, and what it boils down to is that I’m convenient. We get along. I’m comfortable. Sophie likes me—loves me even. I’m not getting any younger. Well, maybe you’re right, maybe I’m not getting any younger, but I don’t need the table scraps you want to throw my way. I’ll marry you, but I’m not looking for a physical relationship. We’ll just solidify the partnership we had before. Sophie will feel safe knowing she has the two of us, and she’ll be fine. There’s no reason to actually consummate this relationship.”
“No reason?” Gabriel said, his voice rising.
“Shh,” Joy whispered. “You’ll wake up Sophie.” It was a totally illogical statement, and she realized it. If all her knocking and climbing on roofs hadn’t awakened her, nothing was going to. But she needed an excuse to get away from Gabriel.
He took a step towards her and she countered it, finally running out of space in the small bedroom. She was up against the open window with nowhere to go but back on the roof. “Gabriel, what on Earth is the matter with you?”
“You think that what just passed between us is nothing. That’s not enough of a reason for me to be upset?” He was right in front of her though he didn’t touch her.
The fairies popped into view behind Gabriel. “You said yes?” Fern cried.
“But not to the sex,” Blossom groused. “That’s the fun part.”
“He’s drooling over you, just like you asked,” Myrtle added.
“Drooling, without love, is just a bunch of spit,” Joy murmured. The thought was a knife cutting at her heart, but she wouldn’t tell him, wouldn’t give him that kind of guilt to carry around. She might have lost her heart to him, but she wouldn’t lose her pride as well.
“Drooling?” Gabriel asked.
Joy glared at the fairies. Gabriel was going to think she was nuts. “We don’t love each other, and I don’t think the, er, physical end of a relationship can be satisfying for either of us without it.”
“Come on, Joy. You know you want to jump his bones,” Blossom said.
“Blossom,” the other two fairies gasped.
“What?” the yellow fairy asked innocently. “She does.”
“There are reasons we should marry, but, like all marriages of convenience, there’s no reason to force ourselves to become physical. It’s business, pure and simple.”
“That’s it, Joy. Make the man admit he loves you first,” Fern cheered.
“Force ourselves?” Gabriel took a step closer, an ominous look in his eyes.
Joy sidestepped, not wanting to touch him, knowing she wouldn’t be able to say no again if they did. Gabriel’s momentum carried him forward and since Joy had moved, he leaned into what should have been the window, but wasn’t since it was still open. He slipped forward, his top half sprawling onto the porch roof.
“Gabriel!” she shouted, grabbing the waistband of his boxer shorts.
Slowly, he rose and pulled Joy’s hand from his pants. “The next time you put your hand down there, I hope you’re intending to take me for a fall, not save me from one.”
“Gabriel,” Joy gasped. She didn’t know what else to say, so she said nothing.
“If this is what you want Joy, I’ll accept it.” He turned and walked to his bedroom door. “The guest room is yours until you decide differently.”
With as much grace as she could muster, Joy walked out the door. The soft glow of a night-light lit the hall. “Good night, Gabriel.”
“Kiss him, kiss him,” Blossom chanted until Fern nudged her. “Well, she wants to,” she muttered.
“And Joy,” Gabriel said.
She stopped. Maybe he was going to ask her to kiss him good night? Despite her principles, Joy knew it wouldn’t take much to get her to comply.
“See, she wants to kiss him,” Blossom said.
Instead of begging for a kiss, Gabriel said, “I still want to know what you were doing on my roof at two in the morning.”
Joy’s sigh was echoed by three fairy sighs, Blossom’s the loudest of the lot. “I’ll tell you the whole story tomorrow, Gabriel.”
“Tomorrow then. We can tell Sophie about the wedding and discuss the when and where.”
“Fine,” she said as she limped down the hall. Her aches and pains were suddenly coming back full force. She’d take a shower and then crawl into bed. Maybe tomorrow when she woke up she’d discover this was all some cosmically horrible dream.
“This is not a dream,” Myrtle promised.
“Joy, are you okay?” Gabriel’s voice whispered down the hall.
“Fine. I’m just fine,” she stage-whispered back. Even softer she added, “At least I’ll be fine if the three of you leave me alone.”
The three fairies immediately disappeared from view. “See you in the morning, Joy.”
In the morning. The fairies would be back, and she’d arrange a wedding to the man she loved but who didn’t love her.
GABRIEL PASSED JOY a steaming cup of coffee over the island that separated them. “I think I’ve found another advantage,” she murmured.
“Another advantage?”
“Yes. As you listed out all the reasons I should marry you, you didn’t mention your coffee. It would have to be very high on my list.” She took a sip. “Very, very high.”
Gabriel sat down across from her and smiled tentatively. He’d been watching her like a hawk since she had come downstairs. It was as if he was afraid she would disappear at any minute. It made Joy feel hunted.
“Coffee is a very big advantage,” Fern said.
One minute she was alone with Gabriel, and the next, three fairies lined the counter. Joy resisted the urge to groan, and tried to ignore her three uninvited guests.
Myrtle wagged a finger in Joy’s direction. “You might not have consciously invited us, but as you read Grace’s books, more than once you wished someone would help you find your own true love—”
“And here we are,” Blossom added merrily. “And you’ve found the man of your dreams.”
Fern took a huge gulp of her own coffee. “He’s even proposed, and you accepted.”
“A marriage of convenience,” Joy grumbled, forgetting Gabriel for a moment.
Not being able to see their uninvited guests, Gabriel responded. “Don’t you think it’s time we talk about this? Maybe it would be wise to start with why you were on my roof in the dead of night.”
“I didn’t start on the roof. I had a small accident.” Thanks to the fairies, she silently added.
“Hey, I got you in the house,” Blossom said.
“And engaged,” Fern added, patting her cohort on the shoulder.
Gabriel looked startled. “Why didn’t you say you were in an accident last night? Are you hurt?”
“Just a little stiffness and a scraped-up knee. And if you recall, we had other things on our minds last night.”
“Joy had kissing on her mind,” Blossom chortled.
An image of throttling interfering fairies flashed through Joy’s mind.
“That’s not nice,” Blossom said.
“What happened?” Gabriel demanded.
“There was a deer,” and three
fairies, she thought glaring at her merry matchmakers, “and there was me hurtling right at it. I swerved and missed it, but I didn’t manage to miss the tree. I think I did some major damage to the truck, but it was off the road and should be fine until I get hold of a tow truck.”
“I don’t care about the truck. I think we should call the doctor and have you checked out, just in case.” He was on his feet and at the phone, dialing.
“See, he cares,” Fern said, doing a bit of a Blossom swoon.
“Gabriel, I’m not going to any doctor’s. I’m fine. I had my seatbelt on, and the worst thing I suffered was a couple bruises from the strap.”
“Let me see,” he commanded, pulling at her t-shirt.
Joy smacked his hand away. “I most certainly will not. I checked them myself, and I’m fine.”
He glared at her, but did take his seat. He took a huge gulp of coffee, tossing it back like it was a shot of something stronger. The look on his face suggested that he wished it was indeed something stronger.
“Now, as I was saying, I walked back here after the accident.” Joy didn’t mention she’d tried to walk anywhere but Gabriel’s house, but thanks to fairy intervention couldn’t.
“You’re a very stubborn girl,” Myrtle said.
Joy shot her another dangerous look. “But you didn’t come to the door.”
“I was sleeping.” He glared at her, as if it was her fault he fell asleep.
“I figured. I also figured if I could get to your bedroom window, I could wake you up. I was exhausted and I ached all over.”
“Ached? I am calling the doctor.” He was back on his feet, telephone in his hand.
“Oh, it’s so romantic,” Blossom swooned this time.
“Be quiet and let me deal with this,” Joy said to the fairies. At Gabriel’s startled look, she tried to cover her slip by adding, “Gabriel, I’m fine. Now, it’s your turn to listen. Put that phone down and come here. I’m not marrying a man who’s going to pine for another woman. I might sink to a certain level, but that’s too low to expect me to go.”
“What do you mean sink?” he growled.
Miraculously all three fairies remained quiet. “This isn’t a love match.” At least on your part, she silently added. “And I can accept that, but I won’t marry a man who’s in love with someone else, not even for Sophie.”
