by Holly Jacobs
“I will, Daddy,” she said, hugging him back.
Joseph shook Gabriel’s hand. “You ever hurt her, and I’m going to make Miriam look like a girly-girl with what I’ll do.”
“You don’t have to worry, sir,” Gabriel said.
“Dad. You can call me Dad if you like,” Joseph said.
“Mom?” Joy asked. Miriam was staring at the two of them, making Joy more than a little nervous.
“I think the two of you will do,” she finally said and swept them both into her arms. “You’re going to have to make it up to me that I missed the wedding.”
“How do we do that?” Joy asked.
“Well, you’re not getting any younger,” she said with a twinkle in her eye. “And neither am I. Two granddaughters are all well and good, but you know me, Joy, I’m greedy. I want more.”
“And if it was a grandson?” Gabriel asked.
“I raised Nick and Max. Seems I always understood them more than I did my Joy. Guess I could handle another boy or two in the family. Not that I’d mind more girls. I might not understand them as well, but I love them to pieces.” With that she kissed Joy and made her escape.
Joy suspected that the glistening in her mother’s eyes was unshed tears, but Miriam would have denied it. She never cried, or so she claimed. Truth was, Miriam liked to think she was a tough nut, but in actuality she was Jello. The family loved her enough never to mention her soft side.
They packed an overnight case for Sophie and waved as she left with her new grandparents.
“Well,” Gabriel said, shutting the door. “I think your parents were right—we need to talk.”
Joy suddenly knew Gabriel had just been mouthing the words her parents wanted to hear. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“For what?” he asked, leading her to the couch. When she started to sit beside him, he surprised her by pulling her onto his lap.
“I’m sorry for that scene. My family seems to forget on a regular basis that I’m an adult. I hope you can forget your first meeting with Mom. The rest of the family will be easy.”
“Just how big is your family?” Gabriel asked. He toyed with Joy’s hair, running his fingers through it.
Joy resisted the urge to lean back and melt into his embrace. They did need to talk, and she needed to keep her wits about her. But keeping her wits about her while she sat on Gabriel’s lap and he toyed with her hair was a pretty big task. “There’s lots more family. Nick’s the last of the immediate family, but there are cousins, uncles—”
“Does your mom have any sisters?” Gabriel stilled.
“Yes. There’s my Aunt Sarah and my Aunt Tess.”
“And are they anything like her?”
“Oh, no. Aunt Sarah’s a gentle soul, but my Aunt Tess, well if you think my mom’s tough, you just wait until you meet her.” Joy laughed. “Everyone always said I took after Aunt Sarah.”
“I think I’m going to like her, but I think I’m going to have to be nervous about meeting your Aunt Tess.” He pulled her tighter.
Suddenly, Joy remembered what they’d both said earlier. “About what you said to my family . . . I want to thank you.”
“Thank me?” Gabriel’s hand stilled.
“Yes, thank you for telling my mother what she wanted to hear. It will make things so much easier.” She shifted nervously in his lap when he said nothing. “And, about what my mother said, what I said, well, I don’t want you to worry about it. I mean, my feelings are my responsibility, not yours. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall in love with you. It just happened.”
“Like hell you are.”
“Like hell I am what?” Joy asked, confused.
“Like hell you’re sorry about falling in love with me. Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I’ve been so worried that you’d never be able to love me. Oh, I knew you loved Sophie, and I realized these last few days that I was jealous of my own daughter. It made me feel lower than a worm.”
“Jealous?”
“Jealous. Joy, I’ve been so worried you’d never be able to love me.” He hugged her to him, and she sank into his embrace, feeling more and giddier as his confession continued. “When I said you were comfortable, I was right. It just took me a while to realize that the comfort I felt with you was love. I just looked one day and there you were, sitting in the center of my heart. I love you. I don’t want you to be sorry for loving me, and I don’t want you to ever stop loving me.”
He loves me? Truly loves me? He didn’t just say it for my mother’s benefit? Joy wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life. He loves me.
“Stop loving you? There’s no chance of that.”
Gabriel gave her a little flip, and Joy found herself on her back beneath him on the couch. “Promise me you won’t stop.”
“I can’t stop. I fell in love with you from the start. Even when I thought you were going to marry Helen—even when I thought you only wanted me as a surrogate mother for Sophie—nothing nudged you out of my heart. I can’t imagine anything ever will.”
“Say the words,” he commanded as he began raining his kisses lower and lower. “Say them.”
“I love you,” Joy said, amazed that she could get the words out. She was finding it hard to breathe, much less talk.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmured.
“Not like Trudi or Helen.” Compared to the other women who had been in Gabriel’s life, she felt dumpy and undesirable.
Gabriel stopped and looked directly into her eyes. “Honey, you’re right. You’re nothing like Trudi. I worked at loving her, really worked, but I couldn’t do it. That’s why my marriage with Trudi fell apart. And I never did manage to love Helen. I told you, we were just friends. But you? You just walked into my life and into my heart like magic. You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. I’ve been drooling over you since the first day we met.”
At that moment, Joy felt beautiful. She felt like the most beautiful creature to ever walk the earth. He loved her. He even drooled over her. The fairies had granted all her wishes, and yes, that was magic. “Thank you,” she whispered, sure they would hear her.
And though she saw nothing, three very distinct voices whispered back, “You’re welcome.”
She kissed her own true love. “Gabriel, you spoke of magic. Well, there’s something I should tell you. A bit of a fairy tale.”
“Honey, you can tell me anything you want, as long as you keep telling me you love me. You’re going to have to tell me every day, as often as you can, for the rest of our lives.”
Magic. Maybe the fairies couldn’t make people fall in love, but that didn’t stop the love she shared with Gabriel from being magic.
He was kissing her, driving every thought except that she loved him from her head.
“You had something to tell me?” Gabriel asked.
“Tomorrow,” she promised. “Right now, I want to make some more magic.”
At that moment Joy knew that she was where she belonged. In Gabriel’s arms, in his heart. It was where she was destined to be. “I love you,” she whispered.
“Honey, I love you, too.” Gabriel answered.
So wrapped up in the wonder of her fairy tale, Joy didn’t even notice the three figures blink from the room.
“Well, that’s that,” Fern said. “Joy’s found her love and her home, and Gabriel has found his Joy.”
“See, I kept reminding everyone about the sparks,” Blossom said as she stole a quick peek at the couple. “Sparks and drool—it’s a winning combination. And those sparks look like they’ve turned into the raging fire Joy wanted. Yes, we’re done. Gabriel’s discovered the magic of Joy.”
Epilogue
“NOW IT’S TIME FOR bed,” Max told Sophie.
“Has Santa come yet?” she ask
ed.
“Not while little girls are awake,” Grace added. “And CheChe’s already sleeping, so Santa’s just waiting for you to sleep.”
“Marty at school said there was no Santa. But there is, right?”
“Why, that Marty doesn’t know a thing. Santa’s as real as we are, sweetheart.” Once upon a time, Grace didn’t believe in fairies, or Santa, or even Glinda the Good Witch, but finding Max with the help of Myrtle, Fern and Blossom had changed her mind.
“Daddy promised to call.”
“And he will, sweetheart. He’ll call as soon as he can. So, go to sleep,” Grace said.
“But they promised. It can’t be Christmas if he doesn’t come.”
“Santa will come,” Max promised.
Sophie shook her head. “No, not Santa, my brother.”
Grace smiled and stroked the little girl’s head. Someday her CheChe would be this big. The thought gave her heart a small tug, but she reminded herself that there would be other babies. Without thinking her hand fell to her stomach. Their newest addition was still too new to show. “What if it’s a sister?”
“A brother,” Sophie maintained, even as Max scooped her up and carried her up the stairs.
“Oh, it’s a brother,” Myrtle said merrily.
Three fairy-elves materialized in the living room—one wearing the traditional red velvet, one a traditional green, and one a canary yellow that would never find its way onto any Christmas card.
“I can’t help it,” Blossom said, too merry to be insulted. “I look best in yellow.”
“About Sophie—” Grace started, but Blossom cut her off. “It’s a boy.”
“You’re sure?” Grace asked.
“They’re here?” Max groaned as he came back down the stairs.
“Yes, they’re here. Now hush. I want to know about the baby,” Grace said.
“He’s big. Ten pounds, three ounces,” Fern said.
“You made sure everything’s okay?” Grace asked.
“You know that’s not how fairy magic works.” Myrtle smiled. “But everything’s just fine with mother and son. The father was touch and go for a while. We thought he was going to pass out.”
“So, with Joy all settled, we’re ready for our biggest cases ever.” Fern looked worried.
“We’ve spent the last few months hammering things out with the fairy council.” Myrtle looked as nervous as Fern.
“Hammering out what things?” Grace asked. Nervous fairies were dangerous fairies.
“We’ve been doing a little rewriting of the rules,” Fern said casually.
“What?”
“What?” Max asked.
“They’ve rewritten some of the rules.” Now Grace was the nervous one.
Max must have picked up on her nervousness because he took her hand. “What—”
“Shh,” she hushed her husband, trying to concentrate on what the fairies were saying. “You’ve rewritten what rules?”
“Well, now Grace, some of your fairy rules are a bit cumbersome, so we went to the fairy council and got a couple dispensations before we tackled our next cases. This couple’s really tough.” Myrtle, always the ringleader and boss, uncharacteristically looked to her sisters for support.
“Who?” Grace asked.
“Now, Gracey, you don’t have to worry,” Blossom soothed.
“Who?” she repeated.
“Nick!” the merry yellow fairy hollered.
“Blossom!” Grace cried.
Blossom gave one of her swooniest smiles. “You see, there’s this—”
“Blossom,” the other two fairies scolded again.
“Well, let’s just say, he’s in for his own happily-ever-after,” Blossom promised.
With a tinkling of laughter, three fairies dressed as elves blinked out of the room. Only Blossom’s voice remained as she said, “And I heard them exclaim, as they blinked out of sight, it’s a boy for Joy, and Nick’s
about to see the light.”
“Just what rules do you think they’ve changed?” Max asked.
“I have no idea, but I’m going to find out. All I can say is, poor Nick.” Her mother-in-law had often said it would take a miracle to get playboy Nick to settle down.
Her mother-in-law was wrong. It was going to take three miracles—Myrtle, Fern and Blossom.
Poor Nick—but that’s another story.
The End
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