Page 73 of Kiss and Spell
“Dad always joked that she was part mermaid,” Sirena said with a laugh. She grew quiet and still. “Speaking of merfolk, why haven’t you called Lucy?” she asked. “It’s almost been a year.”
Sirena didn’t come to play with her questions. Ursula made a face and downed the rest of her drink. She put it back on the tray and moved from the mantel to sit in the wingback chair.
“I messed up, and saying I’m sorry doesn’t seem to be enough to make up for how I acted.”
“It was the wish that made you act strange,” Callie insisted. “It wasn’t your fault.”
It was time to be real with herself and her cousins. Maybe holding on to that old wish was blocking her from remembering her leap.
“It was my fault because I knew I made the wrong wish,” she said.
“No.” Callie sat up suddenly, the cucumber slices sliding from her face and falling on her lap.
“I wished to live happily ever after,” Ursula admitted. “The day after we completed the spell, everything went wrong. All the preparations went wacky. My dream wedding became a horror show. It was like the universe was waving a thousand red flags in my face, but I kept on going.”
Sirena lowered her head, staring down at her nails. “Sula, don’t be like that. It wasn’t the wrong wish. It might have been the wrong guy.”
Ursula stilled in the chair, hearing the mix of anguish and distress in her cousin’s voice. Sirena looked up at Ursula, and the question was clearly written on her face. “Do you think Xavier’s the right guy?”
Ursula smiled at her question. They’d broken the enchantment; he didn’t seem eager to leave the Grove. He was nothing like the princes in the fairy-tale books she read and reread in her bedroom. He hadn’t rescued her from her messy life but helped her enjoy the life she had made after Lincoln. Where had Xavier been all these years? Her Prince Charming was late, but he was here. When he asked her to court him, she made a split decision. No matter what the leap showed her, she was going to keep him for as long as fate would allow. She looked to her cousins.
“What do you want?” Callie asked.
Ursula’s eyebrows drew together. “As silly as it sounds, I still want that wish. I’ve been looking at stars and ladybugs, hoping that maybe fate will put me back on track and get me to that happy ending someday.”
Callie slid to the edge of the couch. Her next words were straightforward. “But how does that look? When you think about living happily ever after, tell me what you see.”
“I see a stainless-steel kitchen with an island layout,” Sirena said with a half-grin. “I also want unlimited ride tickets to the Founders’ Day Festival.”
They shared a quick chuckle over her joke, but then they became quiet and reflective.
What did her new happily-ever-after look like?
Ursula was drawing a blank. Just like the crystal ball in the shop. Open. There were endless possibilities before her. Nothing was set in stone, but rather sand. She thought that the phrase “HEA” meant getting married, living in a monotone condo, and planning perfect vacations with her polo-clad husband. That might have been someone else’s HEA, but it wasn’t hers, not anymore. She could create a happily-ever-after of her own making and not be beholden to a certain idea or vision.
“Everything’s blank like a piece of paper,” Ursula said. She heard the note of wonder in her voice. It was the same wonder she felt whenever she gathered sand to make her castles all those years ago.
Sirena gave a shudder. “That sounds scary.”
It used to scare her too, but now she readily accepted the feeling of uncertainty and openness. Everything about the wedding—from her hairstyle, the dress, the cake—kept messing up. Kept going wrong. Fate had been trying to open her eyes, but she pushed forward. She ignored her intuition, the very gift she’d been given by her family. For months, she’d fought to renew that gift. Now, sitting in the Caraway living room, across from her cousins, who made her feel like she had the power to make all her wishes come true, she listened to that intuition. A sense of calm flowed through her. The timer dinged. They all turned to the kitchen. Ursula stood, eager to have the leap revealed to her once and for all. It was time to see what the future held for her and her family.
“Who knew there were so many uses for painter’s tape?” Xavier muttered.
He flipped through the book The Wonderful Woodworking Guide, which he’d purchased from the Rain or Shine Bookstore. He’d finished the first eight chapters in a single day, completely enraptured by the photos of sanding curves and stain indexes. When he was young, Xavier strolled through the royal woods, collecting broken branches and logs. He had loved the idea of taking something that was forgotten and turning it into a precious new thing. Father told him rather coldly that woodworking was a hobby for a bored peasant, not a future king.
Xavier had abandoned his new interest as quickly as he found it.
Now, in the Grove, he was rediscovering that hidden part of himself. No one told him that his interests and hobbies were odd or strange. In this world, he had permission to be his true self.
He was hanging out in bed reading about the best wood for certain workpieces when he heard his ringer. It was after midnight. Only one person would call him this late. Xavier closed the book and leaned over to the nightstand. He answered his phone immediately.
“Good evening, my lady,” he said.
“Hey.” Her soft sigh came over on the line. “I… wanted to hear your voice.”
Something warm, like heated honey, oozed within his chest. Xavier lay back against the pillows.
“How’s your slumber party going?”