"I don't think so," she said slowly.
"I do." Zia looked all around, as if checking who might be listening. "I think you’re a fairy godmother, but you're not allowed to tell anyone that you are. I know your name now, too."
"You do?"
"What is it, Z?" Reaves asked.
She smiled brightly and patted Faye's cheek. "You're Fairy Goodness."
Faye let out a short laugh. "I am, am I?"
"You are. And if you can grant a wish, I wish we can stay here. Please."
Reaves spun around, feeling guilty, when he heard movement behind him. Alara was leaning in the doorway, watching them.
Faye smiled at her and told Zia, "I think your mom's the only one who can grant us that wish. And I hope she knows you're not the only one who wants it."
Chapter Twenty
Alara held up her glass of orange juice, letting the light catch the drops of condensation as they ran down the sides, the sunlight turning them to liquid gold. She set it down on the table when Charles appeared at her side.
"May I?" he asked.
"Of course. Please, sit." She shook her head with a smile as he took the seat beside her out on the terrace.
They'd finished dinner a while ago. Reaves and Zia were down the side of the house watering the sunflowers, and she'd thought Charles had retired to his study.
"Something amusing?" he asked.
"Not amusement," she told him. "More like amazement that you ask if you may sit down, when this is your place, and I'm the guest."
He reached across to pat her hand. "You're not a guest, Alara. I thought we'd cleared that up by now."
"Sorry, I…" The last thing she wanted to do was offend him. He'd given her and Zia so much.
He chuckled. "You certainly don't need to apologize. What I was about to say was that, far from being a guest, you're family. I haven't wanted to use that word before—not because I didn't think it, but because I didn't know if you'd trust it."
Zia's laughter carried to them on the breeze, and they listened for a moment to her and Reaves chatting, the words indistinct but the happiness in them quite clear.
"I don't know how things are progressing between you and Reaves, and I'm not asking," he added hurriedly. "But I am hopeful about the direction the two of you are moving in."
She nodded slowly. She'd been doing a lot of thinking since Faye had handed her the wish Zia made in the kitchen yesterday. She didn't want to promise too much—not to anyone, not just yet. So she told him the truest thing she could. "I'm hopeful too."
"Good. Then let's leave that there for now, shall we?" He sipped his whiskey and stared out at the setting sun.
She did the same, comfortable in the silence with him in a way that felt unfamiliar. Silence she was used to, but sharing it was new.
After a while, he turned to her. "How was the injection today?"
She glanced down at her arm. "It wasn't bad at all. It's a little achy, but Caroline said that's to be expected."
He nodded. "And the next infusion is on Friday. Is that right?"
"Yeah. And I'm hoping Dr. Ambrose is right that the second one won't have the same effect as the first."
He turned to her with a smile. "It wasn't such a terrible weekend, was it?"
The twinkle in his eye made her smile. "No. It was far from terrible. I was wiped out, sure. But everyone took such good care of me."
