“So would you consider it?” he asked. “Would you come stay with me and Katy? Take care of her for a fair wage and a place to stay? I’d have to check your references, but—”
Dread forced Fern’s eyes closed. Please don’t check me references. There are no references to check. I’m good and kind, and I love sweet Katy.
“But I really don’t need to do that,” Paul said, his voice suddenly soft and fuzzy. “I can tell you’re good and kind, and it’s clear that Katy trusts you. I should, too.”
Fern’s eyes went wide. It was as if her very thoughts had the power of pixie magic. She didn’t know how it had happened, or if it would ever happen again. But she was grateful for the enchantment.
“Like I said, I live close to the city,” Paul said, his tone miraculously back to normal again. “I promise to show you the sights. When you return to Ireland, you can tell all your friends about the places you’ve seen.”
His dark eyes sparkled with excitement. Exhilaration gathered in Fern’s chest and made it hard for her to draw breath.
“Well, now, isn’t this turn of events far from what I was expecting?” she said, astonished by the winded feeling that had overtaken her. “You make the arrangement sound like an adventure. And, well, a good adventure is just what I’m after.”
Chapter Two
Excitement churned in Fern’s stomach until she was faint with it.
Oh, she’d experienced a few anxious moments since discovering her newfound ability to turn into human form. The first had been when she’d noticed how the flight attendant had begun casting suspicious looks her way as she sat rocking the sleeping Katy in the seat next to Paul.
Fern had never been a passenger on an airplane before, but common sense told her that some sort of list or count had to be taken of the travelers. Having someone like herself just appear out of the blue, someone who hadn’t boarded the plane when everyone else had, would probably cause quite a ruckus among the airline workers.
When the flight attendant had approached her, telling her the plane would be landing soon and that she should return to her assigned seat, Fern had gently handed Paul’s daughter over to him.
With the wary eyes of the flight attendant still on her, Fern’s heart had thrashed in her chest when Paul suggested that once they landed they meet up near Baggage Claim, or if they got separated, just outside of “Customs.” Fern hadn’t a clue what he was talking about or where she might find these places. However, she calmed right down when she decided the simplest solution—another pixie motto—would be to revert to her true pixie self, hide in the safety of Katy’s toy sack and have Paul carry her to their meeting spot.
However, she’d then found herself at the back of the cabin and smack-dab in the center of another tense moment when she discovered her power to convert didn’t seem to be working. That was the moment she was struck with the realization that the mystical ability of metamorphosis had rules of use. And one of them was that no human eye could witness her gift of transformation.
Fern had slipped into the restroom cubicle. With all the people coming and going, she hadn’t worried about propping open the door. Swiftly she found herself winging through the air, light as a feather and fancy-free. Being human, she’d learned, had taken its toll on a body. All that skin and bones and sinew came with a heaviness that had weighed Fern down to the point of exhaustion.
She slipped into the toy sack, snuggled up to Katy’s cuddly teddy bear and fell fast asleep. When she awakened, she yawned through a smile, thinking her dream of being human, of spending time holding the baby and chatting with Paul, had been just lovely. But then she became cognizant of the fleecy softness against her cheek, and she looked up to see the brown fuzzy bear staring at her with its button eyes. Fern’s gaze widened as she zipped out of the sack and into the air to see where she was and what was happening.
Seeing Paul standing in a wide area waiting with Katy, she searched frantically for a place that would lend her enough privacy to transfigure into a human. A nearby supply closet worked just fine; however, the moment she stepped out into the hallway among all the passersby, she was acutely aware that there was something very different about her attire compared to everyone else’s.
While she’d been seated on the plane, she hadn’t noticed, but here in the hustle and bustle of the crowd, it was obvious that there was not another soul that she could see who was wearing satin slippers. And not one person’s shoes had upturned toes as hers did. The footwear did come in a vast array of styles and colors, though, she saw.
One particular pair worn by a smartly dressed woman caught Fern’s eye, and she wished she had shoes like that. Suddenly her feet felt a wee bit cramped. Fern looked down and gasped when she saw an identical pair had taken the place of her booties.
What fun! It seemed her magical powers of changing extended beyond what she’d first imagined.
She waited until Paul was busy with Katy before she approached him, so he wouldn’t realize she hadn’t come from the direction from which he was expecting her to.
“There y’ are!” she greeted.
Katy squealed with glee and clapped her hands. Paul’s handsome face lifted, his frown easing.
“I was beginning to worry…” His sentence faded as he looked down at her empty hands. “Where’s your luggage?”
Instantly Fern grasped the idea of what the baggage claim area he spoke of was for. But she was caught now, and hadn’t a clue how she could go about explaining herself. No way would he believe the truth, not when she scarcely believed it herself.
“They lost your bags.” The irate retort had the crease in his brow deepening. “What a lousy thing to happen.” He shifted Katy to his other hip. “So that’s where you’ve been. Filing a report. And here I thought you’d changed your mind about coming to work as Katy’s nanny. When do they expect to contact you about your luggage?” He paused. “Fern, how will they know where to send your things?”
The man surely was full of questions. All she could do was lift her hands, palms up. “I’m staying with you, aren’t I?” The question was all she had for an answer. Beyond that, she was lost.
“Ah—” he nodded “—smart woman. You gave them my name and they looked me up in the computer. Good thinking.”
Clouds of uncertainty threatened to shadow his gaze again, but in the end he evidently let go of whatever thought was niggling at him.
“Well, no sense standing around here all evening,” he told her. “If you’ll take Katy, I’ll get our bags. Thank goodness those made it safely.” He handed the gleeful toddler to her. “We’re off to find a bus that will take us to long-term parking.”
This traveling experience put Fern’s senses on overload. She pointed out every interesting thing to Katy, and the child’s eyes just gleamed as if she, too, was encountering all these things for the first time.
“I just can’t get over how she’s taken to you,” Paul murmured as they got off the bus and started across the parking lot.
Fern watched as he loaded the suitcases into the boot of the car, the muscles of his back playing against the cotton fabric of his shirt when he bent over to arrange the bags. A tingling heat permeated her being, and she had to make a conscious effort to inhale and exhale slowly so she wouldn’t succumb to the peculiar turmoil racing in her head, in her body. What in the world was this warm and wonderful feeling that pulsed through her like golden, sun-heated nectar?
He buckled Katy into a special seat and they drove out of the garage. Once they were on the road, Fern couldn’t believe how the automobiles seemed to fly in all directions.
The city skyline had her sighing in awe.
“There must be a frightful number