The Fairy Godmother Part 127

 

“I’m sorry,” said James junior as soon as he appeared in the living room.

“Is that all you have to say,” asked Myrtle after she’d waited a couple of minutes for him to elaborate.

“What Ivy, Roses Mother, said was totally unforgivable,” said James. “I was stunned. I didn’t believe my ears, but I should have said something. I am so sorry that I just stood there like some sort of stuffed dummy. I should have defended you. I know that you would never have done anything like that, there are times, during the birth, when I wished you had. It’s hard to watch the woman you love going through so much pain, but even then, I knew that you wouldn’t because you believe that sort of thing is wrong. I am so sorry that you thought that I doubted you for even one second. Please say something.”

“Your silence hurt me, hurt me deeply,” Myrtle replied.

“I will regret that to my last day,” said James. “If I could take back those words, I would.”

“And, if something like this happens again?” asked Myrtle. “Because it could do, people look at fairies and make assumptions based on nothing.”

“I am not going to promise that it will never happen again, because as you say, people make assumptions about fairies and I may be taken by surprise again, but I shall do my best to stand up for you in everything,” James replied. “Please believe my, you are my world, I’m lost without you.”

“I’m lost without you,” said Myrtle as the babies started crying.

“Shall we do this together?” asked James. “We do work well as a team.”

“OK,” said Myrtle, glancing towards the twins. “We’d better get started before they become a bio-hazard.”

“Yes,” said James fetching the changing bags. “There is a bit of a ripe smell about them.”

“They’ll need fresh clothes,” said Myrtle, picking some up from a pile of laundry.

“So where do we go from here?” asked James as they stood by the twins watching them sleep.

“I don’t know,” said Myrtle.

“If you don’t want me to see my family,” James started.

“I wouldn’t ask that of you,” said Myrtle. “But I hope you understand, if they are going to snipe at me for what I am, then, I won’t go with you.”

“I’ll talk to them, they shouldn’t be like that, wheeling out the stereo types after all that you did for them,” said James.

“I know that people don’t think things through when they are stressed, but I didn’t think they’d be like that,” said Myrtle.

“Do you want to be with my when I ring them?” James asked.

“I don’t know,” said Myrtle. “I might join in and say something that I’ll regret.”

“Perhaps we aught to leave it till tomorrow,” suggested James. “They might want to ring to apologise.”

“Tempting, but they might not ring,” said Myrtle. “And I don’t think it is something that we should leave over night, this sort of thing can fester.

They had had their evening meal, the twins had gone to sleep and were being put down in their cots when James’s phone rang.

“Hello,” said Mary cautiously.

“You’d better take that into the other room,” said Myrtle as the twins began to stir.

“Hello Mother,” James whispered, walking back to the kitchen.

“If this is a bad time,” said Mary. “I just wanted to know if you were OK.”

“Of course I’m OK,” said James. “I’m surprised that you should even feel the need to ask that.”

“We didn’t think she turn you into a frog,” Mary laughed slightly.

“So why did you even mention it?” asked James.

“Well, you never know with,” Mary paused slightly, realising that her attempt to lighten things had only made them worse.

“When you are down a hole, stop digging,” said James.

“She’s got you under the thumb,” James senior’s voice came over the phone.

“I thought you had rung up to apologise,” said James junior. “Not to slag my wife off.”

“I rang because I wanted to know that you were OK,” said Mary. “I didn’t want to cause any more trouble.”

“Then perhaps you need to rethink your attitude to fairies,” said James junior.

“Why wont she let you see us if we aren’t nice to her?” snapped James senior.

“I will never stop James seeing you,” said Myrtle. “But I don’t see why I should go with him if you are going to spend all your time snipping at me. If I want family hostilities, I can see my relatives, they make you lot look like rank amateurs.”

“I thought I was talking to my son, not his, what exactly is your relationship to him?” asked Mary.

“I am his wife,” said Myrtle. “Do you want to see the marriage certificate?”

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” said Mary.

“I don’t know, I’d like to see this so called certificate and check it out for authenticity,” said James senior.

“That’s enough,” said James junior. “I thought we could get through this, but clearly you aren’t prepared to try, so I see no future in this,” he added and hung up.

“That didn’t go to well,” said James.

“That’s one way of putting it,” said Myrtle.

“I’m sorry,” said James.

“It isn’t your fault,” said Myrtle. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have pushed you into seeing them.”

“You weren’t to know what they’d be like,” James sighed.

“You couldn’t just keep your big mouth shut,” Mary shouted at James.

“She’s got him wrapped around her little finger,” said James senior. “He couldn’t even talk on the phone without her adding her two penny worth.”

“You didn’t exactly stay silent,” snapped Mary. “It might have been better for everyone if you had done.”

“And my input isn’t wanted,” James senior replied.

“At that point, no,” said Mary. “Thanks to you, we might not get to see two of our grandchildren.”

“That’s if they are our grandchildren, we don’t even know if he is our son,” said James senior.

“What do you want, a DNA test,” snapped Mary.

“I’m doing that,” said James senior.

“What!” shouted Mary.

“Remember the coffee he had at the hospital,” James senior smiled.

“What about it?” asked Mary.

“The cup,” said James.

“The one you said you were binning?” asked Mary.

“I didn’t,” he said. “They are testing the DNA on it to see if he is my son.”

“I do not believe that I am hearing this,” said Mary.

“You have to admit that it’s a bit to neat and tidy, him turning up, now after all these years,” said James senior. “You wouldn’t expect me not to check.”

“I would have expected you to be honest about it and ask if he minded,” Mary replied. “This is just so underhand.”

“So you don’t want to know the results?” asked James senior.

“Of course I do, if only to confirm what I already know,” Mary replied sitting down heavily.

“I just want what is best for you,” said James senior. “You know that don’t you?”

“Of course,” sighed Mary. “When do you think you’ll have the results?”

“Tomorrow afternoon sometime,” he smiled.

“Right, we’ll see what we do then,” said Mary.

By Janice Nye © 2021

The Fairy Godmother Part 126

 

“Myrtle?” James’s voice came over the phone. “Visiting is over at the hospital.” He watched as the scene around him changed from the hospital to his parents home. “Where is Rose’s Mother?” he asked cautiously.

“She is in her home,” said Myrtle. “And your brother is in his.”

“Why am I here?” asked James.

“It was that or your brothers home,” said Myrtle. “If you would prefer that, it can be sorted,” she added and hung up.

“She’s upset,” said Mary.

“I don’t know why,” said James senior.

“You heard what Rose’s Mother accused her of,” said James.

“It’s what fairies do,” said James senior.

“And it’s the last thing Myrtle would do,” James replied. “Which is why the accusation hurt her so much.”

“She shouldn’t be so thin skinned,” said James senior.

“You think that she should brush it off, like it was never said or something,” James junior asked, turning to his Father.

“I was expected to forget you, like you were never born,” said Mary.

“It would have been less painful for both of us if you had,” said James senior.

“I can’t believe you just said that,” said Mary with a sob, dashing from the room

“See, you’re crying again,” James senior shouting after his wife. “If you hadn’t turned up,” he said turning to James junior.

“If I hadn’t turned up, she would still be missing a son who disappeared just after birth and Rose would have given birth on the way to the hospital, which, given the fuss that we heard going on in the delivery room, could have been dangerous for Mother and babies,” said James junior. “You could be faced with Mark loosing all of them if Myrtle hadn’t been there with a wand to get them to the hospital quickly.”

“Things would have been different if,” said James senior.

“They would have been, but that isn’t the reality we are living with,” said James junior. “We can’t go back and change what happened then, but we can try and sort out the mess we have made of things today.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” snapped James senior.

“Perhaps you need your hearing checked out,” said James junior. “Because your wife is sobbing her heart out, she thought you understood her loss, now she’s found out that you were just humouring her all these years.”

“It’s no good crying over spilt milk,” muttered James senior.

“Losing a child hardly equates to spilling milk,” James junior replied.

“I lost my child as well,” James senior replied. “Or at least I think I did.”

“How dare you even think that,” Mary shouted at him.

“Look these fairies don’t bother asking permission when they get someone to carry their child,” snapped James senior.

“If I was a fairy child,” said James junior. “Enid would have found the fairy parents, not you.”

“Can you be sure of that?” asked Mary.

“Enid was checking up my family tree to make sure that I wasn’t related to Myrtle,” said James junior. “If you had just carried a fairy baby, she wouldn’t have even bothered finding out your names.”

“So why were we told that you were dead?” asked James senior.

“Some people will do anything for a baby,” said James junior.

“But you ended up in an orphanage,” said Mary.

“Maybe something went wrong and I got dumped,” said James junior. “Anyway, you two need to talk and I need to go home and try to save my marriage.”

“Whys she upset with you?” asked James senior.

“She thought I would defend her when Rose’s Mother was so nasty to her and I stood there stunned,” said James junior. “I didn’t think anyone would say anything like that to her, especially after all she did to make today go smoothly.”

“Ivy, Rose’s Mother’s name is Ivy,” said Mary.

“Myrtle has an Aunty Ivy, vicious cow she is,” said James. “Last time we came here she kidnapped the twins, that’s why we had to leave so suddenly.”

“I think we need to talk to Ivy as well,” said Mary. “What she said was pure prejudice.”

“You don’t think that Myrtle would do such a thing?” asked James.

“If you say she didn’t, then I trust you,” said Mary.

“It’s a shame you don’t trust Myrtle,” said James junior.

“We don’t know her,” said James senior. “And you have to admit it, they do have a reputation for that sort of thing.”

“I am going home to try and save my marriage, if I can,” said James. “I’ll be in touch,” he said ringing Myrtle.

“Please can I come home, we need to talk,” James said when Myrtle answered.

“OK,” said Myrtle. “But I reserve the right to send you to wherever I decide to.”

“Ivy,” said Enid

“Have you spoken to Myrtle yet?” asked Ivy, answering her phone.

“Not the most common of names, Ivy,” said Enid, ignoring her question.

“No, I looked around and only found the one,” said Ivy.

“Lives about 500 miles away and has a daughter called Rose,” said Enid.

“Yes,” said Ivy. “How come you know about her?”

“You’d be amazed,” said Enid. “What is your connection with her?”

“When our Mother chucked me out for being such a nasty daughter,” Ivy replied.

“When she realised you were too much like her,” said Enid.

“That as well,” laughed Ivy. “She decided that she wanted a replacement.”

“This would be this other Ivy?” asked Enid.

“Yes, even reused the name,” said Ivy.

“So she’s our sister,” said Enid.

“Half sister,” said Ivy. “Mummy dearest had taken a fancy to the boyfriend of the girl who she chose to carry Ivy. The boy disappeared off somewhere, I think he died, anyway, Mummy decided to leave the girl to carry their child and told her, in a dream, to call it Ivy.”

“Does Ivy know that she is part fairy?” asked Enid.

“Yes, she thought there was enough fairy in her to enable her to foist any baby she conceived onto someone else, didn’t work out that way, as she found out when Rose was due,” Ivy laughed. “Why are you interested?”

“Her daughter Rose is married to Myrtle’s husband’s twin brother,” said Enid.

“And?” asked Ivy.

“That Ivy gave a load of bile out to Myrtle about fairies and their babies,” Enid replied.

“That wouldn’t go down well,” said Ivy.

“Not when Myrtle had speeded them all to the hospital and probably save the day,” said Enid.

“What do you want me to do about it?” asked Ivy.

“I don’t know, other than stay out of Myrtle’s way,” said Enid. “Thanks’ for the information. I’ll be in touch as soon as I’ve got my head around it and worked out how to break it to Myrtle.”

“Does she need to know?” asked Ivy.

“If I don’t tell her she’ll find out,” said Enid. “Nothing is secret for long, not in our world and not when Myrtle is looking for answers.”

“Good luck,” said Ivy hanging up.

“I’ll need it,” said Enid to herself.

By Janice Nye © 2021

The Fairy Godmother Part 125

 

“Tell me you think this is a good idea?” asked James.

“We are going to see your twin brother and his wife,” said Myrtle. “What can go wrong?”

“I don’t know, but things do tend to turn out differently to what we thought,” said James, checking the twins for the umpteenth time.

“I think we had better go before they start to think we aren’t coming,” said Myrtle.

“Just as long as you don’t think this is a mistake,” said James.

“Of course I don’t think it is a mistake,” said Myrtle. “If I did I’d have said something before getting us and the twins ready.”

“You are sure, you’re not just saying you are?” he asked. Myrtle waved her wand and they were standing outside a small detached house in a leafy looking suburb.

“Are you sure we have the right place?” asked James looking at the front door which was flung open by his identical twin.

“James!” said Mark and looked back into the house.

“If it’s a bad time,” said James.

“It, my wife Rose,” said Mark. “She’s gone into labour.”

“How are you going to get her to the hospital?” asked Myrtle.

“I don’t know, the car went into the garage this morning, I was hoping I’d have it back before this, she isn’t due for a fortnight, but they need to send away for parts, so it could be a while,” said Mark, following Myrtle into the house to find Rose leaning against the sofa and standing in a puddle.

“Have you got your bag ready?” asked Myrtle.

“It’s there,” said Rose, pointing to a bag by the front door and then grabbing at her stomach as another contraction hit.

“How long is it between contractions?” asked Myrtle as another hit.

“Does that answer your question?” gasped Rose.

“I think we need to get you to the hospital,” said Myrtle giving her wand a quick twitch. A second later they were standing outside the maternity hospital and Myrtle was waving to a porter to bring over a wheel chair to help Rose get into the hospital.

“Thank-you,” said Rose as the porter pushed the chair into the lift and everyone else followed. “I don’t know how we would’ve got here without you.

“It’s OK,” smiled Myrtle. “I’m a Fairy Godmother, it’s what we do.”

“A Fairy Godmother! Like in the pantomimes?” Rose asked.

“Yes,” smiled Myrtle as the lift stopped on the right floor and they followed her through to the delivery ward.

“I don’t think it would be a good idea for all of you to come in,” said the midwife. “I think we need to limit this to the husband.”

“If you’re sure,” sighed Rose.

“We’ll just be out here,” said Myrtle. “If you need us just call.”

“Nothing ever goes as planned,” said James, pacing the floor outside the delivery room.

“Hello, James,” said Myrtle.

“What are you doing?” snapped her James, pausing for a moment in his pacing.

“I’m ringing your Father,” said Myrtle, turning back to the phone. “Hello James, it’s Myrtle here. James and I came to visit Mark and Rose, but she went into labour, so we are now at the maternity hospital.”

“You are there now?” James senior asked.

“Yes,” said Myrtle.

“Mary, Rose has gone into labour,” James senior said to his wife.

“But she isn’t due yet,” Myrtle heard Mary say. “Are they sure?”

“The waters broke and we took her to the maternity hospital, she’s in one of the delivery rooms now,” said Myrtle. “I just thought you aught to know.”

“We’ll contact her Mother and then we’ll get over there,” said James.

“I can get you here quicker than any car,” said Myrtle.

“But how would we get home?” asked Mary.

“I can sort that out as well,” said Myrtle. “There seems to be a lot of coming and going, I think you need to be here.”

“Thank-you,” said Mary and with a whisk of her wand they were there.

“Can you get Rose’s Mother here with that thing as well?” asked Mary as soon as she had got her balance back.

“You give her a ring and check that she’s OK with it and I can have her here in a blink of an eye,” said Myrtle as Mary pulled out her phone.

All three grandparents were gathered in the corridor when a rather shell shocked Mark walked out of the delivery room.

“There were three of them,” he stuttered.

“What do you mean were?” asked Mary.

“Were, are,” said Mark. “We thought we were going to have twins and there was a third one in there.”

“How are they and Rose?” asked Myrtle.

“They are all fine and healthy,” said Mark. “It’s just, there are three of them!”

“Can I see Rose?” asked her Mother.

Mark looked at the midwife and she smiled at the assembled crowd.

“Mother and babies are ready for visitors,” the midwife said, standing to one side to let everyone in. “Just remember not to crowd them out,” she added when she realised quite how many people were going into the delivery room.

“Three! We’ve got our hands full with just two,” said James junior to his brother.

“Thank-you for getting us here,” Rose said to Myrtle. “I don’t know what we would have done without you.”

“Glad to be able to help,” said Myrtle.

“Mary said something about you being a Fairy Godmother,” said Rose’s Mum. “She said you could get me here quickly, I didn’t realise quite how quickly.”

“It’s one of the most useful aspects of a wand,” said Myrtle. “Moving people from place to place, quickly.”

“Thank-you,” said Rose’s Mum. “Who’s Fairy Godmother are you?”

“I’m not really here as anyone’s Fairy Godmother, I’m on maternity leave at the moment,” said Myrtle. “My husband, James, is Mark’s twin brother. Mark and Rose invited us to tea.”

“Like two peas in a pod,” said Rose’s Mother looking from Mark to James and back again. “Maternity leave?”

“We did bring our two with us, but we sent them back for my Mother to look after when all this started. You can’t expect them to sleep for ever and there’s enough scope for chaos here without adding two babies in,” Myrtle explained.

“Is your Mum good with babies?” asked Rose’s Mum.

“Not really,” said Myrtle. “I’d better just give her a ring to check up on them.”

“Hello Enid,” said Myrtle.

“This had better be an emergency,” said Enid. “I was just going to meet your Aunty Ivy.”

“It is, or was,” said Myrtle, wanding her babies back to her. “I’ll take care of them now.”

“Right,” said Enid. “I’ll let you know how things go with your Aunty Ivy.”

Mum’s busy,” said Myrtle putting the phone back in her pocket.

“And these are your two little ones,” said Rose’s Mum smiling at them. “It can’t be that long since they were born. Tell me, did us use one surrogate or two and did the poor unfortunate women know anything about it.”

“They are my babies, I carried them for nine months and I gave birth to them,” said Myrtle. “I think we shall go now before I say something that someone might regret,” she added, waving her wand.

“She didn’t mean it like that,” said James as they appeared in their living room.

“How would you know, you don’t even know the woman’s name,” snapped Myrtle.

“There was no need to be rude to her,” shouted James.

“Well, thank-you for your support,” said Myrtle. “She started it, she was rude about our babies and rude to me, suggesting I would do such a thing.”

“It’s the normal way for Fairies,” muttered James.

“And you stood there saying nothing,” said Myrtle.

“What was I to say?” he asked.

“That I wouldn’t do something like that,” Myrtle suggested. “Or do you think I did?”

“No,” said James, a little too slowly for Myrtle. “I was with you for the whole of the pregnancy, I’d have know.”

“So, do you want to go back there?” Myrtle asked.

“I would be nice to see the babies,” said James.

“Right, let me know if you want to come back,” said Myrtle waving her wand.

By Janice Nye © 2021