11. Eliza

The next day Edward took me to a different town, much larger.

“We need to get you some things,” he explained.

I considered that he was probably right. If I stayed with him for a while, I couldn’t wear the same outfit every day. I needed soap, shampoo, and feminine products. Things I had never dared to buy with the money I got from selling my mother’s jewelry. It was precious to me and needed to last until the six years were up, maybe even longer, because even when the curse was lifted, and my brothers were my brothers again, we still didn’t have a place to go.

I was certain my brothers would want to return to Fable Forest to reclaim their birthright, but first we needed to figure out how to lift the spell Constancia had woven over our father.

I tried to justify that buying a dress or two and some soap with the jewelry wouldn’t be that bad, but my heart constricted at the idea.

When we entered the first store selling the kind of clothes I had seen women wear here, my heart sank even lower at the prices. There was no way I would pay a hundred dollars or more for a shirt. Not when the hundred dollars would feed my brothers and me for a week.

I tugged on Edward’s hand, wanting to leave.

“You don’t like the clothes?” he asked somewhat astounded. “I think this blouse would look lovely on you.” He held up a lilac-colored blouse and I couldn’t help but touch the fine material. I agreed with him, it would look good on me, but it was a hundred and fifty dollars.

I shook my head.

“What about this one?” He held up a butterflower-yellow dress with daisies on it.

I waved my hands in protest.

“Is it the money?” he asked astutely.

I spread my hands apart to say, too much.

“I have enough money for both of us,” he explained, not surprising me. I had assumed as much. Still, I couldn’t let him spend more money on me than he was already doing with the pond.

“Alright, listen, you can either pick your own clothes or I’ll come back here by myself and buy a bunch of things you might not even like.”

I searched his eyes. He was one-hundred-percent serious. I puffed out my cheeks, rolling my eyes but he only laughed.

“I don’t get to do something good with my money often. Please don’t deprive me of this pleasure.”

What followed was a spending spree that rivaled my mother’s and mine a few years back. Once he got me going, there was no turning back. It had been a long time since I had bought anything for myself. As a princess, I was used to buying a new wardrobe every season. Something I had always treasured.

A bit of guilt still gnawed at the pit of my stomach, but Edward assured me that money wasn’t a problem and when I thought about the amount he was spending on the pond and the size of his house, he convinced me. I was a princess after all, I was used to people trying to please me.

Shamelessly I tried on outfit after outfit, showed myself off to him and he seemed to enjoy it just as much.

My father had accompanied my mother and me once on one of our shopping trips—at least I only remember once—but he ran away a couple of hours into it. Leaving a purse of gold behind for us to buy whatever we desired, but having no interest in sharing the experience with us.

Once Edward was satisfied that I had plenty of clothes, he took me to another store, filled with fragrant smells.

“I don’t think you need any makeup, you’re more than beautiful as you are,” he complimented me with a small grin that made him look boyish. “But I know how much you girls like these things, so…” He opened his arms.

Helpless, I stared at the cosmetics. This was something we didn’t have in Fable Forest. Carefully, I fingered a palette with gorgeous colors, when a young woman appeared.

“May I help you?”

“I don’t think my friend has any experience with this. She doesn’t speak, but I would appreciate it if you would get her all the things a young woman like her should have,” Edward explained.

“All the things?” The woman’s eyebrows arched.

“All the things,” Edward confirmed.

The woman took me to a counter, and we spent an hour as she explained all the makeup to me, applying it to my face, showing me how to take it off, bringing an assortment of creams and cleansers.

“You have such beautiful hair,” she complimented.

Edward didn’t miss a beat. “She’ll need everything for that too.”

I had no idea what he meant. Besides soap, what could one possibly want for hair?

I was wrong.

There was a lot. Conditioners, oils, a blow dryer, curling iron, heat protectant, and so much more. That and the other products filled four large bags, especially when we added perfume and a collection of body shampoos, a loofah—I couldn’t wait to try that—body lotion, creams, so much I lost track of it.

“Now we need shoes,” Edward decided after he took my bags to the truck.

Once finished with shoe shopping, we ate lunch at a fancy café where he fed me cake after we were done with our salad and soup.

“There.” He pointed at another store. “I don’t think I will come in with you, but here.” He handed me a small card that I had seen him use at the other stores. He wagged his fingers. “I want you to buy anything your heart desires, alright? If you don’t come out with at least two bags filled, I will have to do the honors myself.”

I giggled and took the card. I giggled even more when I realized that the store he hadn’t wanted to accompany me to sold lingerie.

Of course I had bought underwear before, worn nighties, but nothing like what this store was offering.

I found everything I needed inside and more. Things I hadn’t even known I wanted.

The saleswoman who took me under her wing assured me that my boyfriend would love the garter belt with matching bra and panties.

My face heated at the thought of Edward as my boyfriend and a longing spread through my stomach and lower region.

When I returned from the store with three bags, Edward stood leaning against a lantern, a phone pressed to his ear, talking to somebody who he cut off the moment he laid eyes on me. Hanging up, he put the phone in the pocket of his jeans and took the bags from me even though they weren’t heavy.

Butterflies fluttered inside my belly at the sight of him, at the small brush of our hands when I passed him the bags. He was everything I had ever dreamed a prince to be.

On the drive home I couldn’t stop looking at him and caught him turning his attention from the road to glance at me more than once.

At some point he took my hand, brought it up to his lips, kissed it, and then rested our entwined fingers on his thigh, all the way back to his house.

Within the span of three days, Edward’s pond was finished. However, I wasn’t sure it was a pond, it looked more like a small lake to me. Even larger than the one at the church.

My brothers enjoyed every step of the process. They watched intently as the giant bulldozer dug up Edward’s beautiful lawn, creating a hole so deep I couldn’t see out of it when Edward took me and my brothers down.

The next day another giant machine appeared and filled the hole with what Edward called concrete, to keep the water from leaking into the earth.

It took two days and nights to fill his lake from several garden hoses, and would have probably taken even longer had he not brought in giant trucks filled with water.

As soon as the water was level with the ground, my brothers were in it. Crooning and snorting they splashed each other, moving their wings and tumbling around like only brothers can.

Tears filled my eyes at seeing them this carefree for the first time since our stepmom cursed us. Wherever we had been before we always had to be careful of others seeing us, wanting to do harm to us. Not here though. Not on Edward’s property. Who was right by my side, holding my hand and kissing the tears away.

“They look happy,” he observed.

Water splashed in our direction and laughing we took a few steps back. Edward let go of my hand and grabbed one of the garden hoses. Putting his finger over the hose’s nozzle, he sprayed it at my brothers and the trumpeting got even louder. I laughed so hard at their shenanigans, my sides hurt and I bent over.

Water hit me and I looked up surprised to stare into Edward’s innocent-appearing face. I grabbed another hose, and the fight was on!

Finally, he and I lay laughing, soaking wet on the ground, holding our bellies until I smeared mud on his face in revenge.

“Oh no, you didn’t,” he threatened, picking up a glob and throwing it at me.

My brothers came to watch the commotion and soon we were all muddy from head to toe as my brothers hadn’t wanted to be outdone and picked up mud with their feet to fling at us.

“You better not come into my house looking like that,” a voice called out. When we looked up, Marie stood on the veranda, frowning down at us.

I wanted to tell Edward not to do it, but I don’t think I could have even if I had been able to talk. He flung a large mudball toward Marie, who, belying her round frame, stepped agilely aside. “You need to get better aim, Master Edward,” she teased.

Trumpeting, William rose into the air, holding mud between his feet, he dropped his bomb at the surprised Marie, who ran cursing and laughing for cover.

“Not in the house,” Edward called after her, chuckling hard.

“That was fun.” He turned to me. “But I think she’s right, we all need to get cleaned up.”

I raised my arms as if to ask, Where? How?

He pointed at the pool.

I shook my head, we would dirty up the pool so badly.

He seemed to read my mind and smirked. “I’m paying for the cleaning crew. I might as well make sure they earn their paycheck.”

Before I knew what was happening, he scooped me up off the ground, making me squeal in surprise and delight while he took off at a run toward the pool.

Loud trumpeting followed us, but since they weren’t hissing, I figured my brothers weren’t alarmed at Edward manhandling me, they were only following us for more fun.

And fun we had.

Edward jumped into the pool with me still in his arms, followed by the splashes of eleven swans coming in right after us.

Laughing, we splashed water at each other. Carefree and forgetting for the first time in a long time about our worries. Happiness enshrouded me like a cloak, penetrated every pore of my being. I wanted to scream out, to yell my joy at the world, but I couldn’t. Instead, it bubbled inside me for a long time, even later that night when Edward took us to the graveyard—or flew us I should say.

The last time he did, I had held an injured Caspian in my arms, too distracted to truly enjoy what was happening. But not that night, and not the nights that followed.

The feeling of being free was incredible. I clung to Edward’s neck and scales and whooped when he banked and dove and rose. I knew he was showing off for me, but I loved it. Loved every moment of it.

My brothers kept up, divebombing at me occasionally and trumpeting their joy for me to be part of this.

I felt like it was way too soon when we reached our destination and Edward landed to let me down.

It was eerie being back at the graveyard, but I believed Edward when he said the ghouls were gone. Plus, my brothers were patrolling and Edward held vigilant watch on top of the church tower while I filled my bag with more nettles. The only dark cloud over my happiness was that it took longer to fill my satchel each night, as I was picking the graveyard clean.

Soon we would have to move on, to find another graveyard, even if I didn’t want to.

After three hours each night, Edward flew me back. In the morning he explained that I needed sleep and rest, and we repeated this for a week.

By then the pond was finished. Complete with a truckload of fish Edward had dumped into it as well as duckweed, water lilies, frogbit, and other plants whose names I didn’t know.

His gardener planted fanwort, cattail, bushes, and more. Rocks were strategically placed, as well as a couple of benches. He even hung a swing from one of the trees. Combined with the weeping willows, it was the perfect setting.

Edward returned for lunch during the day and we started enjoying the meal sitting on one of the benches, watching my brothers float on the water. Sometimes in silence, and sometimes Edward would fill it with stories.

He told me of his father and the plans for the little town they were building. Told me about the witch who had cursed him and his life at college before he came here.

Several times during the day he would throw a name at me, Bianca, Eleanor, Christine, but never Eliza.

It didn’t matter though. I didn’t care because I sensed his feelings grow for me like mine were for him, and there was nothing I could do about it, even though I feared both of us would end up hurt. Because only a week later there were no more nettles at the graveyard.

I finished the mantle and started another, but soon I had nothing left to sow.

Again my Edward surprised me. The night after I filled only half a bag with nettles, he flew us in a different direction, to another graveyard he must have scoped out during the day—for me.

On the weekends he worked in his office and I took my sewing with me to give him silent company. Sometimes he talked to me about his work, showed me the plans he had for the town. One Sunday, he grinned like a little schoolboy.

“I finally figured out a name for the town.” Expectantly, I tilted my head and put my sewing aside. He took a deep breath. “Swanville!”

I clapped my hands in excitement. I liked it. I liked it very much. Without much thought, I rose from my chair and walked over to where he sat. Determined to find out if what the sales lady had said was true and if he would really like my garter belt.