Page 32 of A Bear in a Birdbath

“Yes, what?” Eva was confused.

“You asked me if I loved you. Yes, I loved you. I couldn’t stand the idea of losing you. It was more than just pride, though I know you think that’s all it was. I was…I was afraid you’d leave me and I manifested my own fears by forcing you.” The Queen—Katerina—drew herself up proudly. “And now, you will be the one who put me back on my own path.” She snapped her fingers and the cuff at Eva’s ankle vanished with a musical tinkle with a matching chime from Margo’s. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

“It’s worth more than you might think,” Eva said, and she dared to tip forward enough to kiss the Queen on her forehead. “Thank you.”

She hopped from the throne and took Margo’s hand in hers to dive into the milling crowd to find Bruno. They nearly ran into the bubbly little baker that had come to Faery with Frank Wilson as she came tripping forward to the dais.

“Your MAJESTY!” Anita gave a curtsy so low she almost fell over forward. “If you would honor me by accepting a cupcake!” She held it up in front of her, her head bowed.

The Queen rose to her feet and came forward to Anita, plucking the frosted treat from her hand. “I accept this offering,” she said formally. And then, to everyone’s amazement, she sat down on the dais to peel off the paper. “It is very green.”

Anita plopped down beside her. “It’s my own formula, top secret! Lots of citric acid, which is actually really healthy. It prevents kidney stones! I never had problems with kidney stones myself. Do fairies have kidneys? Oh, I’m sorry that’s probably too personal.” She showed off her verdant fingers. “The green dye is a bit of a hassle to work with, but I don’t mind!”

A dryad crept forward and shyly compared finger hues with Anita, and the rest of the court gathered around as the Queen took a careful bite of her cupcake, flashing her sharp teeth as she did.

It was one of Anita’s sour apple cupcakes, and Eva had to laugh at the Queen’s expression of surprise and disgust.

She still chewed and swallowed, and then licked the frosting from her lips as everyone watched her anxiously.

“It is…interesting,” she said diplomatically, and then she took another bite.

Bruno made it to the front of the crowd then and he grinned when saw that their shackles were gone.

“I release you,” the Queen said, before he could ask. “You are all free to go. You have done enough damage here already.”

Eva was scooped up into Bruno’s arms and crushed against Margo.

EPILOGUE - BRUNO

There was some discussion about who would walk whom down the aisle, but in the end, Margo and Eva walked themselves, hand-in-hand.

Most of the guests were coworkers, from Harriet’s bakery and from Wilson Kinetics, but a surprising contingent from Faery had also accepted invitations. There was no brides’ side or groom’s side, since Bruno had argued that would be an unfair advantage to the brides and that the apostrophes were too challenging for the signage.

So there were mechanics and janitors elbow-to-elbow with the Fae court. Burly blue-collared mechanics sat next to winged and antlered sprites, and Gary seemed quite taken with one of Harriet’s tattooed bakers. They appeared to be comparing piercings. Bruno waited at the dais, Frank as his best man at his side. Anita was both bridesmaid and flower girl, and she told everyone that the flower petals were edible as she scattered them generously on the floor and audience. Tobias and Harriet came next, because Tobias had refused to let Harriet go down the aisle alone, even as the maid of honor.

Bruno was pretty sure that Tobias was whispering dirty suggestions to her as they walked, judging by Harriet’s flush and Tobias’s satisfied smirk.

Then came Eva and Margo, and Bruno could not even see anyone else for the glory of his mates.

Margo had protested wearing white. “I am a troll,” she insisted. “You put me in a white suit and people will think I’m the marshmallow man from the Ghostbusters movie and the whole wedding will be screaming and fleeing. A cupcake dress would be even worse.” So Eva made her a tailored feminine suit of moss green and teal blues, an earthy, watery kit with a pattern of silver leaves, dark lace, and subtle embroidery designs in the same shades of red and rust as Bruno’s fitted suit.

Eva’s dress was silver and gray, shot through with Margo’s greens and teals and Bruno’s russet hues. It had puffed sleeves and a frothy skirt, with rainbow crystals sewn into every seam. Bruno didn’t realize that it left her back boldly bare until she turned a little climbing up onto the dais and he saw the flash of her raw scars.

She stood proudly before the officiant, a rather bemused-looking recruit from the civil clerk’s desk and Margo faced Bruno from beside her.

The clerk cleared his throat and addressed the room.

“We are gathered here today in celebration of love and union between these three souls. Let us join them together in the presence of witnesses and wish them joy and happiness as they start a journey forward from this day as husband and wives. I understand that you have written your own vows?”

They had written their vows together, because Eva insisted that she didn’t want to get up in front of everyone and say “Me, too,” when she realized that everyone else had said what she was going to first.

“Bruno,” Margo said first. “I fell headfirst into your life hiding from security guards and you kissed me instead of turning me in.” There was a titter of amusement from the audience. “Eva, I have adored you since Harriet first introduced me to her assistant and never realized that you might look twice at me. The two of you together complete me, and I swear my heart and my soul to each of you forever.”

Bruno cleared his throat and realized that he’d crushed his note cards in sweaty hands. “Eva, you came quietly into my life and stole my heart. Margo, you hit me over the head with a popcorn machine.”

“My popcorn machine!” Frank whispered from behind him in outrage. “You said that was done by vandals!”

Bruno closed his eyes and dredged the rest up from memory because the ink on the index card was too smudged to read. “The two of you together complete me, and I swear my body and my being to each of you forever.”

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