Page 66 of A Wonderland Wish on Ever After Street
‘Exactly.’ He grins, and it’s almost impossiblenotto kiss him, but there are people around us. Witt and Sadie arechecking in coats and directing people to the bathrooms. People are admiring the castle. The suits of armour. The portraits of Witt’s family that he’s recently had restored. We get bumped into by a woman who’s looking up at the mural-painted ceiling and not at where she’s going, and then givesusa glare for being in the way.
Bram leans down and whispers, ‘But more importantly than that, I hear a celebration is in order.’
‘How’d you know that?’ I look at him in surprise.
‘I’ve just shared a car with my father. He told me what he was about to do. Come with me.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, firstly because I really need to kiss you but there’s cousins, aunts, uncles, and God-only-knows-what-relationseverywherewho interrogate me about my love life at every family gathering, and if they catch me snogging you then I’m never going to hear the end of it, and secondly because I’m not the only one who’s over all the moons in the Milky Way that you’re joining Ever After Street on a more permanent basis. This way.’ His hand slips down my arm until he entwines our fingers and gives me a firm tug towards the stairs, but skirts around them to where there’s a door underneath, the entrance to the staff kitchen. Instead of going in, he shuffles us until we’re mostly out of sight under the stairs, and then slips his arm around my waist and leans down for a hug. It’s brief and I can tell he’s hyperaware of being spotted, and when he pulls back, he touches his lips to mine for the briefest peck.
There are footsteps outside our little nook and he steps back and laces our fingers together again and pushes open the door, and I’m immediately greeted by the burning smell of a party popper bursting and a chorus of people shouting, ‘Congratulations!’
‘Welcome to Ever After Street!’ Marnie calls. ‘For real! For good!’
‘You’re one of us now!’ Darcy says.
‘What are you all doing in here?’ I look around the room. All of my friends from Ever After Street are huddled in the big staff kitchen, sitting on benches, tables, or the units themselves. It’s like an impromptu surprise party, and from the smirk on Bram’s face, I’m guessing he’s responsible for it.
Ali is at the table with a kettle and a pile of teacups. ‘Bram showed me how to make sparkly Wonderland tea. It seems like the perfect way to celebrate. Cheers!’
He holds up a cup of glittery tea in a toast and everyone else does the same.
‘You did it, Cleo.’ Sadie pats me on the shoulder as we slip further into the room and Ali beckons us over for a teacup each that he’s already sprinkled with edible glitter.
‘I didn’t…’
‘We’ve had fun.’ Mickey cuts off my weak protest. ‘And we’ve helped secure the absolute perfect tearoom for Ever After Street. It was totally worth making over a hundred vol-au-vents for.’
‘You and Bram have worked harder than anyone. It’syourwin, Cleo, and it’s well-deserved. Cheers.’ Lissa clinks her teacup against Mickey’s as Ali hands one each to me and Bram.
‘Shouldn’t you be with the wedding party?’ Darcy asks him as we head towards one of the picnic-table style benches, weaving past Imogen and Joshy, and Franca knocks her shoulder against mine with a smile.
‘I’d rather be here with you lot,’ he says with a shrug, making me smile at his simple honesty again. Life would be so much easier if more people had Bram’s honest approach to it.
‘I see why…’ Darcy raises an eyebrow at our joined hands.
‘Thanks, everyone.’ Bram lets me sit down first, and when I do, he flops down beside me and rests his head on my shoulder. His blue hair is held down with styling product, but the ends at the back of his neck are making a break for freedom,so I let my other hand play with them and goosebumps rise across his skin. ‘I know this was about The Wonderland Teapot, but you’ve all helped to make my little sister’s big day really special, and my whole family appreciate that, even if my father has a tendency to go about things in the wrong way.’
‘We were doing it to help our Cleo,’ Mickey says.
I’ve never been anyone’s ‘our’ anything before and it soothes my frazzled nerves more than the hot tea. I hit it off with the Ever After Street girls from the moment Marnie introduced me to them when she was organising the book festival last year, and it feels like they’ve become true friends over the past few months.
‘As soon as we met, we knew you belonged here in one way or another. I’m just glad you found the perfect way. Congratulations, and here’s to many happy years of spreading Wonderland sparkle on our little street.’ Lissa lifts her teacup to toast me too.
I’m getting choked up as I try to think of what to say to get across how much their kindness means, from gathering here to congratulate me to giving up so much of their time this week to help with the wedding catering. I swallow hard and take a deep breath. ‘I can’t thank you enough for all your help. There’s no way I could have pulled this off without every single one of you. You’ve all gonesofar above and beyond that I can’t even wrap my head around it. None of you will ever have to pay for a cup of tea again. I owe you all so, so much, from right now and back to the very beginning. I know it was one of you who persuaded the council to look at my application, even though it was received after the cut-off point.’ My money has always been on Mickey or Lissa, they’ve both worked here for years and are likely to have some sway with the bosses, and Lissa is always at the head of any protest and backing any underdog. I give them both a knowing look, but neither owns up, and nor does anyone else.
‘So what’s the first thing you’re going to do now it’s yours?’ Franca asks.
‘Take on your first employee, presumably.’ Marnie nods towards Bram, and I can feel his face shifting into a smile where his cheek is leaning on my shoulder.
I turn my head and murmur against his forehead. ‘What do you say, will you be my Mad Hatter on a more permanent basis?’
He lifts his head and grins at me. ‘Depends. Do I get cake for breakfast every day?’
‘Whether I say yes or no, you eat cake for breakfast every day anyway!’
He laughs and squeezes my knee. ‘Then I’ll be your Mad Hatter for as long as you want me to be.’
