Her Fairy-Tale Life

Maggie watched Kaeden's shoulders slump and his head lean forward as his hands covered his face. After a few minutes, she could see his shoulders shudder as if he was crying and was horrified that she had done that to him. She did love him, and she hated to see the usually overconfident man like this. Why did he have to make such a romantic declaration of love? They had a business deal, he didn't love her in that way, how could he? He was Kaeden McConnell, and she was just some girl he felt he owed a debt to, and that debt had already been paid a thousand times over.

She walked slowly back toward him and stood just out of his reach. "Kaeden, it's late, and my arm hurts. Can you take me home, please?" she asked softly. He looked up at her, and she could see the hurt and confusion in his tear filled eyes.

"Tell me what just happened, I don't understand," his voice was as broken as his demeanour seemed to be. "Please, Maggie, explain it to me, because I know you love me, you couldn't give yourself to me the way you do if you didn't."

"Kaeden," she said softly, her voice as unsteady as his seeing him shattered like this. She stepped forward and was surprised that he didn't reach out to her, as was always his way, so she took a seat at the opposite end of the swing. "From the time you crashed into my farm you have seen me as a damsel in distress. A problem to be fixed. You liked being that knight in shining armour, and I think you fell a little in love with being the hero of our story rather than with me."

"I never saw you as a problem," he denied her words.

"Maybe the wrong choice of words. You saw me as a girl who needed rescuing. Like fairy tale they talk about, you fought off the evil step-monster, you fought off the banks, you fought off all the villains in my life. Now you are trying to be Prince Charming and ride off into the sunset with that girl," she smiled, "Just like everyone expects you to do," she paused, trying to make him see what she saw. "You're not in love with me, Kaeden, you're in love with that fairy tale, and it hurts when you do stuff like this because I'm not immune to it, and I know, one day, once all the drama dissolves away, that you will get bored and wake up and see the real me. The girl who isn't a fairy tale princess and doesn't fit into your world or lifestyle, then you will leave me, just like everyone else I've loved."

Kaeden was stunned to silence as she spoke. He could hear the truth in what she was saying, but didn't believe for one moment that he would ever tire of having her in his life. Especially now that she had admitted that she loved him.

"I'm not immune to the story or you, Kaeden, I do love you," she said sadly. "I thought when you offered me the deal to marry you that you were finally honest with me and that we could do this, as friends, friends with benefits even, and that all these romantic overtures which never seemed plausible would stop. They did for a while, and I guarded my heart against the day after you got everything you wanted that you would leave me," she admitted. "It wasn't fair to make a romantic proposal like that, not to you or me, all you've done is make it harder to leave when the time comes."

"Sometimes fate has a way of throwing people together. I was attracted to you that very first night when you pulled me out of the plane and helped me. If I weren't, I would have given Elena what she wanted and left you alone, like you asked. I didn't know what she and Alecks were doing then, or that you were a damsel in distress. I just knew I wanted to see more of you," he said honestly. "When I discovered everything else, of course, I wanted to rescue you because I'd already started falling in love with you. You were this amazing, tough, independent, stubborn woman who seemed immune to my charm."

"That wasn't love; that was a post-traumatic reaction to the crash. You called me your angel and acted like I saved you from the clutches of death itself," she shook her head, denying his claim of loving her in those early days.

"You did, the doctors told you that, not me. When we've been married for fifty years, and people ask how we met, it will be an epic story full of angels and monsters and knights in shining armour." He reached out and took her hand. "But this part of the story, this night, where you finally told me you loved me," he said softly, "This part of the story will be my favourite. I have tried over and over again to convince you of that fact that I love you. I don't know what else to do to make you believe me. I don't care about the deal we made, I don't need Everything, I just want to marry you on Tuesday and ride off into the sunset, not because of some deal or obligation, but because you love me back."

"You'd give up everything for me?" She asked. "You'd still come and live on the farm? You'd still marry me without it?"

"In a heartbeat," Kaeden said seriously, lifting the ring box he still had in his hand. "I know you didn't want a stone, but it's been recessed in so it will hold up as your digging around in roses. It's a fire opal, but some people call them dragon's breath opals," he said, nervously holding it out to her. "Our life could be a fairy tale if you just let yourself believe in me," he whispered, making her look up at him.

"It's beautiful," she touched a finger to the ring, "but my life is not a fairy tale, no matter how much you want to make it that way. I'm real. My life is real, not some story a clever reporter put together. I want to believe in you, but you don't seem to see the real me. My parents are dead; my step family tried to kill me, and I still have to face that reality at the trial because my life is that fucked up. On top of that I made a crazy deal in a moment of insanity, and, although I can't use my left arm at all, the man I am engaged to, who is clearly more insane than I am, is trying to weigh it down even more with a big ass dragon's egg!" She shook her head, hearing how ridiculous her life sounded, even to her. "Even though he no longer cares about the deal we made." She said sadly.

Kaeden laughed, he couldn't help it, and immediately regretted it after she looked at him with hurt in her eyes. "It's hardly a big ass dragon's egg," he gave her his lopsided smile. "It weighs hardly anything at all," he took it from the box and placed it on her finger. "To quote one of my favourite superheroes, my crazy matches your crazy, and you're right, we are engaged and getting married in a few days' time." He said gently.

"If you don't care about the deal, we should postpone it," she said softly wondering why he wasn't calling it off entirely if he no longer cared about the deal.

"No, we can't postpone, because I don't want to keep having this same argument we seem to have every week. I do see you, Maggie, the real you, who is strong enough to cope with the loss of her parents at such a young age. I see the you who is confident and smart enough to build a floundering business back up to become a viable entity with the odds stacked against her. I see the you who took all of the shit her stepfamily put on her and still kept going. I see a woman who, despite everything bad the world has thrown at her, is still kind and helpful to strangers in need, like Ravi and Selena, and treats them with the same respect and care that she treats my mother. I see you, Maggie, all of you, and I love the woman you are." Kaeden tilted her face up to his and smiled. "And you love me. So, can you please stop pushing me away now?"

"You have no idea how hard it is not to just say yes to everything you want, the fairy tale life, the fairy tale wedding, the loving family, which is just as much a fairy tale as everything else because I've never had any of it, not really," she sighed. "You come from such a different world, and I will never fit in. I'm not beautiful or sophisticated, like your sisters. I'll just let you down, and you'll leave me, and I'm not sure I could take that if I let the last of my protective walls down. I don't think I could survive someone who I loved leaving me again."

"So, you're pushing me away before I have the chance to prove that I won't leave you?" He asked. "We McConnell's mate for life, like swans and penguins." He pulled her into his arms. "There are no guarantees in life, but I can promise you a fairy tale wedding and honeymoon and life if you will just believe it can happen. We've been through the worst, so from here on out it will only get better. We're both real people with real problems, but I absolutely believe we can live happily ever after."

Maggie leant against him in silence. She had run out of arguments, and every fibre of her being wanted that happily ever after he offered her.

"Do you have any idea what it did to me when you were attacked, how guilty I felt that I had caused you to be hurt? I didn't think I would survive, but you're strong and determined, and you survived, for both of us," he said softly, tightening his arms around her.

"You didn't have anything to do with that. It was Alecks. Why would you feel guilty?" Maggie sat up looking at him.

"If we hadn't have discovered their plan and stopped it, they would have just taken your land and wouldn't have felt they needed to attack you in a last ditch effort to get it and put their plans back on track," he explained. "You would have lost your farm, but you would have been alive and unharmed, at least physically."

"If you'd let that happen I would have died, for sure. The farm is all I have of my parents, my entire family for that matter, if I lost it I wouldn't have survived," she admitted and looked up into his lop-sided smile, seeing the relief there that she didn't blame him at all for the attack. "I've been a basket case for weeks, and you're still here wanting me to marry you. Any sane man would have walked away weeks ago and not tried to rescue my farm and me," she reached up and swept his hair from his forehead as she did the first night she saw him unconscious in the plane.

"You were never a damsel in distress. You were a princess who had her own suit of armour and didn't like the idea of a knight riding in to save the day," he chuckled. "It's taken me all these weeks to get you to slowly take off that armour and marry me because you love me, not because of a deal we made," he said sincerely.

"I can't very well leave you to your own devices, who knows what sort of monsters you will try and save the next damsel from," she said in a resigned manner. "I could maybe take off the armour for one day though and marry you properly."

"Now I'll take you home," Kaeden said and kissed her tenderly.

Chapter 16.

Maggie lay spent and tired with Kaeden beside her. Their lovemaking had been gentle and tender, and she had reached new heights of wonder in Kaeden's expert pleasure playbook since arriving home late the previous evening. She wasn't sure if it was the final dropping of those last barriers around her heart, but even without touching she felt so connected to him now. She rolled to face him, placing her head on his shoulder and lifting her leg over his.

Maggie didn't say anything as her mind replayed everything he had said to her on their date. From the time he introduced her to his friends to her panic attack and his heartfelt words of love that had finally made her believe that he didn't plan to break her heart.

"What are you thinking?" Kaeden asked, placing a hand on her leg and readjusting its position over his groyne.

"That you have been very patient and persistent," she nuzzled his neck as she spoke. "You probably wanted that fairy tale wedding and riding off into the sunset, and now it's too late."

"You're saying that I should have gone all caveman and just put you over my shoulder and dragged you to the city to meet my friends and family so you could get to know me properly?" He chuckled. "That was the only way you were going to realise I was trustworthy and totally lovable. On the farm, I was always going to be that strange man who crashed into your life and turned it upside down instead of Prince Charming."

"I don't think that would have worked. I guess I will never understand why you chose me, but I will try not to question it anymore. I feel like you are settling, though, if not for me then for a simple ceremony when you might have liked something bigger," Maggie said.

"I will be happy if you show up and say I do on the day at this point," he teased. "All you have to do is wear a beautiful dress and meet me at the altar."

"I could help with other things, maybe make it a little better than just a ceremony. You seemed so happy when I said I'd wear a dress and veil, I'm feeling bad that I haven't shown much interest in the ceremony, or that we aren't inviting your friends or family," she admitted. Now that she had admitted to herself that she wanted this wedding she was beginning to regret her reluctance to be involved in organising the ceremony.

"It won't take much to add a few chairs and invite them, if you want. I've already organised everything for the ceremony itself, anything else is just an easy add-on. Are you telling me you want the fairy tale now?" He asked, looking at her. "I could do it, but I would need my family to help. Are you ready for that?"

"I would like whatever you want. Anything you can put together in three days will be fine with me. No complaints or frowning, I am even offering to help," Maggie said seriously.

"Who are you, and what have you done with my reluctant bride?" he pulled away from her chuckling. "You have to be available to Bob, who is doing the Valentine's Day orders on the farm while you stay here and rest your arm. You know my mother is coming to see you sometime today, probably my sisters as well. So just leave the ceremony to me, I promise it will be perfect for both of us."

"Sounds like a busy day, I guess I should go shower and get dressed," she went to roll away from and found his arms close tighter around her.

"I love the shower idea, but why do you insist on ruining that image by getting dressed?" he complained sadly and kissed her deeply.

*****

The weekend was filled with phone calls to and from Bob, as he continued with the cultivation of the crop of roses and getting the orders out to clients as best as he could, given the losses they'd incurred on the farm. She felt bad and constantly apologised for her absence, claiming she would pay him and his friends with the profits as soon as she was able to get home and deal with the business. Kaeden had steadfastly refused to take her home on Saturday, claiming that she wouldn't be able to stop herself from working and damaging her shoulder and arm even further. He had the doctors' orders on his side, and, although she argued with him, she could admit that his concerns were valid, and gave up reasonably easily. Particularly when his usual way of ending these arguments was to kiss her and find another use for the energy she claimed was making her stir-crazy being cooped up in the apartment.

The times she wasn't talking with Bob, who constantly reassured her that everything was under control, or naked and wrapped around Kaeden, she spent with Kaeden's family, who all seemed to visit in a constant stream of comings and goings. Selena had been wonderful, and giggled happily each time Kaeden apologised to her for messing up Maggie's hair.

Finding time to talk quietly with Claire and Lilly was easier than Maggie expected, as Kaeden seemed preoccupied with work while he was in the city and Paul seemed to be a constant feature of their lives whenever they had a spare moment or guests arrived. Maggie's future sisters-in-law were thrilled when she asked them to give her a full Disney princess makeover for the ceremony, and, with only three days before the late afternoon ceremony, they called in many favours from friends, including Selena, who was ecstatic to be part of the excitement.

Maggie now viewed the way his family treated her in a different light, and she could see that what she had thought was pity or judgement of her was, in fact, their uncertainty of how she felt about them after their interference at the engagement party and the attack on her orchestrated by a jilted Alecks. Lilly, particularly, seemed to constantly apologise for anything she said that she thought may upset Maggie. Once Maggie realised they were on edge because of her, she decided to clear the air as they all sat down for a family lunch on Sunday.

"I'm so bad at talking to large groups of people, but I think I need to say something to you all," Maggie said, and found the noise at the table subsided, and they all turned to look at her. "When Kaeden crashed into my life and wouldn't leave, I knew he was crazy. I tried, unsuccessfully, not to fall for his crazy charm or let him get caught up in my insane family drama," she said at a slow, steady pace. "He was crazy enough to hang around though, and when my dramas became his you all supported me as you would like him, and I am so very grateful for that," she paused while they all smiled and acknowledged her thanks.

"I wanted to thank you all for trying to protect me from that family drama, but I'm afraid what happened couldn't have been stopped by anyone. Not at the party, nor the attack on me. They were caused by one person only and were inevitable, regardless of my meeting Kaeden and you all," she paused again as they took in what she was saying. "Kaeden said he felt guilty because he had not only interfered in my life but also encouraged you all to do the same. If anyone else feels guilty, or like I blame them, please don't. No matter how it ended that night, it was the first party I had ever been to where I didn't hide in the kitchen all night and leave early. It was the first time I felt like I could belong in that world, and you all did that for me, so thank you." They all looked at her in stunned silence until she spoke again.

"I know you've all done so much for me in other ways, and that you did it because Kaeden asked, but I am grateful. Especially to you, Wade. You saved my home, and that's a debt I can never repay. So could you send Kaeden the bill, please?" she grinned and stopped talking as Kaeden protested loudly, much to the amusement of his siblings.

"I've already told him what I want," Wade said enigmatically, looking around at the table as if he had a secret. "Five brothers, one best man slot. It's mine, you losers," he looked at the other men at the table with a smug smile.

"I thought you said you weren't having a bridal party!" Jack complained.

"We're not," Kaeden shrugged. "He just plans to gatecrash so he can kick me if I forget the words,"

"Sounds like a best man to me," Toby grumbled. "Do you know how long I've been waiting to be able to kick you for a legitimate reason? It was my turn."

"You snooze you lose, Tobe," Wade grinned. "Maggie probably needs a bridesmaid. You're so pretty, and you've got the legs to carry off a dress and heels," he chuckled.

"Do I?" Maggie looked at Kaeden in panic. She didn't have any close girlfriends, and the thought was daunting to her. She could ask Claire, or maybe Selena if she had to ask someone.

"You have two things to worry about, remember? The dress and making it to the altar on time," he reassured her and shot Wade a frown. "You have enough to worry about with the farm's busiest time of year and getting the all clear from the doctor on Monday for the honeymoon. Mum and I have everything else under control for Tuesday."

"Hannah is helping you?" Maggie looked at the family matriarch who hadn't said a word during the discussion.

"Of course, dear. It would break my heart not to see my youngest son marry the woman he loves," she smiled just as enigmatically as Wade had.

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be just a simple ceremony anymore?" she looked around the table before narrowing her smiling eyes at Kaeden.