Modern Wicked Fairy Tales: Complete Collection (36 page)

Now she couldn’t have been more glad she’d
made that decision.

“Where are my manners?” her grandmother
exclaimed. “Lionel, would you like something to drink? Something a
little stronger than tea, perhaps?” The old woman’s eyes brightened
as she looked at the younger man.

Lionel raised his eyebrows. “Now, Mrs.
Verges, you have heard about prohibition, haven’t you?”

“Oh indeed, but there are ways around it,
Mr. Tryst, if the price is right.” She winked and Mae swore she
actually giggled before taking a sip of her tea.

“I’m sure that’s true.” He chuckled. “But
thanks all the same.”

“You have alcohol, Grandma?” Mae looked at
her in mock disapproval.

The older Maeve primly sipped her tea. “It’s
medicinal.”

Mae met Lionel’s eyes and they both hid a
smile.

“Speaking of medicine…” Mae opened her
basket and removed the white bag. “The pharmacist said to tell you
hello.”

“Oh good!” Her grandmother plucked the bag
up, peering inside. “I’m sure I’m going to need these tonight.”

Mae laughed. “Why? What are you planning?”
The pills were nitroglycerin for her grandmother’s angina, and she
only used them when she was having an episode, which was usually
when she got really excited—or angry.

“Your surprise!” The old woman glanced
between the two of them, her gaze speculative. “And of course,
you’re welcome to join us, Mr. Tryst.”

“How kind of you.” Lionel smiled, leaning
back in the chair and glancing at Mae. She blinked, looking between
the man and her grandmother.

“I normally hate crowds, but I’m making an
exception.” The older Maeve smiled at her granddaughter. “We’re
going to the movie premiere of King Kong!”

Lionel sat up, eyes widening.
“The
movie premiere?”

“Radio City?” Mae gulped, already knowing,
with a sick, sinking feeling in her belly, that she was
trapped.

And there proved to be no way to get around
it. She tried, several different ways, to find an excuse to have to
go back home, but her grandmother wasn’t having it. She had a new
outfit for Mae to wear, so she couldn’t say she had to go home to
change. And while begging off as ill crossed her mind, she knew how
disappointed her grandmother would be.

So she changed into her new dress—Lionel’s
eyebrows went up when she made her entrance and she flushed,
thanking him for his compliments—and continued to make small talk
until it was time to go, all the while thinking that there was no
way to let Griff know she wouldn’t be at her apartment when he came
to pick her up. She could imagine his reaction, but she didn’t want
to think about him knocking and knocking…

The driver held open the door to the
Roll’s-Royce limousine for her, but Mae barely saw him. She
couldn’t think about anything but Griff. Would they pass his corner
on the way to Radio City? She didn’t think she could bear it. She
turned her face way from the window and responded to something
Lionel said with just a smile.

“You’re so distracted.” Her grandmother
patted her knee and Mae tried to fight the tears threatening. She
wanted to tell her about Griff, just come clean and tell her the
truth—but how could she? Her grandmother had disowned her own son
for less. How could she possibly ever accept a man who not only
didn’t have any money or a pedigree, but one who peddled apples on
the street corner?

“Just excited,” she assured her, covering
the old woman’s hand with hers. Lionel sat across from the two of
them, chatting away, something about the new subway system, and it
was easy to tune him out.

“Oh goodness, look at that line!” The old
woman gasped. “I can’t possibly wait in that!”

Mae looked out the window and saw it
stretching down the side of the building. So many people!

“Leave it to me.” Lionel told the driver to
stop at the entrance and let him off. Mae and her grandmother
stayed in the car, watching as he went into the building, pushing
past the rest of the crowd.

“What is he up to?” her grandmother
murmured, but it wasn’t long before they found out. Lionel
returned, waving three tickets as he helped Mae’s grandmother out
of the car.

“How did you do that?” Mae asked as he led
them in front of the crowd, guiding each of them by an elbow.

“You just have to know the right people.” He
shrugged. “These are box seats, by the way. We’re up here.” He
showed the tickets to a man in a red suit, who escorted them up a
flight of stairs.

“My goodness!” Mae’s grandmother exclaimed
as Lionel helped her into a seat. The box overlooked the entire
theater as it filled with people. From this angle, Mae thought they
might just be right on eye-level with the giant ape!

“This is quite a surprise!” Her grandmother
sounded like a young girl and Mae couldn’t help smiling.

“So a surprise for your granddaughter turns
out to be a surprise for you too,” Lionel said as he slipped in
beside Mae. He leaned over to whisper in her ear. “You look lovely
enough to eat.”

His words made her flush, and she murmured
something that resembled a thank you, although she wasn’t quite
sure that either his comment or her answer were appropriate. But
her grandmother was sitting beside her and she couldn’t protest
without drawing attention to herself. What she wanted to do was
melt into the seat and disappear. Well, that wasn’t entirely
true—what she really wanted was to be here with Griff, down there
on the floor amidst the rest of the crowd, pressed far too close
together and warm.

Instead she was sitting next to Lionel
Tryst, who kept whispering compliments that made her blush, his
knee coming far too close to hers as the lights in the theater went
down. There was a stage show prior to the picture—something about
jungles. She wasn’t paying too much attention, because Lionel’s
hand had moved from his knee to hers.

By the time the movie started, Lionel’s hand
had moved to her thigh. Mae shifted in her seat and crossed her
legs, hoping to give him a strong enough hint. She leaned away from
him toward her grandmother to ask if she was cold—up here the
theater did seem a little chilly—and stayed as far from him as she
could in her seat.

Thankfully, he didn’t touch her again, but
while that situation had improved, now she had time to think about
Griff. He was supposed to be here beside her, whispering and joking
and making her giggle. And when the giant ape appeared and killed
the snake, she wanted it to be Griff’s hand she grabbed, not
Lionel’s—she couldn’t help herself, the scene made her hide her
face against his suit coat in terror—and when the poor creature
tumbled from the top of the Empire State Building, she wanted it to
be Griff’s handkerchief she used to wipe her tears, not
Lionel’s.

“What a picture!” Mae’s grandmother dabbed
her eyes with her own handkerchief as the lights came up, the crowd
below buzzing with excitement. Mae handed Lionel’s handkerchief
back to him as they walked down the stairs, making their way toward
the car. The driver had been waiting down the street for them to
appear and he swung the door wide, sweeping them all in.

“What did you think of the movie?” Lionel
inquired, looking at Mae from his seat across from her. He was
still too close, his knees touching hers.

She blinked at him, wishing it was Griff
asking that question. With him, she could be honest, and she knew
he would be too. So instead of tackling the racism inherent in the
film, or even the implied eroticism, which was an even more
dangerous topic, she just murmured, “Fay Wray is very
beautiful.”

“Not nearly as lovely as you, my dear,” he
responded.

Mae’s grandmother smiled approvingly,
glancing between the two of them, and Mae inwardly groaned. She
knew that look. It was her grandmother’s, “I have to find this girl
a husband” look and more specifically her, “I think I’ve just found
a prospect!” gaze. Lionel was a kind man, and while he did remind
her of home, if she’d been interested in him, she would have
responded to his advances back on the ranch when her parents were
alive.

Of course, her grandmother didn’t know that,
and she began to question him in earnest about his parents, his
employment, his general status and character. At least it kept Mae
from having to talk. She watched the city lights go by and thought
about Griff. She hope she could repair her jilting him tonight,
make it up to him somehow. Maybe they could have a picnic in the
park?

“You two run off and play.” Her grandmother
patted her hand and winked over at Lionel as the car pulled up in
front of the Century building. “This old lady needs her rest. But
my driver will take you anywhere you want to go.”

Mae’s heart sank.

“That’s very generous of you.” Lionel opened
the door, helping her grandmother out of the car before the driver
could, and Mae took the opportunity, grabbing her red wool coat off
the seat and slipping out the door behind them.

“Grandmother, I’m going to walk home.” She
leaned over and kissed the old woman’s cheek. “I need some fresh
air.”

“You can’t walk home alone this late at
night!” her grandmother protested, but Mae waved her response away,
already walking.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Verges,” Mae heard Lionel
respond. “I’ll see she gets home safely.”

He caught up with her in just a few strides
and she didn’t protest when he fell into step beside her. It really
wasn’t safe to walk at night, she knew, but she couldn’t bear the
thought of being cooped up in a car with Lionel and spending the
night fending off his advances.

The air was cool and she shivered, stopping
to put her coat on, and Lionel helped her. She let him. They walked
in silence for a while, until Mae couldn’t stand it anymore.

“So do you really think you’ll find a buyer
for my grandmother’s apartment?” she inquired politely as they
rounded the corner. The city looked very different at night. The
terrain changed, becoming hazy, as if seen through a veil.

“I believe so.” His response was short and
she had a feeling he was angry with her—probably for rebuffing him
in the theater. That made her relent a little and she glanced up at
him as they walked.

“What did you think of the movie?” she
asked.

“
Beauty and the Bea
st in the jungle?”
He snorted. “Except in this version, beauty kills the beast, which
is really a little ridiculous when you think about it.”

“It wasn’t the girl who killed him,” she
countered. “But I admit, it was a rather doomed relationship. They
had nothing in common.”

He flashed her a smile and a sidelong glance
as they walked. “Oh, I think they had at least one thing in
common.”

They were coming up on Mae’s building and
she slowed, stopping in front of it, to look up at him. “What’s
that?”

He took a step toward her, so close she
could feel the heat from his body, even through her thick, red wool
coat. He leaned in to whisper against the shell of her ear, “Their
primal natures.”

Mae took a step back, smiling. “So you
subscribe to Darwin’s theory?” she asked, started up her tenement
steps.

He looked up at her quizzically. “Who?”

“Thanks for walking me home.”

He frowned. “Don’t you want me to see you
up?”

“Good night,” she said gently, waving from
the top of the stairs. “Thanks again for walking me home.”

He didn’t look happy, but she left him
anyway, watching her from the bottom of the stairs as the door
closed and locked behind her. The lift in her building was old and
she waited a long time for it to decide to start rising toward the
eighteenth floor, making her stomach lurch.

Her thoughts were fully back on Griff again
and her belly filled with regret. If only she had found a way to
contact him. She had left her basket at her grandmother’s, but she
would pack something up tomorrow anyway and go over to the apple
cart to apologize. Make him a double-decker sandwich. Maybe even
bake a pie. She had lots of apples, thanks to Griff, and she made a
pastry crust that melted in your mouth.

Decided, and feeling just a little better
for it, she stepped off the elevator, glancing down the hall as she
looked through her purse for her key, when she saw him out of the
corner of her eye. He was sitting beside her door, head leaned back
against the wall, eyes closed.
Oh my god, he waited for me.
He’s
still
waiting for me!

He was snoring softly as she approached and
she could look at him freely. He was wearing a suit, a nice one,
and there was a top hat resting on the carpet beside him. His face
was clean-shaven and she followed the line of his jaw with her
gaze, strong and solid, her eyes drawn down to the tie at his
throat. He looked so handsome she could have cried.

“Griff.” She cleared her throat, nudging him
gently with her knee.

His eyes opened slowly and the look in them
when he recognized her made her stomach do little flips. He should
have been angry—furious in fact—but he was actually happy to see
her. She could tell by the sleepy smile beginning at the corners of
his mouth.

“There she is.” His smile broadened. “I
think we missed the picture.”

Mae flushed “I’m so sorry. My grandmother
made plans, and I couldn’t—”

“I was worried,” he admitted, interrupting
as he got to his feet. “I’m just glad you’re all right.”

“I’m fine.” She fit the key in the lock of
her door, turning and pushing it open. “Come inside at least. Have
some tea.”

“Are you sure?” He peered into the
apartment, hesitating at the threshold.

Mae smiled, reaching out and catching the
edge of his sleeve. “Come on. Please.”

“Well, since you said please.” He shut the
door behind him, watching as she turned lights on, taking off her
coat and hanging it over a chair.