Ella Enchanted

chapter 20

DAME OLGA accepted Father's offer. In expressing her satisfaction at gaining a new daughter, she nearly suffocated me.

"My darling, you must call me Mum. Mum Olga sounds so cozy."

The wedding was to be in a week, as soon as arrangements could be made, and as soon as Hattie and Olive returned from finishing school.

"They won't go back after the wedding," Mum Olga said. "They have learned enough. We shall stay here together, and you must all endeavor to lighten my desolation when my husband is away." Her eyes followed Father, who was crossing her parlor to gaze out the window.

"And who will lift my desolation?" he asked, his back to her.

A blush deepened the color in her rouged cheeks. She was besotted with him.

He was all solicitude, all tender attention. She was kittenish, coy, and syrupy. I couldn't be with them for five minutes without wanting to scream.

Fortunately, my presence was required very little. I was rarely invited to Mum Olga's residence, and Father kept her away from our manor, which was day by day being emptied to satisfy his debt.

I cared little about the furniture, except for the fairy rug, which Mandy and I hid one afternoon when Father was with Mum Olga. We also rescued the best of Mother's gowns, because Mandy swore I would shoot up someday soon, and then they would fit me. But we didn't dare touch Mother's jewels. Father would have known if so much as a brass pin had been missing. Anyway, none of them equaled the necklace Hattie had taken from me.

The week was quiet. I spent my days and nights mostly with Mandy. During the day, I helped her cook and clean. At night I read from my fairy book, or we chatted by the kitchen fire.

My only ventures outside were to the royal pastures to see Apple. I had hoped to meet Char there, but the grooms told me he was still chasing ogres.

The first time I visited Apple was the day after I returned to Frell. He stood under a tree, his attention fixed on three brown leaves that clung to a low branch. As I watched, he reared back, lifted his head, and reached for a leaf just beyond his grasp.

In the bunched muscles of his back legs and the straining line from his hips to the tips of his fingers, he was splendid. If Agulen could have seen him, another pottery sculpture would have been born.

I whistled. He whirled and stared at me. I held out a carrot and whistled again, a song about mermaids, Apple's distant cousins. When he saw the treat, he smiled and trotted to me, both hands extended.

Soon, he let me pet his mane and came when I whistled although no food was in sight. It wasn't long before the sight of me inspired as much happiness as a carrot.

I began to confide in him. His wide-eyed attention was an invitation, and his trick of cocking his head to one side while I spoke made me feel that every word was a revelation, although he understood none of it.

"Hattie hates me and makes me do things, never mind why. Olive likes me, which is hardly an advantage. Mum Olga is odious. You and Mandy are the only ones who love me, and you're the only one who will never order me about."

Apple watched my face, his sweet, empty eyes staring into mine, his lips curled into a smile.

THE WEDDING was held in the old castle. Mum Olga wanted it to take place in our manor, but Father said the castle would be more romantic. Against such an argument she had no weapons.

When we arrived, Father went in straightaway to see to details of the ceremony and of the masked ball that would follow. I slipped into the garden to visit the candle trees, which, devoid of their leaves, resembled rows of skeletal arms bent at the elbow.

The day was cold. I passed the candles and marched up and down an avenue of elms, trying not to freeze. I even tied on my mask in a vain attempt to keep my nose warm. No matter how cold I felt, I was going to stay outside until several guests had arrived.

My toes and fingers were numb before I deemed it safe to enter. As soon as I did, Hattie rushed at me, her new false tresses bouncing.

"Ella! I've missed you so!"

She was about to embrace me and, I warrant, whisper a command in my ear.

I stepped away. "If you speak to me at all today, Hattie," I hissed, "I'll snatch off your wig and pass it around to the guests."

"But--"

"Not a word." Taking off my cloak, I walked to the fire and remained there while the buzz of conversation grew behind me.

There was nothing to tempt me to turn. The flames were more interesting than the talk. I wondered what made the air in front of the fire shimmer so.

"Aren't you going to watch the wedding?" Olive knocked my arm. "Can I stay out here with you?"

The hall was silent. I said, "Don't you want to see your mother wed?" I wanted to be there, to see the horrible event.

"I don't care. I'd rather be with you."

"I'm going in."

She followed me, and we slipped into the last row of seats. Father and Mum Olga faced an alcove in which stood High Chancellor Thomas, who had begun to marry them.

His speech sounded familiar, because he'd used almost the same phrases at Mother's funeral. The audience probably could have recited along with him. I heard coughs. A lady ahead of me snored gently, and Olive was soon asleep as well. A man in our row pulled out a knife and cleaned his fingernails.

Only one viewer was rapt, leaning forward in her seat, nodding at each trite sentiment, smiling while dabbing at wet eyes. I smelled lilacs. Lucinda!

She mustn't see me. As the daughter of the groom, I could hardly keep up the pretense that I spoke only Ayorthaian. She would be livid that I'd fooled her. I put on my mask.

I would leave in the confusion of congratulations when the ceremony ended. I watched her, ready to duck if she turned my way.

As soon as Sir Thomas concluded, Lucinda leaped to her feet. "My friends," she rang out, while advancing on Father and Mum Olga, "never have I been so moved by a ceremony."

Sir Thomas beamed.

"Not because of this man's endless droning..."

There were titters.

"...but because of the love that has united these two, who are no longer in their first youth."

"Madam!" Mum Olga began.

Lucinda didn't hear her. "I am Lucinda, the fairy, and I am going to give you the most wondrous gift."

Mum Olga's voice changed from outrage to delight. "A fairy gift! And everyone here to see! Oh, Sir P., how divine!"

I should have been making my escape, but I stood frozen in place.

Father bowed. "You honor us."

"It's the loveliest gift. No one can say this one is harmful or foolish." She shook her head defiantly. "It's eternal love. As long as you live, you shall love each other."