Layla and Starr were back at the hotel, busy making and receiving phone calls. Starr was impatient and bounced around the room, filled with nervous energy as Layla contacted each of the carriage drivers.
"Well, so far so good." Layla said, after cutting off her cell. "Everything is going according to plan, and most importantly, nobody's back breathing fire in righteous indignation."
"Of course not." Starr said. "I knew this would work." She glanced at her watch. "By now, it should be two down, and one to go. I wish I could see their faces."
"Could you be anymore pleased with yourself, Miss Thang?" Layla said with a laugh.
"Hey, I did good. Grown-ups make things so hard sometimes.' Starr said. "If you want something, go for it. When I get older, when I fall in love with somebody, I'm going to make sure that they know it, and I won't do anything like let stupid pride or being scared to tell them how I feel to stop me."
Easier said than done, kid. At the same time, Layla was forced to admire Starr's bravado. "Sometimes, it's not that easy. – or simple."
"It can be." Starr told her. "If you want it bad enough."
Heaven help the man that Starr wanted when she grew up, Layla thought to herself, holding herself back from laughing out loud.. Then again, maybe there was something to be said for being so upfront with her feelings. Layla changed her mind. Instead of thinking Starr as being young and naïve, she hoped that Starr would manage to keep her point of view intact.
"You know I'm right." Starr told her. "Evangeline, Nora, Alexis, they loved these guys. What better time than Christmas time to make their wishes come true?"
"Aren't you just being the perfect Christmas Angel. Spreading light and joy every whichaway." Layla said.
"Yeah, that's me. Can't you see my halo?" Starr answered. "Oh yeah, that reminds me. I got you a present too."
"Starr, you didn't have to."
"I know." Starr said with a shrug of her shoulders. "The only thing is, I hid it in your sister's suite. You'll have to go and get it. You can't miss it. As soon as you go in, you'll find it."
"Not a problem. I'll be right back."
"Take your time." Starr said as Layla left the room. "Because the Christmas Angel strikes again." She said once Layla was safely out of hearing. Starr smiled a smug little smile of her own. Layla wasn't the only one who could give good Christmas.
Layla walked down the hallway, smiling to herself, full of nothing but good thoughts. Christmas time in New York. Evangeline, Nora and Alexis were in for the most romantic surprises of their lives. Carriage rides and Christmas wishes, how much more romantic can you get, she thought with a sigh.
She crossed the hall to her sister's suite and stopped dead in her tracks.
"That wasn't there before..." she breathed... there were tiny golden-white lights draped around the room. And candles scattered across every available surface. And most surprising of all, who was there turning from lighting the last one, a candle torchiere in his hand.
"Antonio..." Layla breathed his name aloud in stunned surprise.
"Merry Christmas, Layla." Antonio said, smiling at her reaction. He came forward and took her hand, pulling her into the room and closing the door behind her. The fireplace was lit and Antonio had pulled a low table up in front of it and had unloaded a selection of tempting foods.
"I was told – in no uncertain terms - that someone had something to tell me. And that someone was you."
"I- I don't know what.." Layla stammered.
Antonio smiled and shushed her with a gentle finger across her lips. "They didn't tell me anything that I shouldn't have seen before for myself." He started to pull her towards the fireplace, but stopped suddenly, an odd look in his eyes.
"What's the matter?" she asked nervously.
"Nothing. Well, there's one small problem." He flicked his gaze upward. "Look up."
She did. Above their heads was a sprig of mistletoe. Layla's startled gaze swooped from the greenery above back to Antonio, "Oh."
"Oh." Antonio mimicked her with a soft laugh as he pulled her into a gentle embrace. "Hmmm. Mistletoe. What do you suppose we ought to do about that?"
He smiled at Layla, and after a long, long moment, she smiled back.
"Your package, Madame." The driver had handed Alexis the gift box just as he handed her up into the carriage. She lifted the lid and unconsciously, her mouth formed an "o" in astonishment.
It was a book, but not just any book. It was obviously very old and very rare. The cover was bound in ruby red silk and embroidered with sparkling beads and sequins. It was an 18th century book of an old Russian fairytale, one that Alexis remembered well; the legend of the Firebird. It was a story her mother had told her when she was little, from a book of fairytale that Mikkos had bought them, to read when he wasn't there. Memories prickled her eyes with tears, but Alexis smiled and brushed them away. What a lovely gift at Christmas time. The gift of remembering her mother.
How a propos, she thought to herself. I've definitely been reborn from the ashes. The carriage took her along the city streets and pulled up smoothly at a street corner. A group of people were there, and they turned to watch her as she stepped down.
"Ms. Davis?" A woman came forward. When Alexis nodded in acknowledgement, she smiled. "Good, we can finish our walking tour."
"Walking tour?"
"Yes, the Christmas Windows Displays tour." The guide explained. "We're at Bloomingdale's, the final stop on our tour. If you'll come this way?" She gestured towards the group.
Might as well see this through. Alexis thought, as she fell in with the others. They began to walk up the block, with the guide telling entertaining stories about each window in turn. This year, the windows' themes were fairytales. First was Cinderella, and she went through the stories of Aladdin, Sleeping Beauty, the Emperor and the Nightingale, and several others. She was witty and smart, quoting whole pieces from the stories and giving them tidbits of history that kept them alternately interested and entertained. Finally, they came to the last window.
"Oh, there seems to have been a last minute change." The guide said. "In place of Rapunzel, what we have is the story of the Firebird."
That piqued Alexis' interest. What had Layla and Starr managed to cook up?
The guide launched into the story and it was just as Alexis had remembered her mother telling it.
"... the Prince asked the wolf to Forgive, forgive...And the Wolf asked…. 'Why are you sad, O Prince?'"
"How can I part with the beautiful princess?" The voice came from behind them, and there was no mistaking that voice. Alexis whirled around to see Sonny standing there, all in black, from his bow tie to his toes.
Sonny walked towards her, picking up the story from where the narrator left off, telling of how the prince had died and how the brave wolf sprinkled his wounds with sparkling water. But looking in his eyes, she saw and heard everything he wasn't saying. Alexis knew that he was speaking of the two of them. He was the prince who had died. And wonders of wonders, she was the princess he couldn't bear to lose.
Or was she reading too much into everything. Why was Sonny here, what did he want? There could only be one reason he was here. As the truth spoke to her heart, Alexis' eyes sparkled with unshed tears. She wanted, she wished, but she was afraid….
"It's okay, Alexis." Sonny said. "If you let it be." He reached out with one hand, and swept away any trace of her tears. "…the Prince's wounds were sprinkled with the water… " Sonny took his tear-dampened fingers and touched them to his lips.
"And his wounds were healed." Alexis said softly.
"The prince returned home with his beautiful bride..." Sonny pulled a box out of pocket, he opened it to show an exquisite diamond flanked by two rubies.
His hand trembled as he held out his hand. He started to reach for her right hand, then halted from taking it.
"I have no rights to ask for anything more than a promise right now." Sonny said, looking straight into her eyes. "But that's what I'm asking for Alexis. A promise that you give me a chance to right the all the wrong I did you. For our daughter's sake. For our sake."
Not to her surprise, her right hand trembled as she held it out to him. What surprised her was that Sonny's hand shook almost as much as hers as he reached out for hers. He slipped the ring onto her hand. They looked deeply into each other's eyes and all the wasted moments disappeared as though they had never been.
"….and they lived happily ever after." The guide said. And the rest of the tour group clapped wildly as they kissed.
"Four out of four." Starr Manning said to herself as she snuggled down into her pillows, totally satisfied with the night.
"Merry Christmas to all," she said out loud. "And to all a good night."
end