Valentine's Wishes Read Online Free

said. “Taking in a movie with someone outside the family’s say-so is one thing, marriage is quite another.”
    “None of it’s so simple, Lucy,” Kerry said. “I know how Bal feels, even I have to put up with my mother’s complaining ‘isn’t it time you thought about settling down?’” Keri turned to Bal. “Now we know the guy is coming to the party, will we need anything special tomorrow night for him and his friend? And, what about the booze, I mean he does know it’s a party?”
    “Oh, don’t worry about it,” Bal replied. “I don’t know how traditional this guy is, but I expect he’ll be able to stand a glass or two of punch. We’ll have lots of soft drinks as well that I can point to and say, those are for me and you, in case he’s conservative and has strong views on alcohol. As he’s a dentist he’ll probably be more worried about tooth enamel erosion from the sugar than anything else.”
    All three of them laughed, and Poppy joined in.
    What is a dentist, though?
    “You can’t be the first of us to get married, really, Bal, not in this way, you can’t,” Lucy murmured and wrapped her arms around her friend.
    “Hey, I’ve done well to make it this far, twenty-three and unwed is a major milestone. I knew girls who were engaged before they finished high school and married before they were nineteen.”
    Keri looked at them each in turn. “Well, girls, this is the beginning of the end, perhaps? Certainly, if my mother has her way, before I’m twenty-four I’ll be married, with at least one beautiful grandchild for her, she’s told me she put it on her Christmas list for this year.”
    Poppy stared in disbelief. This is awful. The fun and energy the three of them generate will be gone. They’ll move house, and which one will I choose to go with? Love is important, I agree, but do all of them have to go at the same time?
    “I know, and it’s us who are supposed to have ticking body clocks. If you ask me, some prospective grandmother, who awaits a rash of grandkids to spoil and send home, came up with the phrase.” Bal dumped her cup in the sink.
    Keri grabbed the keys from the shelf. “Come on, before we all get maudlin. Besides it would be a shame to be late for the office on the one morning we all got up early.”
    The three of them left, and saddened at their discussion, Poppy shook her head. She slipped out through the gap of an open window and into the garden she thought of as her own. The pots on the deck had a haze of green and there were bright green shoots of daffodils. Will my mortals be here when those flowers bloom? Or will this sudden idea of marriage have taken one of them, or all of them? Maybe I’ll have to go home? I don’t want to go back yet.
    She spent the rest of the day deep in thought while she flitted around the garden. Shafts of dull February sunshine filtered through the clouds, but failed to lift her sense of gloom.
    * * * *
    When the girls returned after work, eager to hear more from them and hopeful the dentist had refused his party invitation, Poppy slipped in and hid behind one of the chairs in the sitting room.
    “Right, I’ve already phoned for a mega pizza tonight, so let’s get this clean up under way, ready for the best Valentine’s party we’ve ever had.” Keri glanced in turn at Lucy and Bal. “I mean, this one, it could be our last.”
    A quiver of sorrow twitched through Poppy but determination to help them made her think hard.
    I have to be careful though, fairy law requires magic be used “in accordance with direct requests.” She gave a tiny grin. But there are ways around the rules. A heartfelt, exhausted sigh, can and should be interpreted as a wish for some energy. Keri never actually says she wishes the knick-knacks in the kitchen would dust themselves, but she seems pleased to find them in no need of more than a brush off with the feather duster. Bal’s concerns over the time it takes to run the vacuum upstairs would serve me