Three Wishes(115)
Author: Kristen Ashley

Lily gasped, Maxine gasped and Tash clapped happily, staring up at the genie beside her in awe. The Golden Genie spared Tash a glance and, Lily could almost swear, he winked at her daughter.

“I don’t care who you are, you’re interrupting our –” Nate started then stopped, his eyes scanning the room, jumping from genie to genie. Lily felt his body grow tense beside her, his fingers digging into her waist. Then his head jerked to Lily and his brows drew together.

“Where’s Fazire?” he asked.

Lily opened her mouth to speak but she didn’t need to, Nate’s face moved from alarmed inquiry to understanding. Slowly he closed his eyes and turned her into his strong body. He dropped his forehead to hers and opened his eyes.

“Lily,” he murmured, staring straight into her eyes, “you didn’t.”

She nodded and she felt the tears again coming. How one person could cry so much in one single day was beyond Lily but she was proof it could happen.

“I knew you wanted it,” Lily whispered, “and Tash would have been devastated.”

“We could have waited,” Nate said, ignoring the genie army. Ignoring the fact that he’d driven like a maniac (well, not exactly like a maniac but close to it) to get them to the Registry Office. Ignoring the fact that he’d given into Lily’s dare at the entrance and told her about her lovely, unbelievable, amazing surprise honeymoon. She would never have not actually gone into the Office until he’d told her about their honeymoon, she was kidding, but he was that impatient.

He didn’t want to wait, she knew he didn’t. For goodness sakes, eight years ago, he got her pregnant to bind her to him. Lily of all people knew that Nate would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Visions of him forcing the Registrar to marry them at gunpoint were dancing in her head (that, she admitted, was a wee bit dramatic, but she certainly didn’t want him to blow his stack in front of Natasha).

As for Tash, even to think her father couldn’t move mountains was something Lily, if she could help it, simply would not tolerate.

Nate pulled Lily deeper into his arms, cutting off her thoughts.

“Will someone tell me what’s happening here?” the Registrar demanded.

Nate and Lily ignored her.

“He told me to,” Lily said. “I didn’t want Tash… we’ve waited so long… I knew you wanted…” she stopped and then went on. “He told me to,” she repeated, her voice finally breaking and she shoved her face in his chest.

“Darling,” Nate whispered against the top of her head.

“What’s happening here?” the Registrar shouted. “Who are these bizarre people?”

“They’re genies,” Natasha chimed in, her voice angry, “and they’re not bizarre.”

“They are not genies,” the Registrar retorted.

“They are,” Tash shot back.

“They are not. There’s no such thing as a genie,” the Registrar returned smartly, staring at Tash like Nate and Lily should get a handle on her.

“There is such a thing as a genie. You’re looking at, like, a bazillion of them!” Tash, finally losing patience, yelled.

Lily took her face from Nate’s chest and looked at her daughter.

“Tash, don’t yell,” she remonstrated quietly.

“Mummy, that lady’s crazy. How can she say there are no –”

“Tash.” Nate’s voice was firm and Tash’s mouth snapped shut, her arms crossed on her chest and her face settled into an obedient-yet-rebellious pout. Tash didn’t only get her quirky smile from Lily; she also got a bit of a rebellious streak.

Nate’s eyes moved to The Great Grand Genie Number One.

“Why are you here?” Nate asked.

“To judge the Wish of the Century Award, of course. This,” the Great Grand Genie Number One gestured about him, “is the council, plus, er… a few other genies who just wanted to see you get married.” He finished slightly less grandly but still in pronouncement mode.

“Fine,” Nate clipped. “Would you mind then if we actually got married?” he asked wryly.

The Great Grand Genie Number One inclined his head regally.

“A thousand expressions of gratitude,” Nate muttered with dry humour and Lily felt a hysterical bubble of laughter rising in her chest.

Nate threw her a look that said he was again not amused and the giggle escaped. Lily clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle it.

“Lily,” Nate said warningly.

Lily took her hands away. “I can’t help it. Oh Nate!” She put her hands on his shoulders and went up on tiptoe to look him eye-to-eye as best she could. “I so wish Fazire was here to see this. He’d laugh and laugh and –”

“Your wish!” the Great Grand Genie Number One announced in a booming voice, a voice that made Lily jump and Nate scowl and both Nate and Lily’s eyes swung to him, “Lily Jacobs, granddaughter of the Great Sarah Jacobs, is my command!”

Then he lifted his hand and snapped his fingers and in a dramatic poof of swirling grape smoke, Fazire appeared not two feet away.

“Fazire!” Lily shouted, pulling from Nate’s arms and throwing herself into Fazire’s.

She vaguely heard astonished murmurs as her body hit Fazire’s for she had no idea that genies rarely, very, very rarely touched humans and humans never touched genies.

“Lily-child!” Fazire exclaimed. “What, where –?”

Fazire was looking around him then he stilled and stared at the Golden Genie.

“Great Grand Genie Number One!” he cried, disengaging from Lily and dropping in a deep, low bow before his master.

“Fazire,” the Great Grand Genie Number One stared down his nose at the bowing Fazire, “arise.”

Fazire straightened and Lily took his hand. The Golden Genie’s eyes dropped to their clenched hands and he closed them in obvious despair then shook his head.

“Great Grand Genie?” Fazire called, clearly confused at the turn of events.

The Golden Genie’s eyes opened.

“My friend,” he said softly but his voice still carried, “you have served this family well. The only genie who ever served three generations of humans. And you have performed the two best wishes in genie history, the creation of this girl and binding her to this man who needed her.”

Fazire nodded, still confused but trying to pretend he wasn’t. Lily clenched his hand tighter and her genie returned the gesture.