Every Fairytale has an Ogre

Jenna-Rose never stopped believing in fairytales. Her earliest memories were of watching Disney princess movies and making her Barbie dolls re-enact them. Every single one of her report cards said she “spent too much time daydreaming” but she figured why focus on math when you can imagine a knight in shining armor storming through the classroom door and whisking you away?

As she grew up, she found romance novels which only made her fantasies wilder. In college, she backpacked through Europe, stopping at every castle she could find and even snuck into a royal ball in a mis-guided attempt to snag a royal. She even would’ve settled for a lady-in-waiting, but was kicked out after only meeting an old duke.

So when it came time for Yasmin to propose to her, she knew it had to be magical.

A weekend in a Snow White-esque cabin complete with the first blossoms of spring, a forest full of baby animals, and the background music of bird song. After a picnic in a wildflower-filled meadow with little fairy lights scattered in the trees, Yaz would drop to one knee and ask the love of her life to marry her.

This was the most romantic thing Yaz had ever done, or even planned. Unlike Jenna-Rose, she had never cared much for fairytales. It had seemed so childish to long for a hero to rescue you when you should be able to rescue yourself. Bootstraps and all that.

Until she met Jenna-Rose and realized what it meant to be rescued. Without even noticing, she’d spent her whole life locked in a tower of loneliness and then came Jenna-Rose galloping in on a unicorn and whisking Yaz away to a land of make-believe and a life of never-ending adventure. Jenna-Rose was one of those people who could even make doing the dishes fun and entertaining. Yaz couldn’t imagine having to live without all the colors of life brought by Jenna-Rose.

The weekend had to be perfect. Jenna-Rose deserved the world, starting with a fairytale proposal.

They were still an hour out from the cabin when a storm rolled in, letting loose a torrential downpour the likes of which only Noah had seen.

“The weather app said nothing about rain!” Yaz shouted over the bombardment.

“Which just means that this is probably all the rain we’ll see this weekend.” Jenna-Rose’s voice was so full of optimism it filled every half-empty glass and gave Yaz hope that everything would still work out.

Yaz woke up early the next morning to the pitter patter of yet more rain drizzling from the dreary sky. But she held out hope that it would clear by the afternoon.

It did not. If anything, the weather in the afternoon had gotten worse, but she refused to come down from the mountain without a fiancée, so, while Jenna-Rose was in the shower, she set about hanging the fairy lights around the ceiling of the living room and scrambling to add the final touches to her pre-packed picnic in time to have it set out on the table before Jenna-Rose was out of the shower.

Delicate tea sandwiches, soft pretzels with homemade honey mustard, French onion soup, petit fours from their favorite bakery, freshly brewed earl gray tea in the tea cups Yaz’s parents got them the previous Christmas, and finally, a bottle of prosecco.

She unpacked them and found that the sandwiches had gotten soggy from the mayo, the pretzels had gotten crushed under the prosecco, and half of the petit fours had broken. But all showers must end so she laid them out in what could only be described as an ode to a demolition derby.

In an effort to re-fairytale the table, she ducked outside and snatched a handful of wildflowers from the edge of the woods and put them into a vase in the center of the spread.

A crash of thunder shook the cabin, rattling the tea cups on their saucers. Yaz straightened them, glad she had left the tea in the thermos.

With the picnic ready, she pulled out an emerald green dress she’d hidden amongst her clothes – the one Jenna-Rose had picked out for her and told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world – and quickly put it on, checking herself quickly in the hallway mirror. The dress had gotten wrinkled in transit. Because of course it had…

“This day is a disaster,” she whispered to her mirror self.

The distinctive squeak of the shower knob and the sudden cessation of running water, leaving just Jenna-Rose’s singing. It was almost time.

Waiting was the worst part. She paced the tiny room, turning back on herself more than an Indy 500 driver as her heart stampeded in her chest, her face was in heat wave, and her stomach had turned like sour milk. Her fingers rolled the ring box so quickly she almost dropped it twice. To keep it safe, she placed on the sofa, between the cushions.

The bathroom door opened and Yaz stopped pacing, her body frozen in time. Footsteps were coming down the hall. A flash of Jenna-Rose’s strawberry blonde hair peaked through the doorway.

A crash of thunder shook the cabin and thrust them into darkness.

“Shit.”

“You there, Yaz?” Jenna-Rose’s melodic voice called through the darkness.

Yaz strode over to the doorway, her eyes never straying from her partner. “I’m right here.” She took Jenna-Rose by the hand and led her to the sofa, their fingers intertwined.

“Oh, what’s this?” Jenna-Rose’s hands had wandered to the table. “This feels like a sandwich.”

Yaz bit her lip. This wasn’t going to plan at all…but she could still salvage it! There was still a chance to pull this off.

She squeezed Jenna-Rose’s hand with her right and picked up a sandwich in her left. “They’re tea sandwiches, just how you like them: crustless. Why don’t you eat a bit and I’ll be right back; I think I saw candles in the linen closet.”

Yaz dashed down the hall and flung open the linen closet, using her phone as a flashlight. There, on the top shelf, were enough candles to last a coven for a year. She grabbed as many as she could, pocketing the lighter and the box of matches, and brought them back to the living room where Jenna-Rose had found the petit fours and was moaning with pleasure.

She dropped the candles onto the sofa before setting them up around the room, lighting as she went. The final candles she lit were the ones on the table, illuminating the picnic.

“How romantic,” said Jenna-Rose, her eyes admiring the food, fresh flowers, and candlelit ambience. “I think the storm did us a favor; this kind of meal needs to be by candlelight.”

The dimmer light from the candles did a good job hiding the smashed food, the wrinkled dress, and (hopefully) the slight panic around the edges of Yaz’s eyes.

“Are you going to have any of this?” Jenna-Rose asked, biting down on a soft pretzel. “Ish delicioush.”

Yaz’s heart whirred like a hummingbird. She opened her mouth to speak but her throat was sealed shut. To soothe her nerves, she poured them each a cup of tea and sipped at the warmth. When that didn’t help, she tried chocolate, which has a much higher success rate.

Chocolate was the answer so she had a couple more pieces. Then it was time.

“Jenna-Rose,” she began. “Before I met you, my life was a locked room; it felt safe and comfortable, and I didn’t think it could be any better. But then you showed up and turned the key to my heart, opening up the room and letting me out to see the beauty of the world. Being around you makes everything better, which is why-“

Her hand slipped between the sofa cushions and grabbed…nothing. The ring wasn’t there. She riffed while she rifled around for it.

“Which is why I love you so much. I can’t imagine a single day without you. When we first met, I didn’t get why you loved fairytale romances so much but now I do because I get to live in one with you.”

Her fingers had prodded the entire crack and most of the surrounding cushions. The ring was just gone. Yaz deflated, tears welling in her eyes.

“I just wanted to do something special for you because I love you,” she finished quietly. Jenna-Rose leaned over and kissed her which sent Yaz’s stomach on a roller coaster of emotion. Maybe it just wasn’t the right time, she decided. Nothing had gone right so far anyway.

Their lips slowly drew apart.

“I’ll be right back,” said Yaz, turning to hide her tears. “I just have to pee.”

When she returned from the bathroom several minutes later, Jenna-Rose was standing, arms outstretched beckoning Yaz closer. When she approached, Jenna-Rose wrapped her arms around Yaz’s shoulders. They swayed to the sounds of the rain.

“I used to think I was naïve to believe in fairytales, that everyone was right when they told me to grow up and settle. But then I met you and it was more than I ever could have hoped for. You’re my knight in shining armor, my princess in the tower, my hero in every way,” said Jenna-Rose, her eyes twinkling in the candlelight.

She pulled out a little box – the little box. “Is there something you want to ask me, Yazmin Suman? Because if you don’t, I will,” she smirked.

“Where’d you?”

“It was wedged in the back of the couch. Today’s been a bit of an ogre on your plans, but that just makes this even more of a fairytale.”

Yaz dropped to a knee, gazing up into the sweet eyes of her love. “Jenna-Rose Carpenter, will you marry me?”

“Of course.”

And so they lived happily ever after.