Maggie’s eyes widened. “A-Are these…?”
“All of your things,” Hazel murmured. She dragged her hand across the folded baby clothes, all ranging in shades of deeply emerald green to a bright and unforgettable pink. She pulled out a stuffed bear, the tie around its neck slightly askew. Hazel quickly righted it, pulling at the tie until it fit where it should. She placed the bear in Maggie’s hands. “He would’ve been your first stuffed animal, my dear.”
Maggie didn’t realize she was crying again until after the fact. She clutched the bear close to her chest, breathing in its warm smell. “I’m sorry,” she whispered into the bear’s fur.
“What did you say?” Hazel leaned in closer, though her expression seemed to say that she understood her quite well. “Whatever is there for you to apologize for, Maggie?”
“It’s been forty years,” Maggie said, choked up by her own tears. “Forty years!Aren’t you mad that it’s been this long? That I hadn’t found you yet? All this time, you –”
“Maggie,” Hazel said with a deep breath, her hands firmly grabbing a hold of her wrists. “Nothing short of an otherworldly event could have changed what happened all those years ago. We were realms apart. If anything, it is you who should house an anger for me, for not finding you soon enough. I-I wish…if I could change…if there was a way to –”
Maggie let her arms fall around her mother for another time. “Do not say that,” she whispered. “Do not regret this. I am grateful beyond belief. To have lived a life like I have, to have never turned to hatred, to the dark side of things despite it all – perhaps it was because I had a good mother like you all along. Guiding me, protecting me,raisingme, even if you weren’t there.”
“Dear me,” Hazel said. “I do not know what it is I have done to deserveyou.”
Maggie looked back into the chest, gently setting the bear down within it before pulling out a few of the outfits lying on top. The clothes looked to have been sewn together by hand, some with mismatched fabrics and embroidered flowers. Every piece of clothing had an unique touch to it, making it far different than anything else.
“I’ve managed to keep everything in good condition,” Hazel explained as she pulled out a young girl’s dress. “I tend to take things out to let them breathe quite often. And, who knows, perhaps you’ll be able to use them foryourbaby one day.”
Maggie blurted out a sharp laugh, almost pulling a flinch out of her mother. She reached and touched her shoulder, her laughlowering into a chuckle. “I’m sure you know as well as I that I’m a bit too old to have a child.”
Hazel eyed her oddly.
“What is it?”
Her mother backed away for a moment, her eyes cascading across Maggie’s frame before returning to her eyes. “Well then this is odd, isn’t it?”
“What’s odd?” Peter asked from the library’s entryway. He placed the tray down on the table as he drew nearer, one hand already reaching for Maggie.
Hazel shrugged. “My dear,” she began with a growing smile, “you’re already pregnant.”
“W-What?” Maggie looked up at Peter, but he looked just as perplexed as her. “D-Did you just say –”
“The King of Neverland is going to have a baby,” Hazel repeated.
Maggie found that she could hardly breathe anymore. If she thought before that there wasn’t any news capable of surprising her in such a way, Maggie was quickly proven wrong. The words hung in the air as her mouth hung open, words leaving her entirely.
Peter whipped out from beside her, his eyes as wide as a pair of balloons. His bright eyes grew tinted as they welled with tears, an excitement beyond joy beginning to form in his gaze. Never before had she seen him so overcome with emotion, so happy. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a small dark case, one that pulled a gasp out of Hazel’s mouth.
“Marigold Broomlin,” Peter said as he lowered himself onto one knee. The case snapped open as he revealed the ring that lay within, studded with a series of pearls that had been freshly collected from beneath the sea. They shimmered and sparkled beneath the light, pulling more tears down Maggie’s face. “I-I might’ve had this outrageously huge plan to propose in thesky, with all the Lost Boys involved, but I-I can hardly wait for that now. You are more than everything to me. You were the dream I had always been searching for, the reason why I came to Neverland so, so long ago. I waited all this time, and now I have no intention of letting you go.”
He inched closer, eyes bright. “Maggie, will you marry me?”
Maggie placed an unsteady hand over her mouth as she wept. Her mother stood over Peter’s shoulder, watching with as much excitement as her. And without even needing another thought, Maggie spoke the words that would change her life forever.
“Yes, Peter. I’ll marry you.”
18
Maggie
A pair of seagulls flew by over Maggie and Peter’s heads. They flew out over the sea, which stretched out past the horizon, and beyond the hilltop they stood upon. Their overlook allowed them to peer far out over the sea, where the kingdom of Atlantis stood far beneath them. Maggie let her hands tighten around Peter’s as she faced him once more, a few strands of her long hair flying across her face as the wind picked up. Beside her feet, Sunny smacked his wide paw down on the ground as he desperately tried to snatch up a grasshopper. The insect seemed to play with the feline by hopping around just out of reach, never staying in one place long enough to be caught.
Maggie’s pearly white dress flew out behind her. It once belonged to her mother, stowed far beneath piles of clothes and old boxes. Once tailored to Maggie’s size, the dress hugged her waist and had a heart shaped bodice, fitting her as though it was always meant to be hers. A matching veil stretched down her back, filled with sewn in marigolds and lilies. Across from her, Peter stood in his nicest three-piece suit, a tie bringing the look together at the center of his chest. A delicate flower poked out of his jacket pocket, matching her pearly colored dress.
Peter mouthed to her,you are beautiful.
Before she could stop herself from shyly blushing and looking away, Hazel stepped in front of them on the hilltop. On the opposite side, sitting in rows along the grass, were all of their friends. The Lost Boys were in the very front, their faces as excited as Peter’s. Behind them, the fairies took their own seats, with thei r Queen, Vespera, already swiping tears off her cheeks. The merpeople of Atlantis sent their regards a little while ago, and promised to watch the ceremony from afar. There was no way that King Neptune was allowing himself to miss it.
