The Gingerbread Princess

Enchantments, Confessions, and Mistletoe

Anthony's cell phone rang. He kicked the door, and rage bubbled within him. "Not again."

The phone kept ringing.

He grabbed a gingerbread man from the lime-colored kitchen and walked into the tiny bedroom. Paintings of dragons covered the walls. He sat on the green comforter that covered the single bed. His eyes narrowed.

The phone kept ringing over and over again.

"You should block her," Oceania yelled from the living room.

"Mother keeps calling from a new number." Anthony bit the gingerbread man's head off before he answered the frantic ringing. He finished the cookie to drown out the sounds of his mother's screaming.

"Why didn't you show up? She was all dolled up and jilted at her own wedding. Why would my son humiliate my friend like that?"

"Because I never met her, and I'm already married!"

"You couldn't have married Oceania. Why would a princess marry you?" Mother screeched over the phone.

The phone shook in his hand. His dark hair covered his tired eyes. "No, Mother, I don't care if you're embarrassed. I didn't show up at my wedding because I married my best friend last week. You told me no woman would want to marry a guy as ugly as me, but a real princess did."

"You were supposed to marry the woman I chose for you, and how could you not invite me? I'm your mother. Your stepmother was invited, but not me. I'll never forgive you for that," she said over the phone.

He stepped around the tiny room and rested his hand on the green dresser. "My stepmother isn't a terrible human being, and she wouldn't have arranged a marriage with her drunk poker buddy. She took me to the movies every time you didn't show up for your visitations."

"I showed up once a month, which was more than you deserved. By law, I own you until you're married. My other kids are attractive, and I blame your father. Your nose is enormous, and you need braces."

A gasp left his lips. "Your chosen bride married someone else at the wedding. She picked a guy at random."

"If I find this marriage is fake, I'll sue you, and you'll marry my next pick. And I know this is fake because Bertha was a better match, but she rejected you, and Princess Oceania only pitied you. My assistant, Winston, informed me that you are staying in her guest bedroom. How pathetic. Winston and I had a good laugh, and I'm sending him over to test your marriage. He's had a thing for her in the past."

"Bertha gave me the idea to ask Oceania because my ex hates you more than I do. Goodbye, Mother." Anthony hung up his phone.

His mother claimed that she sold his hand in an arranged marriage for three expired gift certificates because she hated her son, or rather, Anthony's father, but that was the lie. Women offered her cold, hard cash for a paper marriage.

Still, by the new law, she could arrange a marriage for him because he wasn't married by the age of 26, and sons became the property of their mothers.

It is why Anthony married his best friend over Christmas break—to avoid a marriage to a woman who reminded him of his mother.

Oceania wasn't a childhood sweetheart, but his best friend since he was six. The friend who'd eat ice cream with him whenever each of them had a breakup.

She was his best friend and was always there for him.

He took a deep breath. Everyone needed to believe Oceania's love was real.

His survival depended on it. One-sided love was always painful. His heart beat rapidly.

Oceania waited for him.