Chapter 8
Maggie
Maggie nestled her steaming cup of coffee close to her chest as Peter curved around the island counter, making sure to press up behind her.
A deeply scarlet blush engulfed her face as she took a gulp of the coffee, quickly blaming the color on the heat of her morning drink.
Peter caught her face in a grin as he passed by, flashing an equally charming wink.
And even as the blush only tightened its hold across Maggie’s face, she couldn’t help but let her shoulders fall, and a blissfully happy smile took over her lips.
“You two!”
Maggie jerked back in surprise.
Dash flipped a pancake in her face, the perfectly tan flapjack smacking against the flat bottom of the pan.
It let out a pleased sizzle as another knob of butter was dropped into it, the steam washing over her face.
Maggie waved a hand through the cloud of steam, her glower holding onto Dash for a second longer than usual.
“If you’re gonna gawk at each other,” Dash continued, making sure to pointedly wiggle in between them as he made his way to the stovetop, “at least do it out of my way!”
Maggie laughed. “You’re sounding more and more like a real cook every day.”
To his left, Scamp finished fervently sloshing his whisk through a pale yellow liquid.
Freshly collected eggs had been used that morning to make a delightful blend of savory and cheesy scrambled eggs.
He poured the mixture into a piping hot pan, watching as the eggs bubbled and baked over the flame.
Like an expert, he pinched his fingers into a bowl of salt and sprinkled it across the eggs.
He went to the bowl of freshly cracked pepper next, giving an extra dash of it to the breakfast. Scamp finished with a narrow spatula, mixing and removing the eggs from the heat to give them a gentle cook.
“The eggs don’t need to see you guys making eyes at each other,” Scamp added.
Maggie dramatically draped a hand across her chest. “Not you too, Scamp!”
Laughter passed between them as Twitch entered the kitchen, his hands full with plates and silverware. His eye roll could be felt across the room as he passed by, making sure to throw them a few kissing faces as he went by.
“Oh, Peter,” he mocked in a shrill voice. “Oh, Peter Pan!”
Maggie bunched up a flower printed dish towel and threw it at the back of Twitch’s head as he scurried out of the kitchen.
Though embarrassment threatened to crawl up her neck, the feeling of Peter’s hands comfortably inching toward her hips made it all fade away.
It was obvious that the Lost Boys were very much aware of what happened last night between Maggie and Peter, but there wasn’t anything wrong with it.
They were just happy and showed it in the same way that brothers would.
She had caught Peter blushing like a maniac earlier, when Dash and Twitch were throwing him questions he was not ready to be answering.
“So when will the wedding be?”
“When can we start calling you dad?”
“Did you put a ring on her before –”
And Maggie silenced it effortlessly, with only her hands resting on her hips.
Though she might’ve saved him from that one moment, Maggie knew that there were plenty more to come.
She had no plans to hide her growing relationship with Peter, so knowing that the Lost Boys were already on board for anything and everything made it all easier to swallow.
As Dash finished making the remaining pancakes, they began to bring the food to the dining table.
Twitch had already set out the plates, napkins, and silverware, and was now beginning to pour freshly squeezed orange juice into tall glasses at each chair.
Dash followed with his tray of cakes, each one glowing with the golden-beige color that a proper pancake should have.
They smelt of vanilla bean and maple, the containers of syrup already opened on either side of the tray.
Fresh fruit gathered from Cricket Hollow’s beach was in a large basin at the center of the table, the juicy peaches already calling out to Maggie’s growling stomach.
Scamp finished with his bowl of scrambled eggs, a light sprinkle of green herbs decorating the tops.
Maggie breathed a sigh as she looked over the breakfast. “What a feast! You boys are doing wonderfully well.”
Twitch shook his head as they all found their seats. “I’m telling you,” he said, “I am not getting a hang of the pancake batter. Dash had to take over for me – again.”
“There’s no need to beat yourself up over a stack of flapjacks, alright?” Maggie reached across the table and patted his hand. “Anything takes time and practice. We’ll have pancakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to help you figure it out, if that’s what you’d like to do.”
Dusty, in a rare outburst, let out a holler, his arms high above his head.
Heads turned across the table to get a surprised look at him.
“What?” He slowly lowered his arms, his cheeks turning the same red as his curly hair.
“Oh, nothing,” Twitch remarked, his eyes wide. “Just didn’t know you loved pancakes that much.”
Dusty sheepishly shrugged and grabbed a stack of four cakes, piling them high onto his plate with a load of syrup to follow. “What can I say? Sometimes,” he took a large bite, “all you need is a sweet tooth to feel okay.”
“So,” Dash began, already halfway through his first plateful of food, “what’s the plan on getting Hook’s statue back from the mermaids? You know they aren’t as easy to bargain with as pirates are.”
Peter leaned back against his seat and sighed as though he wished everyone would have forgotten about the statue. “I was planning on taking Maggie to the underwater city. I reached out to Coralyn and Selina about getting there, and they were quick to offer help.”
Maggie almost flinched at the sound of the mermaid Princess’s names.
They were sisters, she remembered, with Coralyn favoring the color blue and Selina basking in all shades of pink.
Neither one of them proved to be too much of a hassle when they removed their dam in the cove, but there was one thing Maggie remembered about the beautiful sisters.
They were very fond of a certain King of Neverland.
She glanced over at him and he met her gaze, his smile seeming to say all the words she was looking to hear.
Don’t worry about them.
I am with you.
“They’re already on board?” Dash asked.
Peter shrugged. “I’m sure it isn’t like they will hand the thing over, but we’ll need to get there somehow, won’t we?
The only way to get to the city is with the help of a mermaid.
Luckily for us, we’ve made some friends in the past.” He leaned forward suddenly, catching Maggie’s attention before she could return to her breakfast. “But I’m not expecting this to be a walk in the park. ”
Maggie frowned. “Why not? Coralyn and Selina have nothing against us.”
“They aren’t the ones calling the shots in the city,” Peter replied.
She glanced around the table to see everyone nodding in agreement. Maggie let out a short and impatient huff. “Well someone’s going to have to explain.”
“The Princesses might have helped in the past,” Peter began, “but their father, King Neptune, is a much harder pill to swallow. He’s a cranky old man on his best days, and is a possessive thorn in our side on all of them. Even if it’s just a statue, I doubt he’ll just hand it over.”
Maggie shrugged. “I wouldn’t say that’s at all unexpected. If Hook considers it to be a good luck charm, I suppose some other treasure finder might just think the same.”
His smile changed into something warm the longer he watched her.
“What?”
Peter sighed and tilted his head, letting his cheek fall against his hand lazily. “You’re just smart and brave,” he murmured.
Dash rapped his knuckles sharply against the table. “Before you fall back into love-bird land, can we talk about the elephant in the room?”
“What elephant?” Maggie asked, her nerves rising once more.
Perhaps the Lost Boys were concerned about her and Peter’s budding relationship, and were going to use the time to express their concerns over it.
It surely was an elephant in the room, since they were all more than aware of it.
Maggie straightened and readied herself to handle whatever it was they wanted to say.
Dash leaned forward expectantly. “Hook’s deal, of course!”
Maggie released a deep breath. “O-Of course?”
“How can you all be so certain that he’ll just follow through on it?” Dash asked.
Twitch raised his hand. “Don’t speak for me, Dash. I think that the pirates will keep both statues. Why wouldn’t they?”
Scamp and Dusty quickly followed with their own complaints.
No one at the table seemed to believe that Hook would keep his end of the deal.
Even when Maggie looked over to Peter, the way his eyes danced across the table told an entirely separate story.
They were all ready to have to face off with the pirate and his crew another time.
“He will keep his end of the deal,” Maggie said amid their rising comments.
Peter looked over, his eyes narrowing. “We should be ready for any and all possibilities, Magpie.”
“Sure,” she murmured. “But I can tell you with full faith that he will keep his side of the bargain.”
Dash leaned toward her. “Then I ask my question again. How can you be so sure? What, through faith alone?”
Maggie was almost shocked to find herself in this position.
Normally it seemed to always be the other way around.
She would go about questioning the people of Neverland until their magic and positivity proved her wrong.
But here, in an unexplained turn of events, Maggie was the one holding the optimism in the palm of her hand.
They all watched her expectantly, waiting to be convinced that Hook was a trustworthy pirate.
Maggie sighed. “I’m not going to say that it is because I trust Hook as a person,” she explained.
“Or that I see some shred of good inside him. There is only everything you have all taught me! Maybe I’m wrong, or maybe I’m right.
We won’t know until the very moment, but until then, I’m going to be hoping for the latter. ”
Peter reached and rubbed his hand down Maggie’s back. “Optimism looks good on you, Magpie.”
As a blush swarmed through her cheeks, Maggie cleared her throat and pulled the conversation in the opposite direction. “H-How are things in Cricket Hollow?”
“Better than they’ve been in a while,” Scamp replied. “I’d say even better than when we had the Everything Plant.”
She gaped. “Really?”
“Don’t you see what kind of effect you’ve had on the island?” he asked. “All across Neverland, all sorts of creatures are learning to cook and make food for themselves. No one’s been dependent on the Everything Plant for weeks now. There’s your restaurant too, of course, but –”
“But Cricket Hollow thrives because of its wonderful teacher,” Dash finished for him, his smile wide and genuine. “It’s all anyone talks about these days. No one would’ve known how to even boil water if it wasn’t for you, Maggie.”
Peter tightened his arm around her. “There’s something about having the freedom to cook for oneself and one's family. It’s a blessing we never had – that is, until a certain Magpie came around.”
As they finished up their bountiful breakfast, Maggie remained at the table for a little while longer, just watching them move around.
They picked up after themselves, collected the dirty dishes where the Brownies could easily access them – along with a few pancakes for the little creatures, of course.
There wasn’t a single thing that was left for Maggie to worry about.
To be cared for, to be heard, to be respected was still something that she struggled to get used to.
But then, as Peter led her away from the dining table and up to her bedroom to get dressed, Maggie found it a very palpable thing to swallow.
She managed to change the way they lived on that island, even if it was filled to the brim with magic.
Someone as simple as her left a lasting mark, one that she didn’t think would be leaving anytime soon.
They would remember the things she taught them for the rest of their lives, and she doubted they would hesitate to share the lessons with their children, and their children after that.
Maggie, for the first time in her life, felt as though she mattered to an ever-changing and constantly evolving world.