A Wish Your Heart Makes

A Wish Your Heart Makes
By Lea Sheryn

Prologue

Every Cinderella has a dream in her heart of someday meeting a Prince Charming to take her away from the drudgery of everyday life. Oh, we all seem to have the idea that the lucky fellow must be perfectly enchanting in all ways but that, my dears, is simply a fantasy and not the makings of a true wish. You see, children, no one is exactly perfect in every way. We all come with flaws but that is part of the charm. It’s those little peccadilloes that make life in a faulty world interesting.

The old lady sat back in her rocker with the book of fairy tales lying closed in her lap. Her dark rheumy eyes took in the eager faces of the little boys and girls who sat in a circle at her feet. She was a maiden lady; that means a woman who has never married. Having no children of her own, she was not lonely in her life. The village children loved her and gathered every afternoon to hear her stories. The little cottage, sitting in a nook within the edge of the woodlands, was cozy and warm on a winter’s afternoon; the scent of baking gingerbread filled the space drawing the children toward its unexpected delights.

“Our dreams are wishes, my dear little ones,” the old woman continued, rocking her chair back and forth in the firelight. “They are wishes the heart makes, when we’re fast asleep.” Softly she crooned the song from Disney’s Cinderella. The expectant group of children leaned closer to the rocker in expectation of a story that wasn’t told in the book of fairy tales they held so dear.


CHAPTER ONE
GISELLE

Like all old ladies, the one is this story had been young once. She had been of tender age and attractive; in fact, she was the most beautiful girl in the entire village, once upon a time. Tall and pretty with a curvaceous figure meant to attract all the young men, Giselle Daubigny was best known for her long blonde tresses that fell to just beneath her waist and her ability to master all the popular dances of the day. Filled with fire and passion, she would trip the light fantastic until the early hours of the morning. Hoping to be her partner for the evening, men would fall over themselves just to get close to her at the Friday night parties the village hosted. Many of the festivities were broken up by fist fights and the occasional brawl—all for the sake of the beautiful Giselle.

Fun-loving Giselle delighted in frolicking the night away; she adored being admired. Time and again, she allowed the men who swarmed her to steal kisses in secret corners of the dancehall and to, on occasion, go a little further. When someone went too far, she was quick to turn on the ice machine inside her heart and push away whoever showed more than a fleeting expression of admiration. She liked men, don’t get me wrong. She liked to tease and tempt and bring a man to the brink of desire; she also liked to push him away at the last moment. As I said, she liked men, but she just didn’t like any of the village men enough to want to spend a lifetime with one of them. They were fun for a minute but didn’t fill her attention span.

Her cruel actions toward them never diverted any man from attempting to win her heart. Pierre Laferriere vowed to have her no matter what it took; Simon-Alexandre Voland challenged him to wrestle for her hand in marriage. Although Giselle delighted in the encounter, she had no intention of giving herself to either one of them. Clearing the dance floor, the two strapping young fellows fell upon each other with gusto. In the beginning Pierre was seen to be the sure winner then the tide turned, and it was Simon-Alexandre. At first Giselle cheered for Pierre then she cheered for Simon-Alexandre. She didn’t care who won; all she cared about was they were fighting for her.

Finally Simon-Alexandre bested Pierre. Without waiting for the acclaim of the crowd, he rushed toward Giselle and lifted her off her feet in a mighty embrace. When the gathering eventually quieted down, the couple strolled out into the gardens to cuddle closely within the confines of an arbor bench.

“Marry me, Giselle,” Simon-Alexandre suddenly exclaimed as he flung himself onto his knees before her.

“Yes,” the beautiful young maiden responded without a moment of forethought. Once her immediate passion subsided, she cringed back into her seat. What in the world had she just done? Before she could take back her promise, her unintentional intended was whisking her back into the dancehall to announce their engagement.

Oh what a mess that was! While Simon-Alexandre was eager to rush to the ceremony, Giselle did her best to stall the procedures. Back and forth they went with a mighty tug-of-war between two powerful forces. The whole village watched with amusement as they waited to see if they would host the wedding of the year or if there would be heartache in the end.

Finally it all came to a head when Simon-Alexandre asked the fatal question: “When do you intend to become Madame Voland?”

At the mere thought of becoming Madame Voland, Giselle’s pretty little head exploded. Shaking her long blond tresses as her cheeks inflamed in deep scarlet verging on purple, she lost her temper and screamed: “Never! Never! You silly little man! If you think I am going to marry you, you have another think coming to you. Get away from me!”

Without waiting for the smoke to clear, Pierre Laferriere stepped up to the plate with his own offer of marriage—only to receive the same treatment. Ever after, Giselle remained upon the shelf. Oh, she was still considered a beauty…a beauty with a volatile temper. Although this didn’t stop the men from surrounding her, they did so with caution. No one proposed to her again. She was fun to have around and she loved to be admired, but she just didn’t care for any of the village men.


CHAPTER TWO
RUBEN

The years began to drift by. Giselle Daubigny remained the village beauty; she continued to dance her way through life and enjoy every moment of it. One by one her admirers began to pair off with other young ladies. Her closest girlfriend, Marthe de la Rue, was wed to Simon-Alexandre Voland the summer the girls left their schooldays behind. Etiennette Pueyrredon became Madame Laferriere a few years later. When the babies began to appear, the companions Giselle enjoyed partying with began to disappear; they had new responsibilities. A younger crowd began to emerge in the dancehall. At first our Mademoiselle continued to claim the admiration of the new boys who were just coming up but soon she found herself in the corner. Another young lady of astounding beauty--Monique LeGrand--had taken her place.

All the fuming and fussing Giselle mustered couldn’t change the fact that she was no longer the center of attention. Life had left her behind. All the companions of her youth were paired off and raising families of their own. In an act that surprised the entire village, her widower father came home from a trip to Paris with a new bride and a stepsister for a girl who had always been an only child. In the beginning, Celestine and Euphraise Archambeau had been genteel and charming additions to the little family. It seemed as though everyone was going to settle into the new arrangement peacefully but, as time moves forward, the true nature of people slowly emerges. As is well-known from fairy tale lore: stepmothers and sisters are rarely delightful creatures. They are mean, spiteful disasters who stomp off old traditions and cause misery for all and sundry. The same can be said for Celestine and Euphraise.

It started with small statements about Giselle’s inability to capture a man. Day by day, the torment increased until our beauty was beatdown to a deep dark depression. No one mentioned that Euphraise was also a single girl with no beaux falling at her feet. She was, in fact, no beauty herself. The roaming eyes of men passed her by. Still the jealousy in her heart against the fair stepsister caused the new girl to double down on the infliction of misery. Her mother, Celestine, encouraged the torture in secret while suggesting to the father that his daughter was the cause of the trouble.

Before long, Giselle was reduced to a shadow of her former self. “It is a problem of the girl’s own making,” Celestine explained to a distressed Michel Daubigny. “It is a lesson all flirts must learn. Your girl must settle down and stop being so picky.” It wasn’t long before the father was convinced the situation was his daughter’s fault.

And so life went on in the Daubigny household…until Ruben Tardeau entered the scene.

Swooping into town behind the wheel of a jazzed-up Jaguar, Ruben Tardeau was the new owner of Tardeau Emporium, Incorporated. Since the passing of his father, he had grand ideas for the business created by his great-grandfather. With plans to expand all over France, his first stopping place was the small village where Giselle Daubigny had lived all her life. Coming to a halt outside the corner shop, he was just stepping onto the sidewalk as our heroine was stepping out of the store.

“Mademoiselle,” Ruben stated as he stepped to one side to allow the young lady to pass.

“Merci bien,” the young lady muttered as she moved past the newcomer. Just as she was about to step away, she happened to look up and meet his eyes. As soon as vibrant blue orbs met solemn golden ones, the connection was made. Both hesitated as though stunned by the suddenness of their attraction for each other.

“A cup of coffee, perhaps, Mademoiselle?” Ruben invited.

“Oui, Monsieur,” she replied, eager to spend a half hour or so with the young man.

And so the village stared in awe to find the beautiful yet remote Giselle Daubigny entertaining a new arrival at a sidewalk table of the local Patisserie. How tongues wagged as the beauty leaned across the table in animated discussion with a man no one had ever seen before. Some thought she was audacious while others thought it a sweet scene. Euphraise Archambeau was outraged! Cheeks flaming in anger, the jealous stepsister flew to her mother in a frenzy.

“Giselle…with a man…” the young horror exclaimed to her mama as the older woman exited the beauty parlor. Calming her distraught daughter with a staying hand, Celestine guided the girl away from the scene with the air of calmness. She knew better than to cause a ruckus on the street. There were other ways of dealing with the situation…at home and in private.

Blissfully unaware of the storm clouds that were brewing around her, Giselle entered into the happiest time of her life. She had fallen in love with Ruben Tardeau at first sight. The thought knocked her over completely. Never in her life did she think love could be like this! Although she had always danced through life, now her dance was different. It was full of glee, filled with joy. Oh, she knew Ruben wasn’t perfect. He was not big and brawny like the village boys; he was smart and studious—after all, he had to be, he was running a big business. He was handsome but his smile was a little crooked and his left eye had a slight squint to it. Sometimes he pronounced words wrong or mixed up little statements. All and all, these little peccadilloes added to his charm. Giselle realized she had never sought perfection; she only sought the right companion for her.

It wasn’t long before she had stationed herself behind the counter of the Emporium. Running the business side by side with Ruben was exciting. Knowing the likes and dislikes of the village people, she held back little items of interest to show them when they entered the shop. Sales increased dramatically under Giselle’s intimate selection of goods and Ruben’s careful bookkeeping. They considered themselves a dynamic duo.

During a buying trip in Paris, Ruben popped the question. The River Seine was their backdrop. It was a cool autumn evening, but their hearts were filled with the warm and cozy little restaurant they had just departed. Placing his arms around her shoulder and drawing the young beauty close, our hero whispered into her long blond tresses, “Marry me.”

“Yes, oh yes!” Giselle squealed with joy. Overcome by emotion, she flung her arms around Ruben’s neck and kissed him as she had never kissed a man before. Her long-sought passion was so evident, it took the young man by surprise. Breathless from her fiery caresses, he could hardly believe her enthusiasm. The truth was: Ruben had little confidence in himself—it was his biggest flaw.

Radiating joy, the couple returned to the village with their jubilant announcement. Congratulations came from all around except from Celestine and Euphraise Archambeau. Seeped in anger, the stepmother and daughter redoubled their efforts against Giselle but, in view of the young ladies happiness, they were hard pressed to break into her happiness.


CHAPTER THREE
TRAGEDY

In a state of bliss, Giselle and Ruben began to prepare for the nuptials. A grand wedding in the village church and a honeymoon exploring the canals of Venice, Italy filled their thoughts. They were in love; nothing could go wrong. Michel Daubigny was proudly set to walk his daughter down the aisle. He liked the young Tardeau; he couldn’t think of a better suitor for his only child. In fact the entire village was buzzing with excitement. It was going to be the grandest affair the little community had ever experienced.

One could say everyone in the village was excited except Celestine and Euphraise Archambeau. The stepmother and daughter were seething with anger. Hatred and jealousy filled their mean, small little hearts as they plotted against the beautiful Giselle’s newfound joy. Oh, they were a couple of cool customers. While they smiled and nodded approval in the presence of the villagers, inside the confines of the little home in the nook of the woods, they went to work on the father.

“It will never work,” Celestine stated to her husband as they prepared for bed. “That girl of yours has a temper. The young man wouldn’t be able to handle her once he finds out what a little spitfire she is. Mark my words, if they do marry, it won’t last a year.”

“Giselle stole my hairbrush,” Euphraise exclaimed one morning at breakfast. “She’s a little thief. I won’t let her get away with it.”

When Giselle denied the charge, the whole household was turned upside down in the hunt for the missing article. No one ever knew it was hidden deep within the stepsister’s underwear drawer. The accusations against the young beauty kept mounting; the father turned a suspicious eye toward her.

On and on it went. The wedding plans fell into disarray. Every time Giselle and Ruben came close to finalizing the event then there was a discreet change in the arrangements. Neither one of the couple could figure out what was going on. Suspecting her stepmother and sister of interference, she turned to her father with pleas to make them stop only to be told to stop the dramatics and to finalize the plans.

While the craziness continued, Ruben Tardeau found solace in retreating to his townhouse in Paris. Claiming to have work to do in the head offices of the Emporium business, he spent a week away hoping the situation would settle down. He loved Giselle; he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but he hated for his life to be in disarray. What seemed such a simple plan had become a spider’s web of confusion.

Strangely enough, when Ruben departed for Paris, Celestine and Euphraise suddenly decided on a shopping expedition to the great city. It began to strike Giselle as strange that every time her intended left on a business trip, her stepmother and sister followed. But, no, she assured herself; it must be a coincidence. Often through the years, the mother and daughter team had made such trips.

Ruben loved Giselle. The young Mademoiselle knew by the look in his eye that he truly did. And she loved him—deeply and ecstatically. Nothing, just nothing could possibly go wrong. “Madame Tardeau,” Giselle whispered to herself nightly before she snuggled warmly into her bed. “Madame Tardeau,” she stated when she rose in the early morning sunlight. “Soon, oh soon,” she pleaded as she held her beautiful white wedding gown against her slim body and gazed at her image in the cheval glass.

Giselle didn’t bank on the young man who had no confidence in himself.

For while Giselle was living her joyful dream of soon becoming Madame Tardeau, Celestine and Euphraise Archambeau where busy weaving their black magic in Paris. Everywhere young Ruben went, he met up with the mother and daughter duo. Before long, they were filling his head with all the faults of his fiancée. “Oooh, her temper,” Euphraise exclaimed, marching across the floor of the Tardeau parlor in imitation of a woman in a rage. “And she steals things. Haven’t you noticed anything missing at the Emporium, my dear man? If you have, I bet it was the Daubigny slight of hand.”

Yes, of course, Ruben considered, from time to time, things had gone missing. He had never expected it was Giselle who had taken them. Yes, it must be, he mused. How could he marry someone with a temper and a kleptomaniac to boot? No, the marriage could not proceed.

All in a stir, the young Tardeau remained in Paris. Weeks turned into months with no return of her intended. At the same time, the Archambeaux found excuse after excuse to stay away as well. Finally after prolonged worry on the part of the lonesome Giselle, the jazzed-up Jaguar returned to the small village. Stepping out onto the sidewalk near the corner shop as he had so long ago, Ruben surprisingly moved around the car to assist Euphraise and her mother to alight. The beautiful young maiden could only stop and stare from her place in the shop’s doorway.

“Madame Tardeau,” Euphraise claimed as she flashed a sparkling diamond wedding set at her stepsister. Swooping past the dismayed girl, she swept by on the sidewalk with her mother at her side. With a faintly embarrassed smile playing across grim lips, Ruben followed in their wake.


CHAPTER FOUR
A DREAM THE HEART MAKES

Heartbroken, Giselle’s entire life fell in upon itself. Misery upon misery descended upon the little cottage in the nook of the woods. To be betrayed in such a way was the end of the world for the young beauty. Euphraise took every opportunity to express her achievement to win the hand of Ruben Tardeau. The hurt she inflicted was calculated to bring about the hopeful young girl’s destruction. Instead it devastated the father. Guilt wreaked havoc to his heart causing a major attack in the night. He went to his eternal rest in the arms of his grief-stricken daughter.

The death of her husband caused the quick departure of Celestine Archambeau; she set up residence in the Tardeau mansion newly built on the hill on the other side of the village. Euphraise, already with child, required her mother’s assistance. Soon, the elder woman was ruling the manor, much to the chagrin of her son-in-law. In due course, the child was born—a wee little girl not expected to thrive. But thrive she did. Young Marie-Ottilie grew to become a child of strong will and great beauty. Whenever the strife of life within the Tardeau household became unbearable, she fled to her Tante Giselle’s for a story and a slice of warm gingerbread. Before long, she was inviting her little friends to join her. All the village children grew to love the lonely woman of the woods.

The children’s visits helped Giselle with her heartache. She could spend an hour or so immersed in the fairy tales she loved to tell. A smile and a twinkling eye greeted the young ones; the cold heart she had displayed for the village men had melted in the sight of the little kiddos. But as soon as they were gone for the day, the heartache returned. It is hard to be all alone in the world.

It was her dreams that helped her through the long desolate nights. There was no lover to help warm the cold winter hours of darkness; no children to light the cottage with the joys of family. Giselle longed for no one but her Ruben. Sure, she faced the reality that he had feet of clay. Having no confidence in himself, it was simple for a conniving female to show him where he was wrong. She dreamed of showing him all that was good in their lives; to win him over and take him from the life of pain inflicted on all involved.

While Giselle grew old so did Ruben. The face that once lit up when he gazed upon her had become old and wrinkled; the squint in his eye grew deeper. His smile turned upside down into a perpetual frown. A hasty decision to break with the love of his life and marry the scheming stepsister had taken a toll on his health. Only Euphraise tripped through life as though nothing concerned her. The stepmother and sister had won the day; that was all they cared about.

Dreams and wishes can only go so far to heal the brokenhearted, but they did give our fair maiden a little hope to face each day with. If Ruben would see the errors of his ways, he could throw off the burden of the wicked stepmother and daughter. Life could return to what Giselle termed in her heart as “normal”. Still the years drifted by with no epiphany for her one-time lover. When they saw each other in the village streets, there was never anything more between them than a weak smile and an urgent flash of the eye. They both wanted the same thing but there was such a distance between them that it could never be.

“I wish you were my mama,” Marie-Ottilie expressed to Giselle one afternoon as she sat with her aunt in the rocker before the fireplace. The child was now sixteen and at odds with her mother’s dominance. She longed to live life as her dear old Tante had once done. The boys in the village were deeply in love with her; romance had bloomed in her heart; her mama’s mean ways held her back.

Giselle wished for the same things. How she would have adored having the girl as her daughter. She was a beautiful young sprite who deserved the admiration of her followers. It was such a shame she had to grow up in the dismal Tardeau household—for it could only be called dismal.

Flying to the doorway in a sudden urge, the young Marie-Ottilie exclaimed: “Look, Tante Giselle, the first star of the night. Oh I wish I may, I wish I might have the first wish I wish tonight.” Closing her eyes tightly and pressing her hands together in a prayer-like stance, the young girl made her wish. “I wished you were my mama, Tante Giselle. Now come and make your wish, my dearest, and I’m sure it will come true.”

Slowly the elderly woman turned from the doorway with tears standing in her eyes. Her dreams had only carried her so far; they were wishes that could never come true. Although she kept up the pretense of her someday hopes, too many years had gone by for them to be real. Disappointment had ruled her all her adult life; it had stolen the happiness of her youth and made of her an old woman long before her time. There was nothing left to desire.

Yet something whispered in her ear to wish upon that first star. Solemnly she turned her gaze toward that bright little spark of light far in the northern sky and thought the words that were in her heart: “I wish for all my dreams to come true. Oh first star of the north, I don’t ask this for myself; I ask it for dear Ruben. I want all my dreams to go to him.” And so she gave her dreams away to the man she once loved and held so dear. Tears were flowing freely down Giselle’s cheeks as she turned her back on the star. Concerned, her niece came to her to provide comfort only to be waved away. Overcome by emotion, the old woman now wished only to be left alone.

Giselle knew she could go on dreaming her life away; a man with feet of clay never acted impulsively. No matter how miserable the future he would stay right where he was. With a sigh, she closed the door upon her expectant niece and returned to the cozy rocker by the fireplace.


EPILOGUE

Dreams have a way of creating happier paths than the ones life lays out for us. While Giselle found solace in them, Ruben rarely had them. Never a man of vast imagination, his nights were meant for sleep not for fantasizing. He had learned to accept life as it was no matter how stagnant it had become. It had been his choice to marry Euphraise Archambeau and he was stuck with her. No matter how deeply he truly loved Giselle, he accepted that a life with her was never meant to be.

Still he admired the woman who lived alone in the nook of the woods. The way she captured the hearts of the children who gathered to hear her stories made him wish he was young enough to join them. In his eyes, the old maiden was still as fresh and beautiful as the first day he met her outside the corner shop so many many years ago. Oh how he wished…but wishes were not something common to Ruben Tardeau.

Much to his surprise, on the night Marie-Ottilie and Giselle wished upon the wishing star, Ruben did have a dream. On the farthest side of the bed from the contemptible Euphraise, he was just drifting into his usual uneasy sleep when he fell into a dreamlike state. In the mists of his mind, he heard Giselle whisper her aspirations to the north star; he heard her statement giving her wish to him. Slowly it sunk into his mind that she did truly love him. Oh how in that moment he wanted her.

But no…Ruben could never do it. Tied to Euphraise, he could never break that bond no matter how miserable it made him. A vow, after all, was a vow and forever meant forever.

Toss and turn, toss and turn. It was a night full of uneasy thoughts for Ruben. Desperately he wished to fly into the arms of the lovely Giselle; he wished himself back to the days of his youth and to a better decision. Finally a small voice whispered a single word: GO. Throwing the covers aside, he found himself standing beside the bed. Without a glance toward Euphraise, he rushed out, jumped into his jazzed-up Jaguar and was taking the hairpin turns down the hill at full speed. Through the midnight village his engine roared, not stopping until he reached the cottage in the nook of the woods.

“I know you. I danced with you once upon a dream,” her voice sang the haunting melody from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. “And, if I know you, I know that it’s true—You’ll love me at once, the way you did once upon a dream.”

Without knowing how she arrived outdoors, Giselle was in her lover’s arm in a moment. All the bad days were suddenly behind them as they danced in the moonlit garden of the Daubigny cottage.

“And that, my children, is how dreams come true,” Ruben Tardeau announced as he removed the book of fairy tales from his wife’s hands.

Many years had gone by since the lonely old lady told her story to the village children, but the story was still fresh in her heart. The young ones still asked for it when they visited the couple in their grand house upon the hill. Since the expulsion of the evil Archambeaux, the mansion had become a happy place full of joyful laughter and sunshine filled days. The Tardeaux were a well-respected couple. The ones who knew them in their youth were glad for them and the young ones just coming up loved to visit their gardens where they were treated to a fairy story and all the warm gingerbread they could ever desire. All and sundry knew dreams do come true.


Song Reference:
“A Dream is a Wish the Heart Makes” from Disney’s Cinderella
“Once Upon a Dream” from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty

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