DISCLAIMER: All rights go to the respective authors. No copyright infringement intended. This story is for entertainment purposes only!
Ella could feel her hands shaking as she looked her mother in the eye, "Y- you aren't going to make it, are you, mama?" She took her mother's hand in her own, "Please tell me you'll make it through this."
Eight year old Ella Woods wasn't taking the news of her mother's ill health very well. She had known for a while that her mother was getting worse, but just like every other little girl, she didn't know how to handle it. Hot tears started streaming down her face as the woman she had come to know and love as her 'mama' was starting to slip farther away from her daughter than she ever had before.
"Ella, you have more kindness in your little finger than most people possess in their whole body." Lady Eleanor said with a weak smile, "I want to tell you a secret," she whispered, "that will see you through all the trials that life can offer: have courage, and be kind. Where there is kindness, there is goodness, and where there is goodness, there is magic." And with those words, Lady Eleanor laid her head back against the pillows, closing her eyes for the final time.
"Mama? Mama, wake up!" Ella shook her mother's arm, trying to get her to respond. When she finally came to terms with what had just happened right before her eyes, she ran from the room, screaming for her father.
-7 Years Later-
"She'll merely be your stepmother, and you'll have two lovely sisters to keep you company, so I'll know, as far away as I may be, that you'll be safe." Her father explained.
"But father, I thought…" Ella shook her head, "Never mind. Of course. When will you return? I don't wish to be left alone with them for long," she exclaimed with a heavy sigh.
"Two weeks. That's all. Then I'll be back and we can be a family once more." He smiled at her reassuringly.