When the house was completely spotless, Daphne smiled with satisfaction. She was sure that her mum would be pleased with her work, for she'd never worked at something so diligently in her life. Perhaps this would show her mum how much she wanted true love. There was no possible way she'd be kept away from the ball.

Grateful to be alone, she rushed to her room and closed the door. There, hidden under her bed was her most prized possession. Carefully she slid the box out from under the bed and lifted the lid, smiling at what lay inside. It was a large, exquisite piece of fabric in the most beautiful shade of blue that she'd ever seen. It cost her almost a year's worth of savings; money she'd stashed away without anyone's knowledge, like a precious treasure. When she saw the fabric draped over a mannequin in the store window, she knew that she had to have it. At the time she had no idea what she would do with it, but something told her that it would be perfect for an occasion that would surely change her life.

And now she finally had a reason to use it.

She got to work quickly, measuring and cutting the fabric and carefully sewing the edges until it was perfect. And when she was finished, she slipped her creation over her head and stared into the mirror. She could hardly believe that she was looking at herself. It was like a dream come true. She was so pleased with what she had done that when Mel and Maris arrived home with her mother that she couldn't wait to show them.

"So the maid is still at work." Maris said curtly.

Normally Daphne would be hurt by such comments but now she refused to do so.

"Hello, Maris. Mel. Mum. Did you have a nice outing?"

"What do you care?" Mel snapped.

"Well, I just..."

"Did you finish cleaning the house?" her mum asked.

"Of course, Mum and I think you'll be pleased!" Daphne said proudly.

As expected, her mum walked around the house, inspecting each and every nook and cranny to make sure that it was up to her ridiculously high standards. And when she finished, she walked over to Daphne and crossed her arms.

"Something wrong, Mum?" Daphne asked hesitantly.

"I've made my decision."

The three women waited as their mother paced the room, making the anticipation so great that even her sisters looked worried.

"Well, come on! What's the decision? We don't have all night!" Maris said.

"Tell us!" Mel whined.

Finally their mother came to a stop and stared at her daughter. "All right, Daphne. You may go to the ball."

"WHAT?" Mel yelled.

"MOTHER HOW COULD YOU?" Maris yelled, almost at the exact same moment.

Clearly her step-sisters were not happy with the idea, but Daphne was happier than she'd ever been in her life. Her eyes lit up and she embraced her mother fiercely.

"Really? Oh, thank you Mum! You have no idea what this means to me! Thank you so much!"

"Don't expect this to be a normal occurrence, Daphne!" Her mum said sternly.

"Oh no, of course not Mum!" Daphne said, hugging her mum once more. "Oh, I love you! Thank you so much!"

"You do have something suitable to wear, right?"

"Oh yes, I do!" Daphne said, excitedly holding up the dress she'd made. "Isn't it beautiful? I made it meself!"

"Did you hear that, girls?" her mum asked with a hint of sarcasm. "Daphne's made her own dress for the ball!"

"Let me see that!" Maris said. She lunged for the dress, but Daphne pulled it away.

"No, I can't let you do that! Wait until the ball because I don't anything to spoil the surprise!"

Maris looked at Mel and their mum and smiled mischievously. "Well... All right."

"I'm going to go put this away before anything happens to it." Daphne said, carefully laying the dress over her a chair. "I'll be right back with a hanger. Oh, I can hardly wait to wear it to the ball!"

When she was gone, Maris turned to their mum and sighed. "Mum, you can't possibly expect her to go to the ball! She's completely unworthy!"

"Exactly, Mum! What were you thinking?" Mel screeched. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"I know exactly what I've done." Their mother said. "Now girls, why don't you go and get the scraps for me so that we can discard of them properly!"

"You mean-."

"Yes, Mel... Now go on!"

Mel and Maris exchanged excited glances and hurried throughout the house, looking for things to throw away.

"How about this?" Mel asked, emerging with Daphne's dress in her hands.

"That's perfect!" Maris said excitedly. "Besides, who needs a ratty old piece of fabric anyway? It's just lying around, draped over the chair!"

Mel threw the dress over arms. "Anything else?"

Maris searched the house, pulling scraps and anything else she could find in order to make their mother happy.

"All right, are we ready?" Mel asked.

"Ready!" Maris agreed.

Just then Daphne rushed into the room. "I can't believe I forgot to get my... where is it?"

"Where's what?" Mel asked shrugging her shoulders.

"My dress! It was right here, draped over this chair!" Daphne explained.

"Dress? I don't remember seeing any dress, do you , Maris?" Mel asked.

"What are you talking about? I just showed it to you not fifteen minutes ago!" Daphne cried. "It was right over-."

She stopped suddenly and looked outside where the smell of smoke was coming from the front door.

"What's this?"

Mel and Maris looked at each other and smiled, pointing at the pile of scraps that was burning in the front yard.

"Oh that? Those are the scraps mum wanted us to take care of!"

Daphne walked outside, peering at the pile of singed fabric and then gasped in horror.

"Y-you didn't!"

"Well, I'm afraid that we did." Mel said. "If you hadn't been so careless to leave your dress out in the open, this would never have happened!"

"B-but..."

"Goodnight, Daphne!" Maris said. When she and Mel made eye contact they burst into a fit of laughter. "Have fun at your ball!"

Daphne quickly put out the fire and picked through the debris. In her hand was the charred remains of her beautiful dress. The one she'd worked so hard to make with her own two hands. She wanted so much to wear it to the ball, and now it was ruined forever.

Her chest began to hurt and hot, angry tears filled her eyes. Without another word she began to run as far as she could. And when she could run no more, she sank to her knees in a beautiful garden, sobbing into her hands.

Her dreams of finding true love and happiness had gone up in flames, just like her beautiful dress.