Hello again!
Here is the latest installment.
Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I most certainly do NOT own the storyline to this one (maybe bits and pieces), because all the credit goes to Disney. Huzzah!
ENJOY.
Dream Come True
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Chapter 9
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The carriage bumped up and down, side to side as it hit potholes in the road, but even the brutal beating she was receiving from the rough road could not suppress her excitement.
Cinderella was dressed in the finest of gowns and the most extraordinary glass shoes glistened against her sun-darkened skin. She took a silk glove from her hand and reached up to touch her hair. With a start, she felt soft strands beneath her fingers. Only with magic could her godmother have tamed her coarse, brittle hair. She'd had hair smooth as silk once as a child. It was a gleaming yellow gold at the time, not yet tainted and dyed by the hours in the sun and heat.
Her hand dropped to her knee and she looked at the calloused palms with a sigh and replaced her white silk glove as the ride suddenly became smoother. They had entered the gates and were now treading along smooth cobblestones.
Her heart fluttered with anticipation of the evening. Cinderella's mind brought forth the outline of a face, and she was startled as a sudden lump formed in her throat. She pushed the thoughts away and swallowed hard, keeping her mind on the evening ahead.
The carriage came to a stop and the door opened. Bruno smiled with his spellbound disguise and sparkling eyes. He reached for her hand and helped her down the carriage steps. She straightened her skirts and fussed with the lacy sleeves. A small white-gloved hand rested on her arm. Bruno said not a word, for he was truly a dog, but simply smiled his canine-like smile and reassured her with his dark brown gaze.
You'll do fine, he seemed to say.
"Thank you, Bruno."
Cinderella waved to Delbert as she walked around the front of the carriage, and he replied with a toothy grin and a wave before disappearing behind a bend in the cobblestone road towards the stables.
She turned and let her eyes fall for a moment on the majestic tapestries that hung from the entrance, but the final echoes of the clock striking eight drew her closer. She followed the red carpet through the doors and was refused an escort since she was already late. She did not complain, but moved forward across the red-carpeted entrance.
The orchestra inside was filling the ballroom with grand music, and she had to keep herself from sprinting through the open doors with nervous energy. As she entered the main hall, she was nearly blinded by the many gas lamps and lit candles that flooded the room and glinted on the marble floor. She stood at the top of the carpeted stairs and let out a lungful of air that she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
As her eyes focused to the brightness of her surroundings, she realized that the room below her was empty. She had not quite entered the ballroom yet. Enormous scarlet curtains that hung from the ceiling were drawn back with tasseled ropes on either side in an arched passageway at the bottom of the stairs. She saw only a piece of the darker room beyond, but she believed she might be able to slip in unnoticed. She glanced at the clock as she descended the stairs and realized that the introductions with the prince were still taking place.
"M'amselle Augustine Dubois, the daughter of General Pierre Dubois." The booming voice of an announcer echoed in the grand room.
She reached the bottom of the stairs and nervously moved forward.
Her glass heels clicked daintily on the marble floor, and she felt confidence seep through her with every step. She held her head high and stepped through the curtains. She found herself in a high roofed room with grand pillars that stretched all around the center of the room. In between the pillars were more tall scarlet curtains. She squinted beyond the curtains into the brightest part of the enormous room, where all the portable lamps and candles had been moved for the convenience of the dancers.
Hundreds of people filled the immense room, circling the dancing floor with their backs to the pillars. All eyes were turned to the end of the room, but Cinderella could not see into the brilliant light. She breathed deeply as she took small steps forward.
"The Mademoiselles Drizella and Anastasia Tremaine." her heart skipped a beat, but she still moved forward, her heels drawing the attention of those who stood under the arch of the closest entrance
Murmurs began with their lips and slowly filled the room as each person in turn stood on his or her tiptoes, stepping around others to see the latecomer. The crowd made way as she proceeded past the curtains. Gasps went throughout the people as the dress shimmered and glowed under the sudden light.
Cinderella's vision was blurred as her eyes burned in the intense lights all around. She heard footsteps and soon a magnificently dressed man stood in front of her, his figure backed by the light of a thousand candelabras. She looked into his face and was nearly knocked to her feet. His regal air merely accentuated his handsome features as a small smile spread across his thin lips and lightly powdered face. His hair was combed away from his eyes, the dark strands wet to keep from falling down his forehead. She stood almost eye-level with him, and she trembled slightly under his gaze.
"Madam." the beautiful man spoke to her, his voice vibrating pleasantly in her ringing ears.
Voices were heard from overhead, and soon people began to look away from the shimmering maiden and the mysterious man. Cinderella assumed they were drawn once again to the Prince, and she stepped to the side for an instant to look beyond his broad shoulders.
The man before her bowed gracefully, catching her attention, and she turned and curtsied in response, surprised that she was able to remain so poised under the gaze of so many people. The man held out his hand, and she grasped it without a word.
"The waltz! Quick, the waltz!" a loud voice shouted from above, "The lights!" Servants rushed forward and pulled all the portable lamps away from the floor, leaving only the glittering chandelier to light the way.
She was swept onto the dance floor in his arms as the music changed to a steady waltz. Her eyes were fixed only on the face before hers, and her ears caught snippets of conversation as they moved closer to a small crowd of onlookers.
"Who is that woman? She's simply a vision!"
"What's her name? Does anyone know her?"
He quickly guided them to the center of the dance floor away from the inquiring voices with deft steps and an apologetic smile.
She looked into the face before her racking her brain for some name. She had never seen him before, yet his eyes looked at her with a familiar intensity. He was most certainly the most handsome man in the room, save for the prince, who she had yet to meet.
She glanced over the shoulder of her dancing partner and saw that other dancing couples had joined them on the floor. They all swirled about her in a dizzying frenzy, and her eyes could not keep up with all of them. She felt the man's arms tense around her, and she brought her attention back to him.
"Sorry, I'm not much of a partner, am I?" She apologized softly, but the man smiled at her words and shook his head.
She realized that he was moving them in a definite direction towards the back of the ballroom. "Where are we…?"
"Out." His smile had faded, and he suddenly looked distraught. "I can't stand it in here."
She peered around his shoulder at the twirling couples and disorder of colors.
"Me either." she said quietly.
He smiled, but continued to look about for the best route of escape.
No one seemed to notice that they had strayed, and so they slowed their dancing, and he pulled her by the hand as they dashed through two closed curtains and out a side door.
She gasped as a cool breeze chilled her arms momentarily. She stopped and stood, staring at the sight before her. The man stood next to her, holding her hand, and looked down at her astonished face.
"Beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yes." she said breathlessly as her eyes swept over the garden that stood before them.
Moonlight sparkled on grand fountains that sprayed rainbows of water droplets into the night air. Intricate statues adorned grassy areas around stone benches and marble birdbaths. Blossoming trees, with their flowers closed for the night, stood gracefully near every fountain and cluster of bushes. The man squeezed her hand slightly and urged her to walk with him. She stepped forward, willingly, and enjoyed the way her shoes tapped against the cobblestones below her feet.
"Oh, it's wonderful!" she turned and noticed the man staring at her with an odd expression on his face. "I'm sorry…I'm embarrassing myself. It's just I've never seen such a garden! I'm sure you're used to it." She glanced at his eloquently decorated clothes that were tailored perfectly to fit his size.
"Yes, but that doesn't matter." he paused, changing the subject, "What does matter is that you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
She laughed at his boldness. "You can't mean that."
"Of course! Look at you," he raised her arm and twirled her around, "you're a vision." he grinned at her, and she found he looked rather silly.
He pulled her arm down and drew her closer to himself. "Shall we take a walk?" She nodded and linked arms with him.
She could not suppress the giddiness that seemed to flit through her like butterflies. She looked at the man whose arm was linked in hers, and realized she wouldn't mind not meeting the prince after all.
She smiled and laughed more than she had in, well, since what seemed like forever. They strolled and talked together until they felt that their legs would give out beneath them and their voices would simply fade. She urged him to sit down with her on one of the many stone benches. He sighed and looked down at her the same way he had been doing consistently the entire evening. She noticed that same odd expression as it flashed across his comely features once more.
"What's wrong?"
"Well, it's just that when I first saw you, I felt…" he furrowed his brow, concentrating.
"Yes?" she leaned in, as if he were about to tell her some juicy secret.
"Nothing." He shook his head and smiled, putting a hand up to her cheek.
Her heart quickened, and she was aware of a tingling sensation that ran from the touch of his hand down her neck. Sparks. Their lips were merely inches apart, and she gazed into his soft eyes, praying that it wasn't just a dream and that he was real and not--
BONG!
She froze. Midnight…something about midnight…something--the enchantment!
"Oh my goodness!" she stood and pulled away from him reluctantly.
"What's the matter?" he leapt to his feet, an offended expression lighting his face.
"It's midnight."
"So it is. But certainly you can't still have a curfew--" he said with a laugh and stretched out his hand towards her.
"Goodbye!" she took one last glimpse of the man who stood before her, for she wasn't sure whether she would see him ever again.
"No, no wait! You can't go just now!" he lunged forward and reached for her wrist, but she moved out of the way, clasping her hands nervously. He reached up and grabbed one of her hands gently.
"Oh, I must…please, please let me go!"
"Why?" he looked at her with such longing that it took all of her might to pull her hand from his grasp. "We only just met, and--"
"Oh, I…uh--the prince! I haven't met the prince yet, and there isn't much time--"
"The prince? But didn't you know--"
BONG!
"Goodbye!" she turned and ran in earnest this time. She focused her efforts on moving her tired feet, and tried not to listen to the cries behind her.
"No wait. Come back, oh please come back! I don't even know your name. How will I find you? Wait! Please, wait!"
BONG!
She ran through the curtains, the man close behind her. She ran around the dancing floor and people gasped at the retreating figure, wondering if it couldn't possibly be the lady they had seen at the beginning of the ball, for her hair hadn't been so messy, and surely her skirts not so wrinkled--
Her ankles nearly gave out when she reached the stairs, but she kept going. Voices called to her from behind, and she only recognized one--the man from the garden. She did not pause once to ponder why his name still remained a mystery, but moved at a rapid pace up the first few steps.
One of her slippers fell off as she nearly tripped on her skirts, and she stopped to pick it up, but her eyes fell on one figure in particular as he passed through the red curtains below. His elaborate clothes were in disarray, a few locks of his hair fell across his face that was flushed from running. She recognized him, but the name did not pass her lips as she remained immobile, trembling with the effort to make him feel the same familiarity.
He stopped at the bottom step looking up at her, but his expression held nothing more than the same longing he'd shown in the garden. The eyes, a dark chestnut, implored her to stay, but she could not--not with time ticking away so rapidly by the second.
She bent down to retrieve the glittering slipper, but he moved even closer, his hand outstretched in desperation. She stood up quickly, abandoning the shoe on the bottom stair, and forced her shaky legs to guide her away. She didn't have time to prove to him--
BONG!
She turned and shouted "Goodbye!" to a portly man with a looking glass who stood on the stairs chatting to a group of older women. She had meant it for the man behind her, but it didn't matter anymore.
"I say, young lady!" the portly man shouted as she quickened her pace up the stairs.
"Wait!" that familiar voice…
BONG!
She was at the top of the stairs, and she didn't stop for the royal guards who waited with outstretched arms to escort her to her carriage. She flew past them as fast as she could, her gait awkward with the loss of one shoe.
"Who is she?" a group of ladies waiting for their carriages said loudly as she sprinted past them, but she didn't care about her dignity.
She hesitated only once to slip the other shoe from her foot before looking about eagerly for the carriage.
"Mademoiselle! Senorita, just a moment!" the portly gentleman was close behind her heels.
BONG!
The white carriage finally sped from the entrance to the stable, Delbert frantically pulling the horses to an abrupt halt in front of her. She didn't bother climbing in, but leapt onto the side alongside a frantic Bruno, gripping the ornate bars next to the door tightly as Delbert urged the horses on to a full gallop. They passed the side entrance of the palace on the way out, and chaos could still be heard.
"Guards, guards!" the same rotund gentleman with the looking glass was shouting. "Stop that carriage!"
BONG!
"Close the gates!" he screamed.
The gates were closing as the carriage approached them, the portly man and his caravan of horsemen on their heels. They managed to slip through with another slap of the reigns from Delbert and a jolt forward brought them safely past the metal bars.
BONG!
"AGH!" the man cried in frustration as he suddenly pulled his horse to a halt, "Open the gates and follow that coach!"
The carriage flew through the forest at top speed. Trees whizzed past her head dangerously, and she bent close to the walls of the coach, gripping the ornate bars with white knuckles.
BONG!
The clock echoed loudly from its tower.
BONG!
Two more... She peered around behind the carriage cautiously and saw the caravan of horses just around the furthest bend in the road.
BONG!
The bars under her hands started to feel sticky, and something was oozing through the lining in her dress and across her bare feet.
BONG!
The rattling of carriage wheels stopped abruptly as they came to a halt just outside the front gates of their home. In a shower of glittering sparks, all the mice, including Bruno, the horse, and herself, toppled to the ground in one giant heap on top of a smelly, overripe pumpkin. She quickly scooped up the dazed mice and carried them inside the gates. The horsemen were approaching at top speed. She hid behind the giant stone pillar that held up the gate, kneeling down in the grass, the animals huddled around her. Her heart thumped so loudly, it was a wonder the men didn't hear it.
The ground shook with horses' hooves. She peered around the pillar, and gasped as the horses sped around the corner of the road and pummeled the pumpkin as if it were a simple autumn leaf. Seeds and pumpkin guts spewed all over the road. The rumbling increased to a deafening decibel, and they were gone as suddenly as they had come. She gulped thankfully and brushed a few pumpkin seeds from her tattered dress.
Could have been me…
"Oh, I'm so sorry, everyone…" she patted Bruno's head as he sat beside her, panting with exhaustion. "I guess I forgot about everything, even the time--but it was so wonderful. And he was so handsome and kind, and when we touched, I--but, oh I'm sure that even the prince himself couldn't have been more, more…" she let her words fade and sighed heavily. "But it's over now and--"
She looked down as the grass moved against her trembling fist. Jaq, who'd joined the group, and Gus were curiously sniffing the still-glittering shoe that was clutched tightly in one hand. Cinderella gasped and held the cool glass against her burning cheek.
"Thank you…" she whispered as she looked to the starry heavens, a plump face smiling in her mind's eye. "Oh, thank you so much."
She would never forget the kindness of her fairy godmother, nor would she forget how miraculous the whole evening turned out to be. Her mind had until that night refused to wrap itself around the idea of magic, but she'd felt the reality of it. She'd been clothed in the finest gown that only magic could provide, and the slippers--so fragile, elegant.
Her heart thundered in her chest as she remembered the face she had seen before she left the palace. It was a face she hadn't pictured in such a long time. His memory had remained so vivid after he left, but as the months rolled by, she was merely left with a vague outline of his profile. It had taken that very moment on the red-carpeted stairs as his hair had fallen from its perfectly combed form and his eloquent clothes were wrinkled, some of the buttons had come undone, his face burning with exercise…
It was Abram.
Abram, the dearest man she knew, and yet she hadn't truly known him.
Cinderella placed the glass slipper in her lap and covered her warm face with her hands. He had looked so different, and yet his eyes were the same chestnut brown and his touch--it still sent sparks down her neck.
She had been dressed up like a porcelain doll, playing the part of a distinguished lady of society. He had not been pretending at the ball. She knew because she had guessed it in the back of her mind when they first met that there had to be something more to him. And so she was right.
Abram had fallen in love with the porcelain doll in the beautiful dress from the ball, not the scullery maid behind the disguise. Had he truly been in love with Gwyn, or was he merely playing with her heart? He didn't know it yet, but he'd fallen in love with the same woman all over again.
He hadn't recognized her, and she planned to keep it that way.
Cinderella looked up as Bruno licked her ankle, and she wiped her tears away resolutely.
She stood slowly, pressing the glass shoe to her chest, deciding for once to be content with what she had. She had a home, granted, not a happy one, but a home nonetheless. She was worked thin and dry every day, but she found ways to enjoy herself.
She could never be the same beautiful woman from the ball, and she may never see his face again. But she was left with the memories of a most miraculous evening. She would never forget his wonderful kindness…
Cinderella wouldn't break Abram's heart by revealing the truth, no matter how much her own heart ached.
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Oh boy! What a bittersweet ending…
Don't grieve, my friends, there shall be another chapter, one that's hopefully longer with more meat.
This chapter was fun to write, and the next one will be just as enjoyable, I hope!
Please leave some reviews.
I love you all!
