Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many, Many Thanks To:
Cap'n Quinn
williz
rockyrelay (i think)
Starlight1534
Smithy
Countess of Angels (THANKS FOR READING! I FEEL HONORED THAT YOU'RE READING, COUNTESS!)
Read and Enjoy My Pretties! No, I Mean It, Read and ENJOY It! Gosh, You're Slow...
The red head smiled sweetly at the man that stood before her and moved aside to allow him enterance. He nodded and smirked at the hostess. "How do you do, Milady?"
"Fine, Your Highness, and please, call me Scarlett." She shut the door and led them to the living room where two other women sat patiently with smiles on their young faces. "These," Scarlett introduced, "are my daughters, Estrella," The thicker woman smiled and waved at Will, "and this is Giselle." The blond female winked and blew the prince a kiss.
Will offered a small smile and bowed slightly, "Ladies."
Giselle and Estrella spoke in unison, "Welcome, Your Highness."
"I'm guessing you already know why I am here?"
"Oh yes," Estrella replied, "Everyone knows what you're doing." She giggled and positioned herself with her legs crossed.
"Well then, let's begin. But, before we do start, are there any other women in this household?"
Estrella and Giselle had nervous smiles on their faces as they began to fidget. Scarlett, seeing their uncomfort, simply rolled her eyes at her two daughters and answered sweetly, "No, Your Highness," She hid the key in her balled fist behind her back, "There is no one here. Just...us." She smiled lovingly at her "angels", and they smiled back. Will nodded and took the shoe from his assitstant, pulling Giselle's foot in her lap. They either didn't hear the thuds from upstairs, or they just ignored them.
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Elizabella had been weeping for quite some time now; she didn't know what else to do. "It isn't fair." She whispered out the window, "It isn't fair at all. Dad, why did you leave me with these women? They do not care for me at all. You told me that I just needed to warm up to them, and learn to appreciate Scarlett, but I can't. I've tried very hard to be a good daughter and sister, but that is not what they want. I am not their family member, I am their servant, their slave; I did not deserve such a cruel punishment." She wiped her eyes and closed the window. She sat on her bed with her arms wrapped around herself.
There was a knock at the front door downstairs, causing Elizabella to jerk her head up. What kind of person would actually visit Scarlett and her two poisened apples? She gasped. "The prince." She moved from her bed and stood at the door with her ear pressed up against the wood.
"Ladies." She heard the male voice greet, followed by the two annoying voices of Giselle and...Estrella. Estrella's name hit and hurt Elizabella like nothing else; the wretch had used her. She had come outside to try to "befriend" Elizabella, and the Bella was so stupid as to believe that that was what she wanted to be: he friend. They had talked and laughed, having a good time, but it was all a trick. A trick that Estrella had succeeded in performing. "That toad." Bella muttered under breath with hatred. She couldn't believe that Estrella would so low as to play her like that, and then rat her out to Scarlett. Now, she was stuck upstairs in lonliness.
"Welcome, Your Higness." The two replied.
"I'm guessing you know why I am here?"
"Oh yes," The toad replied, "Everyone knows what you're doing."
"Well then, lets begin. But, before we do start, are there any other women in this household." Elizabella's breath hitched and her hear beat faster at the silence that followed. Would one of them break and inform Will that there just so happened to be a certain maid upstairs?
"No, Your Higness," She heard Scarlett say with confidence. "There is no one here. Just...us." Being that no words were exchanged after that, Will must have believed what she said; Elizabella gasped.
"No! Don't believe it!" She slammed her shoulder hard against the door in effort to either get them to hear, or to knock it off the hinges; neither one worked. "Up here! Will! Don't listen to them!" Her efforts were useless, no one was coming up here for her, so what was the point of trying? Elizabella slumped down against the door and let out a quiet sob before lifting her head. What she saw was enough to make her sing 'Halleluja' a thousand times over and over again, because sitting in front of her, was the window that she had just been standing in front of.
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Giselle sat their with a stupid grin on her face as Will rolled up the hem of her skirt so it sat on her thigh. Her barefoot was exposed and he rested it in his lap. 'This is it.' She thought. It had just occured to her that both she and Elizabella wore the same shoe size because Giselle had been taking Bella's shoes and wearing them when her shoes did not match with her outfit; she had gotten desperate that day and would have worn anything.
Will's hand gripped her ankle and he easily slid the shoe on Giselle's foot, "Well," He said with surprise, "It seems-"
The door burst open and banged against the wall, "Wait!"
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Elizbella looked out the window and saw that she wasn't too far from the ground, but the blasted window was so small! Thinking frantically, Elizabella worked her mind to think of anything that would get her through. Bingo! The hammer! Scarlett had always been one for hanging up pictures and such around the house. She would ask Elizabella to hang something up at leas three times a week, so she decided to just leave it in her room instead of going all the way into the shed. "Thank you God! Thank you Dad!" The two best men in her life...Will too, not that he knew that though.
She ran to the other side of her room and picked up the hammer. She smashed the window open and jumped back as shards of glass flew about. Elizabella then walked back to the place where the window had been and smashed the wall with full force around the window hole until it grew wide enough for her to climb out. Bang! Boom! Bam! The wall around the widow hole crashed to the floor, and Elizabella tossed the hammer to her bed. She was free! She wasted no time in grabbing onto the edge of the open space and pulling herself up. "Ugf." She grunted when her stomach landed on the narrow piece of wall. Taking a deep breath, she pulled herself further out and let gravity pull her to the warm ground. She did not bother to wipe the dirt and grass off her her dress; she just ran for it, straight for the front door. When she got to the side of the house, she looked in the window that was connected to the living room. To her horror, Elizabella saw Will pull Giselle's foot into her lap and then picked up the shoe.
She gasped, "Oh no!" Elizabella pumped her bare feet as fast as she could. Dirt, pebbles, and twigs roughly scraped against her foot, but she didn't care. She leapt up the short flight of stairs and burst through the front door, just as the slipper made its way onto Giselle's foot.
"Well, it seems-"
"Wait!"
Giselle gasped, "Elizabella!"
Scarlett was enraged, "Elizabella!"
Estrella was completely out of it, "My head itches."
Will was completely lost for words as the dirtied woman came into view, he smiled and breathed, "Elizabella."
Scarlett yelled, "How did you-? When did-? Who let you-?" Will turned on her.
"I thought you said no one was home, madame." His eyes narrowed at the red head.
"She was-? I thought I-? How in the world did-?"
Elizabella smiled, "My dad." The three women looked at her as though she were crazy.
Giselle was ticked, "But it fits my foot! You said that if the shoe fit, you would marry! I am to be your wife!"
"But, Giselle," Will began, "I remember what the woman I danced with the other night looks like. Sure, I had blanked out for a bit, you tend to do that when you're aquainted with about 1,000 women who oddly look alike sometimes. Elizabella and I have met very rarely, twice only I might add, so I could not exactly remember her name. I knew it was something different, something...exotic. I feel so foolish for believing that you were her, but now I know," He turned back to face the dirtied housemaid, "There is only one Elizabella." He smiled. Will took the shoe from Giselle and motioned for the other woman to take a seat, "But just to make sure," He took Bella's foot in his left hand and put on the shoe with his right; it was a perfect fit.
"NO!" Scarlett, Giselle, and Estrella screeched.
Elizabeth spoke to the three women, but her eyes were on Will, "Yes." She replied. Both correcting her stepsisters, and accepting Will's proposal at the same time. Giselle leapt at her stepsister, wanting to rip out every strand of hair she had piece-by-piece. Her raged fire was fueled even more when she saw Will and Elizabella share their first sweet kiss.
Author Gibberish That Nobody Reads: One chapter left, ya'll. Hope you liked this! If you want your name on my long list of lovely reviewers at the end of the next chapter, you gotta review. If you're read the list at the end of "Wow! Pirates in 2005!", you know what list I'm talking about. Cya in the final chapter!