The young woman gently caressed her swelling belly as she eavesdropped on the conversation among the other women who shared stories about their complicated relationships with their stepdaughters. She couldn't help but feel a sense of unease as she realized that these stepdaughters were only guilty of being cherished by their fathers.
The mere thought of her child potentially facing a similar fate sent shivers down her spine, and she couldn't shake off the fear of her husband marrying someone who would mistreat her child. Her heart ached at the idea, and she felt her baby responding to her distress with a kick.
She whispered soothingly, "Don't worry, my little one. You won't have to endure a situation like that. Your father and I will always protect you."
Mrs. Whuppie sat in the window of her home, combing her brilliant orange tresses and staring up at the stars, when she heard a soft voice call her name.
'Who's there?' She asked as she looked out into the garden.
Something in her flower bed was glowing; she slowly exited her home and approached it.
As she drew closer, she realized that the glowing thing was a flower, a lilac growing in the middle of ring mushrooms.
She wanted to pluck it but thought of her comb in the window.
After taking some hair and a bowl of milk, she returned to the flower. She wasn't sure what she was doing, but she sat the bowl next to Lilac and wrapped a strand of her hair around it.
The young scavenger carefully sorted through her meager collection of treasures, finding morsels of food and fragments of broken jewelry. Her luck changed when she discovered a piece of meat and a chunk of bread. Sitting beneath a towering tree in the forest's heart, she savored her solitary meal, clad in a rugged fur skin coat passed down by her mother, a garment that shielded her from the elements and memories alike.
As night fell, she gazed up at the moon, her thoughts drifting sorrowfully to her distant family, evoking tears and drowsiness. Suddenly, a voice shattered her reverie, and she sprang to attention. A woman with cascading blonde locks and warm hazel eyes emerged from the moonlit shadows, clad in a striking red leather jacket, faded blue jeans, and sturdy boots.
"I won't harm you; I only wanna help," the woman reassured, raising her hands in a gesture of peace. "I'm the sheriff."
Suspicious, the scavenger queried, "What do you want?"
The woman responded calmly, "What's your name?"
"Greer."
"Let's find you something to eat, Greer," the sheriff offered kindly.
When Mrs. Whuppie returned to the ring of mushrooms the next night, she noticed a glint of light reflecting off something nestled among the fungi.
Upon closer inspection, she discovered a delicate bracelet adorned with a charm resembling a sixpence, intricately woven with her hair. Again, she heard the same voice call her name; she looked up and saw a tiny woman with wings hovering above the bracelet.
'Who are you?' Asked Mrs. Whuppie.
'I am the lilac fairy.' She said as she fluttered closer. Mrs. Whuppie stepped back. 'Fear not. I have heard your pleas.' The lilac fairy pointed to Mrs. Whuppie's belly. 'Your daughter will charm everyone she meets,' the fairy pointed to the bracelet, 'so long as you wear that. Do not take it off until the child is born.'
'That's all?'
'That's all. Place it on your right wrist.'
Intrigued, she carefully picked it up and obeyed by securing it around her right wrist.
As soon as she did this, the flower at the center of the ring closed, and the once vibrant plants turned a dark, ominous black before withering away, and the fairy vanished.
"Thank you," she whispered, a gentle caress to her belly as she pondered the mysterious events unfolding before her.