Excerpt
The Everland Gazette Announcing the Princeton's annual Christmas masquerade ball.
The whole kingdom to attend.
"Come on, Cindy. You've got to go to the ball. Everyone's going!"
Cindy sighed and brushed the hair out of her face with the back of her soap-covered hand and looked over her shoulder at her two beautiful half-sisters. "Not everyone." She kept her voice even, her tone light, and even added a little smile for tenderhearted Francesca.
Priscilla huffed, folded her arms over her ample chest, and leaned back against the worktable in the kitchen. "It's time for you to go out and meet some men."
Cindy laughed at that and turned back to the last pot left to scrub. "And just what man would I meet at the ball everyone is going to attend that I can't meet when I go to the market?" Men weren't interested in her, and she already knew everyone in town that mattered. Knew them, was friendly with them, but she saw the way they pitied poor little Cindy. "Besides, I don't see either of you two rushing out to get married."
"Did I say marriage?" Priscilla asked with a confused look at Francesca. "Did you say marriage?"
"Nobody said anything about marriage…yet." Francesca sighed. "Cindy, we're not as old as you are."
"Gee, thanks."
"Oh, you know what I mean! If we were, we'd be looking under rocks to find a husband. You're so pretty, and we even got you this fancy dress-"
"It's a formal gown with a long skirt," Priscilla added with a nod as if that should settle the matter.
But it didn't. Long skirt or not, it was a dress that called for fancy shoes and grace, neither of which she had. A ball with dancing-it'd be too awkward. Cindy dumped the water out of the pot and glanced at the beautiful evening gown Francesca and Priscilla had bought for her. Tears stung her eyes, but she forced a smile. "You should take it back right now, get your money back, and let someone else wear it tonight."
Francesca pouted. "Don't you like it?"
"Yes, of course I do. It is gorgeous," Cindy agreed, "but I'm not going. I can't. Someone has to stay home and take care of Mother."
"You know as well as we do, there's nothing for you to do after Mom falls asleep," Priscilla protested. "And the party goes on for hours into the night. Come on. It'll be fun!"
"I'm sure it will be, so you two go for me and tell me about it later."
Priscilla gave a very unladylike snort.
Francesca held the gown against her, which was almost laughable since it would be five sizes too small for the tall, buxom bombshell. "I wish I could wear this gown. It's so silky. Did you feel it? If you felt it, you couldn't refuse. Here." She stepped forward, but Cindy held up her wet hands.
"No. Keep it away. If you want your money back it can't have water stains on it." It was the most beautiful piece of clothing she'd ever seen. Some strange material that seemed to change hue in the light. It looked delectably smooth, would feel so good against her skin. The light blue color would match her eyes, too, which to her were so cold they looked as if they were filled with ice.
Ice. If she were made of ice, she wouldn't hurt so bad inside. "Thank you," she whispered because her throat felt suddenly tight. "But I'm not going."
"Mother goes to bed at seven," Priscilla said with a hint of antipathy in her voice. "She doesn't get up until seven in the morning. She won't even know you're gone."
"I'll know I'm gone," she argued as she took off her apron and folded it. "Besides, I made plans to clean out the…uh…upstairs bathroom tonight."
Priscilla rolled her big brown doe eyes. "Oh please! Everything in this house is so damn clean we could eat off the Welcome mat on the front stoop. Why won't you let us do something for you this time? Or do something for yourself for once? All you ever do is work. You cook. You clean. You take care of Mom. I swear I'm going to start bringing men home to meet you if you don't go."
Cindy laid the folded apron on the worktable and quietly limped from the room. Her special shoe, made to fit her smaller left foot with its four-inch lift because of her shorter left leg, clomped noisily on the stone floor.
