Cinderella vs. Happily Ever After

Chapter 2

            “Alright then. How are you feeling?”

            Valerie shrugged, her fists at odds with the casualness she was trying to adopt. “I’m fine. How soon can we be out of here?”

            Isaac grinned. “As soon as you want to be. But I’d suggest you say goodbye to your sister and Claressa. They’ve been worried about you.”

            She winced. “How much have you told them?”

            “Claressa has the general idea. The girls know there’s a problem over there and we’re going to go fix it. That’s it.”

            “Thank you for not telling them everything.”

            He snorted. “You think I’d do that? Claressa would be beside herself and your sisters would be crying until you got back. I like your family. I’m not about to do something to upset them if I don’t have to.”

            She smiled at that. “Thanks. Shall we go get this over with?”

            Isaac chuckled as he followed her down the stairs, chuckling a little at the handprints he could see on the cream paint of the walls. All of the marks seemed to correspond to the landings. You could actually see where the girls normally used the walls to swing themselves around the corners.

            Valerie ignored Isaac’s amusement, thumping down the stairs, then walking down the hall to slide to a stop in the kitchen. Sunlight poured into the windows in the same way it had in her bedroom, lighting up the yellow walls and grey granite countertop. The black fridge, microwave and oven sat against the wall nearest the door while four stools sat around the island in the middle of the kitchen.

            Sitting on the stools was her family. Of course the seats containing her sisters didn’t stay occupied for long. She blessed the fact that she’d continued to hang out with kids and was still enough in the habit to brace herself. The dual impacts of Cate and Paige nearly rocked her off her feet but she steadied herself and hugged them back. “Hello monkeys. Hello Claressa. Sorry for worrying you.”

            “Are you alright now? We thought you were going to be like Sleeping Beauty,” Cate said. “It looked like you were going to sleep forever.”

            “I’m fine. And I’m not Sleeping Beauty. I just…me and Darren had a bit of a fight so I had to come home for a bit. But me and Isaac are going to go back and fix things.”

“Did you get my letter?” Paige cried, her face raised to meet Valerie’s eyes from where she’d attached herself to Val’s leg.

“Yes I did. I liked your drawing of the castle. I put it up in my room. Now I need you both to get off so I can talk to Claressa.”

Cate dropped her arms away from Valerie’s waist and took a step back. Paige clung harder, giggling. “Paige,” she said warningly.

The girl squeezed, burying her face in her sister’s leg, still laughing. Val sighed, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before walking over to Claressa, dragging Paige along. When she stopped, she looked back down at her youngest sister, her hands on her hips and said “Alright Paige, you got a ride. Now off.”

“Nuh-uh. I’m staying here,” Paige replied, voice slightly muffled by the blue fabric of Val’s pyjama pants.

Claressa sighed softly and said “Paige, let go of Valerie. You know better.”

The girl pouted up at her mother. “But Vally has been gone forever.”

She winced. “I’m sorry Paige. I’ve been busy. Besides, I wouldn’t have come home yet even if I was still in school. But I promise as soon as everything’s settled, I’ll come back for a long visit. Okay?”

Her sister’s face set itself into stubborn lines but both Claressa and Valerie recognized the look. “Paige Lydia Ash,” Claressa said, her voice pitched lower than normal.

Her lower lip jutted out but she let go of Valerie’s leg. “It’s not fair,” she whined.

Isaac snuck up behind Paige and picked her up, almost throwing her up into the air. She squealed and wriggled before trying to climb onto Isaac’s shoulders. “I’ll keep these two occupied,” he said, flinging Paige over his shoulder and snagging Cate around the waist as he walked past. He hauled her up and in a lopsided limp, carried them out of the kitchen.

Val shook her head and turned away from the door. She met her stepmother’s eyes and said “I’m sorry. I have to go.”

Claressa nodded. “I’m not surprised. I was expecting your visit soon. Of course I had thought it would be under different circumstances.”

“Why were you expecting me?”

“It’s near the end of September. You said you would be back by the end of August. I assumed the reason you hadn’t come back was because you had decided to stay.” Claressa chuckled at the expression on Valerie’s face and patted her hand. “It’s alright. I understand. And that it’s the reason you must go back.”

“I never meant for this to happen,” Valerie whispered, her eyes on the counter in front of them.

“That’s life. It doesn’t arrange itself to please us, we just have to learn to weather what it throws at us, both the good and the bad.”

“Thank you,” Valerie said, meeting her stepmother’s eyes again. “Having your approval means a lot. And as soon as things are settled I will be back to visit.”

Claressa smiled. “We’ll be here. This will always be your home. You can have more than one. Now I think you’d best go find Isaac. I’m sure he’s just as impatient to get going as you. You should see what he’s been stockpiling since you both arrived.”

She smiled back. “I can only imagine. He was a real Boy Scout. I should also probably rescue him from the monkeys’ clutches. You know how they get.”

“I should hope so,” Claressa replied, a laugh audible in her voice. “They’re mine after all.”