Touch is a new short story set a few weeks before Lost (book 1) in the Cinderella’s Secret Witch Diaries series:

I sat there in the dark and listened to the sound of my own breathing. How did I get here?

I dared not turn my head toward him. I only wanted the moment to last forever. The two of us sat on a stone bench, with the beauty of the garden all around us.

Elle put the glowing glass shoes down and lurched forward to give her faerie godmother a big hug. “You came to help me!”

“Of course, I came.” She pulled Elle into a warm embrace and kissed her on the top of her head. “I wasn’t going to abandon you when you needed me the most.”

She plopped herself down on her chair and tossed her phone across the room and it landed on the down comforter on her bed. Then she kicked off her shoes and let her hair out of the bun and covered her face. She took a breath, slowly counting to four, then held the air in for another four seconds, and then exhaled from her mouth for eight seconds.

The prince is back from hunting and he came to see me late last night. As much as I try, he still calls me “Cinder.” He thinks it’s a pretty nickname, but I don’t like it. Last night he came to me and kissed me like when we first met. But when he whispered in my ear, “Cinder...” and kissed me some more, I pushed him off of me.

My name isn't really Cinderella, but it's what they called me to make fun of me. They put me to work, made me clean their rooms, their house, but look where I am now. I am the one who won. I went to the ball and met the prince. He saw me for who I truly am, and now I'm married to him.

Cinderella put down her glass and turned away so that Henri couldn’t see her blush.

“No, it’s true. You are beautiful.” He edged closer to her, but stopped right before touching her hand.

“My sisters used to call me scrawny and make fun of me because of how tall I was as a kid.” Cinderella glanced back at him and let a bit of her pain show. “They used to call me a scarecrow and would mock me by walking behind me with their arms up in the air and a grimace on their faces.”

This week I'm honored to have an extremely special guest. Cinderella has agreed to share with me some of her writings. I've dubbed her passages as "Cinderella's Secret Blog." I'm impressed with her willingness to be so open and authentic. It's rare these days that we get to see such honesty. I hope you enjoy this first post from her.