Dearest Cinderella Read Online Free Page B

by the collar and
dragged her back towards them. She turned to see a man, dressed in
military livery, holding a pistol. Beside him directly stood her
fierce and angry Nurse Fairgem. Her arms crossed like a
disapproving mother, she wore a hard exterior but Cinderella could
read the terror in her eyes. She'd never liked guns or violence of
any sort.
    "We don't want no trouble, it
was just some harmless fun you see." The man released Cinderella,
but as she went to move away from him he caught her by the hand and
held her with his bone-crushing fist.
    "I can see that," the man said
sardonically, "you shall release her now." The three men took one
more look at the gun, then at Cinderella and seemed to realise that
she wasn't worth the trouble. With hands raised, they stepped back,
further and further until they were far in the distance. Then they
turned their backs and ran, more raucous laughter emanating from
their moving backs. As soon as the officer saw that there was no
more threat to be seen to, he turned his back and moved off without
any reference to Cinderella, her gratitude or wellbeing. It was all
within another days work and perfectly standard. As he turned his
back and began to walk away Cinderella and Nurse Fairgem embraced,
tears in their eyes and hearts too impossibly full to being to
express with words. They remained hugging, marvelling in their near
death experience and the joy of being reunited. When they broke
away from each other it was only for Nurse Fairgem to reach out
again and pull her daughter closer to her heart for another soul
warming hug. After they'd finished with their hugging and kissing
and crying and laughing Cinderella followed Nurse Fairgem into the
shop she'd exited, behind the counter and into a back room filled
with more fabrics than imaginable. Colours that Cinderella had
never even dreamed of wearing. The room was vibrant and alive with
colour and beauty. It was everything that was Nurse Fairgem.
    "I always dreamed that we would
meet again, though I wish it could have been under different
circumstances." She ushered Cinderella to a red velvet stool and
hurried around the room in the perusal of something. "I left it
here somewhere. One moment" with a sound of satisfaction she
revealed a small flask from underneath a mountain of fabric. "Here
take this my dear, I think you will need it." Cinderella looked
dubiously down at the flask in her hands.
    "I'm really ok, I don't think it
has affected me quite so..." Her hands involuntarily started
shaking as she watched them in confusion. Nurse Fairgem placed her
hands on Cinderella's trembling ones and said in a soft voice,
    "It's quite alright dear, drink
a few sips, it will make you feel better." So Cinderella drank and
although the taste was horrid and it made her shudder, it did
indeed make her feel substantially better.
    "Thank you, Nurse Fairgem."
    "Oh hush, I am not your Nurse
anymore, call me Fairgem. I would hate for politeness to come
between us after all this time. You know I never had my own
children, nobody except you. You truly were my daughter."
    "I still am, as far as I will be
concerned you are my mother." Fairgem's eyes began watering again
as a result of Cinderella's words and she grabbed a handkerchief to
dab at her eyes.
    "Dear me." Her face became very
serious as she asked. "How did you come to be accosted by those
thugs? They're a bad lot them, laughing and carrying on, scaring me
half to death when I saw them carrying you across the street.
Hurried straight over to a shop I saw the officer walk into, I did.
Took the gods own will to pretend I hadn't seen you." Cinderella
sighed in relief at her safety, smiling at the idea of her nurse
hurrying across the street with armfuls of fabric ready to rush to
her aid, and she thought that she'd been protecting Fairgem when it
had really been the other way around. Cinderella told her Fairgem
about being in the forest, carried out by the thugs. This led to
questions of why she was in