If the Shoe Fits (Whatever After #2) Read Online Free

to back off — she was asking for heartbreak.
    Really, everyone should consult me before making decisions. It’s for their own good.
    “Abby, what now?” Jonah asks.
    “One sec,” I say. I can’t help but follow Cinderella and the prince as they walk back into the ballroom. They’re magnetic. All the guests point and gasp. Even the music stops.
    Everyone’s mesmerized. Everyone except my brother, but he’s a seven-year-old boy. He can’t be expected to appreciate epic romance.
    The prince wraps his arm around Cinderella’s waist and takes her hand.
    Sigh.
    The music restarts. My heart soars. They begin to dance.
    Rumors and whispers swirl.
    “I heard she’s the heiress to a diamond dynasty!”
    “I heard she’s the youngest princess in Roctavia!”
    “I heard she’s turned down thirteen marriage proposals, but thinks our prince is the one!”
    I cover my mouth so I don’t laugh.
    “Abby,” Jonah whispers. “They’re wrong, right? Isn’t she just an ordinary girl whose fairy godmother made her look pretty to come to the ball?”
    “She was always pretty,” I say. “But her mom died and then —”
    “How come the mother always dies in fairy tales? Snow White’s mom died, too.”
    “I don’t know, Jonah. I don’t write these things, I just read them. Where was I?”
    “Dead mother.”
    “Right. Her mom died and her dad remarried an evil stepmother.”
    “Again with the evil stepmother!”
    “Tell me about it.”
    “But the evil stepmother had daughters?”
    “Yes. Two. And they’re not as beautiful as Cinderella.”
    “And why is she at the ball again?”
    Luckily I paid attention to Nana’s stories 100 percent of the time. Jonah, about 30 percent.
    “The stepmom was invited. She was planning to go with her stepdaughters, hoping that the prince would fall in love with one of them and make her a princess. Cinderella wanted to go, too, but her stepmom said no way. She made her sleep in the attic and do all the housework. Cinderella cried, and then presto, up popped her fairy godmother who said she was going to help her. She turned a bunch of animals into the coach and footmen, andher rags into a beautiful dress. She gave Cinderella glass slippers. She’s an awesome stylist, this fairy godmother. Wish I had one. Anyway, she told Cinderella to leave the ball by midnight.”
    “Why?”
    “Because that’s when all the magic ends.”
    “But if she’s a fairy godmother, why can’t she make it last longer?”
    I shrug. “I don’t know. But what happens next — what happens now — is that Cinderella’s having so much fun that she nearly forgets it’s midnight. She runs and drops her shoe —”
    “I thought there were two balls?” Jonah asks.
    “Oh. Right. I don’t remember every single detail, but I think at the first ball Cinderella danced with the prince but then remembered to leave before midnight. But the final ball is when she loses track of time and then drops her shoe. Her dress turns back into rags, and the coachmen and the footmen and the coach turn back to mice and rats and lizards and a pumpkin. Meanwhile, the prince picks up the shoe and promises that whoever the shoe fits will be his wife. Over the next few days, his assistant goes around to all the households in the kingdom and makes the ladies try on the slipper. It fits Cinderella perfectly. She shows him the second shoe as proof and all is well. She getsmarried to the prince and is rescued from her mean stepmother. And they live happily ever after.” Sigh. I love this story.
    “What happens to the stepsisters?”
    “In the classic version, I think it was written by some French guy, Perrault or Poutine or something, Cinderella forgives them. That’s the one Nana liked the best. In the others I think it’s kinda grosser.”
    His eyes light up. “Tell me!”
    My brother loves the gross parts.
    “Well, in the Grimm brothers’ one, the stepsisters try to cut off their heels and toes to fit into the slipper.