Coal Part 8: 1st Draft

"What did I tell you?" Mrs. Didora was grinning from ear to ear when Ciara introduced her aunt. "Never give up!"

"So it's been you who has looked after my daughter all these years!" Adrian looked confused. "But you stopped working for me years ago. How does Ciara keep in contact with you?"

Mrs. Didora sighed and looked at him pitifully. "Your wife and daughters go shopping here every now and then. They take Ciara along so she can hold their bags, and she usually sneaks off to talk to me."

Adrian started trembling. "Oh no."

"You didn't know?" Mrs. Didora asked.

"I've been living in a bottle for the past eighteen years. I don't even know what Ciara's favorite color is." he muttered, putting his head down and raking his hands through his dark thinning hair.

"It's blue, Dad." said Ciara, shaking his arm so he would look up at her. "You shouldn't worry about the past. You can't change it."

"No. I guess I can't. But I am sorry about all of this. I am. But I thought I could trust Debra to take care of you." he clinched his fists. "I guess I was wrong about her."

Mrs. Didora changed the subject quickly. "So Zene, when did you get here?"

"Last night. I had a long talk with Ciara. I had to calm her down after her stepsisters ruined her dress."

"Oh, Ciara I'm so sorry that you couldn't go to the party. When I heard about the mysterious young lady, I thought it was you." she became quiet. "Though I figured something was wrong when they told me the costume was a red firebird. Yours was a white peacock of course."


"I should be telling you sorry, Mrs. Didora. After all your hard work." Ciara replied, patting Mrs. Didora's hand.

"It was worth it just to see you smile." Mrs. Didora said faintly. "The young woman wasn't one of your stepsisters, was she?"

Ciara grinned from ear to ear immediately, and started to laugh. Everyone looked at her strangely. "No. Not that I heard."

"Well that's good." she said, looking relieved.

Adrian looked at her strangely. "I'm missing something here, but I'm not suprised. What do I expect?"

Ciara looked her father in the eye. "I'll explain everything tomorrow. Things are kind of...complicated."

Adrian gave everyone a puzzled look. "Alright." He looked at his watch. "It's getting kind of late, and I have one more stop to make before I go home."

"Of course, Adrian." said Mrs. Didora. Much to his surprise, she hugged him warmly. "Don't wait so long before you come to see me."

He grinned bashfully. "Alright."

Ciara had to use the restroom, so she told her aunt and father that she'd meet them at the car. She was walking outside when she heard a whisper.

"Hey, you!" the voice was coming from some bushes which decorated the outside of the mall. Ciara loked from side to side then hurried over to it. "I don't know your name, or where you live." It was Dom, the prince.

She could feel her heart going a mile a minute. Him, a prince hiding in the bushes for her? Wow! Don't give hime to much credit, a voice inside her piped up. He would have banged anything close to him last night! He almost had you. Just thinking about what could have been last night, sent little excited shivers through her. Her heart won out over her head. "It's Ciara, and I live with the Vicks."

"You mean you work for the Vicks?" asked the prince warily.

"Well...yes." she said. She wasn't really lying, she told herself. The Vicks treated her as badly as a servant.

"This could be a problem. They'll be livid when they see the limo and demand to know why they haven't been invited." he seemed worried.

"Listen, if it would be easier, I'll find my own way there."

"But I was going to have you picked up early so you could have a cotume made, and you could be outfitted with jewelry." he sounded crushed again.

"I appreciate it, really I do. But I have something in mind." Of course, she was lying out of her ass again, but she ran to the parking lot before Dom could see her sweat.

Ciara is about to get something Debra couldn't steal from her! "Coal Part 9: 1st Draft"