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His Cinderella Sweetheart

By Anna Grace

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Chapter One


“Cinderella!” the little voice cried out. Carolina saw a child running toward her, curls bouncing out at every angle.
Carolina calculated the girl’s height and speed, then dipped to catch her. Seven years of playing the iconic princess at Neverland had taught Carolina a lot. Presently, she was employing the knowledge that if an enthusiastic child got her at just the wrong angle around the knees, she’d go toppling over in a tangle of pale blue hoop skirts.
She caught the rush of girl in her arms, enveloping the child in a warm hug. The little girl clung to her arms, a hint of strained relief entering her voice as she repeated ”Cinderella!”
The light, happy movement of the park swirled around her as Carolina felt the tension in the little girl’s embrace. Sensing something was wrong, Carolina pulled back a bit to look at her. The child’s little fists were clenched in the fabric of the princess gown. Her face was pale, but tinged with green. Her blue eyes communicated panic, and beneath the panic something Carolina couldn’t quite read.
“Hello friend…” Carolina began, her eyes casting about for the child’s parents. Streams of people moved by in every direction, peppered with the occasional larger-than-life chipmunk, pirate, or other Neverland favorite.
A distinctive sound stopped Carolina’s search. Her eyes darted back to the little girl’s face.
Even if the rumble of the child’s stomach hadn’t been audible, Carolina still would have felt it, the girl was clinging to her with such tenacity. With a speed born of practice, Carolina shifted the girl to her left shoulder.
The child’s breakfast spewed past Carolina’s shoulder onto the pavement. The little girl burst into tears.
Nobody likes to vomit when visiting Cinderella.
“Oh honey, there, there,” Carolina said, moving the child’s head to rest on her other shoulder. The sobs came harder now. “Sweetheart, it’s okay.” She rocked the child gently. Where were her parents?
Park maintenance was already trotting over to clean up the mess, and Carolina made sure her smile and expression told onlookers a child getting sick at Neverland was not at all uncommon, and they’d best go about their day and not stare.
It was all in a day’s work as a professional princess.
“I’m sorry.” A well-dressed man came running up to them. Carolina noted his wallet, already out and open. “I am so sorry. She broke away from me when she saw you.” He was wadding large amounts of cash out into his fingers. “Here—” he thrust the bundle at Carolina, not seeming to realize she had her hands full of his daughter, “—let me pay for your dress.”
Carolina kept her expression calm as she gave him a slight nod and continued to rock the girl. “The park will take care of my dress,” she said, working to steady her breathing in hopes it might help the child begin to relax.
“Then let me pay you for your trouble,” he offered, as though there were no treat greater than money.
Carolina’s eyes narrowed.
For the most part, she did not deign to judge. Families in general and children in particular were complicated. She was not a parent herself, so Carolina didn’t feel it was her place to criticize. At Neverland she saw parents from all walks of life, from all over the globe. While she might not always understand their childrearing choices, she could see most parents were doing the best they could at the crazy job of raising a decent human in this world.
But after working for so long in the park Carolina had developed a deep disdain of parents who thought they could buy anything from happiness to forgiveness.
“Please put your money away,” she said coolly.
His eyes shifted across her face, and she had the feeling he was looking past her costume. He stuffed the bills back into his wallet and pocketed it.
“My bad,” he said, as if it were an apology. He focused on his daughter. “Ruthie girl? How are you feeling, buddy?”
The large puffed sleeve of Carolina’s dress muffled the child’s sobs. Carolina could feel the girl pull in a deep breath and snuggle closer.
“Do you have any wipes?” she asked the man.
“Wipes?” He appeared baffled.
“Baby wipes. For her face?”
“No,” he said, with just the right inflection to imply baby wipes were beneath him.
“You came to an amusement park with a small child and no wipes?” She couldn’t help digging in a little further.
“No,” he said with exaggerated patience. “I didn’t come here expecting my daughter to lose her breakfast the minute she saw her favorite Neverland princess.”
“Do you normally schedule your daughter’s emergencies for more convenient times?” Carolina began looking around for a mom, anyone with more sense than this guy.
“No one else is coming,” he snapped. Then he addressed his daughter, “Ruthie, Daddy’s going to take you now…”
“Cinderella!” Ruthie said among sniffles, gripping Carolina tighter. Her sobbing intensified. Carolina could feel the weight of the sadness.
And then she felt a nudge at her heart. Carolina was in the habit of listening for God’s little nudges. People often commented on her extraordinary instinct, the way she managed to check in with one of the girls in the youth group when they most needed to hear from a trusted adult, or stopped to help a family at the park just when their children were on the verge of a melt-down. But Carolina knew her impulses were neither extraordinary, nor instinct. She just kept her heart open to the will of God, and promised to be on hand when he needed her. Carolina shifted the little girl in her arms. She would trust the weight of the little, silver cross at her neck. Trying to think of a way to help this lost family of two, she ran through her options.
“Would you be willing to hang out on a quiet bench for a while so she could nap?” Carolina asked the father.
“There’s a quiet bench in this place?” he asked, looking around with open disgust. “For napping?”
Carolina tried to still her annoyance. Standing in the middle of a noisy, packed Fairyland as they were, with lines for Tinkerbell’s Twirling Flowers, Peter Pan’s Big Adventure, and heaven knows what other rides snaking past them in the hot midday sun, his skepticism was understandable.
“I can find one,” she said, continuing to rock the girl in her arms. She could see the girl’s lids beginning to droop. “It looks like she’s had quite a day.”
“She’s had quite a year,” the man said with a definite edge to his voice.
With a long sigh he pushed the mess of curls off his daughter’s forehead, his own eyes misting with tears. He kissed her forehead. Then he turned his gaze to Carolina. “Please,” he said. “I’ve never been here before. I would be grateful if you took us to a quiet place.”
Carolina examined him for the first time. He had dark, wavy hair that looked as though it had been expertly cut, but carelessly styled. His handsome face was tanned and showed signs of weather damage from prolonged time outdoors. A scar ran below his left eye, and his hands were large, tough-skinned and covered with little nicks and scratches. The clothing he wore was the highest quality outdoor gear. She noticed the Peregrine Outfitters logo on his shorts, t-shirt, and jacket. Peregrine was a brand she could only afford if she found it in a second hand shop, and it left the other gear brands in the dust for durability. She’d once saved for an entire year to buy her father a pair of Peregrine fishing waders for his birthday, and here this man was dripping with the logo as though it were nothing.
All in all, he was exactly the type of outdoor hottie Carolina had a weakness for. But his fat wallet and top-brand clothing suggested he had values that didn’t come anywhere near hers. Best get his little one to a quiet corner of the park and herself out of this man’s company as soon as possible.
“We’re close,” she said, setting off for a hidden, tree-lined stretch just past the Story Time Canal. The man followed just behind her.
Park goers twisted in line and stared to watch Cinderella holding an exhausted, snuffling little girl. Some children tried to run to her, but knowing parents caught them by the shoulder or arm. Carolina smiled at them as she walked past. She would make a note to come back to this area and greet the children as soon as she had this man settled with his daughter.
A path through the throng of park goers seemed to open for her as it always did. The man struggled to walk next to her, as two abreast on a crowded day at Neverland was tricky even if you weren’t in costume. He cleared his throat.
“That was impressive,” he said, “the way you maneuvered her over your shoulder just before she got sick.”
Carolina couldn’t stop a brief smile.
“Practice,” she told him.
“I bet you have a lot of stories, working here,” he said.
She paused, and allowed him a grin as she shifted the little girl in her arms.
“You have no idea what this dress has been though,” she said.
He laughed, raking a hand through his wavy hair. The casual gesture, combined with the way the corners of his eyes crinkled as he laughed struck Carolina as extremely attractive. She averted her gaze, chastising her accelerating heart rate.
“Can I carry my daughter for you?” he asked. “Or is child carrying another park service, like cleaning up princess dresses?”
“In this case it’s an added bonus,” she whispered. “I think someone is almost asleep.”
The man peered at his daughter’s face. A tear slipped down his cheek as he laid a hand over her curls. While he may be a money-waving, wipe-missing, clueless man he did seem to love his daughter. His eyes found Carolina’s, and she was taken aback by the rich blue that met her gaze.
“Thank you,” he said. “I meant to say it earlier. Thank you. She hasn’t cried since her mother passed away.”

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