15. A Harvest Ball
A Harvest Ball
When I checked the storybook that night, the story still hadn’t progressed any further. But according to Margaret, it was something I could help along.
If only I knew how.
Despite our conversation, Casey announced the next day that she was still leaving for her ten-thousand-dollar work conference in two days. Something had changed since our confrontation the afternoon before, however.
Since she’d awakened me early that morning to do chores, there had been no pretense of politeness or even bare civility. Instead, she’d spent the whole day treating me with smug smiles and the silent treatment.
I didn’t try to fight her again. Not because I was afraid of her, but because I knew it wouldn’t do any good.
But that was okay. Because in the time since our conversation, I’d made up my mind that something had to change.
My life wasn’t going to be this way forever.
I just had to figure out how to make that change without putting my beloved horses at risk.
It was a puzzle that I just couldn’t figure out how to solve.
I didn’t figure out the reason for Asher’s surprise tiara either until Thursday, when a letter arrived in the mail with fancy gold foiling.
“Girls, come here!” Casey called out. “Harper! Jaelyne! Come quick!”
I had obviously not been included in that summons, but I wandered into the kitchen anyway, curious as to what had my stepmother nearly hyperventilating.
“What is it?” Harper whined. “I was doing school.”
More precisely, she’d been texting a guy from school with her textbook open on her lap, as I’d noted not five minutes earlier.
“What is it?” Jaelyne asked. She, too, had her phone in her hand, but unlike her sister, she didn’t pretend she’d been doing school.
“In honor of the re-opening of the Buchkarte Ski Resort,” Casey read aloud, “its proprietor, Jay Kentworthy, is hosting a Harvest ball on October thirty-first. This celebration is not only meant for the staff but for the whole city. And as neighbors, you are cordially invited to attend!”
Casey put the letter down. “Girls, we’re going to a ball!”
I couldn’t help smiling as I thought of Asher’s gift. So that’s what the tiara was for. I pulled out my phone and shot him a text.
So the tiara isn’t just for the stables?
To my surprise, his response was nearly immediate.
As much as I would love to see you ride a horse in a crown, I thought it might serve a dual purpose this time.
I giggled and began to text him back. But when I glanced up, I found that while the girls were still chattering about costumes, Casey was watching me with a strange expression.
What did that mean?
That night I found that the storybook’s pages had been added to once more. This time, it was a scene I was quite familiar with from the traditional tale, and I nearly laughed.
That night, a message arrived from the king, inviting the whole family to a royal ball.
Either Margaret was insanely good at predicting huge sections of my life, or her magic was getting more pronounced. I shook my head as I studied the picture. This image was of the main character accepting a sealed letter from a uniformed messenger.
“I wonder…” I murmured, turning the page to find another blank spread.
Margaret had said to try to help the story along. And I hadn’t known what she meant. But now that I knew the next part of the story, I wondered…
I wondered if I might try.
Even if knowing the next part of the story filled me with foreboding.