Milli Squeezed Her Hands And Smiled.That Sounds Easy. You Have Always Been A Good Friend. And Now...more.

Milli squeezed her hands and smiled. “That sounds easy. You have always been a good friend. And now...more. I’ll keep being who I’ve always been. You keep being the courageous, strong, remarkable woman you’ve always been.” She laughed. “It doesn’t hurt that you’re beautiful and have a sweet kid that my daughters love. I think that’s the real bonus.” She winked at Tia playfully and pulled her hand up to kiss it.

♗ My character will give yours advice

“So we just pick up where we left off. Friends, with added benefits. More than that really. I don’t know how to open up my heart, it takes persistence and a strong fucking crowbar, but you managed. So just… Keep being the sweet, honest, loving woman I’ve always known and we’re going to be okay.”

cinderella marries the prince

and it’s… fine. The prince is great! They’re in love, he’s very sweet and passionate, writing her poems and songs, giving her anything she wants. The time she spends with her husband is great.

but cinderella is not royalty, her family was noble but she never spent time in those circles. She’s used to being busy, she’s used to cooking and cleaning and mending. There are hours, days, where she has nothing to do.

time passes. cinderella learns the fancy lady type of needlework. Learns to ride horses. Reads a lot.

as is normal for royalty at the time, they travel and are hosted by nobles or stay at castles owned by the king. But even that variety begins to become routine. The prince is distracted, there’s a lot of young women living and working on their route. Daughters of nobles. Younger and prettier with soft hands that have never done a day’s work.

cinderella needs something to spend her time on, and there’s a part of her thinking a couple-only trip might get her husband’s attention again, so she suggests making an old castle that’s fallen into disrepair their “project.” It was built in the time when castles were made to be defensible, so it’s quite sturdy, but it’s overgrown and secluded. The prince doesn’t know why his family stopped living there either. A hundred years ago it was their summer home.

so they go. And they work. And for a while it’s great! But when they leave for winter cinderella’s husband forgets her once again. cinderella resolves to make the best of her life and stop worrying about a man who has gotten what he wanted from her.

summer comes again and this time cinderella goes alone to the old castle (minus staff, of course, but cinderella manages to narrow it down to only repair workers and one maid). She can cook and clean and mend again, but this time it’s her own choice. She is happy.

this summer they make more progress on repairs. The workers say that most of it can be salvaged, except one tower that’s been completely overgrown with vines and briars. It will have to come down, eventually, but for now it can be safely ignored.

cinderella has more free time now. The old castle has a surprisingly untouched library, though time and moisture have damaged many of the books. Behind a collection of greek poetry cinderella finds an old diary. Very old, in fact, at least a hundred years. It’s rude to read a diary, of course, but whoever wrote this is long dead, and cinderella is bored, so…

from the description of activities the author looks to have been nobility. Maybe even a princess. She’s sensitive and sweet and smarter than she seems to realize. If circumstances had been different cinderella wishes they could have been friends…

after the summer ends cinderella returns to her husband. He’s spending a lot of time with a young musician and cinderella can’t even work up the energy to care. She does some research about the castle and the family she’s married into, finds out the name of the princess who wrote the diary.

aurora. Cursed and forgotten. She died young, they say, in a plague that also took out the castle staff and her own parents. Luckily they avoided a succession crisis, but not so lucky for the dead.

time passes. cinderella goes to the old castle again and again, even out of season. Soon enough all that remains to be done is the old tower, and the builders say they should tear it down and fill the gaps before it gets cold.

one night cinderella is restless. The princess from the diary had been fond of that tower, and cinderella is far more attached to a dead woman than she ought to be. She gets out of bed, reads by candlelight, and finally goes to walk the empty halls.

she finds herself going to the tower. Pushing past the vines that don’t seem so troublesome really. They almost part before her. The stairs are perfectly intact, the door at the top is already cracked open. As if she should have done this years ago, cinderella steps into aurora’s bedroom.

she’s as beautiful as the stories say. And sitting under her hands, crossed across her stomach as it rises and falls, is a book of greek poetry.

years later, people will tell the story of cinderella as a cautionary one. Don’t seek above your station. Don’t marry for prestige. After all, a girl who grew up as a servant once married the crown prince, and disappeared after only three years. She ran away, they say, she couldn’t handle the lifestyle.

two old women who run a bookshop together agree with the lesson. Marrying for the wrong reasons never ends well. It’s best to wait for someone you have things in common with, shared interests.

or, failing that, the more linguistic of the two says, wait a decade or ten for someone to fall in love with you from your diary.

her partner laughs and hits her with the socks she is mending.

Tagged by: @thefreelanceangel​

rules : you can only say guilty or innocent. repost , don’t reblog !

asked someone to marry you ? GUILTY

kissed one of your friends ? GUILTY

danced on a table in a bar / tavern ? Innocent

ever told a lie ? GUILTY

had feelings for someone whom you can’t have ? GUILTY

ever kissed someone of the same sex ? GUILTY

kissed a picture ? GUILTY

slept until 5pm ? GUILTY

fallen asleep at work / school ? GUILTY

held a snake ? Innocent

worked at a restaurant ? Innocent

stolen something ? GUILTY

been fired from a job ? GUILTY

done something you regret ? GUILTY

laughed until something you were drinking came out of your nose ? GUILTY

caught a snowflake on your tongue ? GUILTY

kissed in the rain ? Innocent

sat on a roof top ? GUILTY

kissed someone you shouldn’t ?  GUILTY

sang in the shower ? GUILTY

been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on ? GUILTY

shaved your head ? Innocent

slept naked ? GUILTY

made a boyfriend / girlfriend cry ? GUILTY

shot a gun ? GUILTY

still love someone you shouldn’t ? GUILTY

have / had a tattoo ? Innocent

liked someone , but will never tell who ? Innocent

been too honest ? GUILTY

ruined a surprise ? GUILTY

been told that you’re beautiful by someone who totally meant what they said ? GUILTY

still have communication w/ your ex ? Innocent

cheated on someone ? GUILTY

got so angry that you cried ? GUILTY

tried to stay away from someone for their own good ? Innocent

thoughts about suicide ? GUILTY

thoughts about murder ? GUILTY

how about mass murder ? Innocent

stalked someone ? Innocent

had a girlfriend / boyfriend ? GUILTY

gotten totally drunk during a holiday ? Innocent

Tagging: @erialistia-culnamo​, @colin-ler​, @wryanddangerous​, @bastard-blues​, @barbary-j​, and clearly anyone else who’s interested can insert their name here: @

The morning light was slowly breaking around them as the two old women sipped their coffee on their back porch. One had long, white hair, a small braid on each side of her face. The other had shorter hair, iron curls that guarded her face.

“She’s out there at it again,” the white-haired woman mentioned quietly, watching Milli sand and smooth the planks that would become a bunk bed for Naeem soon enough.

“Of course she is, Rose,” the other woman murmured, gently angling the awning over their porch to keep the sun off Rose. “She’s going to keep at it until she’s finished. That’s the sort of person Bowyen is.”

Rose tutted. “You’re so dispassionate! It’s a sweet thing she’s doing for her friend, Amber.”

“Friend?” Amber raised a brow at her skeptically.

Rose couldn’t hide her own smile. “Fine. Lover. You just can’t leave a girl a little mystery and romance. They just looks like such a wonderful couple. A rugged woman and the merchant she’s sweeping off her feet…”

“Nothing at all like the pirate who stole away the merchant’s daughter, hmm?” Amber reached over and took Rose’s hand.

Even after all these years, Rose still blushed. “I don’t know that you stole me…”

Amber chuckled and tugged her closer, wrapping an arm around Rose’s shoulders. “That’s not what your father said.”

“We should offer to watch the children for them some night,” Rose said, snuggling closer. “Give Milli and her lady friend time to themselves.”

“Are you looking for grandchildren again, Rose?” Amber kissed her head.

“Oh, Amber,” Rose chuckled. “I started chasing dreams when I met you. I just never stopped.”

Me too