Page 28 of Secret Cinderella
He hadn’t known Jack but he’d have liked him. She was sure of it.
Jack parked and escorted her into the luxury jewelry store where no one knew him, or her.
No clerk offered to help until he walked over to a brown-haired woman in her thirties, and asked for the engagement rings.
The woman took out the tray of small diamonds but Jack pointed to the larger rings. The clerk’s eyes widened but Jack slipped one on Charlotte’s finger before she could protest.
Charlotte noticed the Cartier brand on the ring and held the huge solitaire in the sun to make it sparkle. “This is gorgeous, Jack.”
“Then that’s the one, Charlotte.” Jack reached for his wallet.
The clerk said, “That’s the Cartier Destinee Solitaire. It’s one of our more expensive designs.”
Right. And big. Charlotte took the diamond off. “We should get something smaller.”
He stopped her from giving the ring back and asked, “Are you ashamed to marry me?”
Her jaw dropped. That wasn’t why, and he should know it. She trembled as she said, “No. Never. I just don’t want other people to be jealous and this ring is calling for it.”
“We’ll take it,” he told the clerk and handed the startled woman his card.
The dark-haired woman called over to another clerk to run the card like she thought they’d bolt out the door with the ring.
They all sat in silence until the card and receipt were given and Jack signed the name Jack Morgan.
Charlotte jumped up from the chair once he’d signed and ignored how her heart raced as she walked out the door with him. Jack showed the receipt to the security guard near the door too. As they stepped out onto the sidewalk, she twisted the diamond inside her palm so no one might comment on her life. “Okay, but I want to turn it toward my palm when I go and get my stuff at Nancy’s.”
They hopped in his Mercedes and headed back to the North Hills by the river. “You don’t have to go there. We can hire people to get your things.”
Nancy wouldn’t let Charlotte have half of what she wanted. She knew her stepmother. The pictures might already be ripped to shreds. Nancy had tossed almost everything of Charlotte’s mother’s when she’d moved in, except what Charlotte kept hidden.
If she didn’t go now, all would be gone that mattered. She reached for his hand and said, “I want my picture of my mom and dad and a few small things. It won’t take me ten minutes.”
They were getting closer to the house and he said, “I’ll go inside with you.”
Jack was sweet. Soon they’d live happily, but for now she wanted to avoid a confrontation. “No. It’s better if I rush in, get my things, and leave.”
They headed down the last of the side streets before her house. He said, “I’ll wait right outside your door.”
And his car would alert Nancy that something was up and her stepmother always reacted worse when confronted. She’d slip in the house through the side door…and if she walked in the side gate, she wouldn’t trip the alarm. Charlotte said, “Wait at the end of the street, at the gas station, as always.”
He parked his silver Mercedes in the same spot he’d placed his brown Ford that was older than both of them and said, “I’m coming if you don’t show up within twenty minutes.”
She kissed his cheek. “This isn’t like two weeks ago when we were supposed to go to the movies and Nancy wanted me to stay home. Relax. We’re getting married.”
Charlotte opened her door and he said as her hand trailed off him, “I love you.”
She squeezed his fingers and said with a huge smile, “Good, because I love you too.”
In her black flats, the soles without holes, she wasn’t afraid of slipping on the sidewalk. She straightened her posture, moving steady and confident. She passed a small group of deer that took off at the sight of her and knew she was home.
Life was good and nothing was ever going to ruin it again. Charlotte took out her key she had stored in her pocket and headed to her usual side door that went to the kitchen.
She’d given up on the front door always being locked so she wouldn't try the main house without an invitation and had no reason to fight.
She’d get her things and leave—and never come back.
Charlotte entered the house but as she rounded the corner for the stairs to the basement, heels clicked on the cold granite tiles of the kitchen. Tension ratcheted up her spine. She slowly turned around and stared into the black eyes of her stepmother as she pressed her hand to her chest. “Nancy, why aren’t you at the store?”
