Not so long ago there lived a beautiful woman who was happily married to the CEO of an important company. She had everything her heart could desire—the high rise apartment, the designer wardrobe, the charity functions—except one: no matter how hard they tried, she and her husband could not have a baby. They had tried all sorts of positions, drugs, doctors, and therapies, everything that money could buy, to no avail, until at long last an experimental treatment was found. Nine months later she gave birth to twin girls; she and her husband named them Aurora and Bella.
Because the mother had lots of society friends, she threw a lovely party in honor of her baby girls. Unfortunately, the post office had lost one of the invitations, the one meant for her Wiccan sister, and so on the day of the party her sister stormed in, enraged that she had been slighted in such a way. Her sister was just as beautiful as she was, but living in her shadow as a child had made the sister mean and cruel. The sister declared that the family would lose all of its money, her sister would die a premature death, Aurora would be also doomed to an early death inflicted by spindle, and Bella was fated to live the rest of her life in rags. After making this pronouncement, the sister left just as abruptly as she had arrived, leaving the mother and her friends to laugh at such outrageous claims.
Seven years later the mother died abruptly of cancer. Over time, the father fell in love with his wife’s sister and they married; he was never aware of the curse she had placed on him and his daughters. Eight years later his company went bankrupt. He had many debts and no way to pay them. Unfortunately, he was also facing a divorce and criminal charges concerning the way his company had been handled. The bankruptcy was through no fault of his own: in fact, his new wife had embezzled the money right under his nose. Unfortunately the evidence against him was too great; he was convicted of the crime, while his new wife lived comfortably with her pilfered cash.
Meanwhile, she treated her nieces horribly, but because she was their stepmother she was also their legal guardian. Both girls were forced to clean and cook, as if they were hired help, and barely had enough to eat and only one set of clothes to wear. She withdrew them from their private schools and forbade them from talking to their father or friends. Their stepmother was not content with this punishment, she was tired of hearing all of her sister’s old friends saying behind her back that her daughters were more beautiful than she or their mother. She decided to send Bella to marry an old business associate of her husbands who was hideously fat and try to decide what the best torture would be for Aurora, while meanwhile forcing her to do all the chores that the girls had previously shared.
Bella’s new home was outside the city, on a lovely old estate with a garden, aviary, library, pool, and state of the art theater. She was no longer forced to do chores, but spent her days reading, or walking, or listening to the birds sing, or watching movies. She only saw her intended each night, at dinner, and each night he asked her if she would marry him, and each night she refused, claiming that she was too young and did not know him well enough yet. She missed her sister, and kept having strange dreams about Aurora being in danger and of a young man who was incredibly handsome.
Meanwhile, Aurora had run away from home and fallen in with a Celtic band with seven young men in it. She cooked and cleaned for them while they toured, and they gave her a free place to sleep in return. One weekend they were booked at a renaissance faire, which was a nice change of pace for her, because she had never been to one. There were all kinds of things to see: jousting, Falconers, belly dancers, and some older women demonstrating weaving and spinning. She’d never seen anything like spinning before, and was eager to try it. Unluckily, Aurora pricked her finger on the spindle that the elderly woman dropped while passing it to her, tripped over a basket of wool trying to catch it, and hit her head on a rock and fell into a coma.
The band made sure Aurora got to the hospital and had the best doctors they could afford looking after her, even though they weren’t very well off. They found Bella’s new phone number in Aurora’s purse, and called her to let her know that her sister was comatose. That night Bella begged her suitor to let her go see her sister. She could not bear to think of Aurora alone and permanently asleep. Surely there was some hope to be had. While laying out her petition, Bella really looked at the man she sat across from for the first time: he had kind eyes that seemed familiar, and a pleasant voice. He told her that she could go as long as she promised to return as soon as her sister was well. Thinking that her sister may never get well, Bella agreed.
Bella spent that night at her sister’s side. The next morning, a doctor came and introduced himself to her, telling her that he was a neural surgeon and believed that he had a solution to Aurora’s condition, but it would require surgery. The next few hours were tense for Bella. Aurora finally came out of surgery, still unconscious, her condition touch and go, but still alive. Bella fell asleep that night and dreamed of the same young man as she had before. He promised her that everything would be all right and that he would take care of her.
The next morning, Aurora woke back up. She was overjoyed to see Bella and incredibly grateful to the young doctor who had saved her life. Bella could see the sparks between them and was sure that the doctor was going to become a fixture in Aurora’s life, he was so kind and had taken the time to buy her new clothes and a wig to cover up the bald spot she had acquired in surgery prep. During the surgery he had discovered a small brain tumor; tests indicated that it was benign, that they had caught it at the perfect time. Aurora did not have cancer. He also told her that the entire bill had been taken care of by a large gentleman. Upon further questioning of the nurses, all Bella could discern was that he had been a very round fellow that was incredibly nice.
That night, Bella remembered her promise. She told Aurora she would return the next day and rushed back to the country manor. When she arrived, she rushed about the house, trying to find the man of the house, but the place was empty. That night at dinner, the man asked her again if she would marry him, and she said yes. She was sure that he had been the one to pay her sister’s medical bills and felt she owed him this small kindness.
As soon as she said yes, the man stood, took off his evening jacket, and began to take off his shirt. Bella was aghast at first, averted her eyes, because she was unwilling to see his body bared and be repulsed. She did not want to be ashamed of him when she strongly suspected that he had paid her great kindness. However, it was soon clear to see that there wasn’t flesh under his clothes, rather, he wore a padded suit. He unzipped the disguise and stepped out. His build was, in reality, athletic. Next he lifted his hands to his face… and began to peel it off. He pudgy cheeks and bad complexion had been nothing but a mask. The man before her was the one she had dreamed about so many times, he had been the one who provided for Aurora’s medical bills.
Within the next few months, Aurora and Bella’s father’s appeal was successful, and his lawyer was able to prove that the stepmother had taken the money. Aurora and the doctor were dating; she had fully recovered and was learning how to play guitar from one of the guys in the band. Bella and her fiancé had fallen deeply in love, and she had never been happier in her entire life. It was hard for them to imagine after so much heartache, but it did truly seem that all of them were going to live happily ever after… except, of course, the stepmother.
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