Excerpt: Mrs. Charming

CINDERELLA

I looked over at my soon-to-be husband. He was radiant in a white suit with gold trimming, his wavy brown hair catching the final glints of sunlight from through the stained glass windows. We stood alone in an empty church, save for the priest and witnesses.

“Do you take this woman…” the priest said. His voice faded to a murmur in my mind as I looked over at the love of my life. He was strong, and looked over at me with such protective love in his eyes that it was all I could do not to rush into his arms.

“I do,” he said. They were the sweetest words I had ever heard.

“Do you take this man to be your lawful wedded husband?” the priest asked me. I smiled wider.

“I do.”

“I now pronounce you man and wife.”

We kissed. The church was silent behind us, but I could hear the bells ringing in my mind.

SNOW WHITE

I squeezed his hand. We’d be married in a few minutes. It was perfect. I adored him, he adored me, and, best of all, this adoration would never become suffocating. He would be away all the time, and I would keep my own life. I wouldn’t have been able to if the marriage had been out in the open, but this one was to be our secret, at least as long as we could keep it.

The magistrate announced something about loving and cherishing, to have and to hold, and I squeezed my future husband’s arm. He was dressed in a sharp gray suit; I loved the clean modern lines and scent of wealth.

“With this ring, I thee wed,” he said. His green eyes gazed down at me, richer than emeralds and more vivid than the leaves that waved outside the courthouse windows. He slid the ring onto my finger, and we kissed.

SLEEPING BEAUTY

I took a deep breath. It was quiet, and peaceful, just as I’d asked. It couldn’t last forever, but for now, and for as long as we could keep it, I would be grateful. My betrothed looked over at me over his green doublet and smiled, a dazzling smile of even white teeth that was wide and open and reassured that his love and protection was still with me. The butterflies in my stomach were dancing a wedding jig, perhaps in place of the guests we did not have.

The forest monk before us took our hands and placed them within one another. He placed his hands over ours, and said something in a foreign tongue, then stepped back.

“You may seal your union with a kiss,” he said, and we did.