CD Cinderella (3rd in the Encore!!! Series)

Chapter Nineteen

Breyden Prince's POV

Danielle asked me to go in with her to meet her parents.

Of course, she also asked Kat, Phoenix, and Mrs. DuVaine. It was slightly uncomfortable spending time with the Vice Principal of my school, but our families were close since mine was a benefactor and donor, as well.

Anyone looking at my girlfriend wouldn't know that she was nervous out of her mind, but I could. Her fingers were moving in the shape of piano chords. She was mentally playing to calm herself down. Stepping next to her, I slipped my hand into hers.

We were all standing in an old courtroom, too antsy to take a seat. The benches were made of wood and they creaked when you sat down. Every time one creaked, Danielle would spook, so we had all silently agreed not to sit. When the door opened and the officer allowed the man and woman in, I could see the resemblance almost instantly. Danielle was the spitting image of her biological mother with her biological father's coloring.

"Oh, my Opal!" The woman cried out practically flinging herself at Danielle. I was going to let go of her hand so that she could hug her mother properly, but she held on even tighter. I could visibly see how uncomfortable how she was and it broke my heart. "You look just like your sister! Don't you see it, Adam?" The raven-haired lady asked her husband, not releasing Danielle.

"I can see it," the big man smiled warmly at my girlfriend with identical eyes to her own. "Hello, sweetheart. We have been looking for you for a very long time." Danielle's eyes instantly went to the floor. She missed her mom. The one who had raised her, I mean. Wow, that was going to get complicated...

"It's nice to meet you, sir," my beautiful girl answered shyly, holding her left hand out to shake since her right was captured in mine. He took it falteringly, trying not to well up with tears. He was attempting to be strong, but he was standing in front of the daughter that had gone missing on his watch however many years ago. The relief must have been overwhelming.

"Call me Adam, sweetheart," he requested, "I know you won't be comfortable calling me Dad just yet, but maybe sometime in the future that will change." Looking up and finally seeing me, he tensed just a bit. Darn, I had been hoping to skip the whole protective father thing. "And you are...?"

"This is my boyfriend, Breyden," Danielle introduced. "And these are my best friends Kat and Phoenix and Phoenix's mom, Mrs. DuVaine. My other best friend, Collette, is away right now, but you will probably meet her eventually."

"It's nice to meet you, young man," her biological father said, offering me a handshake. I complied, trying not to show how tight his grip was. I mean, I was extremely well-muscled, if I did say so myself, but I had nothing on this guy. "You can call me 'sir'. Ladies," he tipped an imaginary hat at Kat and the DuVaines. "My name is Adam Coren."

His wife was getting very impatient, apparently, because the next thing I knew, she had Danielle's other hand and was dragging her toward the door. Of course, she was inadvertently pulling me along, too. "Come on, Opal, it's time to go home," she said brightly, as if she was getting what she wanted. Did she really think it would be that easy? She was just going to come and pluck Danielle from her life here in L.A. and insert her like a puzzle piece back into her own life in San Francisco?

"With all due respect, ma'am," Danielle replied, retracting her hand from her biological mother's grasp, "my name is Danielle, and I am home." I could see Phoenix resisting the urge to applaud her best friend's response, but Mrs. DuVaine gave her a look.

"Nonsense, you belong with us, and your siblings."

Danielle looked torn at the mention of her non-present sister and brothers, but she held firm, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze. "My life is here; my school, my friends, my band, my horse, and my mom," she met Mrs. Coren's eyes with a steely gaze of her own. "You don't know anything about me and you want me to move across the state to live with you?"