A Cinderella Story

Chapter Twelve: A Castle

Chapter Twelve: A Castle

Instead of driving to Mrs. Rices house as she has  thought, Derrick swung the car down the opposite road. Jessica recognized it as one of the side roads that was on the road she took to get to the studio.

It was similar to the street that Mrs. Rice lived on, rather residential, some houses were single, while the majority were doubles. Finally they pulled onto the side of the street in front of a blue siding double house. Jessica was curious but she guessed that this might be Anna's, or even Derrick's house.

As soon as the car rolled to a stop Mrs. Rice and Anna threw open the back doors and scurried out. Jessica had to wait until Derrick retrieved her crutches from the trunk. Once he handed them to her, and helped her actually stand up he moved so he could hold open the door for her.

She barely got in the vestibule before loud barking suddenly erupted from somewhere inside the house. Jessica thought she heard Anna's voice trying to shush it but the shush turned into a shout and Jessica heard the distinct sound of nails on a hardwood...

She barely got herself into a crouch before Daisy came barreling into her arms knocking her down and franticly licking her face, her tail was going so fast Jessica thought it would fly off at any moment.

"Hey girl! I missed you too!" Jessica said laughing, trying to get the dog to let her sit back up. Finally the dog backed up far enough that she could sit up, and wth a little help from a smiling Derrick she stood back up.

"So where are we exactly?" She asked, shifting her weight on the crutches to allow Derrick to finally come inside the house. A wide grin came over Derricks face, and he suddenly picked her up bridal style to walk around the room.

"Can't you guess?" He asked as the crutches clattered to the floor. That's when Jessica took a good look around her...

The entire house, at least what she could see from teh small living room, was done in shades of sea foam and blue, there was a small dark blue couch backed up against the wall the hid the stairway. Laying on either side of armrests were two white pillows, each covered with lobesters, across from it was a small t.v.

Slowly Derrick walked over to a portion of the wall where several framed photos and pictures, at first they were so obvious Jessica didn't see anything special about them, but she blinked and looked again.

There was a picture that she had hidden in her house in a lock box, it was of her and her entire family before her father's accident, all of them smiling and happy, around it were several others. The time they had a picnic on the beach, then one of her mom and dad standing together. He had his guitar, and she was holding seashells, both looking at each other lovingly.  All from her old home, a few were obviously enlarged and you could see that fire has singed some of them, but there were many that were still intact.

Then her attention was taken by other pics, all of them new, ones that she hadn't seen before. Pictures of her and other standing on top of the stage during a rehersal. Her, Derrick and Anna, all standing with arms over each other's shoulder's apparently that was after they fixed that leak in the basement of the studio as they were all soaking wet. A few pictures of her and Daisy, obviouosly taken in Mrs. Rice's garden...

"You're not serious... I've gotta be dreaming." She said softly, her mouth dropping open. Derrick chucked and kissed the top of her forehead.

"I checked Jess, you're awake."  He said leaning down to sit her on the couch. Jessica looked around in shock, this was hers? This amazing and perfect little place?

"You're not serious..." She repeated, but her eyes betrayed the light that was shining through them.

"Do you like it?" Anna asked, comming out from must be the dining room, a large smile on her face.

"I...I can't believe it." She breathed a smile starting to come to her face.

"This used to Anna's old place, I'm good friends with the owner and once I mentioned I had a young friend in need of a home he gladly offered this." Mrs. Rice explained, coming down the stairs behind Jessica.

"I, I don't know what to say, or how to thank you all for this." She said, smiling broadly, gratitude stamped clearly on her face.

"Until you heal completely Mom has offered to come over every day and help you get settled in, according to the doctor one you finish your therapy you'll be able to start dancing again." Anna was explaing, leaning against the wall and idly playing with a stuffed lobster toy that obviously belonged to Daisy.

"I still have my place?" Jessica asked, wanting to make sure her world would still be there when she returned. Anna actually laughed at her worried tone.

"Of course! You're the Prima Donna now, in fact we've had several complaints because you weren't preforming." Anna informed her tossing the lobster away as Daisy began to pester her for it.

Jessica let out a small laugh of awe and fell back against the cushions, Derrick leaned against the armrest and looked down at her.

"Wait until you see upstairs, we even recarpeted it, but then again we kinda had to, a little incident with a rouge paint can on the floor." He explained, his eyes shining with amusement. He then leaned over and kissed her briefly on the mouth.

"Welcome to your Castle Milady."