Prince Charming Can Wait (Ever After) by Stephanie Rowe Read Free Book Online Page B

courage to not need anyone anymore. Not a marriage, not a man—
    Her mind involuntarily flashed back to the previous night, to the encounter with Harlan. To his kiss. The haunting of his dark eyes. The depth of his pain.
    She immediately cut herself off from thinking about him. There was no space in her life for a man, for anyone who would betray her, the same way that life was betraying Mattie. She managed a smile. "It doesn't matter what other people think, Mattie. Ignore the ones who don't believe in you, and pay attention to the people that do care. Like me." Her voice thickened ever so slightly, and she had to clear her throat. "You matter to me."
    A small smile played at the corner of Mattie's mouth. "I do?"
    "Of course you do."
    "Pinkie swear?"
    Emma laughed and held up her hand. "Pinkie swear." They locked pinkies, and then Emma pulled Mattie into her arms, giving her a hug. "Now, will you please do me a favor and come inside so I can stop worrying that you're going to fall on your bum and squish all the flowers in the yard?" Or crack her head open, but she didn't want to put that out there.
    Mattie squinted at her. "There are no flowers in the yard."
    Emma grinned. "Then we should plant some."
    "I don't live here. I don't want to plant any." She looked at Emma. "Can I go visit you? Can we plant some there? You always talk about how pretty the lake is. I want to go there."
    Down below, Chloe's car pulled in, and Emma grimaced, hoping she wasn't going to get Chloe in trouble for giving Emma the address. "I'll talk to Chloe and see what we can work out, okay?"
    "Promise?" Mattie gave her a solemn look.
    Emma knew that a broken promise would not do her any favors. Broken promises were cruel beyond words, the instruments to broken dreams and shattered hearts. "I promise I will do everything I can, Mattie."
    An understanding too mature for a five-year-old settled in Mattie's dark eyes. "Okay." But there was a flatness to Mattie's tone as she stood up and walked back toward the window, and Emma knew that Mattie didn't believe the world would offer her good things anymore.
    Emma scrambled to her feet and hurried after her, catching her hand and holding it tightly as Mattie carefully scooted her dirty pink sneakers along the ledge. Emma remembered when those sneakers had been new, the last present Mattie's mom had given her.
    Now they were dirty, tearing at the seams. The laces were frayed, the shoes most likely too small, and yet Mattie wore them every single day. To Mattie, they were the last thing she had to cling to, the last breath of life as she wanted it to be.
    Dirty, worn shoes were all Mattie had to hold her tiny, fragile heart together, and Emma knew from her own experience that it wouldn't be enough. There had to be something she could do to help Mattie, to make her life turn out differently than Emma's had. She had to find a way to give Mattie something real to believe in, something more viable than an elusive and hopeless kiss stolen on a dark night with a man who was nothing more than a passing shadow slipping through her fingers.

Chapter Four
    Emma cornered Chloe the moment the social worker returned to her car, after she'd settled Mattie back inside and talked with the foster mom. "Mattie says you're going to send her to South Carolina," Emma said.
    Chloe sighed and pushed her dark hair back from her face. She was wearing jeans and a tee shirt, indicating that she'd been in the middle of something unrelated to work when Emma had called, which was unusual given that it was still early in the afternoon on a weekday. Chloe was relentless in her job. "It's looking possible. Her uncle just got arrested again, and her aunt hasn't shown up for work in three days. The judge doesn't want her there."
    Emma glanced back at the house with the peeling paint and crooked shutters. "She can't go to South Carolina. Her grandparents aren't good people—"
    "They're better than her aunt and uncle, and that's all she's