Cinderella grabbed her coat and hurried toward the door. She turned away to hide the tears in her eyes.

“Mom, do you need some help in bringing in some wood?” Her daughter Phoebe had her feet propped up on a chair right up close to the fireplace. The fire crackled, and a spark shot out and landed to the right of her foot. She put her book down and glanced back over her shoulder.

“No, I’ll be fine. I need a little bit of air and will be back in a bit.” She pulled on her hood and rushed outside.

The snow had recently stopped, but a fresh cover of snow blanketed everything. Tree limbs bent over from the weight of the snow, and the dirt path that led to the main road was covered in several inches of the white powder.

With her boots on, Cinderella trudged away from her cozy home and headed toward the back part of their land. She put her gloves on, wrapped her cranberry-colored scarf around her neck, and then adjusted her hood to protect her ears from the cold.

“Where are you going?” Her husband, Jeremiah came out from behind the house with an armful of dried and cured wood.

“I need to go take a walk.” She glanced away to stare deep into the woods ahead.

“Is it bad again?” He looked concerned and came close to her.

“I don’t want to talk about it now. I just need some time to myself.” She put her gloved hand on his forearm and squeezed. “I’ll be alright. It’s just that some days are harder than others.”

“We don’t have to celebrate the holidays this year if you don’t want to. After all that you went through recently, Phoebe and I won’t mind.” He wanted to say more but thought it best to stop talking.

“I appreciate all that you and Phoebe have done for me, but sometimes I just need to be on my own.” She stuffed both hands into her pockets and headed off. “I’ll be back before dark.”

“I love you,” Jeremiah called after her as she walked briskly toward the forest.

“I love you, too.” She didn’t turn back and rushed onward. The trees would cover her, and the freshly fallen snow might distract her for a while.

She entered the forest and kept walking. The trees boughs hung bent over, heavy with snow. Up above, the clouds stretched across the sky. She used to be able to sense the change in the weather, but after what had happened to her, she had lost that ability too.

After about twenty minutes of walking, Cinderella stopped and found a massive boulder in the middle of a clearing. An older woman leaned against the large rock, gasping for breath. She had long white hair tied up in intricate braids and leaned on a cane.

“Granny, do you need any help?” Cinderella came to the woman’s side and put her arm around her.

At hearing another’s voice, she smiled and glanced up. “Oh my, yes, I can use some assistance.” She pointed with her cane to a path on the far side of the clearing. “My cart broke down, and when I tried to unhitch my horse, the stinker, sprinted off, and I’m stuck out here all alone.”

“We can go back to my house, warm-up, and then we’ll lend you a horse so that you can be on your way.” Cinderella rubbed the older woman’s right shoulder to help give her some warmth.

“I appreciate the offer, but I need to get to my granddaughter’s house. She’s having an early holiday celebration, and I’m bringing the pies.” She put the cane down in the snow and leaned heavily on it. “I’d rather go forward than backward. She’s not too far ahead on the main road. Can you carry the pies and then walk me there?”

“Yes, of course.” Cinderella helped the woman rest against the boulder. “Are the pies right over there in your cart?”

“Yes, it’s not too far. You can almost see the cart from here.” She stopped Cinderella from going and added, “Thank you.”

“Granny, what’s your name?” Cinderella helped the woman put up her hood to protect her from the wind.

“I’m Minnie.” She smiled and patted Cinderella on her arm. “You’re so kind to help me out. ”

Cinderella smiled and headed off on the path ahead. She followed the snow-covered road for no more than a few minutes and came across a cart. One of the back wheels had broken, and the cart’s back half tipped onto its right side.

Fresh hoof prints marked the entire area, but there was no horse to be seen.

“Now, where are those pies?” Cinderella pulled up a tarp, and Minnie had tied three boxes down to the cart. “Here we go.”

She unhooked the boxes, and with care, carried them back to the open clearing where Minnie waited.

Minnie stood there waiting for her and waved her cane in delight when she saw Cinderella. “You found them.” She headed over to meet Cinderella halfway. “I was afraid that some squirrels were going to get at them.”

Cinderella took a peek inside each of the boxes and smiled. “They look fine and smell delicious.” She sniffed and licked her lips. “Apple and cinnamon. Your family is going to love them!”

“If you’d like, you can have a slice once we get to my granddaughter’s house.” Minnie headed off to the eastern path. She waved her cane with a flourish. “We won’t have far to go.”

Cinderella followed along and made sure to keep the pies level as she walked. “You traveled alone? There’s no one that you live with who could help you?”

“No, I live alone. My granddaughter wants me to move in with her, but I’m not ready for that yet. I still have some spring left in my step.” To prove her point, she picked up the pace, but then slowed back down after a few seconds.

“When I get older, I hope my daughter will take me in.” She started to say more but quieted.

Minnie stopped walking and glanced back around. “Why would you say that? Don’t you and your daughter get along well?”

“Oh, it’s not that. I just think that we’ll grow distant over the years.” She shrugged. “She and I are pretty different these days.”

Minnie eyed Cinderella up and said matter-of-factly, “It’s about your having lost the magic, isn’t it?”

Unable to hide her expression, Cinderella raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t need to.” Minnie waved her cane like a wand in front of her. “It’s written all over you.” She put her cane down and sighed. “You carry a heavy burden. I can see it even in how you walk with your shoulders hunched forward.”

Cinderella looked Minnie right in the eye. “Are you a witch?”

She laughed and shook her head. “No, no. I’m not. I have a touch of the blood in me. My grandmother was though, and she taught me a few things, but I was never trained in a coven.” She started up again. “Let’s keep going, or we’ll be late.”

“Okay, I’m coming.” Cinderella gave a slight chuckle. “You are pretty spry for someone with a cane.”

“You’re trying to change the subject on me, and I won’t have that.” Minnie slowed down and walked next to Cinderella. “When you get to be my age, you have the luxury of being able to talk about whatever you want.”

“But what if I don’t want to talk about the burden that I carry?” Cinderella glanced off to the side at a holly bush. The red berries stood out in stark contrast against the green leaves covered with snow.

Minnie let the silence between them grow for a bit and then replied, “Then what bothers you will tear you apart, and you’ll either take it out on someone, or it’ll eat you up inside.”

“Neither of those options seems like a good choice.” Cinderella glanced back at Minnie. “I just don’t know what to do.”

“It’s the emptiness within you. That’s the burden, isn’t it?” She put her hand on Cinderella’s shoulder.

“I really don’t want to talk about this now.” She closed herself off to the world and looked straight ahead.

“I used to think like you when I was younger.” Minnie kept walking and shifted her weight onto her right hip to give her sore left one a bit of a break. “But the problem I found is that your heart will harden after a while. And your loved ones will become more distant as you keep them at arm’s length.”

Cinderella kept walking but remained silent.

“I wish I would have opened my heart sooner. The pain would have been shorter in the long run. Instead, I stayed hurt for many years. Alone, dealing with grief and stubborn as they come.” Minnie laughed at herself. “But I eventually wised up.”

“What made you change?” Cinderella asked.

Minnie stopped and turned to face Cinderella. She took her hands in her own and squeezed lightly. “I had shut everyone out of my life and nearly lost my family. When my granddaughter was born, I realized that I could remain distant and alone or face my problems.” She shook her head. “But I’m stubborn, and it still took me a few years to change. But I did.”

“I wish I had your strength.” Cinderella bent forward and let the weight of the world roll her shoulders forward. “I don’t think I have the courage.”

Minnie smiled. “I understand. That’s normal. But today you’re stronger than yesterday and tomorrow you’ll be stronger than today. Bit by bit, you’ll get there.” She put her hands on Cinderella’s shoulders and pushed her up to stand tall. “Just don’t give up.”

“I’ll try not to.” Cinderella wiped a tear from her eye.

“Come on; we’re almost there. We’ll get you some nice tea and a piece of my apple pie.” Minnie started walking along the path. “Though I think we’ll want to warm the pies up a bit first. It’s colder out here than a witch’s—”

“Minnie!” Cinderella called out in surprise.

“I’m sorry. When you live on your own, you don’t watch what you say so much.” She left the forest and pointed at the house ahead. “That’s another reason why I don’t want to move into my granddaughter's home. She says I talk like a sailor.”

“You keep surprising me more and more.” Cinderella walked Minnie to the front of the large house. “I never knew your granddaughter lived here.”

“She and her husband only recently married and moved here from Kansas.” Minnie climbed up the steps and turned back. “Come on up, and you can have some tea and pie.”

“I have to get back. My family is waiting for me.” At seeing Minnie balk, she quickly added, “A very wise woman told me that it’s best to talk things out with my husband and daughter. I think I’m going to head back and do that before I lose my courage.”

The front door to the house opened, and a young woman came running out and wrapped her arms around Minnie. “You’re safe. We thought something had happened to you.”

“I’m fine. The wheel of my cart broke, and my horse ran away.” She returned the hug and then asked, “Can you take the pies from my friend here who helped me?”

“Thank you for helping my grandmother.” Minnie’s granddaughter took the pies from Cinderella.

“Happy to help.” Cinderella smiled and then turned to go.

“You certain you don’t want to come in?” Minnie asked.

“I’m fine, really. Thank you.” Cinderella waved and headed back on the path that headed back into the forest.

When she could no longer be seen, Minnie waved her cane, and the house vanished. The illusion she wore faded away as did that of her granddaughter’s. Instead, Cinderella’s daughter Phoebe, who looked to be in her late ‘20s, put her arm around her mother, and asked, “Are you sure she didn’t see through your illusion?”

Cinderella, older and with more gray hair, shook her head. “She didn’t suspect a thing.”

“Isn’t there some sort of rule about coming back in time to visit your past self?” Phoebe asked.

“No one ever told me such a thing.” Cinderella snorted. “And if they did, I would just ignore them anyway.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes and shrugged. “You’re too much sometimes.”

Becoming serious, Cinderella looked out at the path where her younger self had just been a few minutes ago. “Yes, I am, but for her, I was just enough.”

She waved her hand in the air and opened the dreamline for her and Phoebe to travel through. Phoebe went first and vanished into thin air. Cinderella waited a moment and turned back one last time and sent out a silent prayer that her younger self would be okay. Knowing that time could be tricky that way, she held her prayer a moment longer, sent as much love as she could to her younger self, and then walked through the dreamline.

In a flash, she vanished as did the dreamline portal, and the clouds parted. The sun peeked out from behind a cloud and sent its warmth and light over all the Earth.

Like this story? If you do, please be sure to check out my Cinderella’s Secret Witch Diaries books. This short story takes place between books 3 and 4.