Page 301 of Naughty Nelle

EPILOGUE

“Everyone’s life is a fairy tale written by God’s fingers.”

—Hans Christian Anderson

Soon after our wedding, Gallant and I donated all of my mother’s possessions to a resale shop, including her ruby slippers. I told Gallant that I sure wouldn’t want to be in her shoes. Yesterday, the Fairytale Tattler reported that a house fell on the woman who bought them and killed her. I knew those shoes were cursed.

After all she did to me, I sometimes miss my mother in a strange, inexplicable way. I’m glad Shrink left me with the hope that she might have been born a good person. Yet, I’m still not sure if people are born evil or if it’s the events in their lives that make them that way.

What I do know for sure is that fate is meant to be. But it’s not a fait accompli. Fate, in fact, has a way of writing its own twisted version of happily ever after. In my fairy tale, had I not gone to rehab, I would have never found the light inside me.

Shrink was right about so many things. About letting go of the past and looking deep inside myself for the future. Even about starting a career as a writer.

Having unleashed my imagination, I’m writing a children’s book. Gallant’s doing the illustrations. It’s a fairy tale called Dewitched. You can guess what the story’s about. As usual, I’m having writer’s block. But, at least, I’ve written the last line…

…And they lived happily ever after.

~THE END~

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