Page 1 of Poetry of Flowers

Prologue

MATILDA, OCTOBER 31, 2011

“Mommy, can I wear your flower necklace?” I asked my mother while she was braiding my long hair, making me look like a princess. Halloween was the day you could be whatever you wanted, and I was going to be my favorite princess of all time, Rapunzel. In the mirror, my purple dress looked exactly like hers and although my hair was light brown, with the flowers and my little crown I looked just like her. There was even a tiny Pascal on my shoulder. If only he were real.

I felt beautiful, and Mommy’s necklace with the little flower matched my costume perfectly.

Kayden is going to love it!

“You can wear it,mon ange.”

Mommy smiled at me through the mirror. Someday, I want to be as beautiful as my mommy. She was the most gorgeous person I knew, looking like a real-life princess with her black curls in a high bun and her blushed cheeks.

Sadly, I looked more like my daddy, we shared the same light-brown hair and freckles painted from the angels on our lips and noses. At least I got her eyes! They were big and dark brown, like Debbie’s. She was our dog. My parents got her when they first moved together.

I took the necklace from the drawer in front of me and brushed my fingers over the center of the pendant.

There was a tiny, light blue flower captured in a glass sphere as if it were flying.

So beautiful!

“Can you tell me the meaning again, Tillie?” Mommy asked me as she placed more flowers in my hair, making me giggle because one of the flowers tickled me on my neck.

“You know the story, Mommy.”

“Well, your silly mommy is getting old and forgetful.”

She loved to tell me stories before I fell asleep at night. My favorite one was the story behind her necklace.

“The flower is calledforget-me-not.If someone gifts you the necklace, it means they truly love you and will never forget you. Daddy gifted you the necklace after you two had a big big fight, but since then, you are so so in love,”

I told her the story, not being able to hold my giggles back.

Someday I want to have such a beautiful love story too.

I wanted to find my Flynn Rider, and we would fight against the villains until we were the prince and princess of our own kingdom. And then we’d get horses and a real Pascal and live happily ever after, like in the movies.

“That’s right, and I will let you keep it from now on because I want you to never forget me,mon ange. And someday you will give it to someone else too, when you feel like someone needs it more than you.” I twirled around to face her, throwing my arms around her neck.

“Thank you, Mommy! I could never forget you!” I grinned and started to whisper. “You are my best friend; don’t tell Kayden. He’s my best friend too, but it might make him sad, and I don’t want that.”

Kayden Kidd has been my best friend since the day I was born.

Our mothers met in high school and have been best friends since then.

When I was born, Kayden had been four months old, and Olivia, his mother, laid him down beside me. Mommy told me he basically threw himself at me and that one of us always cried when we were separated.

Kayden lived next door with his older brother Nash and little sister Faith, so I could always go to his place and he could come over, too.

He was my favorite person in the whole world; he even let me play with his tiny cars when no one else was allowed to. It made me feel special.

Kayden was grumpy with everyone, but he loved me.

Mommy once said we two looked like the sun and the moon—a dark and a light soul who needed each other.

“I know, but I just want to give it to you now because you are my little sunshine, and you’ll get bigger and forget your old motherand-”

I cut her off by throwing myself into her open arms, causing her to fall with her back on the ground, her laughter echoing through the room.

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