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Prologue
“Please tell me another story, Daddy,” Sorrel entreated her father while snuggling in closer to him on her canopy bed.
David looked over at the Minnie Mouse clock on his daughter’s nightstand before he kissed her head, knowing exactly what she was doing. She loved nothing more than to prolong story time so she didn’t have to go to sleep. “Little girls need their rest so they can grow tall and strong.”
“I’m not little anymore—I’m five years old,” she stated with authority.
David laughed deeply. “All right, my big girl.” He could never tell her no. “I’ll tell you one more story.” He paused to think of which story he should tell her. One came to mind, but she was too young. Or was she? Sorrel was the most precocious child he had ever known. Perhaps she was ready. “Sorrel, my little love—”
“I told you, I’m not little, Daddy.”
“You will always be my little love.” He tickled her.
She squirmed and giggled. “Is Mommy your big love?”
He tapped her nose. “Mommy and you are the loves of my life.”
“Will I have a love of my life too?” she asked so innocently.
As David had thought, she was older than her years gave her credit for. “Yes, my sweet Sorrel, you will have a great love, but . . . ,” he hesitated, “you must be patient and brave.”
Sorrel puffed out her pink silk–covered chest. “I am brave. I jumped higher than anyone off the swings at the park today.”
Silently he prayed that she remained courageous throughout her entire life. “You are a brave girl. And I want to tell you a story about a brave girl. A story you must always remember. This story is about a princess named Sorrel.”
“Her name is just like mine,” Sorrel squealed with delight. “I want to be a princess when I grow up.”
He wrapped an arm around his daughter and squeezed. “You, my love, are meant to be a queen.”
“Can I wear a crown?”
David laughed. “If you want to.”
“I do.” She settled against her father.
He held her close, wishing she could stay little, that he could always protect her. “While Princess Sorrel didn’t wear a crown,” he began, “she had beautiful chocolate-brown hair and eyes as blue as the ocean, just like you. She also had a special book.”
“Like Mommy?”
“Yes, just like Mommy’s book. This book was very special. Princess Sorrel had to do everything she could to keep the book safe. She could never show it to anyone except to whomever the book told her to. And she had to obey the book. If the book told her to hide, she had to hide. When the book told her who to marry, that’s who she had to marry.”
“Why couldn’t she pick her husband?” She sounded almost indignant.
David smoothed his tenacious five-year-old’s brow. “Because, sweetheart . . . Sorrel was cursed.”
“Did her wicked stepmother curse her, like in Snow White?” Sorrel asked.
He hesitated before whispering, “Her mother cursed her.”
Sorrel looked up into her father’s eyes, begging him to tell her it wasn’t true. “Why would she do that? Mommies are supposed to love their children.”
“Her mother loved her very much.” He tenderly kissed her head. “She didn’t want to curse her, but she had no choice.”
Sorrel blinked several times, not understanding.
David thought for a moment about what to say. “Even though she had no choice, like with all curses, this curse could be broken.”
“How?”
David’s thoughtful brown eyes bore into his daughter’s. “By obeying the book even if it scared her; and most importantly, she had to follow her heart.” He pointed to his daughter’s heart. “Because she had the best heart, just like you.”
Sorrel smiled. “Did she break the curse?”
David pressed his lips together. “She did her part. And . . . ,” he swallowed hard, “you will too.”
Sorrel’s blue eyes swirled, understanding slowly dawning. “Am I cursed, Daddy?”
He pressed a lingering kiss to her forehead. He hated telling her but knew the best way to keep her safe was to tell her the truth. “Yes, my love. But never forget, you have the power to break this curse.” He leaned back and held her beautiful face in his hands. “Promise me, Sorrel, promise me you’ll always do what the book says. Promise me you’ll break the curse.”
With the resolve of a woman ten times her age, she placed her hands on top of her daddy’s and firmly declared, “I will be brave. I promise.”
Chapter One
Twenty-Five Years Later
“Sorrel, Sorrel, I have the best news,” Annalise drawled while she practically dove over the counter to reach for me, pushing several other customers out of her way.
I caught her before she took a nosedive into my freshly baked chocolate cupcakes with strawberry frosting just waiting to be put in the display case. “Whoa there. This must be some news.” I struggled to right her and push her back over to the side where customers belonged. Though I considered Annalise more a friend, really, those pesky health codes got in the way. You never knew when one of those sneaky inspectors would pop in, and heaven forbid I had anyone besides a paid employee come back here. I mean it wasn’t like she was going to lick the cupcakes. Well, on second thought, maybe it was better she stayed on the customer side.
