Page 101 of Saving His Heart

“Tilly? What are you guys doing here?” I ask as I wrap my arms around Sloane and Eli. Tilly forces her way in, and just like when we were kids, we stand in our little huddle hugging. “What’s going on? How are you guys here? What is this?”

Eli looks to me with tears but says nothing.

“Please, please, don’t tell me you’re giving me the silent treatment, too?”

Sloane grins and mimes locking her lips and throwing away the key.

Freaking awesome.

“But—” Looking around, I notice everything is built-in miniature. It’s like a playhouse little girls dream of. All the furniture is childlike yet functional.

“Once upon a time, there was a little family living in a little house,” Preston’s voice is fed through speakers in the open-air playhouse.

“Preston?” I ask, turning in circles, looking for him.

Tilly takes my hand and leads me to the corner of the room, where I see a rack of dresses in every color.

“I-I don’t understand,” I tell her.

She holds up one, while Eli holds another. All three of my sisters are trying to get me to choose one without speaking.

“I don’t care about a dress. Someone, please just tell me what’s going on.”

“We choose the white one then,” Sloane says and gets shushed by my other two sisters.

The three of them attack me with vigor. Eli and Tilly undress me while Sloane is forcing me into the dress they chose.

“You see,” Preston starts again, “they were a little family with a little girl playing all the roles. The family loved each other fiercely, but just like Cinderella, one of the sisters never got to go to the ball.”

“No, that’s— Eli, I never regretted not going to the prom. I—”

“In this family, Goldie loved fiercely. She protected often, and she never once complained. She worked her ass off to provide for everyone she cared about. Then, one day, the evil troll tried to take it all away from her. Goldie’s little family was forced to take a different path for a short time. That path led them to this little pink house on the beach where the sisters held a meeting.”

I laugh as all three girls turn their backs on me and pretend to converse in a small circle.If this writing thing doesn’t work out for Sloane, she should look into acting.

“The little family was cozy and filled with love, but they decided it didn’t fit. This family was just too small.”

Tilly hands me a tissue, and I wipe at the tears that won’t stop. Sloane attacks me with a powder brush, and Eli attempts to fix my mascara.

“I think that’s as good as she is going to get,” Sloane mumbles through pursed lips.

Eli scows at her but holds up the blindfold to me.

“Come on! You cannot be serious?”

Her smiling face is the last I see before my eyes are covered again.

“I’m back, dear.”

“Sylvie! What is going on?”

“You’ll see soon enough. Come on, we have another destination waiting.”

We walk for all of thirty seconds before she pats my arm. “Count to ten again, then you can open your eyes.”

This time I do count. I need to calm my racing heart. When I reach thirty, I remove the silk from my face. Opening them, I laugh out loud. This house, much like the first, is a façade, but this one is bright blue. As soon as my eyes are open, I hear shouting coming from inside.

This time I don’t hesitate. I open the door immediately and double over, laughing. All of Preston’s brothers are in here. Dexter, Trevor, the girls, and all the kids, too. It’s chaos everywhere I look.