It felt as if time had stopped. At the very least, my heart had. Brian had just announced to the entire world that I was his best friend. He’d told the world the truth. Part of it, anyway. I was shocked and instantly filled with hope. Could this have been the base behind Dr. Parish’s strange questions about Brian? About me helping his reputation instead of hurting it?
I felt everyone’s eyes on me, but I couldn’t look away from the screen. Brian’s confession was obviously the first the world had heard of this story because the audience gasped, and Kenneth was at another loss for words.
Brian’s energy was high when he finally fell into the story. “I met Ella through her blog over three years ago, after I came across a post she’d written about my favorite book series.” He flashed the audience a devastating smile. “You guys might have heard of it—The Cinder Chronicles by L.P. Morgan.”
Cheers erupted, and after the noise died down Brian continued on. “She had this insane theory that Prince Cinder should have chosen Ellamara instead of Princess Ratana, which of course I absolutely had to argue with. I wrote a very nice and polite Letter To The Editor explaining how completely misguided her theory was.”
Brian chuckled, but I scoffed. “Nice and polite? He called me a pig-headed, na?ve feminist romanticist!”
Everyone in the room laughed, and even I had to smile because a secretive smirk crept over Brian’s face. No doubt he was thinking about the exact same thing I was.
“When she wrote me back, it was love at first fight,” he said, earning another gasp from the crowd.
My gasp was louder, and everyone in the room with me snickered again. My face had barely recovered from its last blush, but that didn’t stop me from turning bright red again.
“Love!” Kenneth exclaimed.
Brian laughed and nodded. “It was for me. We started e-mailing back and forth and she quickly became my best friend, even though we’d never met in person. She knew everything about me except for my true identity.”
Kenneth leaned so far over his desk toward Brian that I was afraid he might fall out of his chair. “So, you knew this girl for three years and you’d never met?” he asked, incredulous. “She had no idea you were a famous movie star?”
Brian shook his head. “We only knew each other by our screen names.” He smiled to himself again. “Cinder and Ella.”
The way the audience crooned over that made me want to die so that I could be spared this embarrassment.
“Ella—being the huge fan of the books she is—came to The Druid Prince discussion panel at FantasyCon. There was a meet-and-greet after the panel. Ella and I had no idea we were both going to be there. When we met, she thought she was talking to Brian Oliver, and I thought I was meeting a random fan. We each realized who the other was when we started discussing the book and fell into our age-old argument.” He shook his head as he laughed this time. “We only got to talk for about a minute, but I was done for. I broke up with Kaylee right after the meet-and-greet. It wasn’t fair to Kaylee, and I’m sorry that I hurt her, but I didn’t have any other choice. I couldn’t stay with her when I was in love with someone else.”
Brian’s smile vanished and was replaced with barely concealed anger. “I’m the one who asked Ella to go to dinner with me that night. I kissed her because I couldn’t help myself. I’d been in love with her for years. I was trying to convince her to date me when the cameras interrupted us. Kaylee lied about us still being together because she was mad at me. She wanted to hurt Ella. I fired my management team because the statement they issued about Ella being a fan with a wish was a complete lie, and they issued it without my permission.”
There was another round of gasps from Brian’s audience and even a few cries of outrage. Kenneth Long’s mouth dropped open. I knew how they all felt. I was as shocked as they were. “He didn’t know?” It seemed impossible. “All this time, I thought he’d let them do it. All this time, I was so hurt.” I couldn’t believe it. “I was so stupid! If I’d just talked to him, let him explain.”
“Ella, you never had a chance,” Vivian said. “You went to bed after the news report and came straight here the next day.”
She was right, but I still felt horrible. “I need to call him. I’m being released today; that means I can use my phone now, right? I need to talk to him.”
“Wait!” Juliette said. “Watch the rest first.”
“I miss her like crazy,” Brian was saying. “Between Kaylee and my old management team, they turned Ella into a joke. People have been so cruel to her. They’ve said awful things. There are entire hate websites dedicated to her. There’ve been death threats.”
“Death threats!” I gasped.
“It’s okay, Ella,” my dad promised. “They were all unwarranted—just people ranting. Your identity was never leaked.”
“Ella’s blog was important to her and it was ruined. She hasn’t posted on it since that statement was issued. She’s also changed her phone number, e-mail address, and instant messenger screen name. She’s deleted her Facebook and Twitter accounts. She had to disappear.” He raked a hand through his hair and shifted in his seat as he murmured, “I’ve lost her again.”
The entire audience fell into silence.
“What do you mean, you’ve lost her again?” Kenneth asked.
Brian, now unable to sit still, reached for the infamous coffee mug that guests are always given on all those talk shows. The way he chugged it, I wondered if it was filled with whiskey.
“Just over a year ago, Ella was in a terrible car accident,” Brian explained. “I was actually instant messaging with her at the time of the accident—and no, she wasn’t driving. Never text and drive, people. We were talking, and she was there one minute and gone the next. At first I thought her phone died, but then she never contacted me again. She just…disappeared.”
My chest constricted as I watched Brian drift off into a memory and shudder. When he spoke again his voice was so soft, but it didn’t matter because the audience was silent. They were completely enraptured by his story. “I never knew what happened to her. I assumed she was dead.”
The audience murmured at this, and Kenneth finally rejoined the conversation. “You assumed? You never found out?”
Brian shook his head. “I had no idea who she was. I didn’t know her real name. I didn’t have any idea how to find her. It was almost ten months before I learned about the accident. She’d been in a coma and spent over eight months in the hospital recovering from her injuries.”
Brian waited out the gasps of the crowd before he continued. “When she wrote me that first e-mail, it was like she’d come back from the dead. I completely freaked out. I should have broken it off with Kaylee right then. I knew I would never care for Kaylee the way I felt about Ella, but I wasn’t sure how Ella felt about me. We’d never talked about meeting in person.
“Plus, there was the whole issue of my true identity. I didn’t know how to bring it up when she’d just been through such a horrible tragedy. She lost her mother in that accident and received permanent injuries and scars. I wasn’t sure she would want a relationship, especially not one that would be as complicated as dating a movie star. But when we came face to face that day at FantasyCon…”
Brian clenched his hand into a fist and pounded his chest as if he’d been shot through the heart. The audience swooned over the playful gesture. I swooned over the gesture.
“There are only two kinds of women in the world for me now, Kenneth: Ella and Not Ella. I’ll never be able to settle for anyone but her, and now I’ve lost her again.”
Another murmur swept the audience and Kenneth asked the obvious question. “What do you mean? Why have you lost her again?”
Brian reached for his mug again. The stupid thing had to be empty by now. He took a sip of the mystery drink and whispered, “She thinks I did it.” He cleared his voice and spoke up. “Why wouldn’t she? It was my management team who told that lie about her being a fan with a wish. My people who said I’d been working with a charity. My fiancée who confirmed it and said we were still together. Ella’s life was ruined, and she believes I did it to save my own reputation.”
My chest caved in on itself. I had thought that, but after hearing it come from his mouth, I realized how absurd it was. How big of a jerk I was for even thinking it. “You guys, I have to call him!”
“Shh!”
The shush came from everyone in the room.
“Couldn’t you just call her and explain?” Kenneth asked.
Brian sighed. “I was upset because had Ella rejected me. I’d shut off my phone and driven to Las Vegas because I needed to clear my head. It took me two days to realize what had happened, and by the time I found out, it was too late. She’d already disappeared.”
Kenneth digested this while Brian went for his mug again. This time when he brought it to his mouth it really was empty. He held it upside down and shook it as if that might make more coffee or water—or whatever was in it—appear. As he set it on the table, Kenneth yelled off screen for someone to bring Brian another one.
While Brian gulped his second cup, Kenneth brought them back on topic. “Can we go back a second,” he asked, “to the part where you said Ella rejected you?”
My heart started thumping so hard I wondered if everyone in the room could hear it. “It’s okay, Ella,” Vivian whispered. “I promise.”
“My fame was an issue for her,” Brian explained. “She was afraid people wouldn’t accept her because of her handicap and her scars. People have been so awful to her since her accident that she doesn’t believe she’s beautiful anymore. She didn’t realize that her scars make her even more beautiful to me. They show her strength.
“She’s been through so much, survived so much, lost so much, and yet when I asked her out she was worried about me. She didn’t think people would accept her. She was worried she would hurt my image—be bad for my career. She was afraid she’s not good enough for me, but really, it’s the other way around. I don’t deserve her. She’s the strongest, most amazing woman I’ve ever known.”
Rob’s hand found mine and squeezed. “I second that,” he muttered.
“Me too,” Vivian whispered.
Juliette nodded and smiled at me with glossy eyes.
My throat clamped up, and I’m not sure if it was because of Brian, or my friends, or both. Someone reached over my shoulder to hand me a tissue. It was Jennifer. She and my dad had been standing behind the couch with their arms wrapped around each other. They both smiled down at me with moist eyes.
“Wow,” Kenneth said after a moment. “You really weren’t kidding before. This is love with a capital L.”
Brian fidgeted as if he were trying very hard not to get up and start pacing. He sat forward on the very edge of the couch and shook his head firmly. “It’s more than love, Kenneth. I think she’s my soul mate.”
I was glad this comment sent the audience into a frenzy, because their shrieks and cheers covered most of my startled cry.
“I need her,” Brian said, “but I can’t find her. I still don’t know her last name. I don’t know where she lives. We were interrupted before we got that far.”
Vivian nudged me with her elbow and said, “Only because you skipped the introductions and went straight to the making out.”
“Vivian!” I gasped, and everyone laughed at me.
“Not that we blame you,” Juliette added with a dreamy sigh.
When I looked back at the screen, Brian was raking his fingers through his hair again. The guy looked like a nervous wreck. “She’s taken herself out of my life, and I can’t accept that. Ella belongs with me.”
Brian turned his attention from Kenneth and looked directly into the camera. I recognized the passion that filled him. He looked the same way he had at the convention center when he’d pleaded with me to give us a chance. “Ella, wherever you are, if you’re out there listening, I love you. You are my entire world. You’ve always said you thought Cinder was a coward for doing what the people expected of him instead of following his heart. Well, I’m not a coward. This Prince Cinder chooses his Ellamara. I choose you, Ella, and I’m not going to let you be a coward, either. I’m not going to let my fame scare you away. We’re Cinder and Ella, woman! We’re supposed to get our fairy-tale ending!”
The audience erupted into wild cheers.
As my mind raced and my heart began to beat erratically, Brian pulled something out of the inside pocket of his blazer. I couldn’t believe it when he held up the long white gloves I’d taken off for him that day. I hadn’t even realized I’d left them.
“These aren’t glass slippers,” Brian said, dangling the gloves in the air, “but if I have to try them on every girl in LA to find my princess, I will.”
The crowd went so crazy it took a very, very long time to settle them down. Kenneth even had to stand up and whistle loudly. Of course, once it was quiet enough, he was still laughing so hard it took a few more seconds before he regained his composure. “I think you have your first group of willing candidates right here,” he teased, gesturing to the audience, which made the women shriek again. “Shall I line them up for you?”
Brian smiled again and shook his head. “Hopefully it won’t come to that. I have a plan.”
Kenneth rubbed his hands together eagerly. “This sounds exciting.”
Brian took a deep breath. I instinctively took one with him and held it in my lungs as I waited to hear whatever crazy scheme Brian was going to attempt on my behalf. “I still need a date to the premiere of The Druid Prince,” he said, pausing to let his fans get the squealing out of their systems. “I want to go with Ella. This is our movie, our story. I took the role for her as much as I did for myself. The Druid Prince is the entire reason we met. It would be a crime to go see this movie with anyone other than her.”
Brian began to fidget again, but this time his restlessness was from excitement instead of stress. “Even if Ella won’t come with me I still need to find her, so I will accept anyone as my date that can tell me how to get in touch with her.”
“How can you do that?” Kenneth asked over the excited murmurs of the audience. “You’ll get a million people claiming they know her.”
Brian shook his head. “Ella left something at the café that night besides her gloves. Something very important to both of us. Something I gave her. I’m positive that anyone who knows what that gift is would know how to get in touch with Ella. Even if Ella doesn’t want to come herself—even if she doesn’t want to have anything to do with me ever again—I want to make sure she gets this gift back.”
“My book,” I whispered. My first-edition autographed copy of The Druid Prince. “I can’t believe I left my book.”
“I knew it was a book!” Juliette squealed. “What are the two details? I’ve been dying to know!”
“Details?” I asked, confused.
Vivian shushed us. “Shut up, Juliette. She’ll tell us in a minute. Let her watch.”
Brian pulled something else out of his pocket and held it toward the camera. “This is a ticket for the seat next to mine at the premiere of The Druid Prince. I’m going to leave it with the reception desk at the studio’s main office for the first person that can tell me exactly what item Ella left behind the night we met. You have to be specific. You need to know two very important details in order to receive this ticket.”
He sent a pointed gaze at the camera again, and I knew that the look was for me even before he spoke. “Or you could stop being stubborn and call me, woman. My e-mail, IM, and phone number are still the same as they’ve always been.” One side of his mouth curved up into an infuriating, irresistible smirk. “Forgive me, Ellamara, oh wise, mystic priestess of the Realm, and let me give you the ending you’ve always wanted.”
The audience lost it again and the show cut to commercial. That must have been the end of the interview—or at least the exciting part of it—because Dr. Parish clicked off the TV and suddenly it was over.
The room fell into silence as everyone waited for my reaction, but I couldn’t give them one. I needed time to convince myself that it wasn’t a dream. He hadn’t lied. He said my scars made me even more beautiful. He called me his soul mate!
My heart was bursting.
“You’re going to that premiere!” Juliette demanded, mistaking my silence for hesitancy.
Before I could get a single word out, everyone in the room chimed in their encouragement. Even Dr. Parish nodded. She pointed at the dark TV where Brian had just publicly confessed his love to me. “That man will cherish you and love you. He’ll do more for your self-esteem than I ever could.” She sighed then, very uncharacteristically, and said, “Besides, he’s too gorgeous to refuse.”
I was shocked. That was the most unprofessional thing I’d ever heard Dr. Parish say. “Ha!” she squealed suddenly, pointing at me. “A smile! I finally made her smile!”
The rest of my rehab team burst into laughter. “I don’t know if it counts,” Daniel teased her. “I think it was the thought of Brian Oliver that made her smile, not you.”
Now I wasn’t smiling; I was blushing again.
“You’re going to go, right?” Vivian asked.
Of course I was going to go. I was terrified of sharing his fame, but he was right—running from it would make me a coward. After what he did on that show in front of the whole world for me—and as many times as I had called Cinder a coward—I had to date Brian if for no other reason than he would never let me live it down otherwise. He’d never let me win another argument ever again, and that was so not happening.
“When did that air? It’s almost Christmas. Did I miss it?”
“It aired two weeks ago. The premiere is in three days.”
“Two weeks?” I asked, horrified. “He did that two weeks ago and thinks I’ve just ignored him all this time? He must hate me!”
Juliette rolled her eyes. “That man could never hate you and you know it. Here.” She handed me my phone. Brian’s number was already up on the screen.
When she started to hit the CALL button, I shrieked and snatched it from her. “No, don’t!”
Everyone looked startled. Juliette and Vivian exchanged a glance and then Juliette’s expression became desperate. “But Ella, you have to go with him!”
“Oh, I’m definitely going.” I laughed. “But it will be so much more fun to surprise him at the premiere, don’t you think?”
“That’s cruel,” Rob said.
“No, that’s dramatic. Brian’s an actor. He lives for drama.”
“It’s definitely more romantic,” Juliette agreed. “So what are the two things?”
“It was a first-edition hardback of The Druid Prince, and it was signed to me by the author.”
“Aww, that’s so sweet.” Juliette giggled. “Geeky, but sweet. And perfect. We can send Dad to go pick up the ticket tomorrow while we go shopping for a dress.”
Stefan cried out in horror. “Shop for a dress? Ellamara, don’t you dare!”
“Ooh! Ooh! Yeah!” Vivian leapt off the couch and started bouncing up and down. “Let my dads make your dress!”
If I weren’t handicapped, I would have joined Vivian in her giddy dancing at the thought of having another dress made by her dads. I loved my Ellamara costume, but I thrilled at the thought of seeing what they would come up with having me in mind.
I glanced at Stefan and Glen hopefully. “Do you think you would have time?”
Stefan and Glen looked offended by the question, but before they could answer, Jennifer said, “They don’t need time.” When she gained the entire room’s attention, she smiled at me and said, “You already have the perfect dress.”
There was only one dress she could possibly mean, but surely she wasn’t talking about my mother’s dress.
“It looks beautiful on you,” she said, knowing I understood her. “And on a night that’s so important to you, what would be more appropriate than to wear something that belonged to your mother?”
I wasn’t surprised by the way Juliette and my father nodded their approval, but I didn’t understand why Jennifer would suggest it. “You want me to wear my mother’s dress? In front of hundreds of people, and TV cameras?” I asked. “It’s revealing, remember? People would see my scars.”
Jennifer’s smile turned pained. “Ella, I’ve never been embarrassed of you. I’m sorry that you misunderstood my concern. I’ve only ever been worried about your feelings. I know how cruel people are. I’m a model. I’ve been to hundreds of auditions where I was criticized for my imperfections—my thighs and butt weren’t firm enough, my nose was too big, my boobs were too small, eyes too far apart, I needed to lose a few more pounds…there was always something.”
The world was truly unjust if Jennifer didn’t look good enough for it. She had to be the most gorgeous woman I’d ever seen. I couldn’t imagine people criticizing her for the way she looked. I couldn’t see a single flaw.
“When I first started out, it was hard not to take every single comment to heart. I obsessed about everything everyone said about me. I got depressed. I developed an eating disorder. I self-destructed because I was insecure about my looks.”
Her eyes misted over. “I just didn’t want you to feel that way. I didn’t want people to be cruel to you. You were dealing with so much already, losing your mom and having to adjust to a new family. I didn’t want you to be hurt if people stared or said mean things. I was trying to protect you. I’m sorry I hurt your feelings.”
“It’s all right.” I looked her over again and wondered if she looked any different now than she had when she first started modeling. Obviously the “boobs too small” comment had driven her to the unnaturally perfect chest she had now, but I wondered how much else she’d changed. I didn’t think it was much. “You still model,” I said, “but you’re perfectly confident now.”
“People still criticize me sometimes, but I don’t need to listen anymore.” Jennifer smiled at my dad with more love and sincerity than I’d ever seen anyone accomplish. “Your father makes me feel beautiful, and that’s enough.” She turned her smile back to me. “Maybe Brian Oliver will be the one who does that for you.”
What Jennifer said made sense. I thought back to the night Brian and I met, how he stole my breath away when he kissed my scarred knuckles. He’d told me I was beautiful then, and I’d believed him.
“If he makes you smile like that,” Rob said suddenly, “then he’s worthy of you.”
I hadn’t realized I was smiling, but my cheeks heated again under everyone’s stares.
“Okay, fine,” Vivian said. “Since I can’t help with the dress, then at least let me do your hair.”
“And I’ll take you for a manicure,” Juliette offered. “If you aren’t comfortable going to a salon, I’ll give you one myself. I’m pretty handy with a bottle of nail polish.”