The Other Side of the Slipper

On a crisp cold Autumn morning, as the wind howled through the shutters of their home, Drizella and Anna sat by the fire. Both grasping a cup of hot tea and thinking about how they were going to come clean to their step sister, Cinderella, whom they called Ella. 

Their dresses were plain, a far cry from the night of the ball, when their dresses sparkled as loudly as the jewels around their necks and the bracelets on their wrists.  Their faces were filled with regret and sadness. They knew that tonight was the night. Anna picked up her cell phone and texted their step sister, Cinderella, and asked her to come over because they had something to say to her. It was urgent. 

They waited for a response. The few seconds in between texts seemed like hours as they both stared at the screen and read the one word response, “Okay.” 

“It really wasn’t about hating her, " Drizella began. “It was more about jealousy, but not the kind people think. She needs to know that.” 

Anna nodded, clutching her now lukewarm tea cup. 

“You’re right.” Anna said.

A knock on the door let them know that the time had come. They both took a deep breath before Anna walked over to the tall wooden door and slowly opened it to find their step sister, Ella, standing on the other side. Ella was dressed in a long brown coat with a matching scarf tied around her neck and a blue knitted scarf barely covering her long brown curls. 

“Come in.” Anna said in a mumble barely loud enough for Ella to hear. 

“Alright, I am here.” Ella said as she took off her coat and placed it on the chair beside her. She took off her hat and placed it on top of her coat and sat down beside her coat and hat. 

Anna moved closer to the dwindling fire in the fireplace and clutched her tea cup. She didn’t know how to begin the conversation. She looked at her sister Drizella and nodded her head. 

Drizella's voice trembled. “We didn’t hate you. It wasn’t about that. We weren’t hating you because you were so beautiful and kind and we weren’t jealous over that. It was deeper than that. It’s not what you and everyone else thought.” 

Anna nodded in agreement. 

“First we have to tell you about our mother. See, Ella, we were not rich and after our father died we had a different life. Mother had to work two jobs, one of them was scrubbing floors for the rich people and one of them was working in the bookstore part time. She loved working in the bookstore. And mother used to love working in her vegetable garden. When we could not afford meat for dinner we would go in the garden and pick the carrots, tomatoes, lettuce and onions and make a salad and that was dinner. We didn’t have a lot of material things but we had a lot of love for each other. One day Mom came in from the garden covered in dirt  and smiling. She had a gentle smile on her face. She had some good news for us. We all sat down on the small green couch and Mom sat across from us. She told us that she met a gentleman, your dad, Ella. Mother told us she was in love and that she was going to marry this man and she wanted us to meet him. We didn’t know that he also had a daughter, you. Not only was she bringing another man into our family but she was also bringing you, another daughter into the family. We thought that she was trying to replace our dad and replace us. We were devastated.” Drizella said. 

“When Mom married your dad and we all lived together you got most of the attention from your dad and then from our mom. So, instead of us begging for scraps of food, as we sometimes had to do, we were now begging for attention from our mom and your dad. “ Anna said.

Cinderella’s eyes filled with tears as she listened to her step sister. She never knew that they felt that way. 

Anna nodded her head. “When Father died we thought that we lost everything. We lost not only our dad but we lost our rock of the family. Father loved us fiercely and we loved him more. We were lost. Right after he died Mother said that we had to take charge of our lives and then when you and your dad came along we knew that we had to try to keep you in your place. We would have to let you know that we were number one still. We let our own insecurities take over. We went too far. We stumbled and we made bad choices.” Anna said.

Anna’s voice cracked. “It wasn’t your fault, Ella, you didn’t deserve all the chores, the isolation and all of the cruelty that we imposed on you. But, we didn’t know how to stop. And then when the Crystal Ball happened and the prince came along. He was handsome and kind.” 

Anna’s face turned pale before she continued. “We both thought we had a chance to win him over and he would surely choose one of us for his wife. After one of us married him we would feel worthy again in our mother's eyes and then we would get the love that we thought we lost when she married your father.  But, even though we wore our finest dresses and jewels the prince didn’t even notice us. He didn’t even look at us. Nobody did. They all turned to look at you, stunning girl who had captivated everyone and the prince.” 

Tears were streaming down the cheeks of all of the girls now. 

“Ella, can you forgive us? We could not keep the truth from you any longer. We know that you thought, along with everyone else, that we were the villains and yes we were the villains in this story and we are so sorry. We never met to hurt you. Please believe us. We were hoping that now that you know our side of the story that we can become real sisters. We want to be there for you and want you to be there for us. We want to start over. Ella, can you start over with us?” 

Anna asked.

Cinderella stood up from her chair, tears still streaming down her face. She didn’t say a word. She opened up her arms and embraced her sisters in a tight bear hug.