Her birds, her little friends who often helped her with her chores, now sat around her on the ground, perfectly still, their little heads revolving to the side as if they were waiting for her to talk.

"I'm sorry. I'm sad..." she apologized, finally wiping her tears away. 

When they all nodded in unison, as if they were waiting for her to explain, she added, "I wish I could go to the ball with them."

One of the birds chirped loudly and took flight then, and a few others followed him. Soon they were back, carrying the most beautiful gown Cinderella had ever seen. The uncountable layers of the gossamer fabric it was made of looked like the mist rising from the meadows and fields just after sunrise, tainted by the first hues of a new day. And there were shoes, and a short veil too...

"Is it for me?" The stunned girl asked, and as the birds chirped again, their tiny wings pointing towards the hole in the tree's trunk, urging her to go in and get changed, she did not hesitate.

"Thank you!" She told them once she was ready, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of the tall, white horse they led here for her from her father's stables.

Then she was off, riding as fast as the wind towards the distant castle.

The following day she had to cover her radiant smile every time someone in the house, maids, her sisters or her stepmother, mentioned the beautiful, mysterious stranger their prince danced with the whole evening, before she disappeared at the stroke of midnight.

It didn't take long for Heathcliff to realise that it was not Cathy whom he really loved, once he took his distance from Wuthering Heights.

Cinderella was the one to whom his thoughts kept returning. He wished to go back, to tell her how he felt, but he couldn't. His pride would not permit him, if she accepted him of course, to take her away from that rich house she lived in, and make her a beggar's wife. 

But now, three years later, he finally had enough money to offer her, if not rich, then at least a comfortable life. His feelings for the girl grew over the time, strengthened with their separation, and today, as he started on his way back, he hoped... he hoped that she at least would not laugh at him when he proposed to her. He had been such a fool before...

On the night of the second ball Cinderella was given a new dress-- yellow and golden like a summer day at noon.

The horse was ready for her when she walked out of the tree and she reached the castle in no time.

"So we meet again, my beautiful lady." The prince stood in front of her the moment she entered the vast hall, filled with wonderful music and richly dressed dancing couples, as if he had been waiting for her by the door.

She curtsied, smiling at him shily through her veil, allowing him to lead her to the middle of the dance floor. 

Her feet hurt as she went around her chores the following day but she was happy... nearly like she had been in the times when she used to meet with Heathcliff. Her heart ached at the thought of him, making her realise that she would never feel exactly like she used to feel in his presence with anyone else. She shrugged the thought off, convinced that he must have forgotten her a long time ago.

The week flew by in expectations, and worries about the last ball. When the evening finally arrived, Cinderella was considering not to go. This was the night when the prince was supposed to choose his bride and she was anxious... she didn't want to... she knew that if he asked her...

No. She didn't know what she would do if... 

Cinderella liked him, the prince was a charming young man, but... Would this feeling she held for him, which was not all that her heart was capable of, as she well knew, suffice to keep them both happy, forever?

"I... should not go tonight." She told her birds. But they were already laying a new dress at her feet, a beautiful creation made of all hues of sunset, streaked with gold and midnight blue, the colour of Heathcliff's hair under the moonlight.

The gown was simply wonderful... She sighed, unable to resist.

"All right, this is the last one anyway..." she whispered, mounting the impatient horse a while later.

When Heathcliff reached their tree, not even thinking of paying a visit to Wuthering Heights first, he found it transformed. He smiled at seeing how Cinderella furnished the hollow trunk during his absence.

There were dishes, books, and blankets on the floor in the part she used as her bedroom. And her clothes, several threadbare dresses and two beautiful gowns...

Did he come back too late...? His breath hitched at the thought. His Cinderella had been a charming girl three years ago, she must be a beautiful young woman now... Has she... met someone else in the meantime?

He started when he heard a horse neighing outside.

Heathcliff walked out into the night filling the world on Cinderella's side of the tree. All was dark and quiet around him, except for the horse and the magnificent castle perched on the distant hilltop. Every single window of that building was illuminated and he imagined hearing faint tones of music, carried to his ears by a gentle breeze.

He did not hesitate. Shedding his bag and the travelling coat, he mounted the horse and took off, flying faster than the breeze towards the castle.

On reaching a sweeping, white marble staircase he dismounted, hesitating.

What now? They would never let him in, dressed as he was, dusty and dishevelled from his long journey. And was she even here? Something was telling him that she was, and he should not leave her here alone...

He sat on one of the wide steps, burying his face in the palms of his hands.

"Will you tell me your name tonight?" The prince asked Cinderella the umpteenth time. 

"But I have already told you, Your Majesty. My name is Cinderella." The young woman said, adjusting the short veil she wore every time she came to the ball, as she did not want anyone to recognize her.

"But that's not a real name..." the prince sighed sadly, realising that this beautiful creature simply did not like him enough to tell him the truth. 

He meant to propose to her tonight, but all of a sudden he knew that she would not accept him.

"I... should go home, Your Majesty." She said, perceiving the change in his mood and not liking it. She stopped in the middle of the dance, making everybody stare at them.

"Will you at least show me your face?" He asked after a few moments of silence that descended between them, like that midnight blue veil of hers.

She shook her head as she took a few steps away from him, then bolted from the room.

Cinderella was already outside, flying like a startled bird down the large staircase, when the prince finally found his way through the dancing couples, losing all trace of her momentarily.

She gasped as a sharp pain shot through her ankle-- when she turned around to see if she was being followed, she stumbled and lost her shoe, hurting her foot. Cinderella would have fallen if a dark shadow would not separate itself from the rest of those shrouding the staircase, steadying her in his arms.

There was no need to ask, her heart told her who this tall, strong man was long before her mind would believe it.

"Heathcliff," she whispered, letting him scoop her in his arms and lift her on his horse. 

He sat behind her, urging the horse into a wild gallop the exact moment when the first confused servants sent by the royal couple and their son in her pursuit, appeared on top of the stairs.

"You saved me," she said as they dismounted by their hazelnut tree. 

"I did not save your shoe." He smiled at her, his hands at her hips as he helped her off the horse.

They let the animal run free and hid inside the tree's trunk even as the first lights went on in the house at the bottom of the garden.

"What will happen now?" Heathcliff pulled her closer into him, wrapping his arms around her, his heart soaring when she did not protest.

"Now... " she said shakily, leaning into him, "he will most likely marry one of my stepsisters."

"What about us...?"

"You tell me, Heathcliff." She said, looking up at him. "Why did you come back?"

"I love you, Cinderella. I have always loved you, I was just... blind... and foolish..."

She laced her fingers through his midnight blue hair and pulled him down for a long kiss.

"I love you, too." She whispered as they pulled away for breath.

When they woke up at sunrise, they found a new crack in the tree's trunk. 

They walked through it, hand in hand, without hesitation, hoping that beyond they would find a place where their past would not cast shadows over their future. A place where they could start from the beginning and hopefully find their happily ever after.