“You look like Cinderella,” thirteen-year-old Jenny Morgan breathed as she stared at her older sister in the mirror.

“You’re right,” Cynthia Morgan said with a laugh. “All I need now are the mice!” She spread out the full skirt of the rented aqua-colored ball gown and gently swayed back and forth. “A handsome prince would be nice, too.”

“You’ll find him,” Jenny said confidently. “He’ll take one look at you and fall madly in love.”

“A girl can hope.”

But Cynthia wasn’t expecting much in the way of handsome princes at the Grand Springs Charity Masquerade Halloween Ball. For one thing, Grand Springs, Colorado, wasn’t a hangout for the handsome prince set. For another thing, she wasn’t princess material. Tonight, in her rented ball gown, with her hair pulled up and wearing more makeup than usual, highlighting her pleasant if not spectacular features, she looked pretty good. But the charity event attracted Grand Springs social elite and “pretty good” was not going to put her in the running for anyone very special. Certainly not for Jonathan Steele, a living breathing Prince Charming if there ever was one.

“Let me look.”

Cynthia turned at the sound of her mother’s voice and smiled as Betsy Morgan’s face softened into an expression of maternal pride.

“You’re a vision,” Betsy announced.

“I said she looked like Cinderella.”

“You know what?” Cynthia asked as she leaned forward and kissed her mother’s cheek. “I think I’m the luckiest person in world because I have a wonderful, supportive family and I get to go to a swishy ball tonight at the Grand Springs Empress Hotel. I promise I’ll memorize details and tell you both everything in the morning.”