Poof. Gone.

She stood in the threshold of the door crying, no, sobbing uncontrollably. I'd never seen her like that, this woman with so much self control and strong resolve. "Please, don't go! Please don't do this!" she cried through the sobs, but it was too late. Prince Charming had come to rescue Mother; they got married and now we had to go back to the enchanted forest from whence he came. There was no turning back. How could she possibly think we could alter Mother's fairy tale destiny?

It was a cold November night, just days after Mother's wedding, and we were in a borrowed truck picking up the last of our belongings from a place that just the day before we had called home. With the last of our things now in the bed of the truck, it was time to put the gear in reverse and back out of Hazel's life forever. Inside the cab was a new family now: Prince Charming, Mother, Judy and me. As we slowly backed out of the drive, I watched with no emotion as the woman who had welded absolute control over my mother, Judy and me for seven years, the step-parent who I believed hated me, the person I feared the most in life crumbled down into a pile right in front of me. The power she had over us had evaporated into thin air. Poof. Gone. Just like that, her reign was over.

You know the rest of the story. I've told it a half dozen times in my blog and books, so I won't tell you again how Prince Charming met Mother in church and fell in love with her instantly. They married within a year, combined his and hers, moved to a new ranch-style home in the suburbs where they lived happily ever after, and I got my very own bedroom.

That is the story I told you, isn't it? They met in church, fell in love, got married, combined his and hers, moved to the suburbs, I got my own bedroom. Yep, that's what happened alright. I didn't want to leave anything out.