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The day Ella turns sixteen is uneventful.
All the stories she's heard place particular significance on the age of sixteen; it's when your curse begins, or you set off on your adventure, or you meet your true love who is enchanted or royalty or sometimes both. But the only thing that's different on her sixteenth birthday is Gabrielle actually wishing her a happy birthday (Madame and Charlotte ignore her, but she's mostly used to it), and she goes to the village to find Marie and Jean-Michel have scraped enough money between them to buy her a package of iris seeds, which she plants that evening.
There is no fairy sweeping in, no spell she has to break. Other than the kindness of her friends, there's nothing special. She's a little disappointed, but she consoles herself by remembering she still has a few more years for something to happen.
A few days before she turns eighteen, Prince Topher returns from school, and the village throws a week-long celebration to welcome him home. He's been gone so long no one can remember what he looks like, but that doesn't stop the villagers from decorating the streets with flags and garlands, and closing every shop on the day of his arrival.
When Ella is able to go to the festivities— after she's finished all of Madame's demands— she has to admit it turns out to be a rather fine birthday. True, there's no dragon to fight, but there's a lavish firework display in the evening, and some of the shops are giving out free food samples, so for the first time in a long while, she goes to bed with a full stomach.
There's nothing fantastical, but she still can't help but wait.
The day she turns twenty-one, she starts to worry. Twenty-one (as far as she knows) has never been important in stories. Is she too old? Is she destined to be a fairy godmother, or a witch?
But she doesn't have much to think about it, because all across the village the rent is climbing, and more and more of her friends are now homeless. She does what she can at the soup kitchens and bread lines, but Madame has decided in this time of great need to display her slowly dwindling wealth, which means more work for Ella.
When she has time, she ponders.
She's twenty-four when things start to change.
By this point, she's given up on a miracle. The villagers are quietly talking about revolting against the prince, and Madame has spent so much money they don't have enough for the rent, and they, too, may soon be evicted. Ella has no idea if her stepfamily could survive without the comforts of wealth.
A ball is thrown, amidst the murmuring unrest. It may just be for the nobility, but it still distracts the villagers from their troubles. She wonders if it's the wisest move the prince could make, instead of paying attention to the people's wishes; but no one's asking her.
When she has all but forgotten about her long-awaited miracle, it happens: Marie reveals herself to be Ella's fairy godmother. She gives Ella an invitation to the ball, along with a beautiful dress (which is quite comfortable) and shoes of glass (which are not). Ella rides off in a pumpkin carriage and lies her way into the palace, and lies further to the other guests. It's hardest to lie to Prince Topher, but he probably doesn't recognize her because of the glamour or remember their first meeting. She almost wishes he would.
One hectic carriage ride later, she's back home and all that remains of the lovely, wonderful night are the shoes. She spends time in the forest, trying to reconnect herself with reality; the ball was wonderful— Prince Topher was wonderful— but it wasn't meant to last. Good things never did.
It doesn't help that all anyone's talking about is the mysterious princess who disappeared in a twirl of clouds and glass, taking the prince's heart with her. The first time Ella hears this, she runs back to the forest and hides. That wasn't supposed to happen; she went to the ball, she wasn't supposed to gain someone's love in the process.
The prince orders for rent to increase so severely that roughly half the village is now homeless. She finds it hard to believe that, Prince Topher, this kind, thoughtful man, would order such a thing. He seem willing enough to listen to her at the ball, so what changed? But she'd only met him twice, after all; she knew nothing of his true nature.
If he wasn't going to listen to the common people, then maybe he'd listen to a princess. She's all set to head to the banquet when Gabrielle is kicked out of the house and Ella is sitting amidst the tatters of a dress with a bruise on her cheek. She's reached her breaking point and is crying on Marie's shoulder: "Every time I take a step forward, Madame pushes me back."
"Ella," Marie says gently, "if you have a dream, then very soon thereafter you're going to have to fight for it. How else would you know the dream is yours?"
"But my life is–"
"Exactly. It is your life."
So, although the hem of her new dress is dusty and her feet start to ache on the way, the walk to the palace does her good: she's able to realize there's nothing keeping her with her stepfamily. After the banquet she'll ask Jean-Michel if she can stay with him until she finds a job and another place to stay. There is a spring in her step as she approaches the palace.
As she talks with Prince Topher, she is relieved to learn her first impression was correct; he is a good leader, he's just been stifled and controlled (a little like herself, to be honest). Jean-Michel and Gabrielle lead a group of villagers to the palace, and the outcome is better than she ever dreamed. Then she's once again alone with Prince Topher, and... he's developed feelings for her. Her. It does hurt a little that it's for this polished version of herself; if she ever gets up the courage to tell him who she really is, would his feelings change?
Even so, she's dancing in the streets as she leaves. She never has to see Madame again, the severity of the rent is going to be lessened, Jean-Michel may be the new Lord Chancellor, and Topher is in love with her. Even walking barefoot in the rain can't dampen her spirits.
But when it's announced that Topher is trying to find her through the slipper she left, she almost doesn't go. It all seems too good to be true: she, a peasant, marry a prince and help rule a kingdom? Topher would never love her if he knew how she was. "Maybe you're not giving him enough credit," Marie says, and she, Jean-Michel, and Gabrielle drag Ella to the palace.
The slipper fits, of course, but what's even more amazing is that Topher doesn't turn her away once he sees her ragged clothes and hears her story— he stays right by her side and asks her to marry him.
And now she's getting ready for her own wedding, and then her coronation. The court shoe cobbler asks if she could like a replica of her glass slippers, but in the end she declines. The slippers represent something otherworldly and wonderful, but she'll never have that again, and she doesn't want to. She's been blessed with real, tangible things and experiences, and she wouldn't trade them for the world.
She may be older than the stories dictate, but her life isn't dictated by a story, anyway.