Cinderella's Guardian Read Free

dialing Dale's number. A number she'd pinched from Gloria's phone many years ago but never had the courage to use. He picked up on the third ring. "Hey, Dale here. Who's this?"
    "Hi Dale, it's Robyn. Robyn Taylor, we went to school together. Don't know if you remember me or not?"
    "Sure I remember you. What can I do for you?"
    "Well, it's more what I can do for you. I heard about your daughter's unfortunate accident and wanted to offer my services in caring for Tina."
    "Oh, um, great. That would be a big help. Do you have experience with this kind of thing?"
    "Nothing professional, but I used to help with my cousin. He's been in a chair his whole life."
    She didn't tell him that all she did was bitch and moan to her mother that they had to look after the brat every time her aunt had needed a break.
    "Ah, okay. Well, I'm guessing Tina won't need a lot of help anyway. I'm not going to be able to stay off the rigs for very long unfortunately, so she'll need help with her rehab stuff and maybe a little with getting around. That type of thing, do you think you'll be right with that?"
    "I'm sure Tina and I will get along just fine."
    "Yeah, sure. Look, I'm under the pump at the moment and need to get moving. I'm not sure when I'll need you to start. Can I get back to you once I return with Tina?"
    "Sure, Dale, take your time. There's no rush. I'll text through my contact details and wait for you to call me."
    "Great, thanks Robyn. We'll talk soon. Bye."
    "See-ya, Dale."
    Robyn hit the end-call button on her phone as a big grin spread across her face and butterflies took flight in her belly. Finally, Dale had noticed her and she would never be stuck in Gloria's shadow ever again.
    All she had to do was keep his daughter reliant on her.

Chapter One
    1 September 2012
    The hollowness Tina felt in her chest seemed to be increasing each day, the depression sucking her further down into a deep dark pit of despair. Two weeks ago, on the two-month anniversary of her accident, her nightmares had started getting worse. They were now plaguing her sleep every night. When she closed her eyes, all she saw was either the last moments of her routine and felt the pain as her leg broke, or she relived watching her mother walk out of her hospital room and her life. She wasn't sure which hurt more, never being able to do gymnastics again or her mother proving how much she didn't love her.
    Tina rubbed her thigh as she recalled the feel of it cracking against the beam. The remembered agony momentarily stole her breath. The doctors had confirmed she'd basically shattered her femur and cracked her pelvis, and that the injury was severe enough to have her living in a wheelchair, for a while at least. They'd said once the bones healed and with time and rehab she should get back the full use of her leg. She would always limp though, and never have the range of movement in her hip she'd had prior to the accident. Thanks to all her years of gymnastics, she had great flexibility. Just not in her pelvis anymore.
    Every morning when she woke she would put all her energy into moving her leg, but on her own she couldn't do much. It didn't help she'd only been shown the exercises a couple of times and struggled to recall precisely how she should do them. Robyn was supposed to be helping her with them but she never did. Her Dad might pay her to be Tina's "caretaker" but she was pretty lousy at it. Robyn was also a real mean bitch when she wanted to be, so Tina tried to stay on her good side. After all, without Robyn, Tina would be housebound.
    She tipped her head back to stare at the ceiling.
    "How the hell did I end up here?"
    Her life wasn't her own and there wasn't anything much she could do about it. Confined to a wheelchair, she was unable to do so many everyday things for herself, stuck with a harsh evil bitch who she was forced to rely on.
    Her father had taken leave from his engineering job on the oil rig out in Bass Strait when she had her accident. One