Enchanted - The Dressing Room Affair: Entwined Together Forever Trilogy, #1

By Sierra Hunter

Enchanted - The Dressing Room Affair

10 Times Amazon Best Selling Author

Book 1 of a 3 part  Entwined Together Forever Trilogy Series
Sierra Hunter, will transport readers into the historical romance of the past while transcending that magic through time into the 20th century as she unravels the story of two people who are entwined together forever.

Enchanted - Dressing Room Affair #1 
In this first book of the trilogy, readers will learn the mystical magic of Bella Walsh’s enchanted heirlooms and their ability for those who own them to traverse through time.

Readers will also discover the truth behind the mysterious dressing room and the ruggedly handsome 19th Century author, Lord Reid Walsh, whose book holds the key to Katie finding her missing mother alive.

Introduction 
After ten happy years of marriage, Isabelle lost the love of her life, Scotsman Heath Mackenzie, to pneumonia. He passed away a year after Katie was born. Isabelle, widowed and struggling to bring up their beautiful child alone, now manages the costume store.

These days, Katie spends most of her time playing dress-up with the merchandise while Isabelle does her best to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table. Isabelle wants to give Katie a good life – the life both her and her husband wanted for her before he got sick. She is still determined to make that happen.

The store, fashioned with tiny glass windows in the brick walls, is not a very big shop, but it is rich with character. There is a straw welcome mat outside and a modest collection of wind chimes hanging from the awning out front. A silver bell is tacked to the door to announce the arrival of customers. The floor boards, cleaned weekly with lemon oil, groan under their feet. The clusters of garments are arranged by country and century, painting the shop with their vibrant colors. 
It’s a bit cramped, but cozy all the same.

Isabelle never remarried after Heath’s death. Whenever Katie broaches the subject, Isabelle simply says, “Don’t you worry. I’m not lonely, Katie. I have everything I need right here in the shop.” Then she kisses her forehead, smiles, and resumes her tasks.

There is only one strange something about the quaint little costume shop. There is a dressing room at the back of the store that Katie can’t open. It has been locked for as long as she can recall.

“Don’t worry about it, Katie sweetie,” Isabelle says when Katie inquires. “That’s just an old storage room filled with junk. Besides, I’ve lost the key. Just leave it be.” Thus, the room becomes a prime subject for the girl’s imaginings.

Unbeknownst to Katie, Isabelle was in the midst of a passionate love affair with another man in Katie’s late teenage years. Katie had been at a delicate stage in her life then. Bringing a new man into it had seemed like a terrible idea. At the time, she felt she should keep it a secret. What Katie did not know could never hurt her.

He would come to visit Isabelle late at night after Katie had gone to sleep. He would stay until dawn and slip out before Katie woke up.

Isabelle remembered the first time she laid eyes on her lover. Katie was staying over at Chloe’s house that evening. Isabelle was unpacking boxes at the back of the store when she heard the shuffle of footsteps behind her. When she turned to see who it was, shock stopped her short. Standing near the door of the dressing room was the most exquisitely handsome man she had ever laid eyes on. 
Read on and see what happens in the Dressing Room Affair.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sierra Hunter
• Release date: Sep 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781513073330

Book preview

Prologue

~*~

Westport Ireland - a friendly Irish community where Isabelle Mackenzie has lived for many years. Its beauty is evident in the rolling green hills, rocky shores, glassy rivers, spacious marshlands, old castles, crisp weather, and placid shores. It’s the place where she grew up, fell in love, married, and gave birth to her only child, Katie. She owns an apartment on the outskirts of town, overlooking the breathtaking Carrowbeg River. Directly below the apartment is her late husband’s Antique Theatre Fancy-Dress Shop named ‘Enchanted Forest Fancy Dress’.

After ten happy years of marriage, Isabelle lost the love of her life, Scotsman Heath Mackenzie, to pneumonia. He passed away a year after Katie was born. Isabelle, widowed and struggling to bring up their beautiful child alone, now manages the costume store.

These days, Katie spends most of her time playing dress-up with the merchandise while Isabelle does her best to keep a roof over their heads and food on their table. Isabelle wants to give Katie a good life – the life both her and her husband wanted for her before he got sick. She is still determined to make that happen.

The store, fashioned with tiny glass windows in the brick walls, is not a very big shop, but it is rich with character. There is a straw welcome mat outside and a modest collection of wind chimes hanging from the awning out front. A silver bell is tacked to the door to announce the arrival of customers. The floor boards, cleaned weekly with lemon oil, groan under their feet. The clusters of garments are arranged by country and century, painting the shop with their vibrant colors.

It’s a bit cramped, but cozy all the same.

Little Katie and her best friend Chloe spend hours playing dress-up in the shop, pretending they are visiting faraway countries, mystical fairylands, and exotic places. They spend their weekends hunting for new costumes to wear in the dusty trunks and stock rooms. They spend their school days passing notes in class packed with harebrained ideas. Together, they create stories about where each costume originated.

There are kimonos from Japan, ball gowns from England, luscious fur coats from Russia, and handmade ponchos from South America. Sometimes, they even pretend to be the characters in their stories, visiting magical places and trying to find their true loves.

Isabelle never remarried after Heath’s death. Whenever Katie broaches the subject, Isabelle simply says, Don’t you worry. I’m not lonely, Katie. I have everything I need right here in the shop. Then she kisses her forehead, smiles, and resumes her tasks.

There is only one strange something about the quaint little costume shop. There is a dressing room at the back of the store that Katie can’t open. It has been locked for as long as she can recall.

Don’t worry about it, Katie sweetie, Isabelle says when Katie inquires. That’s just an old storage room filled with junk. Besides, I’ve lost the key. Just leave it be. Thus, the room becomes a prime subject for the girl’s imaginings.

Chloe and Katie love to make up fairy tales about a handsome prince that lives in the forbidden dressing room. They fantasize that he will come to save them from their monotonous lives at Westport Elementary School one day. They would dress up as princesses and prance in front of the shop’s fitting mirror, waiting for the prince to burst through the door and sweep them off their feet. Isabelle would laugh at their foolery, but always make sure they did not venture too close to the dressing room. Katie thinks this is strange, but assumes that her mother probably has mementoes of her father stowed away inside. Understandably, she would not want them disturbed.

Katie decides to leave the mystery alone for her mother’s sake.

The girls stop dreaming of princes locked away in the mysterious room and dress for other fantasies.

~*~

Chapter 1: Katie’s Worst Nightmare

~*~

Katie, sixteen, was helping her mother in the shop one afternoon. She hung up the phone.

Kate, can you run these to the stock room? Isabelle asked.

Sure, Katie called back without looking, penciling a fitting in for later that afternoon.

All of a sudden, Katie heard a thud at the back of the store. Katie wheeled around and raced past the counter to find her mother slumped over on the floor. She immediately tried to revive her, but her mother was not responding. With her vision swimming with tears, Katie quickly grabbed the phone and called an ambulance while her mother lay motionless on the floor.

The ambulance pulled up within moments, but it felt like an eternity of waiting. Panicked and trembling, Katie watched the paramedics wheel her mother into the car. Katie locked up the store and rushed to the hospital to be by her mother’s side. When she arrived, the doctors had already put her into emergency surgery. A soft spoken nurse told Katie to wait outside while they ran more tests. Katie phoned Chloe to tell her what had happened, trying to keep her voice intelligible.

Chloe hurried to the hospital to be by her best friend’s side.

It seemed like they were there for hours, but about thirty minutes later the doctor called Katie into his office. The girls, who had been clutching each other’s hands in the waiting room chairs, exchanged worried glances. Katie found her feet dazedly and joined the doctor.

What’s wrong with her? she asked hoarsely. Is my mum going to be okay?

The doctor had a grave look on his fleshy face. He took Katie by the hand and sat down with her. 

Katie, your mother is very sick, he informed, his voice like a glass of cool water. But Katie’s mouth still tasted like ashes and sand. The world around the doctor’s face fogged up. She has a tumor growing in her brain.

A what? Katie started stammering. Just take it out then. You can take it out, she whispered.

The doctor shook his head. We can’t remove it. Katie was pitched headlong into a dark, tight place where she couldn’t think and she couldn’t breathe. What was he saying? What did he—? I’m so sorry. She’s dying, Katie. Your mother has twelve months to live. Eighteen, at the most.

Katie began to shake her head, numbness ascending from her toes. She could not believe what she was hearing. First, she lost her dad as a child and now she was about to lose the