[Heart of Texas 02] • The Truth About Fairy Tales

It’s funny the things that go through your mind when you realize your future, or at least what you thought was your future is at stake. And everything that you’ve worked your whole life believing in isn’t really what you want after all.

This is the story of me - a little girl from Santa Anna, Texas, Maggie, short for Mary Margaret Malone. I’m the one who thought I could have it all. She just didn’t know at the time what that meant. This is my story.

It’s a love story, although I never really believed in all that fairy tale, love at first sight kind of stuff until I met Jackson Riley. You see life taught me at a very young age that such things as fairy tales don’t really exist for most people. Certainly not for me, a girl of the streets.

So what did I believe in you might ask? What was my dream in life? Well, for as long as I can remember I’ve wanted one thing only. To one day, become an attorney.

I was six months away from achieving this goal when my world was turned upside down and the old steadfast, sometimes-grouchy Maggie was transformed into someone that I didn’t recognize and certainly didn’t believe existed. A woman in love.

So, let me just set the story up for you. Because the beginning is just about as fantastic as the way things turned out.

It began quite unexpectedly when I became friends with Ben Riley. Unfortunately, Ben imagined himself head over heels in love with me in spite of all my discouragement. Ben just couldn’t get it through his head romance wasn’t happening.

So you can imagine my surprise when Ben tells me his only living relative, his uncle wants to meet me. Now I’d heard all that I needed to know about Jackson Riley. He was rich, successful and not to be messed with according to Ben.

Unfortunately, he also wasn’t anything like what I’d been led to believe by Ben.

Jackson Riley was going to be nothing but trouble for me. I knew this from the second I met him. And all my well placed future plans? Well they were in serious jeopardy. The second I saw Jackson I thought—wow, this guy is knock out gorgeous if you like the rich, sophisticated well-polished type. I didn’t. But even I was forced to admit—he wasn’t old. Not by a long shot.

I fought against my attraction to Jackson right up until the minute he kissed me and then I knew it was over. I wasn’t going to resist this guy—who was I kidding? I didn’t want to. I wanted Jackson Riley like crazy.

Unfortunately, he had a few demands of his own. He wanted more than just to sleep with me. He wanted to get to know me. Me—little Maggie Malone from Santa Anna, Texas. This went against my very nature. You see, I wasn’t good at sharing myself with anyone. Only my two closest friends, Genna and Serena and of course Grandmother Sarah the woman who raised me when my mother Rachel deserted me a small child, knew about my past. I’d survived years living with my mother, moving from run-down apartments to eventually living on the streets. At thirteen, Gran hired Lee Worthy an attorney to have the court grant her permanent custody of me. That’s when I first became enamored with the law. Through Lee’s influence.

So you see, I figured once Jackson learned the truth about my past that would be that. Boy, was I ever wrong.

Jackson wasn’t prepared to let me simply push him away like I was so good at doing. He stood firm through each and every time obstacle I threw in his way that would have sent most men running for good. The road to our somewhat odd romance was paved with obstacles that came up mostly at my instigation and would have sent most men running away like crazy not to mention swearing off women forever, (Oh yeah, I came with some heavy baggage that’s for sure!). But not Jackson. Not my corporate prince. He just dealt with each of my little insecurities as they came along and then moved on to the next. Conquering them all like any good knight would.

Starting with our first date! Which ended up with me sick. Jackson simply brought me soup.