Chapter 1
Thanksgiving 2016
“Teeth brushed?”
“Check, Daddy.”
“Jammies on?”
“Check.”
“Tummy full?”
“I had two pieces of pumpkin pie.”
“I had three, but who’s counting? Crawl under the covers and tell me your favorite part of today.”
“Seeing the horses at the parade on TV.”
“Mine, too. That, and spending the day with you. Maybe someday, you and I can ride in a Thanksgiving Day parade.”
“Really?”
“Sure. S’mores has already been trained for it.”
“My horsey?”
“Yup. Onyx, too. Gramma and Grampa Keller rode them in parades lots of times, Thanksgiving…summertime ones…We went to some. You might be too little to remember.”
“Can I ride next year?”
“I can ask.”
“Yay!”
“Yay!”
“Tell me a story.”
“Okay. Move over, so I can sit.”
“I wanna hear the one about Prince Mackensie and Prince Julian!”
“Again?”
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Okay, Princess Violet, if it will make you smile, I’ll tell it again. All ready?”
“All ready.”
“Once upon a time, in a far off land not too far from here…”
“Daddy, you’re silly.”
“There lived a prince named Mackensie of Keller.”
“I bet he looks just like you.”
“Hmm. Maybe a little. Now, Prince Mackensie of Keller has a beautiful five-year-old little Princess named Violet, who looks exactly like you. They live in a nice house in the kingdom of New Jersey, with their cat, Cocoa, and often travel down to the land of Virginia to see Princess Violet’s grandmother and grandfather, the King and Queen of Keller.”
“They ride horses there named S’mores and Onyx.”
“That’s right, because every prince and princess should have a horse. Prince Mackensie of Keller loves his little Princess Violet very, very much.”
“I love you, too, Daddy.”
“Prince Mackensie would do anything for Princess Violet.”
“I’d do anything for you, too. Tell me who else Prince Mackensie loves.”
“Well, Prince Mackensie loves a prince who lives back in Virginia. His name is Prince Julian of Junk.”
“That’s a funny name.”
“It is, but it’s their last name, so we’d never make fun, right?”
“Right.”
“When Prince Mackensie and Prince Julian were kids, they thought they’d be together forever, but Prince Julian has a mean old father. His name is King Pops of Junk. King Pops doesn’t really like Prince Mackensie very much.”
“Why not?”
“Well, as these stories go, King and Queen Keller, who reign over their kingdom one way, and King Pops, who rules over his a different way, never really got along. King and Queen Keller didn’t want their son to marry Prince Julian, either, because they wanted him to grow up to be a fancy kind of prince, like his grandfather, with fancy clothes, and a fancy house, and a lot of money. King Pops and Prince Julian, they worked very hard, but Queen and King Keller didn’t think the kind of job they did was regal enough. It’s not right to judge someone like that.”
“I never will.”
“I know you won’t. Prince Mackensie shouldn’t have, either. He wasn’t as good as you, not all the time, not when he was little. He hopes he’s better now.”
“Do King Pops’ voice.”
“Grumpy, old King Pops, he talks all mean and grouchy, like this. ‘You can’t marry my son.’”
“That’s funny.”
“Maybe not in real life.”
“I can’t believe King Pops doesn’t like you.”
“Prince Mackensie, you mean.”
“Yeah. Why?”
“You asked that already.”
“Why else?”
“Well, this is what King Pops says. He says, ‘You can’t marry Prince Mackensie, Julian, because Prince Mackensie stole money from us.’”
“You stole, Daddy?”
“Well, no. The court of the land of Virginia, they said King Pops had to give me…I mean, had to give Prince Mackensie some money, but King Pops didn’t like that, so he said I stole it. I mean, he said Prince Mackensie stole it. Actually, he probably said my parents…King and Queen Keller stole it. However it went downeth, after a bunch of stuff happened, Prince Julian and Prince Mackensie didn’t think they could be in love anymore.”
“That part’s always sad.”
“Yes. It is.”
“What does Prince Julian look like?”
“You never asked that before.”
“Does he look like Prince Hans from Frozen? He’s a bad guy.”
“He is.”
“Does Prince Julian have orange hair, like you?”
“I think my hair is more blond than orange.”
“It’s orange.”
“Strawberry blond?”
“Orange.”
“Orange it is. As for Prince Julian, well, I haven’t seen him up close in a while, but he used to be a big Prince, tall and strong, more like Kristoff. No…more like Oaken, except with wild springs of dark curly hair and green eyes. Wait. I’ll show you. I was looking at his picture just the other day. Don’t fall asleep before I get back.”
“I’ll try not to.”
“Sing, while I go get the book.”
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle little star…”
“Are you still awake?”
“That took a long time.”
“Not really. I knew right where Prince Julian’s picture was. Are you really awake?”
“Yes. I was singing.”
“You were? I thought Elsa was all up in here.”
“You’re silly.”
“So we’ve established.”
“Show me!”
“Here he is. This guy, right here.”
“Prince Julian is very handsome, Daddy.”
“He is, just like a prince should be.”
“Just like you.”
“Nah. You’re the pretty one in our little family, Princess Violet.”
“I like Prince Julian. He looks happy.”
“Handsome and happy…a beautiful smile…a beautiful man.”
“I hope you get to marry Prince Julian someday, Daddy.”
“Oh. Well, I think we should close this book, now, and go to sleep, okay? This is just pretend…just a story. Prince Mackensie and Prince Julian haven’t seen each other for a very long time. They probably won’t see each other…except in my story.”
“Where they fall in love again and live happily ever after.”
“Right. In love forever and ever. Good night, Princess Violet.”
“Good night, Daddy. I hope the story comes true, anyway.”
“That would be nice, my precious baby girl. That would be nice.” 1
Nearly one year later, October 2017
It was hot for the last week of October, muggy and gross for the day before Halloween. Sure, we didn’t live in one of those northeast places where Thanksgiving, my favorite of all the holidays, was snowy, and Christmas was always frigid enough for snuggling beside a warm glowing fire with a cup of hot cocoa and a special someone. There was usually a nip in the air, however, by the time I thought about throwing droopy jack-o-lanterns into the back of my garbage truck or was forced to scoop up their orange guts splattered by some delinquent kid. I used to be one of those kids. Now, with a different perspective, I regretted that.