He sighed, knowing full well he was going to get corrected several more times before the story was over since she remembered much more than she’d led him to believe. “The magical train took her to a kingdom.” He glanced her way. “What was this kingdom like?”
“Ma never said. She only said the wizard who met her at the magical train station was mean to the princess. He wanted to put her in a cage and keep her from ever being happy.”
Well, that was something to go on. “Instead of the prince she hoped to meet, she found a wizard instead. He was a cruel man. He wasn’t going to be nice to her at all. His plan was to trap her in a cage so that she’d never be happy.” He paused. “Am I doing it right?”
“Yes, that’s good. Now have him try to lure her out of the train station with his magic.”
He was tempted to point out she was really the one telling the story since all he did was echo what she said, but he found it cute, so he decided to play along. “The wizard was strong and knew magic really well. He cast a spell over her. She tried to resist the spell, but his magic was too powerful. Unable to stop him, she left the station.”
“She didn’t actually leave the station. He only tried to make her leave. A prince stopped him.”
“How did the prince stop him?”
“He got out his sword and battled the wizard. Ma uses fancy words to explain how.”
“What kind of words?”
She thought for a moment then said, “‘Wield’, ‘clash’… That’s all I remember.”
He supposed he could go with that. “Before the wizard could succeed in getting her out of the magical train station, a brave prince showed up with a sword in his hand. ‘Stand back, my fair maiden,’ the prince told her. ‘I will save you from this awful wizard.’ The wizard wasn’t going to give up without a fight. He used all of the magic he had to defeat the prince. The prince wielded his sword to ward off the magic the wizard threw at him.”
“Wait!” Rachel sat up. “You didn’t say what the prince looked like. Ma always says what he looks like.”
Not surprised she had remembered something else, he asked, “What does the prince look like?”
“He’s very handsome. He has yellow hair. It makes the princess think of the sun. He has eyes that shine like the stars. He looks good in anything he wears, but he wears a knight’s armor in the story. Ma had to show me a picture of a knight so I knew what one looks like. He’s nothing like the wizard. The wizard’s hair is as dark as his black soul, and the wizard thinks he’s good looking, but he’s not. The prince is, though, but he doesn’t seem to know it. That’s because he’s humble.”
It was then that Dave suspected the story Mary had been telling Rachel was based on the day she had met Dave at the train station ten years ago. All she’d done was embellish certain details to make the thing more exciting for a little girl.
“I think I know how the rest of the story goes,” Dave said. “I’ll tell it to you, and you can tell me if I’m right. The prince defeats the wizard and takes the princess to his palace where he marries her. They have three children, one of which is a girl who’s a lot like you.”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “You’ve heard the story before!”
“In a way.” And it was nice that Mary had chosen to paint him in such a flattering light. “But did your ma tell you anything about the princess?”
“She only says the princess is very happy at the end of the story.”
“Well, the prince is happy, too. The princess is very beautiful, and she has the biggest heart of all the other ladies in the kingdom. She’s generous and kind to everyone in the kingdom, and the prince is blessed to have her in his life.”
“So the prince loves her?”
“Very much.” He patted her arm and smiled. “That’s all I got unless you have anything else you want to add to the story.”
“No. That’s it.” She yawned.
“Think you can go to sleep now?”
She nodded, so he stood up, tucked the blanket up to her chin, and kissed her forehead.
After he left the room, he found Isaac already in his and Adam’s room. Adam was still holding the blocks, but his eyes were closed. Dave suspected he was on the brink of falling asleep.
Isaac had already changed into his nightclothes but hadn’t gotten into bed yet. He was holding up a fountain pen to the light of the kerosene lamp that was on the nightstand by his bed.
“I don’t recall seeing that before,” Dave whispered as he came up to him.
“It’s from Uncle Richard,” Isaac whispered in return. “He gave this to me. He made it for his company, but he let me have it.”
Dave had to force aside the burst of jealousy that rose up within him. He’d resolved himself to accepting that this was how things were going to be from now on. Apparently, this resolve was going to take some time to get used to.
“Can I see the pen?” Dave asked.
Isaac gave it to him. “It’s heavy.”
“Yes, it is.” Dave took a good look at it. The pen was good quality. It wasn’t like the pens available in the mercantile. It was probably expensive to make. Well, not expensive for Richard. But it was most definitely expensive for someone like him. “It’s a nice pen.”
He held it out to Isaac, and Isaac took it back. “I’m not going to use it. I’m going to keep it safe forever.”
