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“There was this little girl—“
“Dannooo. You have to start it right.”
“What? I’m telling this story, right? Let me tell this story.”
Danny nudged Grace to the center of the bed and sat down next to her. Gracie wanted a fairytale before sleeping, he was going to give her the best damn fairytale Walt Disney himself couldn’t pay enough minions to produce.
“Once upon a time,” Danny looked pointedly at Grace who smiled in approval. “There was a beautiful princess. The prettiest little girl in all the land. She lived in a big castle with lots of toys, and books, and clothes, and ugly over-priced art, and fancy appliances like a coffee maker that you have to press thirty buttons to make a single cup, and what is the point of that if you have to get a degree in breakfast preparation to function in the morning—”
“Danno…”
“As I was saying, the princess lived in a castle. But she also spent many happy days outside it. For these times, the princess had a guardian, a man who protected her when she went out to play in her kingdom. Her guardian’s job was to watch over her and make sure she didn’t cause too much trouble.”
Danny poked Grace’s side. She scrunched her face back at him.
“One day, the princess and her guardian decided to visit the uh, sanctuary. For a reasonable admission fee, they could see all kind of things, like turtles and lizards and these big big fish, seriously monstrous looking suckers, the guardian was going to forbid the princess from ever getting into the water—”
There was a small cough from the bed.
“So the animals, they spent the entire day eating and sleeping and having the Best. Lives. Ever. The princess made friends with all of them, from a good long distance. Even princesses with expert guardians need to respect animal territory. Got it?”
Grace nodded. “Uh huh.”
“Then she ate too much cotton candy and the guardian had to carry her home. The end.”
Her little mouth popped open in protest. “Danno, that’s boring. That’s not a real story if nothing happens.”
Danny sniffed. “What do you mean it’s boring? I’m not done yet. Of course there’s more. I was just checking if you were sleeping, monkey.”
She rolled her eyes and smiled wryly at him. Danny wondered when she learned that particular expression.
“They decided it was time to go home. Then suddenly, the guardian had a very bad feeling, a tingly thing at the back of his neck. Everything went quiet... The guardian said, Don’t be alarmed, princess, but there’s a monster nearby. I’ll protect you from it. He stepped in front of the princess and prepared to face the monster alone.”
Grace’s eyes widened.
“Hey, they weren’t completely alone.” Steve’s voice came from the doorway.
Danny refused to turn around, instead smiled at Grace, and said, “Fine, and there was a wolf.”
“A wolf?” Grace blinked, pushing herself upright.
“A wolf?” Steve echoed and walked up behind him.
“Yup. Mangy creature. Bane of the guardian’s existence. Follows him around everywhere.” Danny exhaled. “Anyway, the princess, the guardian, and the wolf too, were facing the bad monster.”
“It was actually an evil warlock.” Steve jumped in. He made his way into the room, picked up a chair and parked himself on the opposite side of the bed.
Danny stared incredulously. “Excuse me?”
“Warlocks are scarier.”
“Will you please let me finish my daughter’s story, huh?”
Steve slouched in the chair, long legs bumping up against the mattress. “I want to hear how it ends too. “ He winked at Grace. She grinned back at him.
“Alright. Just shush. The evil warlock stood in their path and yelled, ‘No one may cross! I am a powerful warlock and I eat princesses as my afternoon snack.’”
“The wolf can take him easy.”
“What— what did I say? And no, just no. The wolf is not ‘taking’ this one, not without the guardian’s say-so.”
Steve pouted. “Why not?”
“Because yesterday, the wolf buried another warlock neck deep in sand and covered its head with a pail.”
“He was trying to get away.”
“Then said wolf tied the warlock to a surfboard and dragged him out to the middle of the ocean.”
Grace’s attention darted back and forth between the two men hovering over her bed.
Steve grumbled. “The wolf didn’t want the warlock to ever come near the princess. The wolf kinda got attached to the princess and her stubborn guardian and didn’t want either of them to get hurt.”
“The guardian wanted to know why the wolf couldn’t just haul the warlock back to their fort so that they can question him properly.”
“I think you’re confusing two stories here, Danno,” Steve said.
Danny took a quick glance at Grace who looked mostly bewildered. He held his hand up for silence. Steve gestured for him to continue.
“Well, Gracie, sweetheart.” Danny composed himself. “In this story, nothing the guardian and the wolf did worked. The warlock was too strong. It looked like it was up to the princess to save the day.”
Grace was on board again, perking up.
“The princess waved her magic wand, see, she was a very special princess with many gifts. She called all her new animal friends to help her. They came, the dolphins and hippos and the horses and the owls, the whole messy lot of them rumbling through the jungle.” Danny’s hands illustrated a rowdy menagerie above the bed.
“They roared and squawked and charged at the warlock. The evil warlock screamed ‘Noooooooo!’ and then,” Danny made a squelching noise, smashing a fist against an open palm. “Kaput. He was done for. Hooray. The princess saved us. We can finally go home.”
Grace had the biggest grin plastered on her face.
Steve cleared his throat. When he had both Danny’s and Grace’s attention, he said, “Then the princess and her friends turned around, and they saw that her guardian was really the king.” —Danny’s eyebrows leaped for the ceiling— “He hid his identity all this time to protect the princess from his enemies. She saw that he was the toughest, kindest, bravest father a princess could ever have and she loved him for everything he did.”
Huh. Steve held Danny’s gaze with a soft smile.
“Okay…” Danny lifted a finger. “But there was still one more problem. What do they do about the wolf? This wolf, the king wondered if he would, you know, run away one day and break their hearts.”
“Never,” Steve said.
“The king wouldn’t do anything that would risk the princess’ happiness. So he turned to the princess and asked, do you think we should let this wolf, this lost, socially-deficient creature, come stay with us? And she said— and she said…” Danny faltered then, suddenly unwilling to put words into the princess’ mouth.
“She said yes, Danno,” Grace said, simply and innocently.
“And right after she spoke the word, the wolf magically turned into a human knight,” Steve said, voice quiet and reverent. “He’d been under a spell all along. The evil warlock’s curse kept trapped him in a wolf body only to be freed by the love of a princess and her king.”
“And so the princess, the king and the knight went back to their home where they lived happily ever after,” Danny finished, clapping his hands together.
“The end,” Grace added brightly, settling in under the covers. She curled on her side and Danny tucked the blanket around her shoulders.
“Not bad for a first time storyteller there, Steven. What do you think monkey, think we did good?” Danny tipped his head to peek at his little girl.
“That was the best story, Danno.”
Steve beamed, smile so wide and proud. Danny leaned in and pressed his lips on Grace’s forehead. He murmured, “Oh baby, that was just the beginning.”