27. Eliza

Two days later we traveled to Fable Forest. As if by magic, carriages awaited us at the entrance and we parked our vehicles by the side of the road.

It had taken some convincing, but many of Edward’s family, all of his friends, and his dad accompanied us. The anticipation of seeing my father for the first time in six years made me fidget inside the carriage until Edward took my hand and squeezed it.

“Easy, my love. I’m here with you. Every step of the way.”

Four of my brothers—Caspian, William, Andrew, and Harold—sat with us, taking turns holding Garret and Jasper, while the others were divided into more carriages, along with all of Edward’s friends and family. Except Gerald, who also rode with us, curiously staring out at the trees.

“I’ve never ridden in a horse carriage before,” he admitted. “It has some charm. We should probably consider having a few of those in Swan—”

“Dad,” Edward interrupted him with a chuckle.

“Right, no business today,” Gerald conceded, but his expression made him a liar. His brain was working overtime when he took in some of the areas we passed by.

From small villages to sprawling castles in the distance. Here and there a witch flew by on a broom, or a dragon. We even saw a bear tear through the underbrush.

“Are those…”

“Seven dwarfs,” Edward finished Gerald’s sentence.

“Do you know all these fairy tales?” Gerald asked me.

“They’re not fairy tales to us, they’re our lives,” I corrected him gently.

Fascinated, he stared at a gingerbread house and a girl with a red mantle. Gerald’s eyes shone with a light I had never seen in him before.

“This truly is marvelous,” he said awed, before he chuckled self-deprecatingly. “I feel like a kid again.”

“That’s the idea,” Edward said.

We were rolling up a hill and I sat a little bit straighter. “We’re almost there.”

Caspian looked just as expectant and for the umpteenth time I studied his familiar yet so vastly different features. The last time I had seen him he had been twenty. Now he was twenty-six and looked so much more like a man than before. His hair had turned from blond to black and white like mine, like all of ours, and it also took some getting used to.

The inside of the carriage fell silent as we first entered the small town surrounding our castle and then rolled up the cobblestone street that led straight toward the large portcullis-protected entrance.

“Halt! Who goes there?” a guard challenged.

“It is I, Prince Caspian, heir to King Julius!” my brother stuck his head through the carriage’s window and replied, falling back to his haughty voice, the one I hadn’t heard in a long time.

“Prince Caspian!” the guard exclaimed, walking around the carriage and staring at him. “By God, it is you! And Princess Eliza! Call the king, the heirs are back!”

Only minutes later we entered the courtyard, one carriage after another rolling up behind the other—people emerging, my siblings expectant, the wedding guests curious.

Edward helped me out. For this occasion I had chosen and ordered a traditional princess dress in amethyst, with crinoline and long gloves that almost reached up to my armpits.

“Eliza!” a familiar voice called out. I turned and watched my father run down the stairs in a very unkingly fashion. “My children!”

And then we were in his arms. Laughing and crying and shouting.

“Father,” we exclaimed just as happily as he called each one of us by our names, as if having to assure himself we were all here.

“You have grown,” my father said, wiping a tear from the corner of his eyes. “I thought I would never see you again.”

“What happened?” William asked.

“Constancia left for an errand,” my father explained, “and then a green witch requested an audience, and just like that… I realized that I had been under a spell. The guards have been on extra duty, they are under strict orders not to let Constancia in or anywhere near me.”

“You don’t have to worry about her, she won’t be coming back,” Philip assured him.

“Unless she hops.” Harry snickered.

“Who are all these people?” It was as if my father was seeing the others for the first time.

“This”—I pulled Edward forward—“is my Edward. We want to get married here, tomorrow,” I filled my father in.

“It is an honor, sir… I mean Your Royal Highness,” Edward corrected himself. I had never seen him out of sorts, but now he truly was. “I would very much appreciate it if you would allow me the honor of your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

“You chose this man?” my father asked, openly discomforted.

”He is the father of my babies,” I said proudly, while my brothers held Garret and Jasper out for my father to see.

His expression turned from surprise to outrage to questioning to utterly happy. ”Twins?”

”They do run in the family,” I replied with a small grin.

”That they do,” my father responded as a wistful expression crossed his features.

He took Jaspar first, held him and kissed his forehead, ”You look like your mother,” his voice was soft as his eyes moved from Jasper to me.

”And me, I hope,” Edward threw in.

”Young man, you should not bring yourself to my attention right now, having children out of wedlock, with my daugh—”

Before my father could fully chastise my poor Edward, I interfered, ”It”s not his fault. He wanted to marry me, but I asked him to wait.”

”Whatever for?” My father traded Jasper for Garret to kiss him just as lovingly.

”It”s a long story, but we will explain everything,” I promised.

“My son is a good man,” Gerald spoke up.

My father rubbed his white beard. “I see. Well, come on in, the servants will find accommodations for all these guests. We will feast tonight and”—he grinned from ear to ear—“have a wedding tomorrow!”

And so they lived happily ever after.

THE END