“Wait, are you serious?” Kaylie asked, wide-eyed. “Gerry went for it? He wants a story on Tolvania’s Christmas traditions…”
“Yes,” Rachel said, excited. “I told him all about what you’re doing and says he’ll pay top dollar for it, but you need to have at least ten pictures they can choose from and a couple of good videos for social media promotion. And you need to work fast and send this in by Christmas Eve, noon our time, so in the evening your time. They’re planning to run it Christmas morning.”
Kaylie literally jumped for joy. “I can do that! This is amazing. You’re amazing, Rachel. Best friend ever!”
“I think I’d rather be your agent so I can get that ten percent,” Rachel said with a laugh.
“Whatever you want, it’s yours,” Kaylie said. “Especially if this gets me the news job.”
“That’s the plan,” Rachel said. “Just impress Gerry and help him out with this last-minute Christmas story they need and you’re on your way.”
“I’ll rock their Christmas stockings off,” Kaylie promised. “I’m heading down to the tree lighting soon. Check this out.” She held up her new fur coat and hat for Rachel to see.
“Wow!” Rachel said, looking impressed and envious. “Where did you get that?”
“The queen gave it to me. As a gift. Can you believe it?” Kaylie asked.
“I knew I loved this queen,” Rachel said.
“She really is something,” Kaylie agreed.
“So, for this story, Gerry said to make sure you include all the most unique royal Christmas traditions you can find that will be good clickbait,” Rachel said.
“I know the drill,” Kaylie said. “I have the tree lighting, Christmas chocolates, an upside-down Christmas tree tradition, there’s a Christmas tea, a Christmas ball, and even a Christmas Crown event with a real crown. How is that for unique?”
Rachel’s eyes lit up. “Hold the holidays, what is this Christmas Crown? Is this a real thing? A real crown?”
“Yes,” Kaylie said. “And there’s an amazing story behind it. So, I’m going to have a ton of great material.”
“For the feature and the fairy tale,” Rachel said. “I knew you could do this.”
Kaylie shook her head in amazement. “I have to admit, working on the fairy tale has been easier than I thought, and getting to use my imagination and not having to only deal in facts has been fun, even though a lot of what I want to do will be based on the real traditions.”
“I love it all,” Rachel said.
“Just don’t tell anyone I’m writing a fairy tale and feature stories. I don’t want to wreck my killer reporter reputation,” Kaylie said with a laugh.
“Mum’s the word,” Rachel said. “Be sure to have someone take a picture of you at the ball. I have to see what you’re wearing.”
Kaylie frowned. “Oh, I won’t be wearing anything…”
Rachel’s eyes lifted. “Well, look at you Miss X-rated going naked.”
Kaylie laughed loudly. “I meant I won’t be wearing anything because first of all I have nothing to wear, and second I’m here to work, not dance a waltz.”
“But you have to go to the ball,” Rachel insisted. “Reporter involvement, you’re the one always saying some of the best stories are told first-person.”
“Well, I couldn’t, even if I were invited,” Kaylie said. “My simple little black dress I always travel with won’t cut it for a royal ball.”
“So, be like Cinderella and figure it out. Where are those mice when we need them to make you something to wear?” Rachel asked.
“In your dreams, that’s where,” Kaylie said with a laugh.
“I have faith you’ll figure it out,” Rachel said. “I gotta go. Get lots of pictures and video. Can’t wait to see everything. Talk soon.”
When Rachel hung up, Kaylie caught her reflection in the mirror and smiled. Her eyes were sparkling with anticipation. She looked happy and excited. “This is your shot for a national reporter job. Bring on the Christmas cheer!”
An hour later, she was sitting on her bed, working on her feature story, when she heard a bark outside her door. When she opened it and found only Blixen, she was surprised.
“Well, have you been sent up here to get me?” Kaylie asked as she leaned down to pet his silky head.
He gazed up at her, panting.
She put on her fur coat and modeled it for him. “What do you think?”
Blixen barked and instantly eyed her fur hat on the bed. “Don’t even think about it,” Kaylie said to him.
Blixen tilted his head like he was listening to her and then took off down the hall.
“Hey, wait for me,” she called out after him and grabbed her hat, gloves, and phone before running after him.
She was taking the stairs two at a time when she heard the princess call up to her.
“Don’t run,” the princess said. “We’re not allowed to run down the stairs.”
Kaylie tripped and had to grab onto the railing so she didn’t fall. “Good rule,” she called out and then held on to the railing the rest of the way down. When she got to the bottom, she saw the princess and the queen were also wearing beautiful white faux fur coats. The princess’s coat was white with a black fur collar and cuffs, and the queen looked exquisite and very regal in her full-length white fur coat that also had an elegant hood.
“You two look fabulous,” Kaylie said.
The princess grinned back at her. “You, too. We’re all matching in our furs. We’re twins.”
“Triplets,” the queen gently corrected her. “Triplets that will be late if we don’t get going.” Blixen barked when the queen opened the front door.
“Not this time, Blixen,” the queen said, smiling. “I’m sorry.”
When Blixen’s head dropped sadly, the princess leaned down and gave him a hug. “I love you, Blixen. I’ll tell you all about it when I get home.”
As Elsa walked toward them, the princess gave her a hopeful smile. “You’ll keep Blixen company, won’t you, Elsa?”
“Absolutely,” Elsa said. “Chef Jake and I might even have a special treat for him.”
Blixen’s ears perked up as he ran to Elsa.
The queen opened the door. “After you, Kaylie.” When Kaylie saw the queen and the princess exchange a look, she wondered what they were up to this time. She didn’t have to wait long to find out.
As she walked out of the castle, she gasped. In front of her was a magnificent horse-drawn carriage that was right out of a fairy tale. It was so grand it made Cinderella’s carriage look tiny in comparison. This opulent carriage was a brilliant red, with gorgeous gilded gold accents that gleamed in the moonlight. A footman, that Kaylie quickly saw was Thomas, was wearing a regal red royal uniform. He was standing by the carriage door that was decorated with the family’s swan crest.
Kaylie blinked several times. “Is this for real?”
The queen and princess joined her. “It is,” the queen said with pride. “Very real. It belonged to my great-grandfather. We only use it for special occasions.”
“And this is a special occasion,” the princess said merrily.
“This is incredible,” Kaylie said. “If you keep this up, I’m going to start believing in fairy tales myself.”
“That’s the plan,” the queen said with a twinkle in her eyes.
With the help of Thomas, the princess got into the carriage first, followed by the queen. When it was Kaylie’s turn, she was still trying to process that she was about to ride in a real royal horse-drawn carriage. As she took Thomas’s hand, she couldn’t believe this was her life.
“This is unbelievable,” she whispered to him.
“Aren’t you glad you didn’t go home like you wanted to?” Thomas asked with a smile.
Kaylie nodded. “Very glad. This is all so crazy…”
“Or fate,” Thomas said with a wink.
She was just settling into her seat across from the queen and princess when she saw the princess’s face light up.
“Father!” the princess called out, surprised.
Kaylie turned and her heart started racing when she saw the prince exit the castle and head toward the carriage. He was smiling and looked dashing wearing a royal uniform that was red and gold that included a row of shiny medals across his chest.
“Surprise,” he said as he climbed into the carriage and took the only available seat next to Kaylie.
“I thought you had to work and were meeting us,” the princess said, confused but excited.
The prince gave his daughter a loving look. “I decided work can wait, but spending time with my daughter couldn’t.”
The princess leaned over and gave him a heartfelt hug. “I’m so glad you’re here. Thank you for picking me. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” the prince said as he hugged her back.
Kaylie could see his eyes had misted up and this made her start to tear up as well as she thought about how powerful the love of a child was. When she looked at the queen, she saw the queen was getting emotional, too.
The prince took the princess’s small hand in his. “I heard this is one of your favorite Christmas traditions. I didn’t want to miss that.”
“I didn’t want you to miss that either,” the princess said. Her eyes were filled with love.
Kaylie could see how much having the prince being there meant to the princess and it got her thinking about how often it was just the simple things that children needed the most, time spent with their parents, no matter what they were doing. She thought about how children didn’t need fancy Christmas presents as much as they needed their parents to be present—that was the best gift of all.
When the carriage took off with a jolt, Kaylie, caught off guard, accidentally put her hand down on the prince’s leg to steady herself.
When he jumped, startled, she pulled her hand away quickly. “I’m so sorry.” But a second later, she fell into him again when their carriage hit a bump in the road. “Sorry again,” she said, embarrassed.
The princess giggled.
“There’s not a lot of give in these seats,” the queen said. “I’m afraid you’re in for a bumpy ride.”
“But you get used to it,” the princess added cheerfully as she held her grandmother’s hand. “You can hold Father’s hand if you like.”
Kaylie’s eyes flew to the prince’s. “No, I’m fine. I’m good.” Kaylie held up her hands to prove it, only another jolt of the carriage tossed her into the prince again. This time, one of her shoulders landed up against his chest. He was so close she could feel his breath on her cheek. Her pulse quickened and her face flushed red as she looked up at him and their eyes locked. The next jolt she felt wasn’t from the carriage, but from a spark of attraction that ricocheted through her body.
“I’m sorry,” Kaylie said to the prince in a breathless voice she didn’t recognize. She cleared her throat. “It won’t happen again.”
“Where have I heard that before?” the prince asked, amused. “This is starting to remind me of our first meeting.”
“Okay, I’m good now,” Kaylie said with determination as she scooted as far away from the prince as she could and braced herself, with one hand holding the seat between herself and the prince as her other hand held on to the side of the carriage.
When she caught the queen’s curious and all-knowing gaze, Kaylie promised herself that she would not fall into the prince again and, more importantly, she would not fall for the prince.
She reminded herself that she had a job to do, two jobs actually. She had to write the fairy tale and the feature story. She didn’t have time for any distractions, and that included the prince, no matter how handsome he was. She shivered just thinking about him.
“You’re cold,” the prince said. He leaned down and pulled out a vintage trunk from underneath their seat. He opened it and took out two beautiful red and gold blankets and handed one to his mother and one to Kaylie. “This should help.”
Kaylie watched the queen use the blanket for both the princess and herself and wasn’t sure what to do with her blanket. The thought of cuddling up next to the prince and sharing it with him made her suddenly so warm she didn’t feel like she needed a blanket at all anymore.
She awkwardly covered herself with half the blanket then left the other half of the blanket on the seat between them. “There’s a lot of the blanket left if you’d like some,” Kaylie said, pointing to it. “It’s all yours.” She scooted closer to the window.
The prince smiled, watching her. “I’m fine, but thank you.”
When Kaylie nodded, she didn’t know if she was more relieved or disappointed.
When they got to the village, Kaylie was awestruck to find the tree lighting ceremony was even more magical than she could have imagined. The pageantry and the beauty were one thing, but it was the genuine, authentic people of Tolvania who really made it special. She’d found herself completely caught up in the moment and enjoying every second of it. The princess had even convinced her to sing Christmas carols with everyone. Before she knew what was happening, she was happily singing “Jingle Bells” with the queen and princess, and even the prince joined in.
As they all four stood side-by-side, singing and gazing at the beautiful Christmas trees lined up along the lake, for a moment Kaylie felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time. She felt what it was like to be part of a family. It made her happy and sad all at the same time. Happy because it felt wonderful to feel that connection again, and sad because she knew this wasn’t real, that this wasn’t her real family.
As they followed the Christmas carolers to the next tree that was going to be lit, Kaylie knew what she needed to do. She turned to the queen. “If you can excuse me for a minute. I need to make a quick call.”
“Right now?” the prince asked, looking disappointed. “We’re almost done.”
“I won’t be long,” Kaylie promised.
“Do what you need to do,” the queen said.
Kaylie gave her a grateful look and then hurried off. She headed for the church, hoping to find a quiet place to make her call. She suddenly stopped halfway there, realizing that she’d been having so much fun she’d completely forgotten to get video of the Christmas carolers like she’d promised Rachel she’d do for Gerry’s story. She quickly got out her phone and zoomed in on the singing carolers and started recording.
She rushed to get all she could before the carolers stopped singing and also wanted to get some people from the village. As she panned from the carolers into the crowd, she saw the backs of the prince, princess, and queen come into frame. She smiled when she saw how sweet they looked as a family, arm in arm, singing together. When the carolers finished the song and the tree lit up, Kaylie captured it all and knew Rachel and Gerry would love it.
As the carolers moved to the next tree and started a new song, Kaylie hurried toward the church but found it was still too noisy to make her call. When she saw the church door was open, she slipped inside.