Happily Ever After Prologue

“Hey Aunty! Tell us a story!” my nephew, John, begged. He's a cute little twerp at age ten. He was a spitting image of my brother when he was younger, but his eyes were definitely his mom's. He has short brown hair, that cute kid round face, and his mom's blue eyes and he is always overflowing with energy.

“Why don't you tell him that one about you?” my niece Laura, six years older than his brother, piped in from behind her cell phone. She was pretty, probably a knockout at her school, with all her mother's looks. She has long wavey blonde hair, thin jaw, large blue eyes, and a body most girls would kill for. However, she had a bad habit of being on her phone more often than she was with her family. “You know the one on how you met Aunt Ally.”

“Oooooo- I want to hear that one!”

“I thought you'd want to learn about dragons and knights?” I tried to change the subject.

“No!” he pouted. “Other story!” he chanted. I was stuck, and Alyssa wasn't giving me much help, sitting quietly on the couch watching us like we were some kind of drama show. Using my eyes, I tried to signal for help, but she just shrugged. Mark, my brother, had already yelled at me once for telling that story to Laura, so I just sat there in turmoil.

“Please Aunty...” he gave me his best puppy eyes, and though I tried not to look I got drawn in.

To top it off I heard Alyssa pipe in. “Yeah Val, it couldn't hurt!” I glared at her, knowing she knew what happened last time. I just got a grin in response. After sitting there for a minute, I let out a sigh.

“Fine... but only under one condition!” I said. “You can't tell your parents about this, okay?” He nodded. “Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise!” he said, holding his little finger out. I took it with my own and shook it.

“Okay,” out of the corner of my eye I noticed Laura put down her phone lean in. With a smirk I began.