Little Lotte- don't kill me, I'm sorry for my use of names, but I wanted something French, and it's the best I could come up with. Love you!

Epilogue

Charlotte's P.O.V

"Mommy!" My youngest child tugged on the bottom of my dress, his brilliant blue eyes looking up at me.

"Can you tell us a story?" He smiled up at me, pleading.

"Of course, Travis. I'll be right in." He nodded his head, disappearing off to his bedroom. It took little effort to find the book I wanted, the well worn, and loved book my own father used to read to me. Gently, I cradled the book in my arms, careful not to let any harm come to such a priceless possession. The only thing I have left to connect me to my father, and mother. Yes, I have pictures, but nothing compares to this treasure, it even still smells like his home.

My mind took me back over fifteen years ago, when My father laid on his death bed. I was only ten at the time,but for as long as I could remember, I knew it would come. Although now that I look back, I'm surprised he didn't go to join mother up in heaven long before he actually did, although I guess he wanted to wait till I was old enough to understand why he would leave me. He loved my mother, part of him died with her. An old man was there with father on that day, father called him Nadir. I don't think I had ever met him before, but he seemed to be an old friend of father. He took me away from the my father's home that night, never to return.

Little Travis poked his head in the doorway.

"Mommy." He whined, trying to hurry me along.

"I'm coming." With a sigh, he disappeared down the hall. I followed behind him, entering his room. Upon his bed sat my two other children, Francois and Shanton. Both looked as if they where sitting on pins and needles, waiting for me to start the story. Sitting down on the wooden rocking chair, I opened the old, yellowing paged book, to the very last story. Written in my father's hand writing, I began the tale I know by heart, the tale they wrote so many years ago.

"Once, A king and queen waited patently for the birth of there first daughter. They already had been blessed with a son, but the queen always wanted a girl, and after many years of waiting, she was granted one, but, an evil enchantress looked upon the royal family with envy, hating them for their happiness. She cursed the babe, depriving the child the simple joy of music.

Despite the enchantresses curse, the King and Queen treated the child as they did their first, raising her to be the what a princess should be. Not a soul in the kingdom could match the babe in beauty, causing even more hatred for the enchantress. One day, using her evil magic, the enchantress killed the king and queen, leaving the princess, and her brother to be orphans. The Prince, being far older than the princess, Raised her, but not as her parents had, for he feared that something would happen to her. Not wanting to be left alone on this earth, he hid her away, keeping her safe as if she was a porcelain doll. The Princess grew tired of her contained life, dreaming of the world that lay outside her grasp.

Night after Night, her brother brought suiters to try to marry his sister, so that she would be forever cared for, but all of them refused, after finding out about the curse from the enchantress. One day, After an agonizing day, the Prince gave up with his attempt to hide her from the world, and allowed his sister to leave their home, to explore the world she had been separated from.

She traveled every where she could, watching people around her in awe, learning everything she could of the world. One day, she came upon a strange musician. Something about this man called to her, and she followed him in curiosity. As if bewitched by her beauty, the musician took her back to his home. He didn't care about the curse that had been bestowed upon her before her birth, for he saw the the women that her brother hide from the world. The musician fell in love with the princess, as she fell in love with him. No one treated her as an average woman, before the musician, always something special, something fragile. With the musician, she was free to be who she wished, not who she was forced to be.

Despite her brother's fear, the musician and the princess wed, to live out there days in happiness, living the life as a wife, and mother, the princess was never happier."

I finished, looking up into the faces of my children, Travis was fast asleep, leaning on the shoulder of his older sister. Getting up, I kissed each one's forehead, before tucking each into their own bed. I returned to me own bedroom, to lay beside my husband, who also had already fallen asleep.

Lighting a candle, I opened the book up in my lap, to the final pages, a smile upon my face. If anyone else was to look through this book, they would never be able to read my father's handwriting, only the note at the end, written so elegantly by my mother, which forever brought me to tears.

My dearest daughter Charlotte,

You will never know how much I truly love you. Forgive me for not being in your life, for I wish I would have had the chance to watch you grow, to become the beautiful woman you are destined to become. I will always be with you, watching over you and your father, and when he passes, we shall watch you together. I love you Lotte, never forget, we will aways be there.

I love you, my little girl.

Forever yours,

Mommy