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Remington Steele sat down on the lounge in the home he shared with his wife Laura and their two children, seven year old Olivia and five year old Mickey as the two kids climbed into his lap for a bedtime story. Laura smiled at the scene before her – he was such a good father as she always knew he would be, she thought to herself as she left them to it, going into the adjoining kitchen to wash up after dinner.
“Daddy can we have one of your made-up stories tonight rather than one from a book?” Olivia asked. Laura, who could hear them talking, smiled to herself, ‘Well he’s certainly good at those.’
“Hmm okay a made up story it is,” Remington replied with a grin. “Now let me think – oh I know just the one to tell you,” he said as he held them close to his heart and his and Laura’s children both looked at him expectantly.
“Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess,” he began as Olivia smiled. “Like me Daddy?” she asked as her father always called her his ‘princess.’ ”Very much like you my darling,” he replied, his blue eyes twinkling at hers as he ran a hand over her chestnut hair which was so like her mother’s. “Anyway this princess lived in a kingdom with her mother the queen, and her sister who was also a princess.”
“Where was the king?” Mickey asked. Remington hesitated for a moment. “Ah well unfortunately the king was cowardly and foolish and he had run away and left them,” he explained. A little frown crossed Olivia’s face. “Well he wasn’t a very nice daddy,” she stated as Remington nodded and replied seriously “No I’m afraid he wasn’t.”
“That must have made the princess very sad when her daddy went away,” Olivia said. Laura, who was listening to all this, blinked back a tear or two and said to herself, “Yes it did.”
Echoing her words Remington stated, ”Yes it did but it also made her strong. She learnt to rely on herself and became very determined. You see not only was the princess very beautiful she was also very smart and very brave,” he continued with a smile as Laura smiled to herself as well, hearing his words.
“What was her name?” Olivia asked. “Her name? Um well it was Myrtle.. Princess Myrtle,” he said with a cheeky lopsided grin. “That’s a funny name,” Mickey giggled as Remington had a chuckle himself, his blue eyes shining with mischief, “Yes it is rather isn’t it?” as Laura grimaced.
“So Princess Myrtle grew up in the castle with her mother and sister. But she wanted to be more than just a princess in a castle waiting for a prince to come along and sweep her off her feet. She wanted excitement and adventure. So one day she decided she wanted to be a knight,” he stated as both children looked at him with surprise.
“Girls can’t be knights!” Mickey stated emphatically as Olivia poked her tongue out at him and stated just as firmly, “Yes they can - girls can do anything boys can do.”
“That’s my girl,” Laura thought to herself with a smile as she heard her daughter say that.
“Well Mickey my boy I’m hoping this story might change your mind in that regard,” Remington said with a grin. “Anyway that’s what the rest of the kingdom thought too – a princess certainly couldn’t be a knight. But Princess Myrtle was determined – so she would watch the knights as they trained and then she would practice what they did in secret and she read books about being a knight..”
“Are there any dragons in this story? This is boring just about princesses..,” Mickey interrupted as Remington laughed and he affectionately ruffled his son’s hair.
“No there’s no dragons I’m afraid son – but there’s lots of excitement and adventure,” Remington replied with a smile then continued with the story. “Trust me – it’s a great story,” he assured him as Mickey gave his father a skeptical look, not entirely convinced.
“Then when the princess felt she was ready she started to go out into the kingdom in secret and help the townsfolk.”
“What would she help them with Daddy?” Olivia asked.
“Oh all sorts of things Livvy – she would help them find things, catch bad people who had stolen things or hurt people, she protected people – things like that. You see Princess Myrtle was as brave and as smart as any knight in the kingdom. Well after a while people started to talk about this mysterious ‘helper’ who no-one had ever really seen. So Princess Myrtle decided to make up a name for the helper – she knew no-one would believe a princess could be a knight so she made up a man’s name for him.”
“What did she call him?” Olivia asked excitedly as a smile crossed both of her parents’ faces, Laura wondering what he was going to say. Remington thought quickly on his feet. “Well ah.. she called him Stirling Gillette – Sir Stirling Gillette,” he stated with a grin as Laura tried to stifle a laugh, remembering him using that name on occasion on a case. “That’s a funny name,” Olivia laughed as a slightly perturbed look crossed her father’s face. “Well it’s not that funny,” he stated with a wry grin.
“So Sir Stirling Gillette’s fame grew and soon the whole kingdom had heard about him, although no-one had ever seen his face, because he didn’t exist.”
“That was clever of Princess Myrtle,” Olivia commented as Remington smiled. “Yes very clever,” he agreed.
Just then Laura came into the living room from the kitchen. “Mind if I finish the story?” she said with a dimpled smile. Remington flashed her a lopsided grin. “Be my guest.”
“Do you know this story too Mommy?” Mickey asked.
“Yes I do sweetheart – very well in fact,” she replied as she shared a smile with his father and sat down next to them on the lounge.
“So one day a handsome young man arrived in the kingdom from across the seas,” Laura continued the tale as she smiled at Remington. “He was a thief and he had come to steal some jewels that Sir Stirling, that is, Princess Myrtle,” she said as she shot Remington a fake dirty look at the name, ”had vowed to protect. So in order to get to the jewels he pretended to be someone else.”
“What was his name - the thief?” Mickey asked, suddenly interested in the story. “Well ..ah let’s call him..Johnny shall we?” Laura replied as her husband grinned at her. “The thing is, he had used lots of names over his lifetime, none of which were really his,” she explained.
“He was naughty to try to steal the jewels,” Olivia stated adamantly as her father looked a little uncomfortable. At that Laura put an arm around her daughter and said, ”Yes I guess it was a bit but what you have to understand about Johnny was that he didn’t have the best start to life. He didn’t have a mommy and daddy like you two do so he became a thief to survive.”
“And a good one he was too,” Remington added with a cheeky wiggle of his eyebrows as Laura rolled her eyes at him.
“Did he steal the jewels?” Mickey asked curiously.
“Listen to the story son and you’ll find out,” Remington told him.
“So Johnny had heard the famous knight Sir Stirling Gillette was in charge of protecting the jewels so he tried to find out more about him. But no-one seemed to know what he looked like – all the townspeople knew was that Princes Myrtle was the only person who had ever seen him. He found out where the knight was supposed to live and broke into the room - it looked like his suits of armour were brand new and his clothes had never been worn. Even his brush had no hair on it which Johnny found very odd. So he sought out the princess to see if he could find out more about the mysterious knight.”
“When the princess saw Johnny she felt as if she had finally found her handsome prince,” Laura stated as she smiled at Remington. “And Johnny felt he had never met a girl as beautiful as the princess,” he replied. At that Mickey groaned. “They’re not going to kiss and stuff are they? Yuck!” as both of his parents laughed. “Well there might be a bit of that,” Remington stated with a twinkle in his blue eyes.
“What happened then?” Olivia asked, enthralled with the story. “Well..” Laura went on, “Johnny was very smart and he found out that there was in fact no Sir Stirling and that Princess Myrtle had made him up and she was actually the famous knight.”
“Did he tell her mommy the princess had told a lie?” Olivia asked as Laura shook her head with a laugh. “No sweetheart he didn’t. As it turned out, one of the townspeople mistakenly thought Johnny was actually Sir Stirling so he and the princess came to an arrangement that he would act as Sir Stirling for her in exchange for keeping her secret. He moved in to the knight’s quarters and got to keep his clothes and everything.”
“So he didn’t steal the jewels?” Mickey asked with a bit of disappointment as both Remington and Laura shook their heads. “No he didn’t Mickey,” Remington replied. “You see when he met the princess he changed – he wanted to turn over a new leaf and be a better person.”
“And what Daddy hasn’t told you was that Johnny was really a prince underneath. He had a heart of gold, he was brave and smart and charming, and also a little bit cheeky – just like you,” Laura said to Mickey as she affectionately tweaked his little nose and he grinned a familiar lopsided grin at her.
“So she couldn’t have hoped for a better Sir Stirling Gillette,” she added as she gave Remington a meaningful look.
“So what happened to them?” Olivia asked.
“Well my dear girl.. they eventually fell in love. It took them a while but they finally admitted their feelings for each other,” Remington answered, his eyes never leaving Laura’s, as Mickey screwed up his face in disgust and his father couldn’t help but chuckle.
“And one day Johnny took Princess Myrtle to a beautiful kingdom across the seas and he took her to the top of the tallest tower there and asked her to marry him,” Laura continued with a smile.
“What did she say?” Olivia asked, entranced.
“Yes of course,” Laura replied with a laugh as Remington covered one of her hands with his. “They got married and had two beautiful children and the two of them continued to be Sir Stirling and..”
“They lived happily ever after,” both Remington and Laura said together as they shared a tender kiss, then Remington quipped as he winked at Mickey, “I told you there was going to be kissing son.”
THE END