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Chapter 37

They'd only driven round the next corner, when Leo began to speak again.

"Nikki, will you marry me?"

Nikki coughed to cover her laugh.

"What?" gasped Harry stunned, he twisted around to stare at his son.

"How can I already prefer it when he didn't talk?" he hissed under his breath to Nikki. He could see her broad smile out of the corner of his eye.

"End - story. Prince alway marry princess," Leo proclaimed with a slight lisp. "Leo marry Nikki. Live together in castle. Happy ever after."

Harry thought back to his playing card analogy. Leo it seemed had just played the ace of spades.

"Thank you for asking, Leo. It was very kind of you. I think living in a castle with you would be fantastic." Nikki replied. "I'll have to think about it for a bit. Is that ok?"

"Ok," Leo agreed happily.

"Don't you think you're a bit young to get married?" Harry asked Leo.

"You no ask," retorted Leo. Harry paused, decoding the boy's words and not being entirely happy with his interpretation.

"I'm married to your mother!"

"Mommy dead. You said. No more Mommy. Just …" Leo paused and tapped his forehead stuck for the vocabulary.

"We just have our Mommy memories," Harry prompted and stared out of the side window and twisted the wedding ring he still wore.

"I didn't want this to happen," Harry muttered his face still turned away some moments later.

"But it has Harry, so what are we going to do?"

"You don't deserve a second hand family and you can do a lot better than me. Leo was always so locked away in his own world I never thought he'd become as close to you as he has, I thought we'd have both moved on - I never thought I'd…"

"Daddy?" interrupted Leo. "Leo have pancakes?"

"Wouldn't you like sushi?" Nikki asked with a smile.

Leo shook his head. "Pancakes, please."

"I think we should talk about this later," Harry said aware that he might never finish a sentence again and instead of being frustrated the thought thrilled him with delight.

"I still want to find out why you're a naughty friend." Nikki said to lighten the mood as they parked by her house.

"I'd have thought that was obvious." Harry muttered. "You ready? Come on big fella," he said as he lifted Leo out of the car.

"Daddy? Don't you think Nikki is good princess?" Leo asked.

"Don't princesses always need rescuing?" Harry remarked.

Harry watched Leo's face wrinkle as he thought through the problem.

"Not all of them," Leo replied after a while. "The one where Prince is frog. Princess kiss frog and make Prince better." Harry sighed and followed Leo into Nikki's house. He was more worried about Leo's other favourite story. The one where the tiny mouse outwitted all the other animals of the forest and the Gruffalo. He suspected that that one was a much better metaphor to what was actually going on.

The frog prince: traditional tale

The Gruffalo: Julia Donaldson