1. Family
The next morning Aidan was walking along the corridors of the palace, his mind strictly on Kat, not having a slept a wink during the night. Why did she run like that? After she had left Aidan had taken the glass slipper Kat had left behind to his room and for hours he just looked at it, thinking about its owner. Currently the slipper was back in his locked room on the table so that it would break or disappear.
Aidan then sighed as he couldn't think for a reason for Kat to act like that. He sat down on a small bench and looked at the royal family portrait in front of him. In the portrait a much younger version of King Kit was standing behind his beautiful wife Queen Ella, his hand on her shoulder while she was sitting on a chair.
But what surprised Aidan was that Queen Ella seemed to be holding a baby in her arms. Who was that? The King hadn't introduced any of his children to Aidan when he first arrived. In fact he had thought that the royal couple was childless.
''Beautiful isn't it?'' Aidan suddenly heard someone say next to him, making him stand up from the bench. Aidan looked at the source of the voice and noticed King Kit standing next to him looking at the portrait with a sad smile on his face.
''Your Majesty, I didn't hear you,'' Aidan apologized as he bowed to the King.
''It's quite alright,'' Kit assured, ''you know, this was the first portrait that Ella had agreed to be painted on. She always said that she hated herself in paintings, especially self-portraits, much like I had when my first portrait had been painted. But she finally agreed to be painted into a family portrait. Good thing too,'' Kit finally sighed as he looked at the painting.
''If I may ask, but who's the baby?'' Aidan finally asked.
''My daughter,'' Kit answered shortly while still looking at the painting.
''I haven't seen any princess' around the palace,'' Aidan voiced his thoughts.
''You wouldn't as she was kidnapped when she was only four months old. We tried to search for her, but nobody was able to find her. Ella eventually worried herself so badly that she actually fell ill. So to this day my daughter remains as the lost princess,'' Kit explained.
''Oh, I'm sorry,'' Aidan said sadly.
''Thank you,'' Kit said politely.
''If I may ask again, but you said you searched for her, but how were you going to be able to recognize her? I mean, doesn't all babies look the same?'' Aidan asked.
''Not all babies look the same, but to ease your mind, she had a unique birthmark that no one had seen before. So I'm actually surprised that no one could find her,'' Kit explained, ''She was so beautiful,'' he then sighed.
''What kind of birthmark?'' Aidan asked curiously.
''Small angel's wings on her left wrist,'' Kit declared. Those couple words made Aidan pale just the slightest and lean on the wall for support. How was this possible? There was only one person in the entire kingdom who had that kind of birthmark, as she was the only one who was singled out from the crowd because of it. Kat was the lost princess.
Aidan slowly turned his head and looked at the royal family portrait again. And as he looked the painting he wondered how he didn't see it before. Aside from the hair, Queen Ella and Kat looked exactly alike. Same nose, same eyes, same mouth. If they'd be the same age they could pass as twins.
''Did…did she have brown hair and eyes?'' Aidan asked as he turned his face from the portrait, while his breath was ragged and uneven.
''Yes, how did you know?'' Kit asked skeptically as the painting didn't show his daughters face, just a small bundle in Ella's arms.
''Because I know her,'' Aidan declared as he turned to look at the King's astonished face.
''How…what…you know Katherine?'' Kit choked out, convincing Aidan from the fact that it indeed was Kat who they were talking about, since even the name was same.
''A while back she saved my life and in return I started helping her to do her chores. She was the one I was with at the ball. The woman in the red gown,'' Aidan told Kit. To this Kit himself started to feel a bit weak kneed, so he put his back against the wall and slides down so he was sitting on the floor.
''She's alive. My baby girl is alive,'' Kit sobbed into his hands. Never had he anticipated that his daughter would be living in his own kingdom, so close yet so far. Almost twenty long years and his precious daughter had been living so close, but he never noticed her. Oh how Kit had failed as a father.
''She is, but she doesn't have a very good life,'' Aidan said sadly to the broken King.
''What do you mean?'' Kit asked as he lifted his tear streaked face to look at the young prince.
''She's the indentured servant to Lady Agatha Du Bond. She was apparently left on the Lady's doorstep after the kidnapping and the Lady took her in as her servant. And the drunk priest in her village has declared her as the daughter of the Devil because her unique birthmark making her an outcast. She's lonely and broken,'' Aidan said sadly, remembering all the times when Kat had been on the verge of tears because of her unchangeable life, but then, for the sake of her friend, had bravely put on a happy face, even if she was crying in the inside.
''What! Daughter of the Devil? The Royal Priest told us when she was born that her birthmark would mean good luck and fortune. How old and drunk that priest is that he doesn't see that they are Angel's wings not Devil's?'' Kit raged as he stood up and started angrily pacing in front of Aidan.
''That's what I have wondered. I have tried to be there for her and I think I have helped her open up a bit as I don't tread her like trash like the villagers and the Lady does,'' Aidan said feeling just as angry towards the villager and the Lady as the fuming King in front of him.
''You care for her, don't you?'' Kit then asked when he noticed the tender voice Aidan used when he spoke about Kat.
''You Majesty in all honesty, I love her. She understands me like nobody has ever before and she doesn't treat me any differently because of my status. Yesterday I had every intention to ask her to marry me had she not run away. And I still intend to,'' Aidan declared, not feeling scared or intimidated by the king, who turned out to be the father of the love of his life, at all.
''Good, she deserves someone who loves her. I would have never tried to force her into an arranged marriage had she grown up with Ella and I. I didn't want to go through it when I was her age and I certainly didn't want my daughter feel like that,'' Kit said.
''Does this mean that I…I have your blessing to court your daughter?'' Aidan asked the king.
''If she deems you worthy of her love, I see no reason why not. You're a fine man Aidan, I've seen it,'' Kit said, ''but be warned, if you hurt her in any way I will hunt you down and make you pay for hurting my daughter,'' Kit then said venomously.
''Of course Your Majesty, I'd expect anything less. But rest assured, I will never hurt her. And if I ever do, I will give you free rein to hurt me,'' Aidan declared.
''Good, but let's continue this discussion when my daughter has been returned to where she belongs,'' Kit then said to which Aidan was nodding, fully agreeing with the King as this was his chance to help Kat to get away from that awful Lady and her spoiled daughter.
A chance to give Kat the happy life she more than deserves.
XXX
Kat had once again fallen back to her normal day routine. Waking up in the morning and cooking breakfast to the Lady and her daughter. She had hidden the glass slipper, that didn't disappear with the rest of the clothing, into her room and decided to keep it as a reminder of the best night of her life. Also the day after the ball, before serving the Lady her breakfast, Kat had ran into the garden and had given all her animal friends, who helped her last night, many fruits and rolls as a thank you.
During the breakfast Beatrice was still continuing her rant from the evening, about how the prince didn't even talk to her at the ball and how weird it was since she obviously was the prettiest girl at the ball. A fact that Kat was fully disagreeing with, but for the sake of her own life, didn't voice out loud.
The Lady was of course trying to calm Beatrice by telling her how the prince was obviously a fool for not noticing her and by spending all the time with that tramp of a princess that showed up unannounced to the ball.
Kat was grateful for her Godmother for concealing her identity from the Lady, as if she would know who the mysterious 'princess' was there was nothing and no one in the world that would save Kat from her wrath.
Kat had by now fully accepted her lifelong fate as a servant to the Lady, since there was no way she and Aidan could ever be together. He was a prince of a magnificent land, who needed a powerful princess as his wife and not a poor servant girl, who couldn't offer him anything except her undying love.
Beatrice was so distraught that she refused to go anywhere that day and the Lady of course agreed to that, saying how they needed rest after last night. And so the Lady once again gave Kat a list of what to do, adding how she now had to serve the Lady and now very needy Beatrice since they were staying home, making her list of chores much longer than normally.
Sometime past mid-day Kat was scrubbing the stairs, when knocking was heard from the front door. The Lady sharply told Kat to continue scrubbing as she hurriedly went to open the door to reveal King Kit, Prince Aidan and the king's Captain of the guard on the doorstep, along with some soldiers still sitting on horses behind them.
''You Majesties,'' the Lady said while curtseying low, ''how can I help you?''
''The girl who I was with last night dropped this and I intend to find her,'' Aidan said while showing the glass slipper in his hands. Kat was looking behind the corner, horrified how Aidan had actually come to her front door and was informing the lady about the 'princess's' identity.
''My, that looks a lot like one of my daughter's slipper. Beatrice darling, would you come here,'' the Lady sweetly called and Beatrice immediately showed up. She muffed a squeal when she saw who was at the door and then calmly walked next to her mother.
''Yes, mother?'' She asked sickly sweetly.
''Dear isn't this one of your slippers?'' The Lady asked while gesturing towards the slipper on Aidan's hands, wholly knowing that it wasn't.
''Yes, I lost it last night during the ball,'' Beatrice said immediately.
''Really now? Maybe you could prove it by trying it on,'' King Kit then said. And before the last word had flown out of the King's mouth, Beatrice had snatched the slipper from Aidan and sat down on the armchair in the sitting room. She took her flat shoe off of her foot and threw it on the floor. She then tried to squeeze her big foot into the small slipper.
''Well…it seems that... my feet are swollen…from last night. It fit perfectly…yesterday,'' Beatrice breathed while trying to fit her foot inside the slipper, that was obviously too small for her.
''I think we've seen enough ma'am,'' the Captain said as he walked towards Beatrice trying to get the slipper.
''No, it is mine! I'll prove it,'' Beatrice yelled as she tried to squeeze her foot more forcefully into the slipper. But then the slipper fell from her sweaty hands and the Captain had to plunge towards it before it crashed to the ground. Luckily the Captain was able to catch it before it broke. Aidan could then breathe a relieved breath, one the King mimicked next to him. That was close.
''Do you have any other maidens in the house,'' Kit then asked the Lady.
''No, no one,'' the Lady lied.
''What about Kat?'' Aidan surprised her by asking.
''What?'' The Lady asked, outraged by the idea of the prince knowing her servant.
''Where's Katherine?'' Aidan repeated, using Kat's full name.
''She's not here,'' the Lady lied once again.
''Yes I am,'' Kat said as she walked from behind the corner. Kit felt his breath get stuck in his throat. This woman looked exactly like Ella; every single detail was the same. Except the hair, she had the same hair as he did, deep rich brown. This was his daughter without doubt. His baby girl was in front of him for first time in over nineteen years. He could feel how tears started to form inside his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.
''You! Get back to the kitchen where you belong,'' the Lady shrieked when she saw Kat.
''Just a moment ma'am, we have to let her try the slipper on as well,'' the Captain calmly said.
''But she's just a ragged servant girl. She wasn't at the ball,'' the Lady argued. Kit could feel the hot rage burning inside of him when he saw how this woman treated his daughter, but smartly he didn't let it show.
''Never the less, she's to try the slipper on,'' the Captain said back and the Lady found that she was unable to say anything else without disgracing herself in front of her King. Aidan then stepped up and took the slipper from the Captain and then led Kat to the armchair, where Kat removed one of her boots from her foot. Aidan then knelt to the ground and, like last night, he easily slipped the slipper onto Kat's foot.
''Looks like I found my princess,'' Aidan joked as he helped Kat stand from the chair.
''That's impossible! She's just a beggar. She just has the same sized foot as the princess has,'' the Lady yelled.
''No she hasn't. She is my princess. She's the one I was with at the ball. And many days before it,'' Aidan said as he placed his forehead onto Kat's.
''What!'' The Lady yelled in outrage.
''That's enough!'' Kit surprised everyone. The Lady immediately stopped her shouting and Kat hold onto Aidan's hand feeling a bit scared by the King. Now everyone knew that she wasn't a real princess. What if the King decided to punish her for letting everyone think that she was?
''Prince Aidan told me about the maiden who saved his live couple weeks back and how he then on visited her regularly. He also told me how he fell in love with this woman,'' Kit said making Kat feel embarrassed that Aidan had told the King about her and their shared feelings. ''He also told me how this woman had a unique birthmark on her left wrist,'' Kit continued.
That's when Kat felt angry towards Aidan and ashamed by the fact that the King knew about her strange and dissociating birthmark. Why did he have to tell the King that? Did he want to see her executed for being the 'Devil's daughter'?
''Yes, she does! Little tramp has the mark of the Devil on her wrist. You should burn her, she must be the spawn of the Devil,'' the Lady yelled, trying to make the King hate Kat so that she would not have the happy ending with the prince, which Kat at this rate was going to have.
''Ma'am, do hold your tongue in front of your King,'' the Captain warned the Lady, who immediately closed her mouth.
''What I was about to say was, that this woman's birthmark was a pair of angel's wings on her wrist,'' Kit continued as he walked next to Kat, who was standing at Aidan's side. ''Almost twenty years ago my wife and I had a daughter. She had brown eyes like her mother's, dark brown hair like mine and a pair of angel's wings as a birthmark on her wrist,'' Kit said while gently taking Kat's left hand into his and turning it around so he could see the mark. It was exactly like Katherine's, the very same mark. ''And then, when she was just four months old, she was kidnapped. And now after almost two decades I finally found her and I finally see her standing in front of me,'' Kit said as he looked into Kat's eyes. ''You look just like your mother,'' he whispered as he placed his warm hand onto Kat's cheek. By now Kit had tears running down his cheeks as he looked at the astonished face of his daughter.
Kat couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was the long lost princess. She had of course, over the years, heard the rumors about the missing princess, but that was about it. But here she was, hearing that she was that princess and that she was never abandoned by her parents, she was kidnapped from them and they had tried to find her. She was a wanted child, always had been.
Now Kat too had tears falling from her eyes as she looked at her father in front of her. Her father. She never imagined that one day she'd be able to call anyone by that title. She didn't care that he was the king, what mattered to her was that he was her father and that he loved her.
And so, Kat plunged herself into her father's arms, who immediately hugged her back. They both had tears running down their cheeks while they embraced one another, neither actually believing that this day would ever come.
''No, she can't be the princess! She's just trash!'' The Lady then yelled, breaking the emotional moment while Beatrice was standing dumbfounded next to her.
''Ma'am that is your King's daughter, show your respect,'' the Captain ordered, feeling angry towards the Lady for interrupting his friend's and his friend's daughter's long awaited reunion.
The Lady was enraged by the idea that her ungrateful, disrespecting servant turned out to be the lost princess. She would not have it. She wouldn't care even if this girl turned out to be the Empress of China, the Lady would not stay in the kingdom being ruled over by her servant. Because that's what Kat would always be to her, a ragged servant girl, nothing else.
But the reunited father and daughter paid no attention to the raging woman, too happy to have finally found each other after all these long years. Aidan couldn't be happier for Kat. After all the suffering in the hands of the Lady and the villagers she deserved the happy and loving family.
Without any further words the royals and their Captain left the manor, leaving the raging Lady and her dumbstruck daughter behind. Kit helped Kat, who had quickly fetched her other slipper from her room, onto the horse and he sat behind her, not wanting to let his daughter out of his sight.
During the journey to the palace the father and the daughter tried to get to know each other a bit better. They both knew that the following days were going to be hard and difficult, but together they could get through them.
They finally got to the palace and Kit immediately asked a servant girl to get Ella to the throne room and then he started guiding Kat and Aidan there.
After Aidan that morning had revealed Kat's existence, Kit hadn't told Ella anything about Kat possibly being in the kingdom in case Aidan turned to be wrong and the woman he knew just happened to resemble the lost princess. But it turned out he was right and Katherine was indeed alive and back with her family, back where she truly belonged.
They entered the throne room where Queen Ella, in her simple blue gown, was already waiting.
''Dear, what's going on? Why did you ask me to come here?'' Ella asked when she saw her husband enter the room.
''Ella I know this sounds impossible, but I swear it's all true,'' Kit said to Ella, who just looked confused. Kit then gently took Kat's hand and guided her towards Ella. ''Ella this…this is Katherine, our daughter,'' he finally said while Kat stood in front of Ella.
For a moment Ella just silently looked between Kat and her husband. And then,
''Is this a joke to you? Do you expect, that after all the imposters, that I would believe another one to be my daughter? I thought you'd have learned from all of those girls who came here claiming to be Katherine,'' Ella exclaimed. And Ella had every right to feel skeptical, even angry.
For over the years many girls with similar features to Katherine have come to the palace claiming to be the lost princess, hoping to score a royal life. But all those girls were lacking some important feature and Ella was always the one to notice it. She remembered her daughter, every last bit of her, from the color of her hair to the last faint freckle on her face. So now days she didn't believe that a girl claiming to be her precious daughter was the real one.
She angrily turned around and was about to leave the room when,
''Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green,
When I am king, dilly dilly, you shall be queen,''
Ella stopped walking when she heard a quiet voice sing behind her.
''Who told you so, dilly dilly, who told you so?
T'was my own heart, dilly dilly, that told me so,''
Ella refused to turn around, she refused to let the tears stain her cheeks, but couldn't stop them from gathering in her eyes.
''Call up your men, dilly dilly, set them to work,
Some to the plow, dilly dilly, some to the fork,
Some to make hay, dilly dilly, some to cut corn,
While you and I, dilly dilly, keep ourselves warm.''
Now Ella just had to turn around and look. She saw the young brunette woman singing softly, her voice just above a whisper and her eyes filled with unshed tears.
''Lavender's green, dilly dilly, lavender's blue,
If you love me, dilly dilly, I will love you.''
Ella walked towards the now more confidently singing woman, taking in every feature on her face. Wavy brown hair like Kit's, warm brown eyes just her own, small slightly upturned nose just hers, full pink lips just like hers had been during her younger days. And the ever so faint freckles on her nose every last one that Katherine had was on this woman's nose.
''Let the birds sing, dilly dilly, let the lambs play,
We shall be safe, dilly dilly, out of harm's way.''
Ella couldn't contain herself anymore. She immediately pulled Kat into her embrace and joined into her own mother's lullaby, that she to this day still loved and sometimes hummed, trying to remember the days when everything was perfect.
''I love to dance, dilly dilly, I love to sing,
When I am Queen, dilly dilly, you'll be my King,
Who told me so, dilly dilly, who told me so?
I told myself, dilly dilly, I told me so,'' mother and daughter finished the song together, while tightly embracing each other. Ella just let the tears run down her cheeks, she didn't care what anyone would think if they saw their queen cry, she didn't care. For the first time, in over nineteen years, her daughter was in her arms. Her daughter was finally home.
Kit couldn't just stand there anymore and he hurriedly walked to his wife and daughter and pulled them into his arms. His family was finally back together. They were now all laughing and crying together, the cold sad days were finally behind them and they were ready to head towards the bright future, together as a family.
This is not the end yet. Wait for the epilogue.
Love you all,
Snow