Thanks to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting Friday Fictioneers.

PHOTO PROMPT © Roger Bulltot

“Mama, that doesn’t look like happy ever after.”

Ella’s deflated voice was another bitter reminder of our disastrous vacation. My precocious daughter had been so excited to see a real castle. I should have known better. How could a six-year old see past her Disney-colored glasses at the beauty of this twelfth century wonder? I looked up in awe and imagined an idyllic Camelot, my own unachievable idea of happily ever after.

Time for a change.

I knelt next to her and pressed my hand to her heart. “Sweetie, happily ever after isn’t in a castle. It’s in here.”