Paperweights (Tiny Holiday Stories from the Worlds of H.D. Knightley)

Story Two: Princess Amelia and Hank

Amelia and Hank are the two main characters of the novel, Fly; The Light Princess Retold. This tiny story takes place after the fairytale ending. You can read the full book here on Wattpad (I'm posting it chapter by chapter) or sign up for my newsletter at www.hdknightley.com and I'll send you the full e-book.

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Hank placed his surfboard up against the side of the house and called, "Amelia? Are you home?"

Her high tinkling laugh emitted through the window. "Hank!"

He trudged through the sand to the front door, stamped his feet on the mat and stepped inside. Amelia swooped down and hovered in front of him, her feet kicking near the ceiling, her arms languidly flowing through the air currents of their small beach bungalow. Her smile was wide, her face bright, she said, "I have a present for you—" and then she clamped her hands over her mouth. She giggled, "I was going to keep that a secret until tonight at the party!"

Hank laughed, "You kept that secret for about two seconds."

She sighed a pretend, overly dramatic, sigh. "Hank, presents can't wait. They just can't. That two seconds was excruciating." Hank held up his hand and Amelia grasped it and gently floated down until her feet were on the floor.

She kissed Hank on the lips, and said, "Would you like it now or at the party?"

He had her wrapped in his arms, she was solid, grounded, returned to earth. He screwed his face up, "Let's see. It's a Christmas present, and we promised each other that we weren't going to do Christmas presents this year because we were donating all our time, energy, and money to the rebuilding efforts in the village. You said yourself, 'Hank, I don't want any presents this year, I just want my presents to go to needy children,' you said that just two days ago, and now you have a present for me and I don't have one for you, so maybe at the party, so I can go shopping this afternoon."

"Nope, I don't want anything and you promised me. I've known you for a long time and you are a man of your word Hank, no presents."

"But you got one for me? You aren't a princess who keeps your promises."

"Princesses don't have to keep their promises, it's one of the perks of being a princess."

"I see."

"And I broke this promise because the present was so perfect. And so necessary. And you need it. Probably right now."

"Okay, now then."

Amelia clapped her hands, happily, as her feet floated up behind her and she ascended to the ceiling. She swished her arms and turned and dolphin-kicked down the hall. "It's in the kitchen!"

Hank followed her to their table. In the middle was a box, wrapped in sky-blue paper that matched Amelia's hair, and tied with a silver ribbon. She clapped again and exclaimed, "Do you like?"

Hank laughed again and effusively said, "The wrapping is gor-geous!"

Amelia said, "Isn't it just perfect!"

Amelia wrapped her hand around Hank's bicep and slowly dropped to the ground again, landing softly. Her gravity back she said, "I love you Hank Campbell."

"I love you too, Amelia Campbell."

"You've been working so hard for everyone else for so long, carrying around the weight of the world, and I just, I see it, how big your heart is, how heavy the burden is, and I just—oh just open it."

Hank smiled and pulled the box toward him. He untied the bow and glanced at Amelia who was nodding excitedly. He ripped off the paper and Amelia said, "Yay!" And applauded his unwrapping. And then he opened the box and peered inside. There was a glass sphere nestled in tissue paper. He reached down and pulled it up. It was about six inches in diameter, thick glass. In the center was a chaotic twist of a knot of sky blue gossamer silk strands that shimmered and sparkled and wrapped and coiled, slowly twisting inside the larger glass sphere. Hank turned the sphere around and around in his hand, while the middle twisted and turned independently of the outer sphere, "It's beautiful, what is it?"

"Inside is magical air, Hank, it's the tailwind of a flying princess, the currents that lift me up, the air that flows around, and in the middle, that sparkling silver place? That's a bit of my laughter, I caught it all for you and put it inside this. Whenever I'm not around, this is a bit of the magic that is me, for you, and small enough that you can carry it. I hope it will give you lift." She beamed. "Do you like it?"

"I do, I love it." Hank smiled and twisted the sphere a few more times.

"And there's a stand, so you can put it down, so your hands will be free to hold me, kiss me, hug me. That's a hint."

Hank chuckled and placed the sphere carefully back in the box and hugged his arms around Amelia lifting her feet up from the ground. He kissed her on her forehead, on the cheek, and then on her lips. "You're the best. Thank you. This is already the best Christmas I've had in a long long time."

"And it's only just begun. Boomer is coming to get me in a few minutes, the bands are setting up, the doors open in three hours. You sir, need to hit the showers, there's a party!" Amelia let go and floated toward the ceiling, kicking off the door jam and spiraling across the living room to the bedroom, saying to herself, in her airy singsong voice, "I love parties!"