“Once upon a time, there was a strong and very handsome cowboy who met a princess when they went to college.” Ryan winks at me and I roll my eyes as he goes on, “The cowboy fell in love with the princess at first sight. He was so excited to meet her that he sat right next to her and do you know what? The princess was reading a book that was very inappropriate for a princess to be reading.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” I coo to Mia. “I think the book the princess was reading was romantic and classy and the prince was probably illiterate.”

“Excuse me, who’s telling the story here?”

I make my eyes big for Mia and she giggles as Ryan continues, “Anyways, somehow, the cowboy got the princess to fall in love with him. But then, a terrible curse was cast upon them. The cowboy was banished and the princess forgot all about him.”

“How terrible,” I say. “But are you sure that’s what happened? Maybe the cowboy was a bit of a narcissist at the time who deserved to be banished after neglecting the princess.”

“No one knows for sure since the curse made everyone’s memories fuzzy. All the cowboy and the princess could remember was that they loved each other very much.”

“Oh, I see.” I look down at Mia and her eyes are starting to flutter closed. The foolish hope that I may actually get a decent stretch of sleep tonight starts to bloom inside me. “And what happens next?” I ask quietly.

“The cowboy never forgot the princess. He always hoped he would find her again and then, one day, he went to a party at his friend’s castle and guess what?”

“What?” I whisper. Tim is snoring and Mia’s eyes are ninety percent shut. Dear Lord, let this happen.

“The cowboy found the princess. He pulled her into his arms and they immediately fell back in love and got married with zero issues whatsoever.” I try not to laugh as Mia finally dozes off after her two-hour refusal. I hold up my hand and Ryan gives me a silent high-five above our now-sleeping children.

“That was a really good story,” I tell him.

“I learned from the best.”

He switches off the bedside lamp beside him as I shift onto my back, trying to get comfortable without waking the babies. “So how does it end?” I whisper into the quiet of our moonlit room.

Ryan pauses, tiredly smiling over at me and saying, “It doesn’t.”

I grin with a dreamy look in my eyes as he slips out of bed, gearing up to carry the twins back to their room. My gaze falls to Mia and Tim one last time before my eyes slowly close.

“I couldn’t have written it better myself.”