“We have a little surprise for you right now,” Isaac said into the microphone. He side glanced at me with a grin. “See, my niece is a huge fan of Cinderella and she has never met her before...”
I looked down into the front row of chairs and my wife gave me a thumbs-up. Next to her Zoë was sitting on the edge of her chair, listening intently to what her uncle was going to say.
“Zoë, can you come up for a minute?” Zac asked from behind me at the drums.
“Come on, honey, it’s OK,” I told her, beckoning for her to come up on stage. She jumped up and ran to the stairs. She looked at them timidly so I walked down and took her small hand in mine and lead her up to center stage.
“Zoë, how would you like to eat with Cinderella in her castle?” Isaac asked my daughter.
I held a microphone to her mouth but it didn’t matter, she just nodded excitedly. By that time Clare and the baby had come to the edge of the stage. She was in on the secret that my brothers and I had been planning for Zoë. Isaac’s wife and his two twin sons and one daughter were standing off to the side that he was on. They, too, were in on our little secret.
“Well, Zo,” I said to her, leaning down to her height. “Look who’s coming.” Cinderella was climbing up the stairs on Isaac’s side and walked center stage. Zoë stood there in awe, looking up at her like the castle’s owner was the most beautiful person she had ever seen in her whole life. I placed my daughter’s hand on Cinderella’s white gloved hand and she placed the other hand on top of Zoë’s so Zoë’s was sandwiched in-between hers.
“Hello, Zoë,” she said sweetly.
“Cinderella...” Zoë said in disbelief. I put my hand lightly on her shoulder and squeezed it softly.
“Would you like to eat in my castle with me tonight?” Cinderella asked her.
Zoë nodded enthusiastically. “I would like to very much!”
I looked at my brothers and the audience clapped as Cinderella escorted my daughter off the stage to join my wife and baby at the bottom of the stage. They were going to go up into the castle with Cinderella and Isaac’s family. My brothers and I were going to join them after the show in about twenty minutes.
“This is our last song of the day,” Zac said. “Thank you to the cast of Walt Disney World for having us here.” He started the drum beat and we ended the concert with our version of “When You Wish Upon A Star.”
We joined our families up in Cinderella’s castle. The second my brothers and I entered into the room everyone stood and applauded. The three of us smiled and I turned red. Zac bowed and Isaac bowed his head. I dashed over to my family and picked up Zoë who was seated right across from Cinderella. I twirled her around and balanced her on my hip.
“Daddy!” She squealed and she hugged my neck tightly. She turned her attention back to Cinderella. “This is Cinderella,” she said to me. “Cinderella, this is my Daddy.”
The lady smiled and I reached out my hand and took her gloved one. I brought it up to my mouth and kissed it lightly. I bowed to her like she was the princess and I was a peasant in her thrown room. “Pleased to meet you, Princess Cinderella.”
She laughed. “The pleasure is all mine, Sir. Hanson.” She stood and patted my daughter’s arm. “You have a gorgeous daughter.” She raised her arm to my wife and Anya. “And a beautiful family.”
“Thank you,” I responded. I bounced Zoë on my hip. “Did Mommy tell you that after lunch, you and Cinderella are going to get your picture together.” She dropped her mouth in shook and grabbed her arms around my neck and kissed my face all over.
“I love you, Daddy! Thank you Daddy!”
I looked at my wife and she smiled back at me. “I love you too, Daddy,” she mouthed. I raised my eyebrows at her.
“OK, honey.” I patted Zoë’s back. “Daddy loves you too, but time to finish your peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” I leaned over and placed her back in her seat. Then I sat down on the edge of the bench she was seated on. “But scoot over a bit will ya?” I joked. She moved towards her mommy and I squished over a bit. I reached my hand over her back and kept it there. I tapped her mother and looked away to pretend I didn’t do it. Clare picked up my hand and held it. I squeezed her fingers together. She was holding Anya cradled in her arm and next to her was Isaac’s wife, Andy, with Isaac seated next to her. Isaac’s two boys were at the next table, and his daughter was sitting next to Cinderella in a chair. Zac was sitting next to her.
“What can I get for you sir?” A waiter asked me.
“Hmm, I think I’ll just have some of Zoë’s,” I joked. I pretended to grab one of her sandwich triangles.
“Daddy!” She said sharply. Her eyes narrowed at my hand. “Get your own!”
I looked back up at the waiter. “I’ll have the same thing as her, cut in triangles, not squares.”
“Will that be with crusts or without?”
I scrunched up my nose. “Without.”
“And to drink?”
“Chocolate milk, please.”
“Very good sir.” He moved on to the rest of the table.
I noticed that Cinderella was smiling at me discretely. “You are amazing,” she said softly.
I shrugged. “Who likes crusts on their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? It’s yucky, right Zoë?”
“Yucky,” Zoë agreed with a nod, her mouth full of bread. She reached for her cup of chocolate milk and drank it greedily.
After we all finished lunch, it was picture time. Cinderella and the children posed in front of the big fireplace in the main hall. I must have take at least one full roll of film of my daughters and their cousin’s with the fairy tail princess. Cinderella held my baby carefully in one arm and hugged Zoë with the other in most of the pictures. When it was time to leave, Zoë got an autograph and Clare got one for Anya in the baby’s little Disney autograph book. Cinderella posed for one more picture before we left, her and Zoë alone. My younger brother asked me to give him the negative when I got the pictures developed so that he could make a poster of the picture for my daughter. He asked for the one of Zoë, Anya, and Cinderella as well so he could make a poster of that one too. I promised to give it to him before he and Isaac left Florida so he’d have it ready by the time we got to Tulsa the next week to visit Zoë’s grandparents.