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Prologue

“Please tell me another story, Daddy,” Sorrel entreated her father while snuggling in closer to him on her canopy bed

David looked over at the Minnie Mouse clock on his daughter’s nightstand before he kissed her head, knowing exactly what she was doing She loved nothing o to sleep “Little girls need their rest so they can grow tall and strong”

“I’m not little anymore—I’m five years old,” she stated with authority

David laughed deeply “All right, irl” He could never tell her no “I’ll tell you one more story” He paused to think of which story he should tell her One ca Or was she? Sorrel was the most precocious child he had ever known Perhaps she was ready “Sorrel, my little love—”

“I told you, I’m not little, Daddy”

“You will always be my little love” He tickled her

She squir love?”

He tapped her nose “Mommy and you are the loves of my life”

“Will I have a love of my life too?” she asked so innocently

As David had thought, she was older than her years gave her credit for “Yes, reat love, but,” he hesitated, “you must be patient and brave”

Sorrel puffed out her pink silk–covered chest “I as at the park today”

Silently he prayed that she rehout her entire life “You are a brave girl And I want to tell you a story about a brave girl A story you must always remember This story is about a princess named Sorrel”

“Her naht “I want to be a princess when I grow up”

He wrapped an arhter and squeezed “You, my love, are meant to be a queen”

“Can I wear a crown?”

David laughed “If you want to”

“I do” She settled against her father

He held her close, wishing she could stay little, that he could always protect her “While Princess Sorrel didn’t wear a crown,” he began, “she had beautiful chocolate-brown hair and eyes as blue as the ocean, just like you She also had a special book”

“Like Mommy?”