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Morgan had never really expected to see Nancy again after Dad had brought Giselle home from the ball (which he had claimed had had a dragon, but Morgan wasn't sure if she was supposed to believe that part or not), saying that he and Giselle were not just in love, but in true love. She had especially not expected to see Nancy again after Nancy apparently refused to answer the phone when dad tried to call her the next morning and apologize for, among other things, leaving her behind without a ride home ("You mean you left her with a dragon, Dad?" "No, no, of course not, sweetie. Giselle had already killed the dragon by then." "What?" "I'll tell you later, now hurry up and finish your cereal or you'll be late for school.") and then let her voice-mail fill up until he couldn't even leave messages saying how sorry he was and could he please at least have a chance to explain himself before she hated them all forever. Therefore, it came as quite a surprise when Nancy knocked on the apartment door during breakfast one Saturday morning a few weeks later, not hating anyone and apparently married to Prince Edward, who was also there but fortunately didn't look like he wanted to stab anybody the way that he had tried the last time.
Nancy said something about needing to tie up loose ends in town before people started thinking that she was dead or something, and soon everyone was deep in discussion about what needed to be done. Morgan tried to listen to the adults' conversation, but it mostly involved things like paperwork, and accountants, and lack of legal precedents, and the possibility of needing to hire lawyers who weren't Dad, so it wasn't very interesting for her. Eventually, she gave up, left the adults talking in living room, and went to draw pictures at the dining room table, where she didn't have to listen to all that but she could still keep an eye on things just in case Edward decided to point his sword at people again. He didn't seem mean about it, but Morgan was pretty sure that no one had ever told him he could put someone's eye out if he wasn't careful, so he needed to be watched. However, she also needed to pay close attention to her drawing if she wanted to get it right, so she was rather surprised when, sometime later, she heard someone else sitting down next to her and looked up to see Nancy.
"Hey there, kiddo. Can we talk?"
"I guess," Morgan said without really thinking, because she had never heard of anyone ever accepting 'no' as an answer to that question.
"I know you weren't really keen on the idea of having me for your stepmother," Nancy said quietly, "but we were at least kind of friends, right? You didn't, I mean, you don't actually hate me, do you?"
Morgan had never really thought about it before. However now that she did, she could see that, aside from the whole problem of not wanting Nancy as a stepmother, which wasn't a problem anymore thanks to Edward, there wasn't any good reason to not like her. Sure, Nancy had done things like telling Morgan to eat her vegetables or finish her homework, but she had never been mean about it. Instead, she had helped Morgan with her homework when the questions were too hard, and she had showed Morgan how she could chop up her broccoli into little pieces and mix it with her cheesy mashed potatoes as a way to hide the taste of the broccoli so that Dad wouldn't get mad at her again like that time she had tried to hide it in her napkin the way some of the kids at school said they did. Nancy had even been willing to play princesses with her instead of listening to Dad's claims that she should find something more educational to do with her free time. The closest Nancy had ever come to being mean to anyone while Morgan was watching was when she yelled at Dad the first time she had met Giselle, but Dad had explained that that was just a big misunderstanding and they had both said they were sorry. What was there to hate?
"No, I don't hate you, Nancy," Morgan finally said, then paused as one last thought occurred to her before she concluded, "even if you did make it so that Giselle doesn't get to be a princess."
"But to become a princess, Giselle would have had to have married Edward," Nancy protested.
"So?"
"Well, for one thing, Giselle seems to be happier with your father than she was with Edward. Just look at the lovey-dovey faces they keep making at each other when they think no one else can see them," Nancy said, not bothering to hide her own smile as she pointed to the far side of the room. Morgan turned and saw that, yes, those were some pretty silly faces Dad and Giselle were making at each other while, and they looked very happy. Edward, meanwhile, politely pretended not to notice any of that as he fiddled with the Lego blocks which Morgan had left sitting on the coffee table the night before. Only his occasional glances to the side gave him away. A Moment later, he noticed Nancy looking in his direction and answered her smile with a dazzling one of his own. "And for another thing, no offence to your father, Morgan, but I'm already happier with Edward than I ever was with Robert." Morgan had to agree; Nancy did look happier than Morgan had ever seen her before. However, she also looked like she was not going to understand the point that Morgan was trying to make until Morgan explained it to her.
"But none of that matters," Morgan said when Nancy finally looked back in her direction.
"Of course it matters!" And, wow, Nancy looked genuinely offended.
"No it doesn't," Morgan insisted, "because Dad is a divorce lawyer!" And now Nancy just looked confused, so Morgan kept going. "Giselle could have married Edward and become a princess, and then Dad could have helped her get a divorce right after! That way you could still marry Edward, and Dad and Giselle could still be together, but Giselle would have still been a princess, because once someone gets made into a princess, no one can take that away from her, even if she gets a divorce from the prince. At least, that's what my book about important women said about Princess Diana."
Nancy's eyes went wide and her hand flew to her mouth in what might have been a failed attempt at holding back the high pitched guffaw of surprised laughter which erupted from her. "Oh, Morgan honey," she said, still chuckling good-naturedly, "you really are your father's daughter. The next time Robert tells you that you aren't thinking realistically enough, you only need to explain to him what you just explained to me, and he'll see that you're perfectly capable of being quite calculating when you need to be. And you know," Nancy continued, looking thoughtful now, "that plan of yours might have actually worked. It's too late now, of course, but that's our fault, not yours, and if I ever run into another four people in the same situation as we were, I'll be sure to suggest it to them while they still have time to try it."
Morgan was somewhat reassured by this, but not entirely. "Do you promise?"
Nancy held up her right hand with the smallest finger extended towards Morgan. "I'll pinky swear to it." Morgan extended her own hand, and the two of them solemnly locked pinkies. With that most binding of all oaths now complete, Nancy asked, "So, friends?"
"Yeah," Morgan nodded, "friends." Then she paused, looking uncertain and chewing her lip right up until the moment she blurted out, "I'm sure you'll be a good mother to somebody someday."
And, oops, she must have said it a lot louder than she had meant to, because Dad instantly shouted, "Morgan!" from his place in the living room.
"No, no, it's alright, Robert. I know what she was trying to say," Nancy called in return. Then she turned her attention back to Morgan, reached out to gently pat her hand, and said, "I hope you're right, kiddo. Honestly, between you and me, I probably wasn't ready to be mother or stepmother to a six-year-old anyway. Like you said though, someday. In the meantime," Nancy continued, her smile turning from wistful to conspiratorial, "since I'm no longer in the running to be your stepmother, how about I try to fill some other role for you? I was thinking maybe something along the lines of 'really cool honorary aunt' or something similar."
"That sounds like it could be nice," Morgan said after a moment of thought. "I've never had an aunt before, especially not a cool one."
"Fantastic! Now I'll have an excuse to invite all of you to come visit Andulasia sometime, once you've finished school for the year!" Nancy leaned in and whispered to Morgan, "I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see the look on your father's face when he first encounters real live talking animals."
Yes, Morgan liked that idea very much. She would have to remember to bring her camera.
They chatted for a little while longer, and then Morgan watched as Nancy made her way back into the living room to sit next to Edward, who was making the same sort of sappy face at Nancy as Dad had taken to making at Giselle. Morgan had to wonder, was this the secret to the 'only one thing' that boys were interested in? Did boys only want a girl who would put up with one of them making faces like that at her without telling him how silly he looked? Morgan would have to remember to ask Nancy about that later. Maybe she would finally learn the truth, because Morgan had heard that answering the sorts of questions that other adults wouldn't was one of the many things that cool aunts did. All of Morgan's friends who had cool aunts said so. And even if Nancy wasn't allowed to give Morgan the real answer, the newly appointed Nancy-as-cool-aunt would probably give a much more entertaining excuse for why she couldn't than Nancy-as-future-stepmother would have done, just on principle. Either way, Morgan was looking forward to hearing what she had to say.
The End