Hello Team Queen B. This is Marcy reporting, and boy, do I have a story for you.

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Once upon a time, several years ago, it was Thanksgiving Day. 

On this particular Thanksgiving, it was cold and gray and wet, nearing that time of day where it gets dark far too early. 

We had fully finished our meal, dessert, and seconds of each. 

Bentley had taken off her dress of the day and settled into her pink pajamas, her tiara placed safely and soundly back in its case. 

Everyone sat about engaging in family banter, our typical manner in any given evening.  

All was right in the world of us until…

Someone, who shall remain nameless, began engaging Bentley in conversation regarding her plans for college and the future. 

With much enthusiasm, Bentley shared her desires and hopes, her carefully crafted plan that had been years in the making, some parts since birth, mind you; years of lessons, years of practice, years of rehearsals and more… the next exciting chapter on her journey.  

She spoke about her preparation for college auditions and that’s when “it” occurred. 

This person asked the mother of all questions in that way.

You know, when someone asks a question as if it’s a question but the tone lets you know that it’s not really a question. 

“I don’t get it, why would you go to school for that?  What will you do? Nobody listens to opera anymore, opera is dead.” 

Gasp… get out- said just like Elaine from Seinfeld, only I was sitting down, so it doesn’t involve her signature push, but had I been standing up, the push would have been there, too.  

Time stood still. At least it stood still long enough for me to whip my head around to catch Bentley’s facial expression.

Anyone who knows Bentley knows her facial expressions speak all, and this is one I did not want to miss. What would it say? Should I be nervous?  

After all, the dress was off, the tiara back in its proper resting place. The cold, the gray, the wet, the dark too early… this was unknown territory. Recipe for mass destruction and mayhem.

I was near panic. 

Had I prepared her for this moment under such conditions? Could she handle it with grace? 

For a split second, her face was expressionless and all color gone. 

I began to feel faint.

But, even faster than that, all the color returned and her facial expression did not disappoint. 

The corners of her lips slowly and evenly began to rise into a confident configuration.

It is my very favorite Bentley smile, which only appears at particular times. Times such as the moment the sales associate hands her the bag and she turns to walk away.

Or the three to four seconds after the pianist plays the last note of a song.

Or the moment she slips the second foot into a certain pair of patent leather red shoes. 

Or the mere mention of this certain pair of jaw dropping footwear.

Or if you catch her while she is thinking of the same pair of ruby red, patent leather slippers…

It was then that I knew. She owned this moment.  

But as she began to speak, another voice quipped in

 “Are you serious?!?!?” 

And the facial expression behind that voice was even more memorable. Pinch me, this was about to get good!!! 

There he was, Bentley’s body guard ready to shut down any such stressor. He knows the danger of tension on the voice. (It’s all about the voice, why else would she have a body guard?) He has been her protector for all time. He has dried many tears and once, even wrote and performed a song just for her when she was sad. He spent many years singing this song to her just to make her smile and feel happy. 

A singing body guard. 

I know right? 

Where does Bentley find such people? 

The fine gentleman is also known as her financial guru, jeweler, and dad. 

All of this to say… I have certainly not seen these people at Thanksgiving dinner again. 

I am not even sure what Bentley would have said after that smile, but it doesn’t matter.

Her dad’s way was just as well.