Thank you everyone for the supportive reviews! I loved reading them. So this is a little bit of a more light-hearted chapter. Also I have no idea if the royal family played paille-maille, which was a precursor to croquet, but it was very popular during this time and with nobility so maybe. Enjoy!

The next morning Catherine still had no idea what to make of her husband's behavior. Throughout the whole evening his gaze kept settling on her, and it unsettled her. As her ladies prepared her for the day, she kept reliving the dance they shared. Oh how she wished he was always that attentive, either that or just ignore her completely, it was so much easier to hate him when she didn't matter to him. Well whatever had afflicted him last night had hopefully passed and everything could go back to normal, what she was used to, and what she could manage. Surely Diane or any other lady would catch his gaze soon enough, which was exactly why she couldn't dwell on Henry's behavior from the night before. It had to be a fluke; she was merely the best amusement for him.

After a breakfast that suspiciously served all her favorites, Catherine met her children Charles and Henry in the garden. She had promised them a game of paille-maille and was greatly looking forward to enjoying the beautiful day with some of her children. As she neared the course, she could hear Charles boasting about how good she was at the game to someone, but whom? Dear lord, it was her husband, what was he doing?

"Catherine! Finally we can start!" Henry exclaimed when he saw his wife, giving her the widest of grins.

"You are joining us?" Catherine asked, completely confused. Henry never joined them, especially if she was involved.

"Of course, I've cleared the whole day. I'm going to teach Henry and Charles how to really play paille-maille, so that they'll never lose. They must learn from the best." he responded with a mischievous smile.

She knew his words were meant to provoke her competitive spirit, she knew she should ignore him.

"Plus our children need to know who the best player in all of France really is. I'm not getting any younger, I have to pass on my wisdom, keep the sporting spirit of the Valois going."

Alright, enough was enough, Catherine couldn't let him continue with this nonsense, what if they believed him. Plus her children needed to know that she was in fact a much better player than Henry.

"Henry, please, we both know that of the two of us, I am the better player, stop spouting this nonsense now, it will lessen the embarrassment when I trounce you."

"Mama, papa, little Henry and I would like to start now" Charles butted in. Both he and little Henry were standing by the first hoop patiently waiting while their parents verbally sparred.

"Of course darlings, we shouldn't delay my impending victory any longer" Catherine responded while ignoring her husband's light chuckling.

'Pay no heed to your mother boys, why she knows first-hand how skilled I am with my ma.."

"Henry! Not in front of the children!" chastised Catherine while feeling a blush taking form.

"Now Catherine, all I was implying was you watching me when we were adolescents, clean your mind dear wife." Henry responded with a grin that said he was most definitely not speaking of their adolescence.

They started youngest to oldest, each taking turns hitting the balls through the hoops, with Catherine and Henry quickly overtaking their children. Normally Catherine would ease up on her play so that she would play more closely with her children, but right now all bets were off, there was no way she was going to let her husband beat her. He couldn't beat her when they were younger, why should he start now. As she watched her husband play she could see that Henry was just as single-mindedly determined to beat her as she was him.

Just as she had expected, Catherine soon started to pull away from Henry as well, his ball had gotten stuck behind a tree root, much to her delight. Ah the end of the course was in sight, it looked like she would win, just like always. Smiling to herself, Catherine realized she was having fun. She loved that Henry had taken time out of his day to seek them out, though she knew that she couldn't get her hopes up, this fascination was temporary. But right now, she just needed to enjoy the moment, she was going to beat Henry and her two children would be witnesses and would surely brag and soon all of court would know that she bested her sporty husband and…

CRACK

Catherine quickly looked up to see Henry's ball come hurtling out of nowhere and land right next to hers. How the devil? He was easily two hoops behind her.

"Henry, what on earth? You need to go through several hoops to catch up to me."

"Don't worry darling, in just one shot I went through two hoops and managed to catch up, proving my athletic prowess, even ask Charles and Henry, they saw the whole thing."

Catherine looked at her two sons, Charles was nodding but not making eye contact, while little Henry looked like he was holding in a laugh. So Henry wanted to cheat, well so be it, she could play just as dirty, for as much as she wanted to win, she wanted Henry to lose even more.

As little Henry and Charles took their turns, Catherine weighed her options. She could continue just outplaying him, but that would mean ignoring his cheating ways, and Catherine wanted Henry to know that gambling against her just wouldn't work, plus it would be more fun to sabotage Henry.

To her left, Catherine knew that at the bottom of the hill was a small pond, a pond that would soon mean the end to Henry's game. The only downfall to her plan was that hitting Henry's ball so hard would derail her own victory. Oh well.

Aiming so that her ball would hit Henry's just right, Catherine had to block out Henry's incessant chatter.

"Catherine, making such a shot would be foolish. You'll have no chance of winning, your ball will go flying as well."

Swinging with all her might, Catherine hit her ball straight into Henry's, both the balls went right over the top, and down the hill, right into the pond only to disappear into its depths.

Catherine let loose a laugh that came straight from the belly, one that completely overtook her whole body, "I've won!" she exclaimed. Hang decorum, Catherine had won and wanted everyone to know.

"I'm afraid not my dear wife," Henry responded, his voice laced with amusement, "I think you and I are most decidedly the losers."

"No papa I think mama won, she sunk your ball" Charles chimed in and little Henry nodded in agreement.

"How quick their loyalty changes" teased Henry as he picked up little Henry. "Well, should this loser get us all some lunch? We can picnic by the pond and after fish out the balls that your mother has so graciously relieved us of."

"Yes!" cried out both boys in unison.

Catherine, however, did not share their feeling. She wanted nothing more in the world than to enjoy a picnic lunch with her husband and sons, but it was becoming too difficult to keep her heart out of her eyes, too difficult to not hope that this meant more. She knew that if she didn't keep the separation, it would hurt tenfold when Henry strayed again. Plus this attentiveness to her was completely new and overwhelming, not since their youth had Henry been this interested in her for longer than a night. Ugh, why did husbands have to be so complicated?

"I'm afraid not my darlings, I have many affairs to take care of this afternoon, but please enjoy the time with your father" Catherine responded and soon made her way back to the castle. How she longed to spend the afternoon with them, but it was for everyone's benefit she kept the distance, what they had currently worked even though it broke her heart every day, but she had learned to cope and by this point it was normal for her. Maybe someday they could all enjoy each other's company and have a picnic, and she and Henry wouldn't be at odds with each other, maybe one day happiness wouldn't be fleeting moments like she experienced today, but rather a state of being, though it would not be today.