Haytham placed his hand under his chin as he thought back to his time in Cuba. He held a letter in his hand address to him from Alejandro Torres. It had been almost a year since he had seen him and dealt with with the Assassins. They were not much of a threat, which meant they were easy to take care of. But there was a problem, even after a year. One of his children, the youngest, Maria, was in trouble. An Assassin was caught inside the woman's room.

The Assassin was planning on kidnapping the young woman to ransom her back to the Torres family. The young woman managed to protect herself by running a sword through the assassin. He was impressed with her but wasn't surprised. He had gotten quite acquainted with the young, but beautiful Maria Torres. She was known animal lover with horses, lizards, and snakes along with other exotic animals. They exchanged letters once in awhile to talk about their daily lives. Seeing her snarky notes about her brother, or her loving tone about her younger nephew brought a smile to his face. He wasn't going to admit it, but he enjoyed her letters and missed her company. He was only in Cuba for a short month, but he was with her in his free time.

Haytham grabbed his quill and replied in a quick response that he could give Maria shelter until the whole event blew over.

A month had passed before Haytham had himself ready his Estate in Virgin. Only him and Lee knew the location of Haytham's manor. Being a bachelor in high society it would look odd if a young woman would start living with him, so he chooses a place where it was out of public view. It was much safer that way.

Haytham kept his eyes peeled out the window until he notices a single horse carriage came trotting down the entrance of his property. He grabbed his hat to set on his head, he was working on documents to the very moment of her arrival. He pulled on her coat as he walked out to greet Lady Torres.

Maria was helped out of the carriage by Lee, he was kind of enough to help her out of the carriage. "Thank you, master. Lee, you have been so helpful." He had escorted her to the property.

"Of course, Master. Kenway would have my hide if I didn't." Lee chuckled.

Haytham cleared his throat to make sure his presence was known, "And she is here in one piece."

Lady Torres gave a small curtsy before walking up to greet him, her maid had climbed out of the carriage behind her. "Master. Kenway, it is so wonderful to see you."

"Miss. Torres,"

"It's Maria,"

"Of course, then I would hope you will call me Haytham."

Maria chuckled, "It is a pleasure to see you again." She kissed his cheek in greetings. "This is my new handmaid, Cosette,"

Haytham had a chance to study the young woman that stood behind Maria. She was in her late teens, from her name he could guess she was part, French. "Pleasure," He nodded, "We have a bed made up for you in the servant quarters."

Cosette nodded before going into the carriage to grab what looks like a small cage with a blanket over it. "I 'ave Pierre right heze Milady," Her accent was thick.

"You brought one of your pets."

Maria chuckled, "Si, he is just a baby," She gently pulled off the tarp of the small cage.

Haytham blinked before he was a spotted cat with pointy ears and sharp green eyes. It was a Lynx, a wild animal. "Don't worry Haytham, he will only be a large house cat."

One of Haytham's servants unloaded the wagon to carry one of her trunks inside just as Maria open the cage to carry the small cub inside the house.

Lee stood in awe, "That is a wildcat,"

"She does love her animals, it seems."

"I hate cats," Lee muttered

Haytham patted his shoulder, before walking in after Maria. He watched her expression as she studies his home, "I didn't expect you to have sense of style, but it still needs,"

"I bought it as is, nothing special about it."

"I see, but luckily you have me around." She smiled as she pets her small cub, he purred under her arms. "I can give this place a nice touch-up."

Haytham chuckled, "It will give you something for you to do since I don't have much for you to entertain with."

There was a gleam in her eye that reminded him of their last encounter. "I am sure there are ways..."

A flashback came to his mind when the grandmaster had to say goodbye to Lady Torres.

Haytham peeked in on the young woman as she stood by a giant cage with its door open. In her right hand was a piece of lettuce that she was tearing apart to feed the animal inside the cage. The grandmaster took a moment to appreciate the room where all the animals kept. She had a couple bright colorful parrots, along with a giant cage that kept Maria's large snake that was bathing in the sunlight from a window. He even saw a small glass cage that housed small green lizards. Next to it was a small tank filled with small butterflies. The room was filled with many other pets such as snakes, bugs, lizards, even a rat.

He glanced back over at the woman who was smiling and cooing a very large lizard that looked like an iguana. She was speaking to it in Spanish, but he allowed her to finish feeding it.

When Maria turned to face him, her smile widens but her eyes became sadden. "Master Kenway," She finished feeding the animal before closing the cage.

"Haytham, please."

"You still call me Maria then."

Haytham chuckled at her comment, "You have yet to introduce me to your pets."

"I am afraid you wouldn't have time to know them all," She step forward to him, "I know your ship leaves soon….I do have a question."

"Si master Kenway?"

"May I write you?"

Maria face changed to smile, "I'd love it if you did…I've enjoyed your company Haytham."

The way his name escaped her lips caused his heart skip a beat, the only person he had ever felt that was his mysterious mohawk woman. Ziio and the grandmaster were from two different worlds, it would of never worked between them, but with Maria….it was possible. The idea float through his mind as she came closer to him to grab his hand and give it a light squeeze before the two leaned in for a soft kiss that the two were locked into.

Haytham was snapped from his memory to see Maria head upstairs to be acquainted to her room. He was pleased that he had company in his home.