Cailin looked around for a key that may go to the journal. Soon, she found one, buried in the box. Quickly she unlocked it, and opened the pages. There was, the same, neatly done cursive in the journal, that there was on the ring.

The page said,

'July, 4th.

This morning, Silly Tarrant came and scared me awake.
He came in the bedroom, wearing a mask from the ball last week.
I opened my eyes, to see a scary face first thing. I screamed and hit him.
He just laughed, of course. But I assured him that I would get even with
sooner or later.'

Cailin smiled. "This must be Mother's journal..." she said. Then she imagined her father running in with a silly mask on, and scaring a sleeping woman. She giggled at the thought of that. "Seems very much, unlike Father..."

"Read more! Read more!" the mouse said.

Cailin flipped the page and read it.

'July 5th

Yes! I knew I could get even with that scoundrel! This morning, when
he was feeding the horses, I sneaked in the barn. Then with a fake spider,
which I made myself, I draped it over him, right in front of his face. I made
It land on his nose. He screamed like a woman, and jumped up and down.
I think that, very well beats him!'

Cailin laughed very loudly. "Oh, how funny! He was probably ticked off for the rest of the day!"

Then Cailin flipped through many pages. She read,

'November 17th

The days are getting colder. Tarrant is getting all the firewood ready
for the winter. I am trying to make us a warm blanket, but it is getting
harder with the baby getting bigger. It is also hard for me to walk around.
Tarrant never lets me walk, if I am in his presence. He is such a Dear.
I love him.'

Cailin flipped through many more pages. She was trying to find if there was anything about when she was born.

Sure enough, she got to it.

'March 5th

It was a wonderful day. Our precious child was born. We have
a little girl. Little, Cailin Roanne Hightopp. She is resting in my arms
as I write this. Tarrant is sitting beside me, playing with her little
fingers and talking to her.
What a gift we have. I could never be more grateful.'

Cailin flipped through the pages a little bit more. Soon, the writing stopped, and there were only blank pages. Cailin got tears in her eyes. She knew that the pages were blank, because that was when her mother had died.

She sniffed, and a tear dropped. It fell onto the last written page and smeared some ink. "Oh, no!" she said. she tried to dry it, but it just smeared it more.

But then she noticed, that in another spot on the page, there was another spot of smeared ink. It was not from her tear, because it was dry. She realized it must have happened a long time ago. From no other, then her father. "Poor, Father..." she said quietly.

"Poor father, what?" the mouse said, rudely.

"Poor Father, that his wife died, and now he is alone."

"He's not alone! He has you!" the mouse said, in disbelieve.

Cailin was silent. She sighed. "Yes, I know...but sometimes...it seems like, me being with him, makes him feel worst."

"Why?"

"I don't know...He is never happy. Whenever he actually does smile, it is always a sad, fake one."

"Well, it's not your fault! So he is just going to have to learn how to live with you!" the mouse said, obnoxiously.

Cailin's face fell. "I wonder how Mother did die..."

"You mean he hasn't told you?!" the mouse said, in disbelieve.

"No. He never talks about her."

The mouse dropped her shoulders and rolled her eyes. "Well, someone is going to have to drag him out of this funk! He has to learn that there is more to life then moping around all the time!"

"Oh, hush!" Cailin interrupted.

Then, Cailin spotted a picture frame in the box. She pulled it out. There, she saw, a woman, standing by a large cherry tree, and a baby in the woman's arms. "Oh..." Cailin said dreamily. "This must be Mother..."

She studded the woman, up and down. Then she looked at the child in the woman's arms. She knew that it was herself. "There is so much...that I have missed out on..." Cailin said, sadly.

Then Cailin spotted, on the bottom of the picture frame, engraved words. It read, 'My Little Loves.' The letters were in her father's hand writing.

After Cailin was done looking at the picture, she set it back into the box carefully. But she wasn't about to stop looking around. As much as she knew that her father would never like that she was poking around in his personal stuff, she just had to find out more. Tarrant his himself so much from her, and she didn't even know what he was really like.

Cailin looked into the box again. She picked up a scourged, ruined top hat. Cailin was curious about the burns on it. It was the second thing that was burned. The journal was burned as well. Then Cailin found some woman's shoes, with burns on them as well. "Why are all these things burned up?" Cailin said.

"Did your mommy die in a fire?" the mouse asked.

Cailin thought for a moment. That would certainly make sense. "I don't know...Maybe..."

"What else is there?" the mouse said, looking into the box.

Cailin looked some more. She found an open envelope. There were many notes inside. Cailin pulled one out.

The note had, once again, the fancy cursive. It read,

'Tarrant, meat me at the river. Kila.'

"Oh,...I suppose Kila was my mother's name," Cailin said. Then she pulled out another. It read,

'Tarrant, my father said that I can marry you! Meat me at the maple tree! Many kisses to you! Love Kila.'

"They are all love notes from Mother. Before they got married," Cailin said.

"You know, It wasn't right for your daddy to hide all this stuff from you!" the mouse said.

"He was too sad to talk about it," Cailin said, sadly.

"Well, he should at least try to get passed it! He has a daughter, and he needs to treat her like one!"

Cailin was silent. She knew that the mouse was right. Suddenly, Cailin felt insignificant to her father. She felt that he only cared about his wife, and Cailin was always getting in his way.

"It seems to me, like you are pretty mediocre to that mean, ol' father of yours!" the mouse said.

"Well...he does spend time with me...I'm sure he just doesn't like talking about Mother. It's only natural to be sad about something like that..." Cailin said, unsurely.

"Well, I give him no excuse!" The mouse turned and folded her arms.

Just then, there was a knock on the front door. Cailin jumped. "Oh no! It must be Father! I didn't think he would come home this soon!"

Quickly, she put all of the things back into the box, and shoved it under the bed. Then she ran down the steps.

When she was about to open the door, suddenly she felt afraid. "What if that is not Father at the door," she said.

The mouse jumped up onto the window. "Well, is your father tall, with long black hair and a heart eye patch?"

Cailin froze with fear. "N - no..." she said. Then she peeked out the window. She saw the scary man, standing there. He looked angry, when he pounded on the door again.

"Open up!" he called.

Cailin began to tremble. "Oh...What shall I do...?" she whispered with fear. She shivered even more when she saw that the man pulled out his sword. He began to whack the door with it.

Cailin gasped. Quickly, she ran to the back door. She opened it and ran out side. She jumped over the fence and into the forest she fled. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her, for she had never been so terrified in her life.

Cailin didn't even know where she was going, if if her destination was safe. But she kept running.