Jessica finished drying her hair and put the towel back on the towel rack. She looked herself over in the mirror and smiled. Jacques might be gone from the Chateau but there was no harm in hoping she might see him before she left, and she felt lucky today. She turned the fan off and walked into her room to see her sister staring at her with a livid expression.
"What did you do with that letter Jessica?" Elizabeth asked furiously. Jess stared back at her sister confusedly.
"What letter?"
"The one from Todd. Laurent told me that he saw a letter from Todd in our mail here. I know I never got a letter from him while I've been here." A memory stirred in Jessica's mind, throwing an envelope into the fireplace, an envelope addressed to Liz.
"From Todd?" Jess asked quietly.
"Yes from Todd, what did you do with it?"
"The fireplace…" Elizabeth stared at her sister in shock.
"You didn't," Jess nodded mutely, "Jess how could you?"
"You… Laurent… you were so happy. He would have ruined it, just like he always does."
"That didn't give you the right to burn my mail." Elizabeth turned around and stormed out of her sister's room. Jess sank onto her bed, feeling that her luck had just run out.
Laurent looked everywhere for Elizabeth. She wasn't in her room, she wasn't in her sister's room, she wasn't in the nursery, she wasn't in the library; he couldn't find her anywhere. Finally he gave up and made his way to the cottage.
"Laurent!" he heard her voice call to him as he crossed the great lawn. He turned around to see her hurrying towards him. As she got closer he could see tears in her eyes.
"What's wrong Elizabeth?" he asked worriedly.
"Can we go to the cottage? I need to calm down." He nodded and put his arm around her shoulders to lead her to his home.
In the cottage Elizabeth and Laurent sat down in front of the fire in his study.
"So what happened?" he asked handing her his handkerchief as he had done so many times before.
"Jess burnt Todd's letter. So now I don't know what to do," she looked up from her lap to see Laurent's face change from hopeful to pained. Elizabeth felt horrible; she knew that her last sentence had come out all wrong. She stood up and walked over to him, "This doesn't change the way I feel about you," she said sitting on his lap, "But I need to sort out Todd and I before I can move on with you." Laurent looked at her with love in his eyes.
"What time would it be in America?"