To all my reviewers and dedicated readers, thank you! And without further ado, here's chapter 10.

Runaway

Chapter Ten

The newly unified de la Fere family embraced tightly, enjoying the fact that their only daughter was with them again.

Marie cried joyous tears as she enjoyed the love she could feel in the embrace with her true parents. For the first time in years, she felt loved.

As they parted, Marie turned her eyes to Thomas. "Master, thank you."

"I believe that you should be thanking Danielle. She's the one responsible for all this," Thomas said.

Marie turned toward her former stepsister and embraced her. "Thank you Danielle. You have made me so happy. And yet I do not deserve it. Not after everything I put you through."

"Marie, everything you did was done because that is what Rodmilla wanted you to do. None of it was your fault. You have been forgiven, because all along, you were not living your true life. You deserve this. You deserve to be with your true parents," Danielle said to her.

"She is right, Marie," came Ariel's voice from behind them.

Marie and Danielle parted and they noticed that Laurent and Jacqueline were with Ariel. Jacqueline smiled happily at the young woman she had believed for years was her sister.

"That's right, Marie. Everything you did was influenced by my mother. You deserve to live the way that you should have been all your life. It is father and mother's fault that you were taken away from that. You are forgiven by me as well, for everything you did and said to me under mother's influence," Jacqueline said.

Tears welled up in Marie's eyes once again. "Thank you Jacqueline. That means so much to me."

"As it does to me," Jacqueline said. She then turned to Danielle, holding out a piece of paper. "I have the usual note from Henry for you."

"Of course," Danielle said and took it from Jacqueline. She opened it and once again read Henry's proclamation of love and apology, but as usual, she folded it back up and tossed it away, giving a dainty laugh.

All three girls laughed at her. "He still needs to pay for how he treated you, doesn't he?" Marie asked.

"Of course. He is not fit for forgiveness from me yet. He must pay for how he treated me. He has not paid enough yet," Danielle said.

Hours later, Marie's things had been packed up and the four young women were embracing outside of the Chateau. The Chateau was no longer a place of employment for Marie. Thomas had said she had been punished enough by being raised by Rodmilla instead of being raised by her true parents. And now she had that chance. Marie was going home.

"Danielle, thank you so much. I still cannot believe you did this for me," Marie said.

"Believe it, Marie. You get the chance of a lifetime now. Love your family and feel the love they have for you. Enjoy your life and do not dwell on your life with Rodmilla. Put it out of your mind," Danielle said.

"Danielle is right. Enjoy your life and learn from the past, but do not dwell on it. Have a safe trip home, Marie," Jacqueline said.

"I will. Thank you both so much," Marie said, giving both girls one last embrace before she climbed into the carriage beside her mother and across from her father and the door closed.

Marie and her parents waved out the window as the carriage headed down the road away from the Chateau. Danielle, Ariel, and Jacqueline smiled widely at the joy the former sister to two of them showed in her enthusiastic wave,

Once the carriage could no longer be seen, they headed inside and headed into the dining room for a late lunch.

Jacqueline did not wait for the Earl to speak before she asked, "Will my mother be punished for what she and my father did?"

"Yes, Jacqueline. Marie's father decided on the punishment, which will be enforced in a year, of serving their family for the rest of her life and there is nothing she can do to change it," Thomas said with a smile.

"Why a year from now?" Jacqueline asked.

"Because she must serve her year of punishment here for how she treated me," Danielle said.