"That's them." Anne nodded toward Charles' car, which was parked about a third of the way down the second row, and Louis parked in the empty space beside it.

"Maybe they're waiting for us in the lobby." Anne heard the anxiety in Louis' voice and knew that he was afraid they wouldn't catch up with the other couple.

"I'm sure they're not too far away," she assured him.

"At least this gets me out of an afternoon of babysitting," muttered Maria Tudor. Since the death of her stepmother, her father had become increasingly dependent on her to care for baby Edward, sometimes even to the point of interfering with her schoolwork or extracurricular activities.

"I want to see the monkeys!" cried Reese, who was walking between Louis and Anne and holding both their hands.

"We'll see them in just a little bit," her father promised.

As it turned out, Charles, Anna, and Philip were waiting for them in the lobby. Philip beamed when he saw Maria and went to shake her hand.

"Hi, I'm Philip Neuberg."

"I'm Maria Tudor. It's nice to meet you." She returned the smile as she shook his hand.

"It's nice to meet you as well."

"So how do you like New Orleans so far?"

"It's a fascinating city. There's just so much history! I think I could stay here a year and never get bored. Well, shall we begin?"

The other two couples gave them a few minutes to walk ahead.

"They look so cute together, don't they?" asked Anne.

"I think love is in the air!" Anna agreed.

"I hope it works out for them," said Charles. "She and her mother have both been through so much."

"I know they have," Anne agreed. "I hope I can somehow make up for the part that was due to my actions. For me, this is a start, at least."

"I think it's a wonderful thing you're doing for them," Louis told Anne.

His mind went back to the night he'd first met Marie at a dance following a football game. "I'm Marie Antoinette," she'd told him. "My friends call me Toni."

"I can't call you that," Louis had heard himself say. "You're far too pretty to be a Toni." Then he'd blushed furiously, shocked he'd actually spoken his thoughts out loud.

Expecting Marie to laugh and walk away, he'd stared at the ground. She'd laughed, but she hadn't walked away. "You're sweet," she'd told him. "Shall we dance?"

Terrified of stepping on her toes, he'd led her onto the dance floor, which was really the high school cafeteria, of course. As it turned out, his worries had been for naught, as he didn't step on her toes, and the night was magic. Pure magic.

"Daddy!" Reese's tugging on his pant's leg brought him back to the present. "Aren't we gonna go see the monkeys?"

"Oh, of course, sweetheart!"

Reese shrieked with joy when she saw the rope net on Monkey Hill. Louis and Anne stood watching her climb up and down until she grew tired, then moved on to the reptile exhibit.

"Look, Daddy!" Reese cried. "White alligators!"

"Aren't they beautiful?" Louis asked as his hand quietly slipped into Anne's. Their hands remained clasped as they moved on to the birds.

Enraptured, Reese stood holding to the fence, chortling with glee at the antics of the birds, when suddenly a large vulture flew at her, hissing as it drew closer to the fence. The terrified child screamed and ran into her father's arms. Louis picked her up and held and comforted her until her sobs dwindled down to sniffles. Anne suddenly remembered a sheet of stickers she'd picked up at a restaurant, planning to give them to Katie next time she saw her.

"Would you like some stickers?" she asked Reese, who turned her tear-stained face and watched as she took the stickers from her purse. She handed them to the little girl, who beamed.

"Wow, these are awesome!"

"What do you say?" prompted Louis.

"Thank you!" Reese crowed.

"You're welcome, sweetheart." Anne patted her back.

It was a bright, sunny day in late spring, and Anne realized she was kneeling in sawdust. A crowd of people were staring at her, waiting in anticipation. She saw her sister Mary, Charles Brandon, and various other people she knew, but George wasn't there. Where was George? Something in her peripheral vision caught her eye. It was a large, wooden, oblong box, and the sight of it filled her with dread. Why was it there?

There was a man holding a sword. She met his eyes, and he shouted at her. Henry was there, and his eyes were cold and hard. She knew somewhere, not too far away, a little girl with red hair, not yet three years old, was crying for her mother.

Elizabeth.

Henry gave a curt nod, there was a sudden movement behind her, a bizarre falling sensation, and everything went black. Anne gasped and sat up in bed, panting and gasping, hot beads of sweat covering her forehead. She hadn't had the nightmare in a long, long time. It had probably been years. What had brought it on again? Was it something that had happened earlier that day? What did it mean, anyway? Was it a distant memory from a previous lifetime? A warning of some sort?

Her eyes found the numerals on her digital alarm clock. Four AM. She wanted Louis more than anything in the world, wanted to feel his arms around her, comforting her as he'd comforted Reese at the zoo, but surely she couldn't call him at this hour of the morning. She'd be certain to awaken him.

With a sigh, she settled back into the sheets, prepared for several more hours of staring up at the ceiling.