"Bash, what is that over there?" Kenna asked, bringing her horse to a stop.

"What?" Bash questioned, stopping his own horse.

"Right through there," Kenna pointed in the direction of an overgrown path, "It looks like there's a house back there."

Bash cleared the way for them along the path and they rode into what must have once been a small clearing but was now teeming with overgrown vegetation. Kenna's suspicion was confirmed though, there was a quaint cottage there.

"Hmm I don't remember there being a mention if this on the paperwork I looked over for the estate," Bash said.

"You actually looked over that paperwork?" Kenna asked skeptically.

"Umm okay so maybe I only briefly glanced over it," Bash replied, "important documents were never my thing. There's a reason Francis is going to be in charge of the country and not me."

Kenna wanted to make a comment about how he had come very close to letting Mary drag him into a life of endless papers, but decided against bringing up stuff that they were determined to keep in the past. She just laughed and walked towards the cottage. It was definitely in need of some work, but it was a nice size and she had the perfect idea for it.

"Be careful in there, I'm not sure how secure and stable everything is," Bash called to Kenna from the entryway.

What was he doing letting her go in there all alone? He slipped inside and went after her. The cottage was actually in pretty good shape on the inside compared to what things looked like on the outside and he didn't think it would need more than a few weeks of mostly cleaning and a bit of repairs to make it livable. Kenna had shared with him her idea of cleaning up the cottage and offering it to Lola and Julien. It was on their property but secluded enough that they wouldn't feel like constant guests. He understood Julien's position of not having much to offer a wife and wanted to help him in this. He knew there was a chance they wouldn't except, but at least they would end up with a nice house to use for guests or renters.

"Bash? How long do you think it would take to get things together?" Kenna called out.

Where was she?

"It's pretty nice in here I would guess just a few weeks. Where are -"

Bash was cut off by the sound of a crash followed by Kenna's scream. A million possible scenarios raced through his mind of what could have happened as he called out for her and ran across the house.

"Bash.." He heard her small whimper and found her in the back bedroom.

A beam had fallen and trapped her inside the room. He saw that the shoulder of her dress was torn and there was blood everywhere. The beam must have hit her shoulder before she could get out of the way. He cursed himself for letting her off on her own as he pushed the beam out of place. He quickly walked over to her and inspected her shoulder. There was a lot of blood and some splinters of wood were imbedded into it, but the wound itself didn't look too deep. There was no way she was going to be able to ride back and he doubted his ability to bring her back on the back of his horse without causing further harm to her, but she needed medical attention quickly.

"Kenna, I'm going to need you to be the tough woman I know you are because this is not going to be a very comfortable ride," Bash told her gently.

He debated whether or not he should pull some of the pieces of wood out now or wait. He ripped away what still remained of the top of her dress and removed some of the bigger pieces if wood. He cringed at the obvious pain on Kenna's face. He hated to see her in pain, he would rather take the pain on himself than ever see her hurt.

"Okay, that's as much as I'm going to do for now. Do you want me to carry you out?" Bash asked wiping tears from her face.

Kenna nodded and he gently picked her up.

"You know, under different circumstances, you ripping my dress would have been hot," Kenna muttered as she blacked out in his arms.

The trip back to the estate seemed to drag on endlessly and he breathed a sigh of relief when it was finally in his sights. Approaching the house he called for Emilie, who was sweeping the front walk, and explained the situation to her. She ran to the kitchen to grab one of the older women who was experienced in helping with injuries. Lola came running out into the hall with Oliver when Bash carried Kenna up the stairs and gasped. Bash told her he would explain later as he brought Kenna into their room and laid her down.

Her eyes fluttered open, "Bash?"

"Yes?"

"Am I going to be okay?"

Bash looked over at her, the wound looked pretty bad but he had certainly seen worse. "You'll be okay, although I can't promise that there won't be a scar."

"Least of my worries," Kenna mumbled as her eyes closed again.

It was probably better that she was out while the wound was cleaned anyway. Bash looked up to see Emilie walk in with her friend from the kitchen. The older woman introduced herself as Margaux and Bash could tell as she gave orders to him and Emilie that she was a no nonsense woman. Bash helped Emilie sterilize tools in boiling water and other small tasks while Margaux started to remove the remaining wood shards. A grimace appeared on Kenna's face but her eyes remained closed and she was still. After all the wood was removed Margaux cleaned the wound and prepared for stitching. Bash watched as the woman's wrinkled hands delicately and expertly stitched up Kenna's shoulder.

"Scarring will be minimal. I've had more opportunities to practice this then I would have liked," Margaux told him.

"Thank you," Bash replied, "I don't know what we would have done without you."

Emilie piped up, "Yeah if I would have had to stitch her up she would never want to wear off the shoulder dresses again."

Margaux just nodded and left.

"She might not seem very warm but she's like a mother to me. She had to bury her husband and her only child, a daughter, and she is one of the strongest people I know," Emilie commented, "She adores Kenna too in her own quiet way. I think she reminds her of her daughter."

Bash wondered when Kenna had been spending time with the women and almost as if Emilie had read his mind she continued, "Kenna comes down to the kitchens almost every day and talks with the staff. Originally I thought it was just because she was bored, why would a highborn girl spend time with servants, but I think she's been without a mother for too long and the women who work here help to fill that hole for her. Well, I'll leave you two. If you need anything when she wakes up just let me know," Emilie said as she walked out the door.

Kenna woke up to a searing pain in her shoulder. It was all she could do not to scream. She frantically reached out to the side for Bash and grabbed his arm. His presence calmed her and she tried to remember everything that had happened over the past few hours. Her brain was a bit foggy but she remembered being in the cottage with Bash when something fell on her. After that she didn't remember much of anything but the fact that she was in her bed and no longer oozing blood had to be a good sign. But the pain, oh the pain, in her shoulder was awful. She ran her hand up and down Bash's arm to try and wake him up. Bash rolled over and opened his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I've been better," she mumbled, "What exactly happened? I don't remember much after something fell on me."

Bash filled her in on everything that had happened and she felt good knowing that Margaux had seen to fixing her up. Margaux had been cold towards her at first but she managed to wiggle her way into the older woman's heart and now she was the one Kenna sought out for motherly advice.

"Do you think the cottage can still be fixed up quickly? I really want to show it to Lola but not if it's a safety hazard," Kenna asked.

"Yes, I'll send for the craftsmen that worked on the estate and have them get to work," Bash replied, "But you have to consider that Lola and Julien might decline the offer, and I don't want you getting your hopes up prematurely."

"I know," Kenna reassured him before continuing a few minutes later, "This injury unfortunately gets in the way of the important task at hand."

"What's that?" Bash questioned.

"Making babies of course!" Kenna answered with a smile.

"Then I guess you'll just have to hurry up and heal," Bash responded with an equally big smile.

Kenna was happy to see him getting just as excited at the prospect of having children. She leaned over to give him a kiss but was stopped by the feeling of a thousand needles stabbing into her shoulder. She rolled back over with a sigh and Bash asked her if there was anything he could do for her to alleviate the pain.

"I don't think so, I'm just going to have to tough this one out," Kenna replied.

Bash pressed his lips gently to her shoulder and whispered into her skin, "I'm so sorry, I never should have let you go into the cottage alone."

Kenna threaded her fingers through his hair and reassured him that it wasn't his fault and that she should be more careful.

"Bash, do you think you could fetch me water and something to eat," she couldn't remember the last time she ate or drank and she could feel it in her stomach.

As Bash got up to see what he could get from the kitchen this early she felt her eyes slipping shut again with the weight of everything she had been through during the past few hours. She could sleep peacefully though knowing she was in the best of care.

Thank you for taking the time to read this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! The purpose of this chapter was mostly to introduce Margaux because she is going to be important in the upcoming chapters for baby-related reasons :) Mary and Francis will also be making an appearance in the next chapter and since I'm home sick today I'll have lots of time to work on it. It should be up tomorrow morning, maybe this evening, you'll just have to wait and see :) Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your kind reviews, they definitely encourage me to keep working on this story. It's nice to know people are enjoying reading it as much as I'm enjoying writing it!