My Dear Sister,

Today I was walking away from the barn after visiting Keeya's sister when I saw Jack coming towards me. "Azelma," he said. "I was looking for you."

"Hello Jack," I said. "What is it?"

"I have something to show you," Jack said.

"Is everything all right?" I asked.

"Everything's fine," Jack said. "I was just thinking… Have you ever been to Silver Lake?"

"No," I said.

"It's a lake down the road about a mile. It's really nice there. I was thinking we could do our English lesson there today," Jack said.

"What about Natta?" I asked. Taking care of her had become my main concern. I was spending more time keeping her safe then learning English lately.

"Keeya will watch her. We can give her some extra food," Jack said. I looked at him with a reluctant look on my face. "Come on, Azelma. You've been working so hard. You need some time away. The lake will be fun."

He smiled at me. I got the same feeling in my that I had when we were dancing at the party. "Alright," I whispered.

The carriage driver took us to the lake then left. The lake was beautiful. All the trees reflected down and the water was like glass. "It's pretty," I said.

Jack walked down some rocks and sat at the edge of the water. He gestured for we to follow. It was more difficult to climb rocks in my new dress than my old one. I nearly tripped, but caught myself and sat down beside Jack.

"It's really nice here, isn't it?" Jack said.

"Beautiful," I said. I slipped off my shoes and dipped them into the water. I hate wearing shoes all of the time. I never did in France.

"How's the water?" Jack asked.

"Warm," I said. "It's October, too. Is there winter here?"

"Yes," Jack said. "But it's not as cold as your winter."

"Does it snow?" I asked.

"It snowed a few years ago but it doesn't snow a lot. Did it snow a lot in France?"

"Yes," I said. "It was always cold."

"I wished it snowed more here. The time in snowed here it was so pretty," Jack said.

"The snow in Paris was grey and icy," I said. "But back when I was in Montfermeil, I remember the prettiest snowfalls ever."

"Did you live in Montfermeil when you were young?"

"Yes. I was ten years old when we moved to Paris. In Montfermeil I had beautiful things. I had so many dresses and dolls. We owned an inn. There were always people around singing and laughing. It was joyful then. But the economy in France was bad. We couldn't afford to keep the inn so we sold it. We packed up all of our things and went to Paris."

I splashed my foot around in the lake. I don't know why but I like talking to Jack about my life before America. I think that talking about it makes it so I don't have to keep thinking about it all of the time. After I talk about something I don't carry the burden of it so heavily anymore.

Not to mention that Jack was mesmerizing me to the point where I couldn't be quiet of I wanted to. Everything about him made me strangely giddy. The lake made his eyes sparkle even more.

"Can I ask you a question?" Jack asked me.

"Sure," I said.

"Why did you change your name before coming here?" Jack asked.

"Father said I had to," I said.

"Yeah, but why?" Jack asked.

I pulled my feet out of the water and adjusted myself so that I was sitting on my feet. "Father was trying to start anew for himself by coming here, so he needed a new name," I said. "And... between you and me, he had gotten himself into a bit of trouble with the law. He didn't want people here to look up his background and find that out about him. He's very paranoid about things like that."

"So he came here to run away from the law?" Jack asked.

"He came here to run away from everything," I said. I looked out onto the water. "Why do they call it Silver Lake?"

"Some people think that a long time ago there was a lady who came to this lake and went missing and all they could find of her was her silver coin. Other people just say because it's shiny and pure."

"It's very beautiful," I said. "The blue is so nice."

Jack smiled at me. "Like your eyes," he said.

I blushed bright red. "Thank you," I said softly.

"You're so beautiful, Azelma. I'm so glad you came here to live with us. I don't think you realize it but you've changed me so much. You've made me more caring and more of a risk taker," Jack said.

"And your French has gotten a lot better," I said.

"That too," Jack said. We were both blushing now.

"You've changed me too," I told him. "You were so nice to me when I first got here, even when I tried to brush you away. You taught me how to live here. I'm so grateful for that."

Jack put both of his hands on top of my hands and squeezed them. I stared at him lovingly. I couldn't believe what was happening. I was falling in love with Jack.

He leaned over towards me and whispered in my ear "I love you."

I barely knew what to do. I moved closer to him to tell him my response but before I could, Jack kissed me.

Not a little kiss on the cheek like before. A full on lip to lip kiss that seemed to last forever. And I wanted it to last forever. For those few seconds it seemed like the whole world revolved around us and none of my past troubles existed. It was just me and Jack at Silver Lake and he said he loved me. I now that I thought about it I had always loved him back. Everything about him I loved. As we kissed I felt like I could do no wrong.

It wasn't until we pulled away that I began to feel guilty. Why was I the one to get love? You were always the one who cared about getting love, yet here I was with Jack. I wanted so badly to love him back.

He looked at me as if he was awaiting my response. I didn't know what to say so I said "Let's start the English lesson now."

His face seemed a bit disappointed in my response so I moved closer to him and whispered back into his ear "I love you too."

Now I guess Jack didn't know what to say. "What should I teach you today in English?"

I didn't want what was happening to end so I said "I think we can wait a bit longer on the English lesson."

"I agree," Jack said. We kissed again. Twice we did. It made me feel so important. It was my moment and know one else's.

I knew we probably shouldn't be kissing. It went against all of what I believed about love, and how I shouldn't fall in love. It went against the promises I made to you and to myself. Not to mention that our parents would be quite angry if they found out.

I'm sorry, my sister, for the promises I have broken. I'm trying so hard to accept this as my new life and I'm starting to believe this includes Jack and I in love. I am trying so hard to untie the strings holding me to the past even though there is always something trying to prevent me from doing so.

Remember that no one will ever replace you in my heart,

Your Sister, Azelma