Chapter II

20 minutes later after Kenna had found Mary, both friends were sitting in Mary's room, drinking tea.

"I can't believe you're really here", said Mary, and took a sip of her tea.

"I can't either." Kenna looked around. "It seems so unreal. I remember well, how we all were sitting here talking and laughing. It seems like yesterday."

Mary nodded. "And who would have thought that we are the last two."

"Greer and Lola?", asked Kenna.

"Both are married and live with their families not far from the Castle", informed Mary and took another sip. "Lola is having another child in November."

"I'm happy for them."

Kenna hastily bowed her head so that her friend could not see how her eyes had filled with tears. This was exactly what she had hoped for. A husband, children and a comfortable home. She was so close to get it all and then had lost everything in a blink of an eye. Involuntarily, she shook her head. No, not everything. She had Daniel. He was her family. The only family she had.

"What's the matter?" Mary had noticed Kenna tears and touched her hand gently.

"Oh nothing." Kenna wiped her eyes. "It's just that..."

She stopped. What should she say? That she was jealous. That she wanted what her friends had.

"I'm just tired and should lay down perhaps. It was a long way from Paris to the castle." She looked up again. "I hope you don't mind, that I have taken my old room?"

"No, not at all." Mary shook her head. "It's perfectly all right. When I got your message, that you were coming, I got it ready for you."

"That's sweet. Thank you!" Kenna felt as tears rose up again. "I am so grateful that I can live here, Me...and " She hesitated. „... Daniel", she added then.

Mary put her teacup back on the table and leaned towards Kenna.

"Tell me about him! In your letter you mentioned him only briefly. I was so curious to know more about him."

Kenna lowered her gaze and kneaded her hands. It was the first time that she could talk to someone about her son. And yet she did not know how to start. Nothing seemed simple, here in this place.

"He's a good boy," she began hesitantly. "Interested in everything, attentive and incredibly skilled."

"Sounds like a career as a huntsman", Mary said with a grin.

Kenna winced slightly. No, she thought, never! She would not allow that her little son would go into the woods someday to hunt and never return. He was everything she had. She had lost already too much in her life. She couldn't lose him too.

Mary looked at her thoughtfully. "Maybe not", she relented as she noticed Kenna's panic-stricken look. "Maybe he becomes a horseman?"

Kenna relaxed slightly. "Oh, yes, he loves horses," she said relieved. "He has a small wooden horse that he carries with him everywhere."

"How old is he now?"

Kenna held the breath involuntarily. She could not tell Mary the truth yet.

"Two," she answered quietly.

"And when are you going to introduce him to me?", Mary asked smiling.

"He's sleeping." Kenna tugged nervously at the belt of her dress. "Bernadette, his nanny, is with him."

Would Mary guess her secret if she saw him the first time? she thought concerned. But was it right to start fresh with a lie? She rose to her feet hastily and almost spilled her tea.

"I must go back to him," she said. "If he is awake he needs his mother."

Mary nodded understandingly. "I see, but..." She hesitated a moment before she spoke next. "There is still so much to talk about."

"What exactly?" Kenna frowned questioningly.

Mary looked down at her hands, then lifted her head and saw Kenna firmly in the eyes.

"I should have written back to you. But when I received your letter, I was so happy that you were going to come back. I didn't have the heart to tell you..." She stopped abruptly.

"Didn't have the heart to tell me...what?", pressed Kenna.

"I think you should know that Bash lives here, too...," she started haltingly," here in the Castle... with me..."