The morning was bright as it always was in California. The mansion was airtight and artificial cold air blew in from their geothermal system. The environment was sterile. No birds, no sound of the wind rustling through the trees. She powered on the blinds. The view in front of her was just a still image, with no life signs, except for shiny ripples in the blue gray lake. What a difference from the Costwold domain. She stood in front of the humungous windows. There were no boats on the lake. No movements in the yard of the other mansions across the lake. Huge houses with only withered spoiled adults in them. She knew her thoughts to be cliché, but she couldn’t help but think about all the homeless people, the families that struggled from paycheck to paycheck. The children in all those African and Indian countries over seas. All the American Natives who were sequestered in reserves all over the Americas. This suffering all over the world had one thing in common; colonialism. Sure, there were small differences, aggravating factors within each location, but when you looked at the origin of all social issues, you usually saw the nose tip of colonialism peeking out.

 

Before she met Sky, she was living a simple life. Whatever extra money she received from her writing or her jewelry, she placed it to be able to support her son if he ever needed help, for her future grandchildren, their studies and extra curricular activities. She spent as little as she could for groceries. Now, she was used to order whatever she wanted without ever thinking about financial matters. The money Sky had left behind had been put into actions by Gerald who had the help of an excellent financial expert. All matters concerning the Hawthorne Castle expenses and revenues, she had left for Joe to handle. That was never hers. She and Neve received a hefty monthly sum, and she used only a small amount of that money for living expenses. She didn’t want Neve to be raised with money. She taught her good values and spiritual ways that did not include any man-made religions. Her Gods were trees, water, land and animals. She adhered more to the point of view of a Creator, ‘Cheymando’, as the Northen-Eastern Cree said.

 

Thinking about all of this, she felt overwhelmed to be here, in this mansion, and needed to be back home. She needed to go back to her humble roots. She decided they should go back to England. She had a little more things to research but, as soon as she was done, she thought she would ask to renovate the Lake House, and she would spend some time back home with Neve. She would see first about the present renters, just to make sure the family found something else. Naturally, she would help them if needed. But it might take some time. She would ask Gerald to contact the family so they could prepare.

 

Coming downstairs, Yvonne and Neve were already at the table and Yvonne greeted her and started making her coffee.

 

“Good morning, Nevie, good morning Yvonne.”, Maeva sat near Neve and gave her a big kiss on her sticky cheek. “What are you eating, Neve? You are all sticky.”, said Maeva looking for a wet cloth.

 

“Ney ney”, said Neve. Ney ney, mama.”, Neve said putting more toast in her mouth.

 

“Honey, that must be so good! It smells good. But you are covered in honey, baby.”, Maeva laughed and licked her daughter’s fingers, wiping them right after. “Humm…You are making me think about eating some honey-buttered toasts.”, said Maeva, getting up. Yvonne stopped her.

 

“I will do them for you.”, she said placing Maeva’s coffee in front of her. Maeva played with Neve and helped her eat. The child was babbling away.

 

“Yvonne, do you think you could be ready to leave by tomorrow?, asked Maeva once Yvonne was sitting at the table with them.

 

“Tomorrow...You mean to go back home?”, she asked surprised. “Well, how about the food in the refrigerator, the freezer and…?”, asked Yvonne quite panicked when thinking of everything there was to do to close up the place.

 

“It does not have to be tomorrow, Yvonne, don’t worry, please. I didn’t reserve any flights or anything, OK? If we would be to leave tomorrow, or any other day for that matter, I will tell instruct the team closing up, to empty the freezer and fridge and take whatever food they want home.

You have your luggage to take care of. I can take care of myself and Neve. All the baby furniture, highchair, stroller, and stuff will stay here. We will only bring back our personal belongings.”, Maeva looked at Yvonne, whose had calmed down some.

 

“Oh, OK. Are we coming back soon?”, she asked.

 

“I don’t know. I don’t see why at this time. But who knows?”, Maeva didn’t to go into the selling, and whatnot. “I only know that I did all I wanted to do here. And I miss the farm and the animals.”, she smiled sadly. “How about you?”, she asked Yvonne.

 

”I am good Mrs. Maeva. I’d love to go home. It is wonderful to be here. But I do miss my husband.”, she smiled. “I’d love to bring him back something. Do you think I would have the time? Where should I go?”, she asked. Maeva looked at her. This was the first time Yvonne had asked for something. She tred to think of places where Yvonne might find what she wanted.

 

“Do you know what type of thing you want to bring back? Clothes, art?”

 

“I think a mall or shopping center with different stores would be good. An inside one. It is too hot for me to walk outside.”, said Yvonne.

 

“OK.”, she took out her phone from her pocket and called Lee directly. He was available right now, he said. He would not be available later. She looked at Yvonne and she got up quickly to get ready. Maeva laughed and asked Lee to be here in about thirty minutes. She hung up after explaining where Yvonne needed to go. She looked at her daughter who was getting excited from all of this.

 

“Well. It is you and me baby. Yvonne has to go out.”, she got up the wet a washcloth to wash her daughter’s hands and face. “It is a beautiful day for the pool, hey? What do you think Neve?”, the little girl hugged her mom and laid her head on her shoulder. Maeva sat in the rocking sofa that overlooked the pool. She would wait a little for Neve to rest, and they would get ready to go swimming.

 

 

 

The flight home was eventless. Gerald had sold Sky’s private airplane, so she reserved flights on a regular flight, like everyone else. She still travelled first class to make Neve more comfortable, and she knew Yvonne liked to feel important. She was happy to see Yvonne happy; she had always been such a comfort to Sky and now, to Neve and herself. She deserved so much kindness and love.

 

Maeva had already called back the security agents, so the car was waiting for them at the airport. Once they entered the farm and Neve saw some of the animals strolling about, she screamed in delight and clapped her hands. Maeva was having some trouble to hold on to the squirming little girl, so she put her down. Neve ran after the rabbits and the chickens. Yvonne was already running after the girl. Victor coming towards them on his four-wheeler.

 

Maeva asked the driver to bring all their things up to the bedrooms hall. She saw the caretakers coming to greet them. They all had things to tell her about the animals. Overall, everything was good. Some animals had been sick. The vet was called and they were on the mend. Maeva was so thankful they were still working at the farm and were taking care for the animals extremely well. When everyone returned to work and Neve was inside with Yvonne, Maeva walked one the trail towards the beach. She breathed in deeply. It smelled of earth, moss and sea. It smelled of healthy life and real living surroundings. When she looked up, she saw sky, tree leaves and flying birds. Critters, big and small, scattered away she set a foot down.  She started to hear the waves through the seagulls’ cries. She knew she was getting closer to the shore. The sea appeared when she rounded the corner. The view you first got at this exact point of the path, always took her breath away. She remembered when she took evening walks with Sky. This was their preferred trail. She clearly recalled Sky holding her hand looking out and then taking her in his arms, kissing her passionately. She closed her eyes, letting the feeling englobe her with the feeling. Those were the memories that kept her sane.

 

She spent to next few days looking over the farm with Neve in tow. They visited the barn a lot. One of the goats had a calf. That was one of the animals that required the vet’s help. Now the calf was standing strong next to his mother. Neve fancied it. It was a new best friend. Maeva didn’t let Neve to close to it. She was always careful to not disturb the mother-baby imprinting that needed to be done in the early days. She had instructed her caretakers to never make the mistake to replace the mom when the baby’s were born and to leave them together alone unless there was an emergency or special care to be given. None of the female that had given birth at her farm rejected their off-spring and she was certain that it was improper and too much human interaction that would provoke that behavior. She brought neve everyday to see the animals. The girl would go the calf directly. The calf would approach Neve immediately, and the mother followed.

 

“Nevie, don’t touch her yet. Let her smell you from where you are, but do not touch her, OK? Mama, will let you touch her soon, OK?”, Maeva kept her from going too close. “The baby needs to get to know his mom first, so it needs to be only with her. Animal work by smell.”, Maeva smelled the girl’s hand to show her. “The baby needs a little while to understand that Mellie is her mama. OK?”, Nevie pouted.

 

“ Vee, no?”, she said sadly.

“Soo, baby, soon.”, Maeva said smiling. ‘Does our new lamb have a name?”, Maeva looked at Neve.

 

“Baby. Me.”, Neve pointed at herself with her chubby little finger.

 

“You want to call her ‘baby’. Just like mama sometimes calls you?”, asked Maeva, pleasantly surprised by her daughter’s wit.

 

“Bye, bye, baby.”, Neve turned around and started to walk towards the kittens. Maeva let her roam the rest of the barn while she went to observe each of the animals in their respective stalls. They would be let out soon as the weather was clement today. Maeva loved to watch her daughter interact with the animals. She herself had good memories of going to the farm in St-Gabriel in the Lanaudiere region of Quebec. She also had memories of playing in the hay at the stables. Neve was still too young for that.

 

 

While Neve took her nap, Maeva went into Sky’s study. She opened the internal network and could see Neve’s room. She sat down behind his desk. The place still smelled of him. Like it was still waiting for him to return, just like her. This was the only place that had not been searched by the police. She had searched it. She couldn’t believe she still hadn’t opened the locked drawer, the fake bottom one. That was her intent today. She knew that in most old desks you needed a type of combination of drawer openings or closing or lifting that activated a mechanism that unlocked it. She had her father’s old desk at home and to open one drawer om either side, you had to open the middle one and lift it slightly. If one drawer anywhere was left opened or not properly closed, no other drawers would open. The secret mechanism for Sky’s antique desk was definitely more complicated. She again tried lifting the center pen drawer and tried the locked drawer. Nothing. She opened the right top drawer, lifted the pen drawer and pulled. Nothing. She sat back, looking at the desk and per pure instinct, decided to open the bottom left drawer at the exact same time as she pulled on the locked one. Nothing. Maeva breathed out loudly. Four drawers on one side, three on the other and one in the center. There could be at least one hundred combinations. She opened all drawers and tried the locked one. Nothing. She lifted the middle one. Nothing. She kept them all opened, and lifted one drawer at a time, one by one all the while pulling at the locked one. Nothing. She sat back again, looked out the window. She noticed you could see part of the stable now as the trees were starting to lose their colorful leaves. The spruces and pines still covered the most part. That building was so important to their lives. It was like a monument in the middle of the domain. It became Sky’s tombstone. It kept the memory of him and of the secret of his demise. Her thoughts lingered on him. She remembered that she had never found the sales contract for the stallion. She was sure it was in the locked drawer. She didn’t find their marriage contract either, not Neve’s birth certificate. Then she realized the last drawer must be a safe! If it was a safe, would it open as a cooler, from the top, or would it have a frontal door? They had a safe in their closet. She had the combination and looked in it. None of those papers were there. He had their most valuable jewelry and watches. In there. Nothing else. Also, he always had some cash available to them for unexpected needs. Everything else was taken care of electronically through banks. She thought she would put the combination search aside for awhile. She looked around the study. Sky had old books. She had looked quickly through them when they were in the London house. She decided to do a thorough search of them. She started by the top shelves. It was difficult to read the title on the spines of the book. There was a small sliding ladder to easily reach the books. When she climbed it and took the first book out. It was a first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Caroll. She carefully pulled it out and opened the cover. It seemed to be a copy owned by Caroll himself. She carefully put the book back thinking this must be worth a little fortune. The following books were The Birds of America, The Origin of Species and Mr William Shaskpeare’s Comedies, Histories and Tragedies, that looked just as precious. Some were marked as first editions; others as copy no x of a certain number that had been printed. Then, towards the end of that row, she could not pull out a book, a certain book with a Spanish title. She tried the next one, Italian title and realized they were stuck together. She tried unsticking them from each other, being gentle and found that the third one was also adhering to the others. She touched the bottom and the top of the books and found no edge she could use the unfree them from each other. It was as if they were nailed in place. That thought, as ridiculous as it was, made her touch underneath the shelve with her left hand while holding on the books with her right. No nails, but there was something sticking out on which she pressed to feel it better. She suddenly lost her balance as the books had given way. She grabbed at the shelves as best she could while settling her feet back on the ladder. When she looked at the books again, she saw that it was a panel that opened up from hinges at the bottom. It covered other books that looked way older. There were three of them; the Sherbone Missal, the St Cuthbert Gospel and the Rothschild Prayerbook. She didn’t touch those. She had heard of these manuscripts and wondered how he had gotten to possess them. She then realized that her was a Lord and his family had inherited a castle and all its belongings. She did recall the castle had a library. As it was in the open to public side, the books might only have been replicas or decorative pieces. But she was certain they were worth a fortune. Large enough a fortune for someone to want to steal them, or murder her for them? She closed back the flap over the precious books and continued on the second shelf. That one contains more recent hardcover books. Some she had read. She opened each one and noticed they were mostly first editions. She knew a lot about Sky but hadn’t known he was a serious book collector. The second shelf held nothing in particular. The first shelves had a lot of antique items that he had collected with time. Now she realized that some might have come from the castle. She looked thoroughly at each piece, seeing if they were anything inside, or a special button that would open a secret door. She couldn’t find anything. Now that she had seen the books, she knew there must something important in that drawer that was in fact, a safe. She sat back down at the desk. Neve was up and Yvonne had gone to get her from her bed.

 

Maeva had to interrupt her search until Neve’s next nap.