"Nay, my love, the scunner did that. She was just a child herself with no control over anything, even her children."
"She does not know how to be a mother."
He paused to take a deep breath. "She knows how to be a mother to Rachel."
Anna considered his words. Finally, she wiped the last of her tears and stood up straighter. "Indeed she does. I should have done this years ago."
He wrapped his arms around her finally and kissed the top of her head. "You could have stayed with Harold?"
"Yes, but I could not stand to be without you another minute. I had already decided to leave her there and come home without them if she did not agree."
He pulled away to look into her beautiful blue eyes. "You have never said this before. What other secrets do you keep from me?"
Anna lightly kissed his lips and turned to walk back down the hill. "I am ashamed to say it, but I fear my list of secrets is much, much longer than Rachel's list of stolen property."
"Will it take the rest of my life to discover them all?"
"Do you promise to live long enough to hear them all?"
"If I live longer than your list, do you promise to make some up?"
They turned the corner and started up the steps of the Keep.
*
Connor was still sitting by the bush with his back against the inside of the wall and didn't realize he had fallen asleep. In his dream, his arms were stretched out, but he couldn't reach her. Rachel was in a mist, started to slip and then she fell away. Suddenly awake, Connor sat straight up. When he finally realized it was a dream, he pushed it out of his mind and wiped the cold sweat off his brow.
That morning, Rachel found herself at the bottom of an enormous rock and had no idea how she got there. She could hear water running in a stream and it didn't sound far away. She was almost certain she was alone, but to be sure, she slowly lifted her aching head and looked around. Just as she thought, she was alone. Her vision still wasn't great, but she could see a little better.
She slowly moved her arms and then one leg at a time. It didn't appear anything was broken and she thought her soreness was probably from laying on the hard ground for so long. How long, she couldn't tell. It took all her strength, but she turned on her side and then on her stomach. She managed to slowly crawl until she was near enough to drink some water, then she moved away and rested.