Chapter 4

Hank walked into the small breakfast room, helping himself to a large plate of food. He commented to Natalie that he thought the new cook was doing a heck of a good job. Natalie quickly looked down at her plate saying she was glad to hear that he approved, Rav glanced up from his plate saying good morning, Hank looked in surprise at Rav as he started to laugh "Hank do you know you have a black eye?" Hank's hand went up the his cheek, picking up a silver serving dish he looked at his eye and groaned, "it was an accident that's all, Jenee was a little upset when she woke up with me in the bed with her." Realizing what he had just said Hank blushed,

Natalie started to get up saying "let me fix that for you, I don't think Jenee needs to see you with a black eye" Brax walked in and looked at Hank then started to laugh "Jenee packs a heck of a wallop doesn't she or that's one hell of a tough cat." Hank laughed "you haven't met Nedra, just wait."

Jenee was half way down the stairs, she watched Jessie open the door to an elderly man and a young petite woman. Natalie glanced up to see Halcion and Hunter walking into the room, she smiled and stood up welcoming them to her home, Halcion smiled at the group "I was taking Hunter to Marti'en's to start her studies, she insisted we had to stop and say hello since you're on the way." Hunter greeted everyone, then with a little ohhh my, she rushed over to Hank "you poor thing does it hurt?" reaching up to touch Hank's cheek. Brax felt an odd tension in the room, he laughed loudly "our Hank is made of sterner stuff then to be bothered by a little tap." Hunter turned and smiled at Brax with a bright little laugh she introduced herself.

Jenee stood in the door way, she had seen the little woman touch Hank and was very annoyed to see her still standing close to him. With a start Jenee realized she was jealous. Rav saw Jenee standing in the door way, he also caught the look on her face and chuckled to himself, silently he said to Natalie "green eyed monster sailing in this direction, hold on to your petticoats." Natalie watched Jenee walk into the room smiling good morning at everyone. Jenee stopped in front of Hank almost stepping on Hunter, "morning love, did you know you have a black eye? Oh my did I do that? Perhaps you need a bigger bed." Giving Hank a quick kiss Jenee picked up a plate and started to help herself to breakfast. Glancing down at Hunter, Jenee smiled brightly 'it's always nice to have morning visitors." Natalie didn't miss the frown on Hunter's face as Jenee turned taking her plate to the table.

Rav doing the only thing he could politely do invited Hunter and Halcion to join them for breakfast. Hank and Brax exchanged what's going on looks as they carried their plates to the table and sat down. Halcion delighted to have another chance to talk with Natalie thanked Rav, after filling a plate, he sat down next to Natalie and immediately started talking magic. Hunter sat across from Jenee and Hank, with a little smile on her face she asked Jenee what type of magic she was involved in. Jenee surprised at the question responded that she didn't know anything about magic, Hunter made a little noise "oh you poor dear, it must be quite difficult functioning in a magical household," Jenee smiled politely "not at all, one doesn't need to practice magic to reside with it."

Just about to take a bite of her breakfast Jenee heard Hunter say "Have you been ill for long? You're so terrible thin, I hope it's nothing contagious." Natalie frowned trying to keep track of what Halcion was saying and listen to Hunter and Jenee at the same time. Hank frowned at Hunter "Jenee is perfectly healthy." Hunter smiled at Hank "why of course she is, she is just so thin it leads one to think she has been ill, I forget some people are just unusually thin and gaunt." Jenee chuckled "that's understandable, it's so easy to forget that some people's growth becomes stunted either at birth or afterwards." Hank quickly looked down at his plate, Brax laughed out loud "touché hit to Jenee" Rav groaned silently, smiling politely at Hunter he asked her about what sort of studies she was undertaking with Marti'en effectively monopolizing the conversation from that point on.

With a sigh of relief Rav watched Halcion and Hunter wave goodbye as they walked down the front stairs. Natalie let out a sigh of her own "I don't like that girl but I can't figure out why other then she is a bitch." Rav nodded "I know what you mean, there is something wrong but I can't put my finger on it either, I'm going to ask Marti'en to keep a close eye on her." Brax who was enthralled with Brand's horses headed for SheringCross.

Hank smiled at Jenee, leaning over he kissed her deeply whispering "are you alright this morning? Jenee felt herself blushing "I'm fine, I really am sorry Hank about hitting you." Hank chuckled "don't worry about it, I've had black eye's before." Hank kissed her again "I'm going to Cairin today, I'd take you with me but I don't think you're up to the trip yet, maybe in a week or two." Jenee nodded "I was going to wander around the garden for awhile, maybe talk to Natalie about her roses."

After Hank had left Jenee slowly went upstairs to her room, laying on the bed she started to cry, she knew the comments Hunter had made were pure bitchiness but that didn't help the hurt any. She knew she was still terribly thin, her face pale, her hands shook when she was tired, she hadn't wanted to admit to Hank that last night had exhausted her to the point where she hadn't hardly slept at all after getting back to her room. Washing her face Jenee took a deep breath, this wasn't like her to be teary eyes and unsure of herself, she had to stop.

Natalie handed Jenee some new clothes, "Hank mentioned you prefer breeches and shirts over dresses, so do I when I have the chance, try these on and see if they should fit. I'll be out in the garden if you care to join me it's a lovely day outside." Natalie had seen the sign of tears and swore under her breath at Hunter. Jenee quickly changed pleased with the clothes Natalie had given her. There was even a belt so the loose pants wouldn't fall off, and a pair of boots.

Walking through the garden Jenee felt much better, more sure of herself then she had all morning. So she was thin right now, that would change, being out in the sunlight would add color to her face, if she felt her hands start to shake she would just sit and rest for a while. Jenee spent the rest of the morning sitting in the grass talking to Natalie while she pruned the rose bushes, checked on the newly planted fruit trees. The two had a picnic lunch under one of the big trees that were spread throughout the garden. Jenee had never done much gardening but found it fascinating and had question after question for Natalie. Here the colors around her were almost too much for the eye to take in where she came from everything was dull, mediocre, she loved the vibrant colors of the flowers, the green of the tree's, even the blue of the sky.

Several hours later both Jenee and Natalie went in to take a nap before dinner time, Natalie told Jenee to use the bathing pools anytime she wanted, there was no need to wash in a small tub or basin when the pools where there for everyone's use. Jenee with a smile thanked Natalie saying a long hot bath sounded wonderful, Natalie agreed leading the way to the bathing room. Natalie chuckled at Jenee as she stripped off her dirty clothes "it took me a long time to get used to bathing with someone else around, so don't feel self-conscious or if you want you can come back in a short while, I shouldn't be long." Jenee with a touch of pink in her cheeks shook her head, thinking to herself after last night she shouldn't be embarrassed by anything anymore. Stripping off her own clothes Jenee tentatively stepped in the pool then sighed as she sank down into the water, it felt wonderful, she let herself float through the water just enjoying the heat soaking into her body.

Her eyes closed as she floated in the water Jenee asked Natalie what the other pool was, "oh you will love the oil pool, it is fantastic for your skin and feels so good, just be careful the oil is even warmer then the water pool and its very slippery getting out, so be sure and use the absorbing mats. It's even good for your hair and scalp, just be sure and wash it out afterwards." said Natalie. Jenee heard the wistful tone in Natalie's voice "you don't go in the oil pool?" Natalie shook her head "not anymore, the oil is too hot, I don't think it's good for the baby, so I just dip a bowl in and let Rav rub it on whenever I want." Jenee sat up in surprise "I didn't know you were having a baby, that's wonderful Natalie. Jenee laughed "I must have been blind to have missed your big tummy, when is the baby due?" Natalie chuckled "you were too busy keeping your eyes on the ceiling while I was undressing and getting in the pool, I remember the first time I got into a pool with Bitsy, I adamantly refused to take off my under clothes. I'm not all that sure when the baby is due, he is growing very quickly, his father being human and dragon I think has something to do with that." smiled Natalie. "You know it's a boy?" asked a surprised Jenee, Natalie nodded "oh yes it's a boy there is no doubt about that."

Jenee with a worried frown and a blush looked at Natalie, "I've never paid any attention to that sort of thing, maybe because I had no mother to tell me, Natalie how do you know if you're pregnant?" Natalie sighed to herself, she knew it would come up sometime soon "your monthlies stop Jenee, that's the first major sign, feeling tired, sleeping a lot, your breasts become extremely sensitive and start to become larger getting ready to produce milk for the baby." Natalie moved over to Jenee seeing the horrified look in her eyes, gently she took Jenee's face in her hands "you're not pregnant Jenee, when Hank brought you here you were about a month pregnant, while I healed your worst injuries I also stopped the pregnancy, it was a decision I had to make and I don't regret it, I hope you don't either." Jenee nodded silently a huge feeling of relief flowing through her, "thank you for helping me Natalie, I can't ever thank you enough, no I don't regret what you did for me. I don't know if I could have loved the baby, if I had hated it I would have ended up hating myself, it wouldn't have been fair to either the baby or me." Natalie nodded "You were also extremely hurt and ill, I doubt you would have been able to carry the child much longer anyway Jenee, the only other person that knows is Kat, I didn't say anything to Hank." The two women were quiet for a long time, one thinking of a child gone the other thinking of the child nestled safely in her womb.

Natalie left to take her nap, Jenee with a few yikes at the added heat slowly edged her way into the oil pool. Oh she thought this feels wonderful rubbing the hot oil into her skin, tipping her head back she dipped her hair into the oil messaging it into her scalp. Finding a sculptured bench on the inside edge of the pool Jenee laid on it with her eyes closed thinking she could stay there forever.

Her eyes flew open hearing a noise, Jenee sat up slipping in the oil. Hank what are you doing here she gasped. Hank grinned sitting down at the side of the pool next to Jenee "looking for you, I bet your as slippery as an eel right about now." Jenee blinked at Hank "what are you doing?" Hank stripping off his clothes laughed "taking a bath, I think we need something like this at Cairin," Jenee watched Hank jump into the pool coming up from under the water with a growl of pleasure, Hank as he washed talked to Jenee about how well the tree planting was going, about Bram the caretaker grumbling at him for tracking dirt onto his clean floors. Hank watched Jenee carefully getting out of the oil pool "you need to wash the oil out of your hair, I learned the hard way not to let it stay in for more than a few hours, lay down on the side of the pool and I'll wash it out for you." Wrapping a big towel around herself Jenee went over to Hank, she sighed with pleasure as he washed the oil out of her hair, Hank smiled seeing the look on her face, her eyes closed enjoying having her hair washed. He chuckled when he realized she was sound asleep, he hated to wake her up but was concerned she would have a stiff neck if she stayed in that position too long. Carefully waking her up, Jenee looked around confused for a moment, Hank patted her on the bottom "why don't you go take a nap, love, I'll see you at dinner." Jenee gave Hank a half-asleep smile as she put on a large bathrobe, wrapping a towel around her hair she nodded "see you at dinner."

Jenee slept straight through to morning, she woke feeling for a change rested and hungry, it took her forever to brush all the tangles and knots out of her hair but she finally managed then headed downstairs for breakfast. The only two left in the breakfast room were Rav and an elderly lady with a cane, Jenee smiled saying good morning, for the first time she really took an interest in the breakfast provided. Sitting down Jenee quietly listened to Rav talking to the elderly lady he had introduced at Marti'en as she ate, getting up for another cup of tea, Jenee asked if anyone else would care for some, Marti'en held up her cup with a smile, Jenee filled Marti'en's cup then her own, Jenee liked the old woman she had kind eye's, when she smiled the smile showed in her eye's also.

Jenee looked at her plate in surprise she hadn't realize she had eaten so quickly, hearing Marti'en chuckled Jenee smiled slightly embarrassed to have bolted down her food in such a manner. "My dear would you do something for me?" Marti'en asked, Nodding Jenee held an empty water glass in her hand as Marti'en asked, with a confused look Jenee repeated the words Marti'en told her too not quite understanding what she was doing. Jenee stared at the water glass as it started to fill with water, it didn't stop it kept filling and filling spilling over the brim and pouring down onto the table. As soon as the glass had started to fill Marti'en had nodded then turned back to Rav "now you tell me why the girl shatters the glass every time but can't fill it, I hate to disappoint her father, he is a good man but I don't think she has what it takes to be a good magician." Jenee coughed getting their attention "is it supposed to stop?" standing holding the glass away from the table as it continued to fill. "Oh dear" chuckled Marti'en waving her hand the water glass and all the water on the floor vanished, Jenee looked at her empty hands and laughed "that was fun."