I sat at the shore, my eyes raised to watch the seagulls swooping overhead. The family manor of the Angelo's was a pristine white, as though all those years of harsh winds and sea breeze hadn't damaged it, but made it stronger and more beautiful that it could have possibly been. I smiled a little, peace taking hold as I walked into the lapping waves and forgot completely that the dress' skirt was getting soaked. I giggled, jumping as I dodged the waves and tried to go out further. Little rocks were under my feet and I picked up a smooth grey one, breathing in deeply. Rolo was yipping beside me, making me laugh as he licked my arm in question. I ran back to the shore, picking up a piece of driftwood the length of my forearm and, with difficulty, threw it with my only good hand. It sailed out to the tide, being dragged back and Rolo tumbled after it, paddling back to drop it at my feet.

He was in a playful mood, but I just wanted to enjoy the salty sea breeze and watch the foam crash onto the clean beach. "Let's go for a walk," I offered the dog and began to trudge through the loose sand, the pup following me without even thinking.

"I used to bring my girls out to the beach whenever I could. I'd hold them both in my arms and tell them all about the Nymphs that were in the foam, always watching over them. My eldest, by two minutes mind you, would always fall asleep while little Marie would just giggle and watch the waves too, as if she could see everything I was telling them. Little Anne was always falling asleep when I told them fairytales," I confided in Rolo. "Ones about lands far beyond the horizon, below the sea. Marie loved the tale about the crab who had learnt dance."

I remembered their little cherub faces, blonde hair always covered by caps I'd knitted for them myself during my pregnancy, which I spent cowering or trying to hide from the man who had raped me, or my father, who blamed me as though I'd asked to be abused in such a way! I threw the stick to my feet, turning and facing the ocean once more.

All I wanted to remember were their joyous giggles and little dimples. I'd been a proud mother of twins at 22, and was the only person who could've told them apart. They'd grown so much in their first year. Anne had been the lazier one, never too curious about anything. She had loved the sound of bells and music.

Marie had been fascinated with lights, and gone so far as to crawl towards some candles. I'd never lit one after that when she was around. She was the 'water-child' as I called her. She'd love coming to the pool and having me hold her above the water, while Anne had been too happy to doze beside a friend who would accompany me to the pools.

I held my stomach, now just a small hill as I imagined them they were still there. "You would have adored them, Rolo," I said out loud now. "They would have loved you."

Giggling was heard behind me and I found three little children running, skipping over stray pieces of wood or seaweed, Leah rounding the corner and smiling over to me. She whispered to the children, one at a time, and they each ran at me, shouting for me to play with them. A little girl held my only working hand and jumped a little. "Please? Come play chasey with us!"

"I'm it!" I giggled back, touching her nose. "I'll give you a five second head start," I said, ruffling up the shortest boys' hair.

"That means you too, Rolo," I added. He yipped and ran the way the children had gone. I jogged after them, smiling as they scrambled for a place to hide, but I was getting faster. The tallest boy laughed back to us, but I was gaining and suddenly grabbed him around his waist, tickling him.

He was in a fit of laughter, the others tackling me and beginning to tickle me in return. I just playfully went along, rolling until I was up and running in the direction of the waves. They followed, shouting out that I was a coward, jumping into the water with me. They didn't like the water as much as I loved it, and I teetered back to them, finding them grabbing hold of my skirts and beginning to lead the way around the beach I hadn't seen before. "Let's play a naming game!" I announced. "I'm Nora."

"I'm Percy!" The tallest boy shouted, puffing out his chest.

"Gwen!" The only girl called.

"Tommy," The shortest huffed.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, kneeling to be eye-level.

"I want a cool name like Percy!" He pouted.

"That can be easily remedied. From now on, you are Sir Tommy, a Knight of the Guild!"

To emphasise it, I touched both his shoulders in a mockery of a knight-ceremony. "How's that for cool?"

He beamed, hugging me around my neck and nodding. I stood and we resumed our skipping pace. "Would you like to hear a story?" I asked them.

They nodded, even Rolo yipping up to us. "Yes, for you too."

"Story! Story!" They begged and I smiled up to the sky.

"Story, what?"

"Please?" They chorused and I smiled.

"There once was a crab who couldn't scuttle as well as his friends. They made fun of him! You see, he always scuttled forward and back, instead of side to side," I began to scuttle from side to side and they giggled, joining in and tripping a little over each other. I burst into laughter.

The afternoon was the first time I had laughed, had actually felt like my problems weren't encroaching on me like the sinister monster that stalked me from the deepest corners of my mind. "Children!" Someone called and I turned to find an elderly woman standing over at the bridge, waving over to us.

The children were dragging me over, still scuttling around like Henry the backwards crab. As we got closer, I noted that she was dressed better than most of the people in the Manor, her grey hairs pinned back in a tight bun, her black dress with lace around the high neckline and sleeves. As the kids ran into her arms and hugged her, she smiled over to me, intelligence and intuition flashing in her wrinkled grey eyes hidden behind spectacles.

"You too," She uttered, one bony arm reaching out and pulling me into the huddle. My limbs were rigid, and I smelt peppermint, like the tea. "Ah…" She let us go, smiling down to the three beaming children. "I brought you presents from my trip!" I noticed the handbag she carried and her white, wrinkled hand dipped in. "For young Master Percy…" She handed him a box that rattled, the present just big enough for Percy to hold in both hands. "Miss Gwen," She took out another, a little longer than Percy's.

Tommy was pouting again. "Little Tommy," She smiled, patting his hand, but he sniffed.

"I was knighted! It's Sir Tommy now!"

"It's true!" Gwen pitched in. "Queen Nora said he was a knight of the Guild, and he is!"

The old woman smiled up to me, a twinkle behind her rounded glasses. "You gave the young one a title of high esteem!"

"Do I get a present, Grandma?" The boy asked, holding out his hands in a begging motion.

"Of course child," The largest box of all was set in his small hands and the lady turned her attention on me then. "I have not had the pleasure of meeting you, dear," She told me, holding out her hand. Should I curtsy or…? I just held her hand and gave it a dainty shake. "Pray tell, Queen Nora, are you the new Nanny of the children?"

"Um… No," I murmured. "I… am a guest…"

"You're the one my grandson was telling me about. I thought perhaps, with your condition, you would be resting," She told me, her gaze sharp as it looked me over once.

"I needed to be outside on the beach," I could barely get out, and the old woman smiled anew.

"You like the sea?"

"All my life. My mother… We lived quite close to it for most of my childhood," I told her. "The children I met as I was taking a short walk."

"I'm certainly looking forward to your stay here, then," The old woman returned. "Oh goodness! I'm sorry! Where are my manners? I am Mrs Angelo. But you may call me Olga. Ever since my husband passed away, I've been considering changing that last name back. But, once an Angelo, always an Angelo!" She threw up her hands and smiled again. "I take it, Queen Nora, you have a surname?"

"Saunders," I told her, unable to help but clench my fists behind my back as nerves got to me. I wasn't proud of my last name, but Le Fleur as had been my mothers' wasn't exactly conspicuous either.

"What was your mothers' name?" Olga asked, her accent a drawl, but it was a soothing sound and I looked down to my bare feet, realising how dirty my dress had gotten from the sand and water.

"Caroline Le Fleur," I answered, hearing a sound of acknowledgement.

"I was wondering why you seemed so familiar," She murmured in her thoughtful drawl. "The similarities are frightening. She looked upon me with those same nervous eyes, a peridot green. Haha! I could never forget her yelling at my brother for being a beast to her younger sister! She was much the fighter. You, you are not only injured physically, but you… If you wish to, you could come and stay with me. My children hardly ever visit me in the mountains."

"You would want me to visit?" I asked, disbelief colouring my tones.

"But of course!" Olga grumbled as she looped her arm through my right. "Come, we will return the children to their nursery; they need rest, and by the looks of it, so do you."

I tried to open my mouth to say that I wasn't that tired, but she fixed a motherly smile on me. "I knew she would have such a beautiful child. All her misfortunes… She doesn't deserve the terrible happenings that came later in life. I take it she is well?"

My eyes shut then, pain ricocheting up my spine. "She passed away, sixteen years ago."

Her own looked a little lost then, "Oh, my dear! I'm sorry! But… In whose care were you placed then?"

My breath was becoming a little more difficult to take. "My father."

Her brows furrowed, in what I didn't know, but she pat my wrist, "You're here now, and that is what matters. To think, I was coming to the beach to try and scare off a woman I thought to be but a common street rat!"

"I'm close to it," I muttered darkly but she hushed me.

"Nonsense! You are a lady by birth, regardless of your fathers' side," She confided in me. "I should think you were treated badly?"

"Yes, you could say that," I agreed, ashamed then of the years I'd endured. How could I tell her that the most gentle treatment from my father had been his brass knuckles?

I couldn't meet her eyes, guilt over the lie I'd told making me feel that I had no right to encroach on these people. It wasn't long before the children were back with Leah, and I was outside the room I'd woken up in. "I want you to rest," Olga told me, a stern gaze set on my wavering one. "If you are not up to coming down to dinner, then I will be sending up a tray of delicacies for you to choose from. But, I expect you to be down tomorrow. It is Christmas in four days, after all."

Christmas? I was left to go inside the room alone, Rolo slipping inside before I shut the doors and stumbled over to the made bed. A nightgown and a clean dress were waiting and I took off the dress I wore in a daze, folding it and slipping the nightgown over my head with difficulty. I placed the pile of dirty material down on the chair by the door, as well as the dress, and decided I would take a quick bath.

"I can't do this," I sobbed as I sunk to my neck in the rose scented waters of the pool. "I should've been left for dead."