Free Let Them Have Cake by Kathy Pratt

headache? Do you feel sick anywhere else?”

“I have a slight stiff neck.” Anna patted the mattress beside her. “Come on. We’re losing the mood.”
    “Turn over and let me rub your back,” Jeff said as he slid into bed next to Anna. “I’ll try to loosen up your stiff neck.”
    Jeff expertly rubbed Anna’s aching back and neck. He had a gentle touch and his hands felt wonderful.
    Jeff chuckled to himself as he heard Anna’s breathing change into the deep, rhythmic sounds of sleep. He snuggled close to her back and lay there quietly enjoying the sound. It was a very long time before he was able to drift off into sleep himself.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Eight
    Anna slept restlessly and woke frequently during the night. Her headache wasn’t any better and her neck had resumed its prior stiffness. Her thoughts when she awoke were of the hamlet at Versailles and the mysterious man she’d seen there. She was inexplicably drawn to return. Dawn peeked through the window. She gazed at Jeff sleeping so quietly beside her, and decided not to wake him.
    She slipped silently from the bed and reached for her robe that was lying on the wing-backed chair next to it. She pulled it close around her and stepped into her leather moccasin slippers. The air was damp and chilly. She opened the door that led to the outside of the room and stepped tentatively into the foggy morning.
    Fluffy white sheep dotted the hillside. Homes with smoke wisps drifting from their chimneys looked cozy and inviting. She thought about Jeff, sleeping so peacefully and hoped he wouldn’t wake before she returned. He would be worried about her being out in the cold. He’d been so sweet and concerned the night before. Her head and neck still hurt. She couldn’t understand why since she never had headaches.
    Anna began walking along a deserted pathway and soon was standing at the entrance to the hamlet. Fog shrouded the landscape and she was unable to see more than a few feet in front of her. There weren’t any other tourists in sight. She walked slowly down the path towards the buildings she remembered were a short distance away. Her footsteps on the gravel path echoed in the stillness of the fog shroud. She was enveloped in solitude.
    Chickens cackled nearby and Anna stopped to peer into the fog. She finally spied them pecking at the ground and clucking to one another. The path twisted to the right and she could see the lake through the mist. A pair of swans floated by; occasionally turning to look at one another, their arched necks forming a heart shape as they did so.
    Her hair was getting wet and the cold was chilling her to the bone. She reached down to pull her robe tighter around her. She wasn’t dressed for the cold weather and realized she shouldn’t be out in it. She should go back to the hotel, but couldn’t tell which direction to go since it had gotten too foggy.
    Anna looked around and noticed a tiny farmer’s cottage a few steps away. The front door stood slightly open. She approached tentatively and peaked inside the home.
    “Hello? Is anyone home?” No answer. Anna stepped inside. She walked from room to room and found it to be deserted. Women’s clothing and a shawl were hanging on a wooden peg in the tiny bedroom.
    She didn’t think anyone would mind her borrowing them given how wet her own clothing was, so she dressed in the long peasant type dress with multiple petticoats underneath. The dress was made of muslin. She wrapped the shawl that was hanging with the dress tightly around her shoulders. She felt much better. The clothing was really authentic looking. She thought that they must put on plays or pageants in the hamlet and used the clothing for that purpose.
    Anna stuffed her silk nightgown and robe into the bottom of a large basket she found in a corner of the room. She vowed to return later and leave the clothing where she’d found it and retrieve her