My gratitude to all the creators of the cc and especially to CycloneSue for her beautiful castle and the Highlander croft.

*****

The twins Jane and Valdemar Hunter had finished their studies at university and after returning to their neighborhood they wanted to pay a visit to Doctor Sean McCormick. Arriving at his place they saw the old man in pajamas and bathing his dog Swift.

The dog, reluctantly, allowed the man to wash him but regularly he shook his body to get rid of the soap.

When Sean was aware that the young people were watching he turned around and said: “I will be with you within a moment.” Swift took advantage of that moment and jumped out of the bath tub.

The young people laughed out loud when they saw how Swift was jumping like mad and tried to dry himself by rubbing his body against the wall.

Sean greeted: “Welcome… Jane … Valdemar. I’m not going to hug you for obvious reasons because I’m a little bit wet… hahaha…, that naughty dog!”
Jane answered: “Don’t worry Sean, it’s a wonderful sunny day and I’m sure your pajamas will be dry in a few minutes.” The man said: ” I just came out of bed when I noticed that the dog needed desperately a bath. I haven’t even had breakfast. Would you two have breakfast with me? Come inside…”

While Swift was enjoying his bone, the people entered the house and Jane prepared coffee and breakfast.

During breakfast they told the man that they had a real good time at university. Afterwards they said that they didn’t want to sell the family Castle. They were planning a big restoration and wanted to adapt it to modern living. They had rented a house nearby where they would live during the works of restoration. Sean thought that they made a very good decision and said that their father would have been very proud of them.

He invited them to spend the day together and they accepted his invitation.
Jane noticed that Sean could use a helping hand with his household and she started cleaning.

Sean insisted to prepare dinner himself and he cooked a wonderful salmon. While dining, they continued talking, laughing and joking. The man really enjoyed this day. Usually he was alone with the dog.

After a nice day together, the young people said good-bye and invited Sean to visit them one of these days.

Once at home the twins talked about Sean. He was really an adorable man. Now they understood why their parents had estimated him so much. Valdemar asked: “Have you noticed that Sean really is looking old?” His sister, while preparing coffee, answered: “Yes, you’re right and besides that, he doesn’t think very coherently.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, it seemed that he didn’t remember our mother when he said that dad would have been proud of us; if though mother wouldn’t have been proud of us as well!”

“Well sis…, remember that he’s an old man. He surely doesn’t have much time ahead. I think we ought to visit him regularly because he has nobody else in the world.”
“Yes, you’re right. We could visit him once weekly.”

When Sean was alone again, he had a shower and walked the dog. Afterwards he stood there thinking that he really was getting old. He had noticed that, now and again he couldn’t think very clearly and then he seemed to have a vacuum in his thoughts. That used to be only during a short while but the man was aware that it would repeat and that the lapses would eventually be longer. He had seen this disease so often with elder people.
Lately he used to dream often of his parents, about past events in his life and of… Lady Jane.

Ah… Lady Jane; ‘my Janey’ as he called her in the privacy of his thoughts. Last week he dreamt three times of her. In the dream he only saw her face and she said “Sean, my dear friend; tell the children the truth. Promise me to tell them the truth. I don’t want them to be alone in the world.’
Sean had only looked to that lovely face until it became completely transparent. He just didn’t react to her request. The same thing happened during the second appearance. It was in the third dream that he reacted and answered: ‘I cannot deny you anything milady, I promise I will tell them the truth’. After that, the dreams of her stopped.

He was going to bed when he remembered the promise he made and he felt ashamed that he had forgotten to tell them. They had been all day with him and he just hadn’t thought about the promise. He went back to the living and wrote on a news paper ‘don’t forget to tell the children about the dream’ and he put it in sight but not on a common place where he would take it away to recycle it.

A week afterwards, Jane and Valdemar paid him another visit.
Jane prepared coffee and Sean said: “My dear, you drink too much coffee. You are already a nervous girl as it is.”
She just smiled and said:”I simply cannot be quiet.”  She started to clean up the house and took the news paper to recycle it.

Sean saw it and said quickly: “No Jane, not that one… I have to keep it.”
“But why? It’s an old one.”  Sean hesitated and said: “I put it there because it has to remind me of something; I just don’t remember what….”
Then Jane had a closer look at the paper en saw there was something written on one side. She read it and said: “Here you wrote ‘don’t forget to tell the children about the dream’. Hey, it has something to do with us…!”

Jane and Val looked at each other and then at the man.
Now Sean remembered. “Ah yes…, it’s not very easy to tell you this but… you are not completely alone in the world. There is someone who might like to hear from you: she is… *he hesitated* your mother.” The young people looked pitiful at the man: “Don’t you remember Sean that mother passed away shortly after father’s death?”

The old man wiped a tear away en said: “Yes, I remember very well. Lady Jane brought you up but your real mother is another woman.”  Jane smiled and said gently: “No Sean; you’re mixing things up; you’re mistaken.” No Jane; I know that it sounds like nonsense but I’m sure of this. I assisted the woman at your birth. Lady Jane couldn’t have children of her own and I’ve practiced artificial insemination on a young woman. She was about your age; she had just finished university.” Jane felt a pain in her breast and hardly couldn’t breathe. Sean continued: “Lord Valdemar was your real father, no doubt about that.”

Sean remembered everything now and he told them how all this happened. He told them that the young woman had wanted to keep one of the twins but that he, Sean, hadn’t let her. He only had thought in the interest of his friends: Lord Valdemar and Lady Jane.
Val jumped up and said bitterly: “How can a mother give her children away; what kind of a mother is that…! I suppose she did so for money…! Sean said:”If the girl received money for it? I don’t know, that was not my business.”

“Why haven’t you told us before?” reproached Valdemar. Sean answered: “Because I had promised not to tell anybody about this. You must believe me! I had a hard time that I couldn’t tell you this after your parents’ death. It’s because of the dream of Lady Jane that she asked me to tell you this. As a matter of fact she made me promise to tell you. Anyway, if I would have told you a few years ago, you most probably wouldn’t have finished university; or am I mistaken?

Jane still was in a kind of a shock and asked “Who is this woman and where can we find her?” Jane and Val looked confused.
Sean answered:  “Dear child, I don’t know. I only know that she wasn’t from this country. She only had come here for one year to recover from the stress of her last year at university.”

“I don’t even remember her name! Her family name was something like Pisaro or Picalo…; I don’t remember very well. Wait…!  Yes… yes, her family name was Picaso; I’m sure of it. I remember because by that time there was a famous dancer who was called Picaso as well.”

He continued: “I have received a few e-mails from her asking about you but I know nothing of her since a very long time. I know she was from a neighborhood of SimCity but I’m afraid that’s the only thing I know about her”.
Jane stood up and washed the coffee cups. They said good-bye and left. They didn’t speak all the way home.

When they came home, they weren’t sleepy at all and they just sat in the living room. Jane remarked that Sean perhaps had kept the e-mails and she regretted that she hadn’t asked the man about it. Val said that he hadn’t seen any computer at Sean’s place. Then he looked at his sister and said: “Oh no; Jane…. I know this expression on your face…; you’re not seriously thinking about finding that woman!

“Yes Val, that’s exactly what I’m planning to do. Tomorrow I will go to the castle to have a look at the family papers of our parents. Perhaps I find some indications there.

To be continued