Anastasia couldn't help but smile softly when Samsul said he believed her mother wouldn't mind spending time with her at all. She nodded, "I would like that..."

For years, she had thought her mother had never wanted her. That she was a mistake and as much as Mama and Papa tried, they just weren't able to fill that small gap in her heart or that nagging in her head that she was unwanted. Knowing now, that she was a plan, that her parents had wanted her and wanted to love her. That it was some vision of her own future that caused her to be sent away... It melded things in her that she never thought would be fixed. She finished off her meal in silence before she looked at Samsul again, "Do you think we could go once you are done your breakfast? That should leave us plenty of daylight to get my dress from the seamstress and be back for my lessons with Gerald."