Dream Cottage (22 page)

“What is wrong with Leo, Max? He is acting really weird.”

Max smiled and took hold of Greta’s hand.

“I shouldn’t worry about Leo. But I do have a little wedding gift for you. It is supposed to be a surprise, but, seeing as you’ve had a bit of a rough start to our married life, I…”

Greta interrupted him and pointed to the table. “What’s that?”

Max smiled.

“Oh, I nearly forgot; Reverend Oliphant has left a gift. It was delivered by the minister. It’s over there. On the card he has written that it
is a little memento of our special day.
Sent with his apologies that he couldn’t attend.”

Max led Greta over towards the table where a large gift-wrapped box had been placed along with the card. She took hold of the box and ripped the paper aside. Inside was a wooden box. She lifted the lid and gasped in amazement. She steadied herself as she felt her legs buckle from beneath her.

“Oh god, Max! It’s the gold!” she shrieked. “It’s the gold!”

“Gold? Wow, really? Hey, you don’t seem very surprised. You’re behaving like you already knew about it. We must thank him straight away. Is it real?”

Greta ran her fingers over gold coins and trinkets and smiled in satisfaction, for the sake of her sanity.

“Oh yes, it certainly is for real. It’s most definitely for real! It isn’t a dream!”

“Then you had better take this too.” Max handed Greta a small green box.

Greta took the box and lifted the lid. Her jaw dropped
and she looked at him in disbelief. Inside was an old key laying on a green velvet pad. She gasped.

Max smiled.

“To my beautiful wife, the key to my heart! No, seriously, it’s the key to your dream cottage!”

Greta gulped and felt faint. Her nightmare was about to begin!