Maybe we can talk about it later."I kissed her again and said I should probably go home."Call me!" I'll see you at school."My parents either didn't kn...ow I had sneaked out or decided not to make an issue of it ... but I woke late and missed my first class.I found a note in my locker. 'See you at lunch! xxx K.'I was set for anything, despite the 'kisses' ... including, that now she didn't need me anymore.But that wasn't the case. She asked me what I had planned for the weekend."I have farm chores. . sorta. We were on the elevator to the fifth floor ... then it’s the staircase to the tower. The tower room is isolated from intruders. Central Michigan is a mixed population. People from all over Europe settled there.Pewamo, and Westphalia, towns south and west of my hometown, are largely German and the rural Germans have a tradition, Brautentführung or kidnapping of the bride. Close friends will at some point “kidnap” the bride after the ceremony, dragging her from bar to bar while the groom. The new mother looked down at her bundle. Her child was wailing. She looked at the mid-wife and the nurse and the trembling servant girls. She arose from the divan on which she reclined. Without word or sign to the five women, she removed herself and her burden from their presence. As quietly as had her husband, followed by the echoes of the wailing infant. The halls were empty as she descended to the ground level of the castle. Her hands were empty as she left the castle and went to the cliff. I woke up maybe an hour later. I knew this would happen, since I always wake up in the middle of the night when I crash like that. I wanted to turn over without waking him. His body was not touching mine at all, although I could feel his warmth and I could hear his breathing. I listened for a bit and it did not sound like he was asleep. I was almost completely awake, but I rolled over slowly, just peeking through my eyelids. There was plenty of light in the room, and I could tell he was wide.