[A] Déjà Vu {Delia!}

She couldn't explain it, but Delia was actually nervous about going to see Sephen. Imagine! Her! Nervous! Of course, she was quite sure it was mostly because she hadn't told her parents about it. The wouldn't have allowed it, not without proper escort. Or they would have made her invite him to their estate and she'd never have a moment alone with him! She knew that her parents were as fond of the De La Braose family as she, but this was the first time she'd had any contact with him in many years. She didn't need her mother hovering, and for heaven's sake, she definitely didn't need the woman trying to push her old friend on her as a possible suitor! She knew her mother too well. So maybe, after today, she would suggest inviting him over, and his brother, and her mother could flit about playing entertainer and unsuccessful matchmaker. So, for today, she'd just told her parents she was going riding. It wasn't lying. It was withholding information.

She was bundled up, almost uncomfortably so, which made riding rather difficult. It wasn't an activity she did often or had bothered to master. Then, it was more a recreation sort of thing than a form of travel for her. Needless to say... Sephen would probably be there before she would. On her short journey, she wondered about him as she had been wondering about him for several months now. Where had he been? What did he look like now? Would there be anything about him that would be familiar to her? And hint of the old Sephen? Then again, she doubted she would be recognizable to him. Delia wasn't sure she really recognized herself anymore. Not from back then.

Through the trees, she could make out the clearing ahead where the pond was. It hadn't made sense at the time, why she wasn't allowed to see the boys anymore. Why it was inappropriate. It still didn't hardly make sense. They had been her dearest friends. While she knew why now, she didn't think it was a good enough reason.

The sound of another horse reached her ears and she realized that Sephen really must have beaten her there. Only when she came out of the wood and could see better, the man before her was a the baby-face on broad shoulders she had expected. In fact, it was not anywhere close to the person she had been expecting at all! It was that horrible man fro the market! Her nostrils flared at the sight of him. "What are you doing here?" she snarled, not even bothering to use a polite voice as she lashed at him. There weren't people around to see and certainly no one to stop her. She slid off her horse as gracefully as she could, wobbling just slightly. "Leave!" she ordered, pointing in a direction that was away from the pond. She did not want her first meeting in years with her old friend to be marred by her anger for this man.