Downstairs Elly rang the doorbell. The three of them rumbled down the stairs to let her in. "Welcome Elly, nice to have you here!" Margreet greeted her.

"Yes, nice to see you again," said Huib, "but I won't be tempted to join your circle of ladies, I'm going to work in the barn."

He gave Margreet a kiss and left.

"How special, seeing the son of Erik and Annerieke with you like this. Ha Lisa, nice to see you too. And what a beautiful house here, really cozy with all those natural colors! Radiates peace, those wood colors radiate tranquility." She slowly looked around the room, then her gaze lingered on the piece of wall that was still bare. She tilted her head. "I don't want to interfere, but you know what would be nice on that wall, as a change? Something like a painting or a tapestry with all kinds of colors. I have no idea what it's supposed to represent, maybe nothing at all, but I think something with all kinds of colors would look really nice, like blossoming or so. Not necessarily bright colors, just any colors you like. Boy, what am I saying, I'm sorry, I just dropped in here, don't feel obliged to do anything with it!"

"Well," Margreet responded, "to be honest, I already had a plan for that wall, indeed a tapestry. I wanted to embroider one myself, with threads of different colors and thicknesses. And it was also my idea, that it didn't have to represent anything, just something that grows while I’m embroidering. Something like every stitch can go where I want it to go. It just doesn't matter. That's pretty similar to your idea right?"

"Yup, that's just exactly what I meant!" exclaimed Elly enthusiastically. "Have you explored the fabric corner at the thrift store yet? I've seen that there's a large piece of sturdy creamy white linen there. Shall I set it aside for you tomorrow morning?"

"Gladly! I can't pick it up tomorrow, but on Friday I guess."

"Fine, I'll put a note with your name on it, so the other volunteers will know who it's for. If I'm not there, you can always ask for it at the cash register."

"Super! Thank you! Would you like some coffee? Or do you prefer tea?"

All three of them chose coffee. While Margreet went to the kitchen and Lisa sat down, Elly walked around a bit to take in everything a little better. "Yes, really a lovely house, with beautiful furnishings," she said again, as Margreet came in with the coffee. "It totally fits here too, so in the field with the forest in the background!"

Margreet smiled: "Exactly, I think it's like a fairy tale to live here." She put the coffee mugs on the table and invited Elly and Lisa to take milk and sugar as they liked. On a plate she had brought slices of gingerbread with buttercream, which the ladies eagerly snacked on.

"What a treat Margreet, I'm far from hungry, just had lunch, but something like this goes down easily."

"That's what I think too, I won't get easily bored of this."

"No, and now tell me about Monday. You had been to Martin's office, right? I didn't ask him about it, he's not allowed to tell me about it anyway. I only told him that you had invited me. He liked that for me, a little something for myself."

"Don't you often have that?" Lisa asked.

"No, I don't allow myself the time for it. Always working, at home and in the store. Martin said on Monday night, that I didn't have to be a slave anymore, that I could start discovering what I like for myself. He didn't care if everything wasn't super clean at home. And I didn't even know that anymore..."

Elly stared ahead for a moment, then returned her attention to the younger women. "Just tell me what you want to, about your visit with Martin."

Lisa nodded to Margreet, "You start with your part of the story."

A moment later, Lisa took over from her, telling roughly what life with Henk had been like for her, and that she was now allowed to unwind at the guest house.

"But…," she concluded with a beaming smile on her face, "that rest lasted only a short while, because I found the love of my life in Sjaak. Do you know him? The gardener?"

"Really? Yes, I do know him, a shy but kind man," Elly recalled. "Then you do roll from one thing into another, Lisa, but it sounds like from something evil into something good."

"That's certainly true, yes," Lisa confirmed. "And Sjaak isn't so shy anymore, he's loosened up quite a bit." And she told how they had found each other in the past two days.

Elly nodded: "On the one hand I can't imagine, because you hardly know each other. And yet I feel that it's good, that it's real. I am happy for you! And for you Margreet, because I think it is not any different with you and Huib. When I see you, I also just feel that kind of magnetic field, of those two soul magnets! And since Monday I also feel it much stronger with Martin and me. Actually it was there all along, but there was so much in the way between the two of us. But thanks to your story, that is also changing now."

Elly looked at Margreet for a moment. She felt something, frowned her forehead, but then shook it off. She thought she was just imagining it.

That little interruption, however, had not escaped Margreets notice. She asked Elly about it.

"Well, I don't know if I'm wise to tell you that," she hesitated. "That might come later, I don't know, we'll see!"

She wanted to switch to something light-hearted, but Margreet persisted. "We have another piece of news Elly, I'm pregnant."

"So after all!" Elly exclaimed. "That was what threw me off for a moment just now, I thought I saw a little girl. It happened so fast, first I thought of a pregnancy, then that it might be you yourself."

"Hahaha, and then you shook your head!"

"Yes, exactly, I shook it off, it was confusing for a moment. Congratulations Margreet, I don't have to ask you if you're happy about it, you're beaming! Are you feeling all right?"

"Well yeah, not quite well in the morning, a bit dizzy and nauseous, but not seriously. I can just do my work at the guesthouse, only a little quiet. And Lisa helped me this morning, which made a difference!"

"Yes, officially I didn't know you were pregnant, I had only noticed that you weren't fit, and... I had overheard something from a conversation between Huib and Annerieke, which made me suspect that you were pregnant."

"Oh those rascals, they already knew, and I just thought I was getting the flu!"

Margreet told the whole story in full color, from the impressions of Huib, his mother and herself.

"So you didn't have to take a pregnancy test?"

"No, isn’t that special? I don't feel the need, I'm just sure. Huib is already making a dresser, and this morning at the do-it-yourself store he already got paint mixed for the nursery, for the window and the door frames, and I think also for the door itself. Do you want to see it?"

"Yeah, nice!" Elly responded. "It's been so long since I was pregnant myself. My kids already left home, both married. Who knows, I might become a grandmother soon. I know both couples would love to have children and have no desire to wait until later times."

Upstairs she looked around the small nursery. "Nice little room for a little one, they don't need more space in the beginning."

Margreet explained, where she had the dresser and a wardrobe in mind. "And probably shelves there to put some toys on. Only this wall by the dresser is still bare. We don't know exactly what we want to do with this yet."

Elly stared at the wall. Margreet saw it, and with the memory of her impression about the tapestry for the living room in mind, she waited.

When Elly looked at her, Margreet asked, "And?"

Elly shot up in laughter, "You were on to me weren't you? You know, I looked at it, and got the word FREEDOM, like a word with big capital letters on the wall. I thought it was weird, that's not nice for a baby or toddler. The word faded away and I saw a lot of birds and butterflies. All kinds, a few existing, but most were fantasy birds and fantasy butterflies. All kinds of colors, just like with that tapestry for the living room. Just something fine that stands out within the softness of the surroundings. Downstairs a softness of natural tones, here the softness of off-white and that paint Huib had made. Yes, I had already seen the label, it's a nice fine color." Elly waited a moment, she actually wanted to know how Margreet liked it, the idea of those birds and butterflies. She saw that Margreet had tears in her eyes.

"The picture you saw is perfect. Huib and I long to bring our children into our lives. We don’t want to see it as parenting, but as living together, and letting them be free, free to become who they are. I don't know yet how that will work out in practice, I don't know it from experience, but Huib does. We'll figure it out."

Suddenly Margreet got an impression and asked Elly about it: "Can you paint, Elly? I mean, paint what you just saw, those birds and butterflies?"

"Yes I do," Elly nodded, "that's one of the things that has slowly faded into the background. I have painted in my son's and daughter's children's rooms, but not anymore later, I didn't allow myself the time for it."

"Would you like to pick it up again?" Margreet asked.

Lisa stood there silently, amazed at how everything fit together again.

Elly nodded, "Yes, actually it's coming back up stormily now, almost like a volcano! Could I do it here, paint what I just saw here? If you don't want to..."

Margreet interrupted her, "I'd love it if you would! You still have plenty of time, the baby isn't due until August. Just think of what you need and I'll buy it for you. Or we can go buy it together, if you like."

"I would certainly like that, but... can I buy the stuff? As a gift for your baby?"

"Isn't that way too expensive?" hesitated Margreet.

"No, it certainly isn't," Elly replied firmly. "You together have given me my life back. Not literally, but still in a way you have. When you get to that point, Lisa, I'd like to do it for you, too. If you want... Hahaha, now I'm getting ahead of myself, just take it easy, you still have enough to discover in your new life, and who knows how much misery you'll have to deal with. Well, come time, come paint!"

Lisa shot a laugh at that changed expression. "Great, such puns! I enjoy such things, such humor, puns, plans, it's all so incredibly fun! And yes, I will have to heal from a lot, no idea what that will be like in practice..."

"So do I. Luckily we have good guys on our side, Lisa!"

"Really, I still can't believe it sometimes!"

"You'll have to," Elly warned quasi-threateningly, "don't you dare let that man slip through your fingers!"

"No, I certainly wouldn't, then I'd let my happiness slip through my fingers too!"

To chapter 84. Annerieke comes along too

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