After a particularly heartfelt goodbye, at which the entire Bloemenhof family was present, Maurice and Jacqueline left for their son's house. They parked the car by the street and walked around the house to the garden, knowing they were expected. When they were almost at the corner, Maurice stopped Jacqueline and pointed to Julian, who was playing football with Karel. Suddenly Julian discovered them, cried out with joy and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him, towards them.

"Mauwies! Akkelie! Jaaaaaa!" he cried, when he reached them and was caught by Maurice. He wrapped one arm around Maurice and his other around Jacqueline, put his head between them, half on one shoulder, half on the other. Karel grabbed his mobile and took a few pictures of the beautiful trio. He walked around them and also took a picture where he saw Julian's beaming face.

" Kade toto!" he shouted happily. He let go of Jacqueline, half-turned on Maurice's arm and pointed towards the garden: "Banka da!"

"Yes, come along, we'll go and see Bianca," Maurice said, as Jacqueline pulled Karel against him for a moment and gave him a kiss.

"How was your homecoming on Wednesday?" she asked him.

"Oh mum, no words for it," he said, immediately emotional again. “She had put everything away so well that I didn't notice anything. Huib and Sjaak knew, but didn't show anything. I did find it strange that they talked a little softly in the house, in retrospect probably to avoid waking Julian. They finished, went back to Bloemenhof and I went to the kitchen to grab a beer from the fridge. Mum, you don't half know how much I longed for Bianca and Julian. That seemed to grow stronger by the hour. Well, then I pulled open the fridge door for that beer, and to my surprise saw a bowl of sliced vegetables, a bowl of meatballs... and I knew immediately that Bianca had been, or was still there. So I walked into the room and almost bumped into her around the corner. She had heard that I had opened the fridge door and understood that there was a good chance that I would see her preparations for dinner. What a delightful surprise that was! But she was also a bit mean to me. I asked if she was staying over, a nice long weekend, she said she couldn't. So I assumed she would go back to Bloemenhof after dinner in the evening. Bummer of course, but yeah... how many more weeks or months would I have to languish?" he suddenly did dramatically. Julian laughed: " Kade! Hahahahahaha!"

"Yes, you laugh," Karel pretended to grumble, "it was awful, just a brief awful moment. Anyway, I decided to enjoy the hours we would have together. And then..."

"Wait," Bianca interrupted him. "It went like this..." She took Karel's arms and put them on her shoulders. He understood that she wanted to perform the play again and pretended to hug her. Bianca grinned at him and wrapped her arms around Karel's waist. "So it went like this, I said something like this: 'I've been a bit cheeky, I asked your parents to help me pack and move my things. Everything is already upstairs in the cupboards, the buggy, our coats and... oh yes, my sewing basket are outside on the garden bench, and my car is parked further down, around the corner." She played it off perfectly, like a mischievous child. "You should have seen his face, first frowning, like 'what now?' and then he relaxed, a smile slowly appeared on his face, until he couldn't beam more optimally. It was amazing!"

"Yes, you then! You were beaming at least as much! We were both so happy, I was so happy, so relieved, that I burst into sobs on her shoulder and told her how hard I had found it, the idea of having to wait for I don't know how long. And then she said the legendary words 'I'm home, home with you...'. So what more could you want? I'm so happy, so full of joy!"

Maurice looked at him with a wide grin. "Wonderful boy, truly wonderful!"

Jacqueline nodded, but didn't seem quite there. She looked at Bianca penetratingly and said, "Bianca, on that night we listened to that beautiful song, 'Because of you', you called yourself a mess. And you were, you couldn't help that, but you couldn't just clean up the mess either. You were afraid of yourself, dared not trust yourself. You also dared not really let Karel, someone who really cares about you, wants to be much more for you than a superficial contact, in. We all know that with the passage of time, you will completely heal from that misery, but through the past week, we have discovered, it can be done much faster. That mess inside you is being swept together, swept away, and the wall you thought you were protecting yourself with is crumbling, crumbling faster and faster and disappearing. You no longer need it. The way is free, Bianca, the way to Karel's heart, to his soul is free, and vice versa from him to you too. And, not to mention, to Julian."

Bianca put her arms around Jacqueline, crying, and said between her sobs: "I have longed for that so much, I want so much to be able to give myself completely to Karel and Julian, just be real, be completely real. Would that suddenly be possible now, do you think?"

Bianca let go of her a little again and looked at her. Jacqueline smiled and nodded. "You'll still have to get used to it, you'll sometimes see old thoughts flying by, like the wind blowing them by, but they won't have that deep impact anymore, they won't define your attitudes, your relationships. How do you feel?"

"Bit floaty, light-headed. That wall has held me up, it seems in retrospect, and now I need to learn to stand on my own two feet for a while," she smiled. Then she let go of Jacqueline and turned to face Karel. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed herself close to him.

"I want to feel you, I want to feel that connection..."

Karel had immediately wrapped his arms around her and pushed on her back, pressing her firmly against him. "Feel it, I feel it, it's so much more intense than before. Do you feel it too?"

"Yes..." she sighed.

Jacqueline and Maurice walked in with Julian. Jacqueline went to make coffee while the men kept her company.

"How do you feel, Jackie?"

"So happy, so happy for them, because of them..."

Maurice smiled, "Me too, it was wonderful to see how Bianca suddenly surrendered to him completely, forced herself on him. So intense all of a sudden! Great!"

"Kade Banka seet, fedy seet!" said Julian gravely.

.

Jacqueline came out with a tray of coffee mugs and a glass of water for Julian. Bianca put her sewing for the big seat cushion of the garden bench inside on the dining area for the time being.

"Clumsy big thing," she said, "but I'm having fun with it. I managed to cut that mattress padding properly to size. I laid the fabric on the grass, that mattress padding on top, fiddled with how to do it for a while, and then decided to cut a wide bottom and an even much wider top, following the idea of a pillowcase. It doesn't seem difficult any further now, I've finished the zigzagging, so it can't fray. Now it's a matter of seeing where I will start sewing on. I'm thinking from one end via the inner edge to the other end. And then finally the wrap. Oh, that wrap, I can take the ends of that right away when I start securing the ends. Just pin it first, see if it turns out the way I envision it."

"I think you see it just fine in front of you," Karel said. "As you told, I saw it in front of me. And yes, those ends of those flaps, that wrap, you can put those in right at the beginning. Saves you work at the end, and the result will be prettier. If you find it handy, take an ordinary pillowcase with it, then you can check it off. No, I don't think you need that, just follow your inner self and you'll be fine!"

Bianca smiled at him, "I think so too... Oh, I am experiencing such a peaceful serenity inside, as if I have completely landed!"

"Eat a settis?" asked Julian.

"Eat a sandwich? Already now? Is your tummy starting to grumble?"

Julian jeered, "Piggy!"

"Are you a piggy?"

"Belly isse piggy, rrr," he did with a hoarse rrr.

"Shall we do something else first when we finish the coffee?" asked Maurice.

"What?" asked Julian

"Taking a picture of you together. Of Karel and Bianca and Julian together. Then tonight or tomorrow we will make a nice painting and a nice drawing of that!"

"Dawe toto?"

"Yes, then Jacqueline is going to draw the picture."

"Akkelie dawe..."

"And I'm going to paint the picture."

"Toto pait, Mauwies pait..."

"Drawing with a pencil, painting with paint. I'll just take our tablets out of the car, then I'll show you. I'll be right back," Maurice promised.

"Mauwies gette the car," Julian explained to Jacqueline.

She gave him a wink.

Maurice returned, handed a tablet to Jacqueline and switched on his own tablet. He looked for the picture of his latest drawings and showed it to Julian.

"This is a picture of Annerieke's house," he said.

"Yes, Annieke ous! Annieke Sime ous!"

"Right, also from Simon. And here is the painting I made of it..."

Maurice continued, up to the previous day's picture.

"Foddes! Son gone..."

"Yes, that was at the end of the day, when the sun went away behind the forest. Then you get those beautiful colours. Would you like to see Jacqueline's drawings too?"

Julian nodded and watched Maurice take over the tablet and show the first picture.

"Isse Huib ban, yeah..."

"Huib makes beautiful things out of wood over there in the barn, he made a nice sculpture yesterday."

Maurice quietly went past the pictures

At the last one, Julian called out, "Akkelie foddes, son gone..."

"Yes, but that looks very different here hey, because she did it with pencil."

"Isse pitty."

"And now I would like to take a photo of you guys, is that allowed?"

Karel and Bianca looked at each other smiling.

"I would have found that annoying an hour ago, but now it's fine," Bianca shared. "Such a burden has been lifted off me..."

She slid close to Karel, whereupon Julian crawled into Karel's lap. Maurice and Jacqueline, meanwhile, stood on the grass and both took a few photos.

"So, I have enough, there must be a beautiful one among them," Maurice said.

He came back to sit on the bench and went through the photos.

"Yeah, this is the one! The way you look at each other here, amazing! Karel and Bianca so loving, and Julian looking up at you both beaming. Couldn't be lovelier!"

Jacqueline looked over his shoulder.

"Right, that's the photo we're going to make! I have the same one, see. Apparently taken at the same time. But something else... do you know that Ilse also added us to the gallery's website?"

"That's right," said Bianca, "I saw the message go by, but was just busy, so I thought I'd check it out afterwards. I forgot... Did she put those pictures you just showed on it?"

"Yes, I liked it so much, it was a complete surprise."

Bianca grabbed her mobile and went to look at both their pages.

"Great! And that post yesterday, about the power of the site, I enjoyed that too," Karel said. "I've always had that idea, you guys are just good guys!"

"Goo guys!" echoed Julian, "leally!"

.

After lunch, Maurice and Jacqueline said goodbye, to which Karel and Bianca promised them to come to their house near the dunes for a few days as soon as possible.

It was almost two o'clock when they arrived at Johan and Marieke's house. Marieke saw them arriving and headed for the door already.

"Good day! You must be Maurice and Jacqueline! I'm Marieke, come in! Johan and Marianne are in Johan's study to take care of something briefly. Then they come downstairs. And this is Ellen, our friend, and in court the permanent lawyer working with Johan."

Ellen stood up to shake hands with the guests.

"Ha Ellen, I'm Jacqueline and this is my husband Maurice. Nice to meet you right away too. I feel so much pain in you, so much pain and disappointment, disappointment in a relationship of years, a relationship that had no real connection in it, no soul connection. And apart from disappointment and pain, also so many questions and fears about a possible new relationship. Fear of ever meeting your true soulmate and not knowing how you will have to deal with that person. That uncertainty, that fear, is like a foggy haze around your soul. In fact, unnoticed probably, you have always had it with you, because relationships around you, during your childhood, were also often based on attraction from wounds, or even darkness. In short, up close, you have no experience of soulmate relationships. Yes, brief encounters, like with your friends here, but not experience of such relationships you are in the midst of daily, soulmate relationships with people you live with daily. That's why that foggy haze has formed around your soul. I have good news for you, that foggy haze dissolves, dissolves completely, so that if you ever meet your true soulmate, you will know that it is that person, and be able to interact with that person in freedom. Without that foggy haze, you will also be able to follow your inner voice better, not only in your work, but especially in relationships."

Ellen stared at her, with a blank expression, while the content of the words Jacqueline spoke did penetrate her, despite feeling she did not understand half of them.

Her gaze now became alive again. She blinked her eyes a few times and said, "You are real, just like Johan and Marieke, and Marianne. You and your husband are both real and you have a real soul connection. I couldn't see that before, but now I can. I spoke to someone not long ago, I felt that his connection with his wife was not real either. It was, he confirmed it, but otherwise I never felt it so clearly. Oh yes, with the couples of Bloemenhof, there it was. But not like with you, I mean, I don't know you, I haven't experienced you together. I mean, I do sometimes feel things between people when they both talk, but I haven't heard Maurice yet, and yet I feel you are a unit. It's true, isn't it? Or am I completely missing the point now?"

Maurice burst out laughing: "No way, you're good at slapping the point!"

Johan and Marianne, meanwhile, had come downstairs and introduced themselves.

"Does anyone here fancy coffee or tea yet?" asked Johan.

"No, thank you, rather later, we have just eaten," replied Maurice.

The others didn't feel like it yet either, were actually curious what would happen next.

Jacqueline turned to Johan: "You have made an incredible step in your work, but something is threatening to go wrong in the near future. This is not to do with your work, but with your relationship with Marieke. Because you yourself have a history of intimidation, manipulation, control and condemnation, it is difficult for you to just be real in this intimate relationship. You are open and honest with Marieke, you genuinely love her, but you are not yet able to give yourself totally to her. Those things from before are still in the way. If that were to remain in place, there would be a good chance that you would withdraw when your baby is born. You have your court work, Marieke is taking care of your child, and that would most likely start to feel to you like you don't belong anymore. That's not because of the baby, nor because of Marieke, it has to do with your own wounds. And yes, in time that would heal, because the process of inner healing is unstoppable. But for you personally and because of your work, which is vitally important, globally, that wall of insecurity through that misery from early on has to come down, and it's going down, it's going down completely. You don't have to protect yourself in any way, your relationship with your wife will become optimal in a short time, so you can enjoy each other and your child together, and your work will become even bigger and more powerful. You will have a lot on your plate, in your work, but precisely because your walls have come down, you will be able to handle that just fine, able to assess things and make the right choices."

Johan's gaze was calm and peaceful, Jacqueline noticed. She saw that his eyes went to Marieke and his face began to glow. He walked up to her and embraced her. "My dear Vlinnie, it will only get better, I feel it's right. It's already better..."

Jacqueline smiled at Marianne and said, "When deliverance and healing go like this, it's super wonderful isn't it. Ellen and Johan were released from something intense without any pain. Your situation is somewhat similar to Ellen's, except that you have always shunned relationships from childhood. Oh yes, your friendship with these people here is sacred to you, in the sense of being very valuable. And yet you hold back a part of yourself. You just can't give that, no, you really can't, it's too devastated. From a young age, you have seen how people who should have been there for each other and for you rather took each other's lives. You have felt how they pounded on you with words. And you have already gone through a lot of pain, including with your friends here, or not so much with them, but thanks to the fact that you knew they were behind you. But the moments of process were your moments, in them you were alone, and you had consciously chosen that. Quite understandable... In the army, soldiers used to use a shield to protect their lives, their vital organs. You use a shield to protect your heart, your soul. And yes, we need to protect our soul, we need to keep people who are bad for us out of our soul's door. These are good measures by which we can take care of ourselves. But your shield is a hardened shield by which you also keep people who want the best for you out of your heart on a regular basis. A logical reaction to all the wounding... But I am now taking over that shield from you, so that you may start protecting yourself naturally. In a natural way, based on the guidance from your soul. Just listen and feel, you will know better and better whether you should answer, whether you should go along, what to say, what to do. That is the best shield you can use to protect your soul, yourself. That will also help you in your work, when Johan and you face setbacks or other woes, to make the right choices together. And another thing... don't be worried when your soulmate comes. Don't be afraid to let him into your heart. You will become a tremendously strong team!"

Marianne's eyebrows shot up. "Soulmate? But I don't have time for a relationship..."

"Oh yes indeed," Johan added. "You and I are equally busy in court, and if I have time for a relationship, so do you. Remember when you sent me home based on a general impression? That was because of my dear soulmate here, who was upset with herself! Rest assured dear girl, when Mr soulmate comes around the corner, you will be only too happy to make time for him!"

Maurice roared with laughter, "You're a guy after my own heart, Johan, that's what I like to hear! Soulconnection makes time for each other, you can't do otherwise and you don't want to do otherwise! Remember this, Marianne, when your true soulmate comes, your relationship with him is important for the world, for justice in the world... and for truth in the world! And how that relates to the latter... the truth... that doesn't just have to do with the law of lawsuits. Your soulmate could well be a truth seeker!"

In the corner of her eye, Marianne saw that Jacqueline nodded.

While everyone was still laughing at Johan and Maurice's reaction, Jacqueline continued with the impression she got for Marieke. "And you Marieke, lest best... Safety above all else, that's how your life has always been. You had to, to keep yourself safe and ultimately to keep others safe. You made a choice, a good choice to follow the creative side your soul pointed you and leave security behind. But that doesn't mean you are rid of the misery of the past. The security of Johan, of yourself, and soon of your child... the fear has subsided somewhat, but you too are still walking around with a shield, and with a gun, which on the one hand has to do with the will to protect yourself and your family, but also with an intense rage against the people who wanted to harm you and your family, with a terrible rage against all the people who make other people victims." She saw that Marieke nodded, with her lips tightly together, as if trying to keep the anger inside. "Your soul knows very well what you need, what Johan needs and what your child will need. Your soul knows, and that is why you may now let go of that shield and that gun and give them to me."

As her lips began to tremble and tears welled up in her eyes, she made a gesture with her left hand as if giving a shield to Jacqueline, and the others watched as she locked the gun with that same hand and also gave it to Jacqueline. Johan had moved closer, feeling that she might collapse in a moment. He caught her just in time. Jacqueline put her arms under Marieke's legs and together with Johan lifted her to the couch, where a short time later she regained consciousness, crying, sobbing soundlessly.

"You stay with her, Johan, and I'll take care of coffee or tea," Ellen whispered beside him. She briefly went down the line, at least four coffees, then she would ask Johan and Marieke what they wanted. She went to the kitchen, turned on the coffee machine and grabbed clean mugs. As the first mug filled, she put a glass with teaspoons, a preserving jar with sugar and one with cups of coffee cream on the tray.

As the fourth mug filled up, Johan came into the kitchen. "Thanks Ellen! For Marieke and me, make coffee too." He grabbed a biscuit tin and removed the lid from it. Moments later, they nibbled on a spiced biscuit and sipped their hot coffee.

"Well Marieke," Maurice began, "there was something about butterflies... I said over the phone that I was thinking about butterflies and you would tell me about that this afternoon. Do you still want to?"

Marieke smiled, "Oh yes, there's all kinds of things about butterflies..."

She told about the evening Johan and Ellen came to dinner with her after not seeing Johan for years, about the bouquet he had brought with him with the beautiful butterfly of ribbons on top. "He thought I was a butterfly, frisky, full of life. I realise now, after Jacqueline's words, how much of that was played. I am a butterfly, I am frisky and full of life, and right through all the fear and feelings of insecurity, I continued to behave that way as much as possible. Well, and about the little girl we are expecting... she is also such a butterfly. And in the days when I was struggling with the question of why I had gone into work in security, I discovered a box of craft paper, those folding sheets in particular. And I just started folding something with that. Fans, a whole bunch of fans... and together they became butterflies. When we finish our coffee and if you like it, feel free to come upstairs to see the nursery. The butterflies are hanging there."

"Wait a minute," Maurice discovered, "I think I saw those on the gallery's website. Can that be right?"

"Yes, that's right! That's them... did you like them?"

"Oh yes, wonderfully cheerful. And so that little girl becomes a butterfly too... going through life airily. The more we get free and heal, the more we can, all in our own way. Could it be that your little daughter will pretty much go through life dancing?"

"That would not surprise me, I have already seen her in my mind's eye moving through the garden in such a dancing manner," Johan responded.

"Have you seen that too? Me too! Well, we should share even more with each other, Mr Judge!" Marieke did sternly.

"Seems like a good plan. What else?" he asked jokingly.

"Sigh..." said Marieke with a grin.

The coffee was finished, the butterflies in the nursery were admired, from a distance and up close.

"A wonderful hobby, Marieke. I've seen the other photos of you too. It sounds so simple, from folding sheets, or other paper... but when it happens from your insides, it is powerful by default. And I assure you, handing over your shield and gun will also give your creative work a huge boost!"

.

Maurice and Jacqueline said their goodbyes, got some sandwiches and each a packet of juice from Johan for on the road and started the last part of their journey to the other side of the country, North Holland, their home base. Satisfied by what they had experienced over the past week, they brought all their luggage into their home and first drank another mug of coffee together.

"Creatime?" asked Maurice, looking at her with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I do feel like it! Do you still have the energy for it after that long drive?"

"Yes, right after that drive, just doing our own thing. Come on lady Mulder, let's get going!"

They grabbed their painting and drawing gear and their tablets. Since it was now about faces, which of course was trickier than trees, they decided to put a tablet with the chosen picture between them on the stand of the cover sleeve. In love, they looked at the photo, and moments later at each other.

"What riches, Jackie, let's get started!"

To chapter 93. The journalist

Or to the Table of contents