"Listen closely, child. There existed a great lady in your family, known as Karrigan. Her parents are the ones who built Brickwood. She grew up on that fine estate, which was neighboured by the family of her greatest childhood friend, Alex. They grew up together, closer than brother and sister. Alex was older than she by a few years, and when he came of age, he was slow to find a possible wife. He turned away some of the prettiest ladies within the region, save the prettiest, his most cherished friend, Karrigan. One woman, Elizabeth, was particularly in love with him. It was widely rumoured that there was more to the friendship, but it was not until Karrigan's father announced her betrothal, to another lord, that the rumours became true." Cairo gasped slightly, as the story was beginning to take a familiar shape. The names were wrong, but it was the same, she could tell.

"Alex, upon hearing of this untimely news, suddenly realised that she was the only woman for him. That was why he had such trouble finding his match, he was waiting for her. And he was too late. But he was unwilling to give up, because his lady was worth everything to him. So he challenged the other man, as was the tradition in those days, and he won his lady," the old man said. He paused to take a drink.

"For a short while, Karrigan and Alex knew only happiness. They would be seen often together by the river-which is now your pond dear-making plans for their future together. And then one day, Alex was called away, for a war had broken out with France, and England needed all of her lords and peasants alike. And so he left his lady. She carried on life as normal, always missing her love. It's said that she would pace her balcony every single night for hours, hoping to see him on the road, returning to her. After a few months of her waiting, a fever broke out on the estate, and many people died, including her parents. She was left the lady of the household, and as she had not been raised to run an estate such as Brickwood, despite her every effort, it's glory began to fade. Soon, her family's wealth drizzled away, as she was forced to pay taxes and since provisions could not be grown by her and her few loyal servants alone, she had to buy food where the family used to grow it. But she persisted, and kept her hopes that one day her Alex would return and save her from the mess her life was becoming."

"And then one day the horrible news came. A ship had been lost in the foolish war, her Alex's ship. He was presumed dead. It came at the lowest point in her life. The taxes against her estate had grown larger than her savings could afford, and if she didn't come up with a plan soon, the estate would be taken from her. A friend, a brother to Alex who had promised to look after Karrigan for him, proved to be the solution. After fighting the lady all through it, he found he best solution to her problem. He offered to marry her, so that his family's immense wealth would save the struggling estate. She, hopeless that Alex would ever return to her, agreed. The night before their wedding, the two were standing together on her balcony, watching once again for Alex, ever hopeful that he would return. In a fit of grief due to the fact that she was betraying her only love by marrying his most trusted friend, she threw herself into his arms and wept."

"This scene was witnessed by a worn and weary traveller, led by the vindictive spirit of a woman scorned. The rejected woman, Elizabeth, had come across Alex, battered and exhausted from his long journey home, and had led him directly to Brickwood, knowing what would be waiting for him. As nothing was explained to him, he could only conclude that he had been betrayed. He fled the scene, without Karrigan ever knowing that her love was still alive."

"The next day, the wedding was attended by a newly-wed couple. While receiving her guests at the door, Karrigan felt as though she was seeing a ghost. But it was no ghost that she was seeing. It was Alex. Before she could express her relief and her joy at seeing him, he introduced her to his new wife, Elizabeth. To her, it felt as though all the months she had spent praying for his safe return were for nothing, when he had found someone else. Normally, she was a proper lady, but this situation made her act out of turn. 'I've spent the past eight months waiting for you to return. My parents died, and my servants abandoned me. After hearing that you were dead, I made the only decision that I possibly could, which was to marry your good friend in order to keep my land. I felt that I was betraying you, even in death, by marrying him, and it seems as though all the grief I've suffered because of you has been for naught,' she screamed. She ordered him off of her land, and in order to punish him even more, she married his best friend."

"Once realising that he had been betrayed by Elizabeth, Alex knew that he had lost his Karrigan. He moved far away, dragging his hated wife with him. Karrigan, who had always loved her husband as a brother, grew to love him the way a wife should, and their family prospered nicely. But she was never able to forget her first and only true love, and Alex was never able to forgive himself for not trusting his lady. They never saw each other again," he finished. Cairo, who hadn't had time to read the last entry in the journal, was saddened by the unhappy ending.

"That is so sad," she sighed.

"Aye. It's said that Alex and Karrigan could never really be at peace after their death until they were reunited," he added.

"How can I not put that in one of my stories?" Cairo asked, while mentally kicking herself. Try as she may, she had not been able to write anything in the past week. It was starting to bug her. She tried not to admit it to herself, but it was the very same feeling of being trapped that had driven her away from her hometown to the house next door to Nick. She couldn't understand why she felt that way, other than the feeling that something in her life had changed, and she had a compulsive feeling to run away from it.

"You promised, and a Williamson never goes back on their word!" the old man said, with a hint of humour.

"That's good, because I'm a Williams," Cairo said, with a grin.

"I'm going to tear your head off, you stupid Yank!" a drunken man suddenly hollered, breaking up the light banter that Cairo was involved in. AJ, who had slipped away with Erika at some point during the story, had obviously done something to offend one of the other patrons.

"Keep your hands off my girl!" AJ shouted back, which prompted the larger man he was yelling at to pour a pitcher of beer over his head.

"Eh! That was mine, Lou!" a heavily accented man yelled out.

"The Yank started it," Lou replied.

"He did not," the other man answered, which started an argument between those two, causing them to completely forget about AJ. He stood there, dripping, look rather confused. Finally, he interrupted the argument between the other two men.

"Oh, shut up and I'll buy you a drink. Just keep your hands off my girl," he warned. Cairo laughed as the other two men agreed. It all seemed so simple.