ALIVE???

Can it be? I have received word that my father, who was lost at sea when I was a toddler might indeed be alive! My mother has written that she has had word that my father might well be alive and living among the natives in the West!

I was so overcome after reading her letter that I had to take a long walk and consider the possibilities. My mother, of course, decided to retire after I reached my twenty-fifth birthday and abdicate the Duchy to me. Then there was that long drawn out legal mess when my cousin and I determined that we did not wish to marry one another. And this last year was bliss as my cousin and I were able to happily divide the duties of the Duchy and manage it together. Now this!! Imagine! I have only the stories my mother tells me of my father and one faded photograph to know him by. Alive? I am breathless with the possibility of it. And happy and I hope I do not disappoint him and oh my!! Alive!