For Jenna dreams were not anything of importance, they were not things of substance in her life.
Of course, like everybody, she too dreamed and sometimes had nightmares but that was it, she didn't remember them. They stayed back asleep, in her bed and didn't leave Morpheus' embrace with her.
It didn't matter if the dreams were sweet or blissful. It didn't matter if the nightmare were so terrifying that it woke her up heart galloping a mile, breast heaving and throat dry.
She didn't remember either her dreams or her nightmares.
They didn't linger with her in daylight or chase her thoughts or senses in her waking moments as they did to others.
At least that was how it used to be.
However, after her alcohol-fuelled one night with Mason that changed.
Night after night she found herself exploring ancient keeps and castles. All of them imposing and out of time, standing apart from any modern construction Jenna had seen in her life.
Sometimes she would hear the giggling of a little girl but she never found where it came from.
There were times Jenna found herself above grey ramparts looking at an endless white, delicately dancing snowflakes and her breath leaving white smoke behind, a winter wonderland.
One night she found herself lying under a small tree with white flowers and a citrusy smell on her nose, there was a small stone table a little away from the tree. On it were small cakes, jars and tea cups.
She had awakened that night with honey on her tongue and craving lemon cakes. Half an hour later had found her embracingly explaining to her parents why she had nearly destroyed their kitchen.
From that night onwards there was always a lemon cake and a jar of honey on the counter. Sometimes there was an apple tart and different jams but the first two never changed.
After Carol Lockwood had started her relentless endeavour about getting Jenna to marry Mason her mother's homemade cakes and jams had changed to … to the artwork was all she could explain the all those fine, detailed savoury confectionary. It was always fresh and there when Jenna craved it.
Honestly, Carol Lockwood's planning ability left Jenna in awe and terrified of her, mostly terrified.
(How in the world there was fresh peaches and mango pastry at 2 a.m. when there wasn't any before she went to bed but more importantly how the hell she knew what Jenna would crave?)
With the seventh month of pregnancy, Jenna had found herself walking between rose beds.
They came in colours and patterns that would be impossible to find in the normal world. Their petals are red, scarlet, crimson, yellow, orange, fuchsia, pink cyan, purple…
There were roses whose ice-blue petals had white snowflakes painted on them, and there were some roses whose petals were so drenched in reds, yellows and oranges that when wind ruffled their petals they looked like moving flames and when you looked above them some deep purple (nearly black) ones had white dots of different sizes adorning their edges looking like the night sky dotted with stars.
It wasn't a craving but the next day she bought a dozen cuttings of rose bushes.
Mason had come when she was trying to carry them over to the garden and taken over for her. After months of silence here he was and for the first time, Jenna decided to be silent too, silent until she got what was her due.
That afternoon the only voice in Sommer's garden was the digging sounds of a shovel and Jenna's orders about what goes to where. When her parents came from work one after another and saw what was going on they didn't say anything.
Although her father had looked at Mason with a thigh mouth and was about to walk towards them thankfully her mother had interfered.
When they had finished planting all the cuttings Jenna had bought it was nearly dinner time.
She didn't ask Mason to stay and he didn't say anything.
The next day she awakened to Mason in her family's garden another dozen rose cuttings at one side some tree saplings at the other and there were other flowers too.
The second day too went as the first one and they didn't talk besides Jenna telling which cuttings and flowers should be planted to where.
However when she found him a third time in her garden with more flowers, saplings and rose cuttings she felt her anger rise.
Was it so hard to accept he was wrong?
"There isn't any place left in the garden for more planting. You don't have to tire yourself anymore."
Her voice was tight and she knew if she didn't turn back inside she would snap.
(And if her eye had water that was no one's business but her own. Mason had been one of her closest friends but she was learning that didn't mean anything when it came to Jenna. After all even her own sister had believed the gossip and pulled away from them more than she had already.)
"I'm sorry!"
Jenna wasn't sure what had surprised her more, the fact that Mason had apologized and sounded genuine or the fact that she didn't fall over while turning faster than she should with her pregnant body.
"I'm sorry for being a bastard and not believing you and then acting like an animal and scaring you."
"Yes, you acted like a scum."
Jenna wasn't quite sure how to deal with an earnest Mason but that didn't mean she was going to forgive him immediately.
"I know it doesn't excuse how I acted but it was a really bad month for me. You know how I didn't call you after that night? Well, part of it was because I wanted to wait a little so there wouldn't be any weir or tense feeling between us but more than that there were some girls from school and some from outside that went to Richard and claimed they were pregnant with my child and I had to deal with both them and Richard."
The fact that there hadn't been any sort of gossip about this matter was more surprising than the fact there were girls claiming to be pregnant with his child.
Hats off to Carol and her management of the Lockwood family's image control.
"And you thought I was doing the same thing?" she was aware her voice was getting louder but honestly she didn't care.
"I'm sorry."
Jenna sighed and called Mason inside the house, they couldn't continue talking on her front porch.
(And her back and legs ached something fierce sue her.)