Authors: Rebecca Gibson
A lot of people came up to speak to them whilst they ate, all wanting to hear firsthand about the story they had read in the papers. To all of them Annabel held the same air of impatient distance that she was famed for. When she had to, she told them all the same thing; she was "quite recovered but rehashing the old tale is not in my interests. I simply want to move forwards. Oh, have you met my cousin Patricia Pierce? She has come to live with us for a while."
Thus, the conversation moved onto the fabricated past Annabel and Patsy had made up. They had decided on the surname Pierce as it was still similar to her original name and would therefore lead to the least confusion.
Her mother wittered on about the ball and the engagement, glancing to the side every time she did to reassure herself that Annabel wouldn't argue the point in public.
Annabel had desperately tried to avoid thinking about all that the ball implied. She had the entire future of both her and her unborn child's life to decide and under a week to do it in.
By the end of the day they had planned pretty much every aspect of the ball, from parchment for the invitations, to the exact colour of the corset she would wear under her dress. It was a welcome distraction. However, when she returned home the thoughts came thick and fast. She excused herself to her writing room where she composed a list of her options. She thought about how she would go about getting rid of the child, where she could go to have the child whilst she waited the ten years for Daniel but the option that made the most sense had her stomach turning violently, her eyes clouding over. It was the option Patsy had already told her. She knew this option was the only way it could work. This was the option that would be best for her child, the selfless option. Picking up her pen, she wrote a letter to Theodore.
Teddy,
I am sure you have already been invited in a much more formal way than this however, as your future wife, I wished to invite you myself to Hoddington Manor this weekend for the celebration of our engagement. I should very much like to marry you as soon as possible. I feel we have both waited long enough already.
I do hope this letter finds you well,
Annabel Hoddington
Folding the letter in two she leant back in the chair, feeling as if she had just signed away her life.
In something of a frenzy, Annabel raced downstairs, almost colliding with her mother at the foot of them. Annabel threw the crisp letter at her mother's feet.
"Read it!" she demanded.
The older woman picked it up gingerly, a small smile playing on her lips as she read her daughter's calligraphy.
"Annabel, my child, I knew you would come to your senses."
"Can you at least let me say goodbye," Annabel whispered.
"Goodbye to whom for heaven's sake?"
"To Daniel Mother, please."
"Whatever can you want to see that man for?"
"Just let me say goodbye Mother and I promise, I will do everything you ask. I will marry Theodore, I will provide you with all the heirs you want. I will be your perfect daughter again Mother. You just have to let me see him, one final time."
"I shan't allow it. You cannot bargain with me Annabel. You will marry Theodore whether your conditions have been met or not."
"See, you don't get it do you Mother? I don't care about your riches or your promises. You can put me in a white dress, you can drag me down the aisle but in the end, it's me that has to say I do and if you don't let me see Daniel, or if you threaten me or my new cousins, I will tell the entire church about my illicit love affair in the forest and you will be ruined. That's the thing about having nothing to lose, you have everything to gain."
Lady Elizabeth took a step back, dumbfounded.
"You wouldn't dare. Your reputation-"
"The reputation already built on lies? I don't care about it Mother. That is the difference between you and me. Let me see Daniel now, or watch your life crumble into dust."
Her mother stood stock still for several minutes, her mouth moving as if to form words but always remaining silent.
"You are to take a cab, not one of the manor's carriages," she blurted out eventually. "Wear something dark and inconspicuous. You mustn't be seen Annabel. You have one hour."
Annabel raced upstairs without missing a beat, fleeing straight into the servant's quarters.
"Does anyone have a cloak?" she called when she reached the kitchen.
The staff all turned around, their foreheads creased in worry.
"Please, can I borrow a cloak from someone, I need to go into town and I don't want to be mobbed whilst I am there. Please."
One girl, looking about fourteen in age, stepped towards her warily, wiping her floury hands on her apron.
"I - I have one miss."
An elderly woman beside her gave her a look but the girl continued to advance.
"Thank you," Annabel held out a shiny penny which the girl grabbed, beaming before running off, coming back with a thick, dark grey cloak of a scratchy material.
"I shall return it in an hour. Do you know where Patsy is? Patricia Pierce."
"Erm - I think she was visiting Billy in the stable. I can go fetch her if you like Miss?"
"If you would, thank you."
The girl rushed away again, returning once more within a matter of moments, a smiling Patsy trailing behind her.
"Anna, what's happened?"
Patsy looked at her with concern, noticing the frazzled look on Annabel's face, the wildness in her eyes.
"We're going to see Daniel. I've got to say goodbye Patsy, I can't stand to just leave him."
Patsy seized Annabel's arm, dragging her out of the kitchen and into the stairwell where they could be alone.
"You can't tell him!"
"I wasn't - I know what's at stake here Patsy."
"I know you do Anna, I was jus' checking."
"And I love you for it."
Patsy smiled as Annabel gave her a kiss on the cheek and then took her hand, leading her out of the back door and down to the servants gate, after securing her own dark cloak so she too would be unrecognisable, their hoods pulled down over their eyes.
They flagged down a cab at the foot of the hill, both panting from the speed they had walked to get there. Annabel flashed a handful of shiny coins and the driver grinned, taking them to the station at lightning speed.
When they reached the entrance Annabel glanced at Patsy, who looked as if she might be sick.
"He will be alright won't he?" Annabel asked.
Patsy nodded, "eventually."
She squeezed Annabel's hand in her own; it was warm and sweaty with nerves.
"You're doing the right thing Anna."
Annabel nodded again and they climbed out of the cab, creeping up the steps and through to the dark entrance. There was a desk directly in front of them with a uniformed officer sat behind it. Annabel lowered her hood.
"Ah, Miss - Miss Hoddington. Your mother sent a telegram. It arrived just two minutes ago."
He looked uncertainly at Patsy, "and what are you here for?" he asked in a manner that could have been far more polite.
"This is my cousin Patricia, she is here for the same purpose I am. She wishes to extend her thanks to my tragically imprisoned saviour."
The officer looked as if he were going to protest but seemed to think better of it, realising with whom he was in fact speaking. Annabel placed a shiny guinea on the desk and he slid it into his palm.
"For your discretion," Annabel added.
"Of course Miss, please follow me." He took up a large bunch of keys and strapped them to his belt before escorting them through a narrow door off to the left of the desk.
They walked down the corridor, swathed in an eerie darkness, with what Annabel believed to be deliberate slowness. Several gates were unlocked and clanged shut behind them before finally they reached another corridor, lined with cells. The cells all seemed to be empty, the corridor was deadly silent. One cell had its door wide open with what looked like an office set up inside it. There was a small desk on top of which sat a flickering oil lamp and a pot of cold tea. The officer ushered them inside.
"I am only letting you see him because I don't think Mister Prince deserves what is happening to him, understood? And I don't want to annoy your family, they hold the contract to my house. I think there's much more to this case than your folks are telling us Miss Hoddington. If you were seen coming into the station, you are to say you were simply reporting a missing earring, alright?"
"I understand," she muttered. The officer nodded.
"My job is on the line here, just remember that. I know it doesn't mean much to someone as fortunate as you but this is my livelihood and my reputation."
"Officer, I understand, I promise I do."
Annabel thought how laughable it was that he considered her fortunate. If only he knew what her life was really like, the decisions she was going to have to make and the things she had already endured. Patsy was ushered out of the small cell first, as they had previously agreed, leaving Annabel alone.
She paced up and down, rehearsing a speech in her head, wishing she had been granted more time so she could have prepared for this more. The one thing she did not have was time.
Her nails pressed into her sweaty palms in agitation, leaving half-moon shaped indents in the skin. Her stomach twisted angrily, absentmindedly she touched the soft material there, imagining she could feel her unborn child but of course, she couldn't.
"Miss Hoddington, I'll take you through now."
"Thank you, will we be alone? I have something very important to discuss with him."
"Yes Miss, of course. There's nowhere he could go, the corridor is locked."
Her mouth twitched in an attempted grateful smile, following him down the corridor. They stopped three cells before the end and the officer motioned for her to enter.
"I'll be in the office Miss."
Annabel nodded her thanks and turned towards the door as the officer's footsteps retreated down the corridor. She hesitated for a brief second before drawing in a deep breath and walking into the dim space. Her eyes locked on his straight away and her whole body sighed. She clanged the door shut behind her and then Daniel's arms were on her waist, his lips pressing against hers so hard it almost hurt. The second their lips met he trembled with pleasure. Annabel smiled. Clinging to him, all thoughts were instantly wiped from her mind, all worries made insignificant. Everything was complete. When they could no longer go without air they broke apart, their foreheads resting together as their breathing slowed. Annabel's hands went into his hair, her eyes drinking in his face.
"Hello," he laughed.
Annabel ran her hands down to his back and rested her head against his chest, listening to the reassuring sound of his steady heartbeat.
"I thought you'd never come," he whispered, the humour fading.
"Why didn't you reply to my letter?" she whispered back, looking up into his face again.
He blushed slightly, looking ashamed.
"Th-that one?" he pointed towards a small ledge beside his bed, Annabel saw the letter still unopened in its crisp white envelope. "I - I can't read."
His confession was so quiet she almost missed it.
"What? At all?"
He shook his head.
"Oh. I thought you just didn't want to reply."
He looked at her again.
"Why'd I not wanna read it Anna? I'm going to spend the next ten years learnin' to be the best reader in the world so I can take in every word of your letters."
Annabel smiled, kissing him one more time, as hard as she could.
"I love you," she whispered against him, putting all the sincerity she could behind those three little words. His eyes glittered, his mouth turning up into a beautiful smile. "More - more than you'll ever know."
He fiddled with a stray lock of her hair, "I think I do know."
She took a deep breath. She couldn't do this looking into his honest eyes so she looked down at his chest, her voice now shaking, willing herself not to cry.
"We - we can't do this, I can't do this."
Annabel felt his grip tighten on her waist. He tilted her chin up to face him. Try as she might she could not avoid those eyes, showing her just how much she had hurt him with that one utterance.
"I can," he whispered back, determination rich in his voice. "We will find a way - we have to."
"I'm engaged Daniel, I'm getting married. It's already been announced."
All happiness left his face, his expression grew stony.
"I thought - I thought you'd forgotten about him. You told me...so this was all a joke for you?"
He dropped Annabel like she'd burned him. Annabel shook her head.
"No! Daniel it wasn't a joke, I just - I can't explain why but I have to marry him, Daniel I have to."
"You can't explain what? Jus' tell me Annabel! We `ave to work this out. Is it - is it `cuz you're back with your rich friends up in that manor and you're ashamed o' me? Do I remind you of bad memories? What is it?"
"You don't - that's not it at all, I love you, I always will, but I have to marry him. I can't turn my back on my family, live alone and outcast for ten years while I wait for you!"
"You think I wanted this? You think this was my plan when I ran away with you?"
"We ran away because Tom was going to kill you-"
"Yes and this turned out so much better than that didn't it? I think I'd rather just be dead than rotting in here alone."
"No, Daniel please don't say that."
She reached for him but he backed away, his jaw tensing in his effort to keep the tears behind his eyes. She was hurting him and it was nearly killing her.
"What's really going on Annabel? There's something you're not telling me." He paused, they both looked at each other in silence.
"Do you love him?" he whispered.
Annabel could see he wasn't going to let her go, the only way to do this in a way that allowed him to move on was to lie to him.
She nodded, Daniel let out an involuntary sob. Her arms ached to fold him into them, her mouth begging her to speak about their child, that it was because of the child she was doing this...she couldn't get rid of any part of Daniel no matter how small, yet she couldn't bear it growing up an outcast which would be the certain future of a bastard.