by Lilah Rivers
Chapter 9
Annie hummed to herself, gently swinging the empty basket that was in her hand. She had just come from taking lunch to her father and was ready to leave town when she saw none other than Timothy Mills walking in her direction.
She looked around for a moment, hoping to find someone else as the target of his approach, but there was no one. She was certain that he was coming her way.
“Hello, Mr. Mills,” Annie said as he neared.
“Miss Blake,” he greeted, rather coldly.
“Is there something I can do for you?” she asked.
“There certainly is, Miss Blake. And I hate to say it, but I think it has to be said,” he told her.
Annie was suddenly very nervous. She had an uncomfortable tingling run along her arms and down her spine as if being frozen from the inside and having to suffer in silence as it spread outward toward her skin.
“What is it that needs to be said? You’re frightening me,” she told him.
“You need to call off the engagement. You might as well. Nobody trusts you, and nobody thinks that you will actually go through with it, so why don’t you just end it now?” he asked.
Annie was shocked. The anxiety she had felt just a moment before had now turned to anger. Fury, even. She had never been accosted by someone like this in her entire life, and the words coming out of Timothy’s mouth were too hard to listen to.
But the hurt was every bit as strong as the rage, and Annie didn’t like that. She figured it was easier to be mad than to be wounded. Aside from the year before, when everything had collapsed with Bartholomew, she had always tried to remain docile and sweet and calm. But this? This was too much.
“I didn’t do anything wrong. Nothing at all,” Annie said.
“You left a man just days before you were supposed to marry him. You call that nothing?” Timothy challenged her.
“If you knew the truth, you wouldn’t treat me this way,” Annie said.
A bitter laugh escaped Timothy’s lips.
“That’s certainly something. You destroy a man, and you accuse me of being the one to mistreat another person? You are supposed to be marrying my best friend here pretty soon. I would be a terrible fool not to stop you from ruining him the way you ruined Mr. Jones,” Timothy said.
The words were a slap to Annie, and she was completely broken. She understood that Timothy was doing this out of concern for a friend, but he was being so cruel. He had no idea what he was really talking about or what had actually happened, and yet, he made these terrible assumptions.
But as she was searching for the right words, Rachel came over, and Annie saw her in an instant, trying to hold her gaze for a little bit of peace.
“What’s going on over here?” Rachel asked, clearly aware of the tension that was between them and the sadness that Annie was feeling.
“Oh … uh, nothing,” Timothy said, suddenly acting like a gentleman.
Annie looked up at him from the ground, and her jaw hung open in shock. She had never imagined that he would try to get out of it like this, that he would suddenly pretend to have done nothing wrong at all.
“Is that so? Nothing?” Rachel asked.
Timothy’s eyes gave off that glint that Annie had seen a hundred times in a man. In fact, she had seen it about a hundred times in each man that she knew in town. Any time they saw a pretty woman walk by, they would notice her for a little while before moving on to the next thing.
Because Timothy clearly had an interest in Rachel, he was suddenly ashamed of how he had just treated Annie, as far as she could tell. This was certainly a grand opportunity to put him in his place.
In the past, Annie had been such a quiet person that no one would have expected her to speak her mind. But lately? Everything felt like it was coming against her, and she had had just about enough of it. She was done dealing with everyone who believed it was all right to humiliate her and punish her for something that happened a year ago and wasn’t even her fault.
She was done protecting those who had made it their mission to shame her. She was done behaving like a lady if no one was going to treat her like one.
“It wasn’t nothing,” Annie said, her tone adamant and furious.
“I didn’t think so,” Rachel said. “So what actually happened?”
“Mr. Mills here just came and accosted me, making unfair accusations and telling me to go ahead and end my engagement because nobody trusts me anyway,” Annie said.
Rachel’s jaw dropped, and she turned on Timothy Mills with a look that Annie had never seen before.
“What did you say to her? What gives you any right at all to say those things? You call yourself a man?” Rachel asked, taking a confrontational step towards him and causing Timothy to back up, frightened by the woman that he clearly liked.
“I … I’m sorry,” he said.
“Sorry? You better get me one of those lassoes that you ranchers are always using to round up the cattle because I think I need to get you to the field with the other beasts where you belong,” Rachel said.
Annie couldn’t help letting out a sharp bark of laughter before covering her mouth. Rachel was excellent at voicing her opinions in a way that some might find hilarious. But for Timothy Mills, there was nothing but fear, and that gave Annie a small sense of satisfaction.
“You need to go on and get out of here and leave my friend alone, do you hear me now?” Rachel asked.
Timothy nodded, swallowing, and turning away from them, his eyes wide as he left.
“I think I scared him,” Rachel said, smiling to herself when he was gone.
“I think so too. And, in case you didn’t notice, he was pretty interested in you until you went and did that,” Annie teased.
“No, there’s no way. I’m sure he wasn’t. But anyway, are you all right? What a terrible thing he did,” Rachel said.
“I know that it seems like it was a terrible thing, but you need to understand a couple of things,” Annie told her.
“What do I need to understand? What could possibly make me understand what he just did?” Rachel asked.
“First of all, he was only looking out for his friend. I have to give him that credit. No matter how awful it was for me, I understand the reasoning behind it,” Annie said.
“That doesn’t matter. He shouldn’t have spoken to you that way,” Rachel said.
“I know. I’m not excusing him. Giving someone a chance to make mistakes is not the same as approving of those mistakes,” Annie remarked.
“Fair enough, but I just don’t think I could let it go that easily,” Rachel said.
“Well, that’s the next point I wanted to make. I don’t really have a choice other than to let it go,” Annie said.
“Why not? Because you have to marry his cousin?” Rachel asked.
“No, not that. It’s because everyone else in town feels the same way about me, and they are all more than happy to talk about it,” Annie said.
Rachel was quiet for a moment.
“Don’t look at me that way. I’m not saying that I don’t understand it. It makes sense. Why would they trust me? All he did was put a voice to the things that everyone is already thinking and saying,” Annie said.
“That doesn’t mean that you should just accept it,” Rachel said.
“No, it doesn’t. But I have little other choice, you see. I mean, I can’t control everything that goes on around me. I can’t stop people from being rude or from thinking that I am responsible for the end of an engagement,” Annie said.
Rachel gave her a strange look, and Annie immediately knew what she was thinking.
“I know. As far as you know, I am responsible for that,” she said.
“I didn’t say that,” Rachel said, defending herself.
“You may not have said it, but you were thinking it,” Annie pointed out.
“You don’t know that. I am just listening is all,” Rachel said.
“Well, if you are listening, then let me sa
y this one little thing. Is that all right? Can I say something? Can I make a point?” Annie asked.
“You probably should. I’m not very good at doing it, and someone needs to,” Rachel said.
“Well, in that case, let me just say that those things that everyone is saying about me? They’re wrong. They have always been wrong, and they will always be wrong. I’m not the terrible person that they all think and say that I am. I’m really not,” Annie said.
“They are fools if they think that you are a terrible person,” Rachel said.
“Are they? I mean, don’t you even think that I did something wrong?” Annie asked.
Rachel spluttered for a moment.
“I just don’t know why you rejected Bartholomew, but no one does. I haven’t ever been involved in any gossip if that’s what you mean. Even when I was asked why you broke it off, I still never said a word,” Rachel said.
“Good. I’m glad you didn’t say anything. After all, what would you have said? You don’t know my reasons any more than anyone else knows them,” Annie said.
“Then why don’t you tell me?” Rachel asked.
“Hmm?” Annie replied.
“Why don’t you tell me what it was that caused you to end the engagement?” Rachel asked, clarifying.
“My reasons, you mean? I don’t think I can do that, Rachel I’m not able to talk about these things,” Annie said.
“Why not? I know you. You’re a good woman. I can’t possibly believe that you willingly gave up on the marriage that you were so excited about and that you would leave a man in the lurch like that,” Rachel said.
“Why not? It doesn’t seem so hard to anyone else to believe that I would do that,” Annie said.
“Well, who cares what they think? I know you. Why don’t you just come out with it?” she asked Annie.
Annie looked around. They were in the middle of town. If anyone overheard them, they might think that she was making it up or that she was angry and trying to hurt Bartholomew somehow.
“We can’t talk about it here,” Annie said.
“All right, then. Can we go to your house? You need just to tell me what happened,” Rachel said.
“All right. We can go back to my house,” Annie said, sighing.
“Thank you. It’s time that you had someone on your side. If there’s something that the rest of us don’t know about, it’s better that you aren’t having to hold onto that on your own,” Rachel said.
She was right, of course, but that didn't change the fact that it was going to be hard for Annie to explain what had happened.
She had people to protect, even if they had hurt her. She had reasons not to tell the truth. But now? Finally? After all this time?
Yes, it would be nice having someone who would defend her, someone who believed her. She could think of no one better than Rachel, her closest friend. If anyone was going to hear Annie out, it would be Rachel. And if she was lucky enough, the truth might actually begin to make a difference.
Chapter 10
Annie and Rachel settled on the porch at Annie’s house.
Annie had her knees bent and was hugging them close to her chest like a child almost. Rachel was lazed, spread out, enjoying the warmth of the sun beating down on her pale blue dress.
“Now, are you going to tell me what happened between you and Bartholomew?” Rachel asked.
“Yes, I will tell you. But first, you have to promise not to tell another soul. No matter what, this is between you and me. I can’t risk anyone else finding out about this,” Annie said.
She was perfectly serious. If Rachel betrayed her in this and spread the word, someone could get very hurt. And even if Annie was upset with that person, she still didn’t want to see anything bad happen.
“I promise. No matter what, I won’t tell a soul,” Rachel said.
“Good,” Annie said, taking in a deep breath. “In that case, I’ll tell you exactly what happened last year.
“My mother and father had sent me around to Bartholomew’s home. I was supposed to take some jams to his mother. You know, it was only an excuse to give us a chance to see one another. The wedding was less than a week away, and they wanted to make sure that we maintained a connection,” Annie explained.
It was painful to think about that day. Everything connected to Bartholomew was painful. From the fact that she had tried so hard to love him to the fact that she had been hurt to the fact that she had taken the blame, everything was hard.
“Of course,” Rachel said, acknowledging that she was listening but without being overbearing or interjecting at any point.
“So, anyway, I arrived and knocked on the door, but no one came to answer it. Not even Mrs. Jones, like I had expected. You know how much she likes jams, and I had to speak with her rather than Bartholomew before anything else. It wouldn’t have been proper not to see her,” Annie said.
Rachel nodded along, still. Annie prepared herself for the next part of the story, the part that was the most hurtful.
“But I heard something around the back of the house. Whispering voices and then a girlish laugh. I assumed that it was Mrs. Jones, of course,” she said.
“There wasn’t any hiding in their voices. They definitely hadn’t heard me coming. So, when I rounded the corner of the house, imagine my surprise when I saw Bartholomew kissing another woman,” Annie said, sadness flooding her speech.
Although Annie had been calm and pained while telling the story, Rachel’s hand suddenly flew to her mouth with a gasp. The shock in her eyes told Annie what she dreaded most.
No one suspected Bartholomew of any wrongdoing. It was a shock to think that he had betrayed Annie like that.
“Oh, Annie, how could he?” Rachel asked.
“Easily enough, I suppose. He decided that he liked someone else better than me and then managed to get her to like him in return. So, once he was alone with her, she was more than willing to return his affection,” Annie said.
“She must have been an utter fool,” Rachel said.
“No, not really,” Annie said, matter-of-factly. “I mean, Bartholomew is handsome and masculine. He is attractive in a lot of ways, and he has a good deal of charm and charisma. I don’t blame her for having fallen for his games. I did as well.”
“But you told me once, early on, that you didn’t actually love him. So he can’t be all that great,” Rachel pointed out.
“I know. But even if I didn’t love him, I still thought that he was pretty fun to be around. I liked him well enough. So, I can understand why she did as well. But that doesn’t change how horrible it was to stand there, watching them kiss briefly before they noticed me,” Annie said.
“What happened then?” Rachel asked.
“Well, I dropped the jams almost at once, and then they turned to me, perfectly startled. I started to run off, but Bartholomew came after me. He apologized, saying that he was just scared about the fact that he was going to commit his life to someone that week,” Annie said.
“What a coward,” Rachel said.
“That’s what I told him. But he said that he didn’t mean anything by it, just that it was a mistake that he had made out of fear and not knowing what our marriage would be like,” Annie explained.
