I have my mother supporting me, she will make sure I am safe. That is all I need to worryabout.
Soon the brass fittings and golden décor was gone, Annabelle quickly left behind the floral wallpaper and the expensive artwork hanging. The entire building transformed in to something wonderful to something very plain and beige. Annabelle had not ever been in this area of the house before and she could hardly believe it was the sameplace.
She continued moving on her tiptoes, drinking everything in with awe. A long hallway went off in every direction into little rooms. Small bedrooms with plain white, uncomfortable looking beds filled every single one. Some of the staff members even had to share a room with someone else, and still they only had a tiny brown bedside cabinet for storage. Some of the maids had clothing hanging above their heads as theyslept.
It was nothing like what Annabelle was used to. She had expected there to be a big divide between the rich and the poor, it would obviously not be the same, but witnessing the difference in such a quick space of time shockedher.
Can I do this?She thought desperately inside her brain.Can I really give up everything to live like this?She knew that she would have to work eventually, even with her mother’s money, which meant soon one of these beds would probably be hers.No, I can. I can do this. ForFloyd.
Eventually Annabelle spotted the room with Floyd’s sleeping body inside of it. She paused at the door frame and watched him breathing in and out deeply as dreams came for him. With the innocent sleeping expression on his face, he looked even more appealing to Annabelle. He was definitely the one for her, there was no doubt aboutit.
With her hand outstretched, Annabelle moved forwards. She did not want to wake up Floyd, but since she had not had time to warn him, she did not have any choice. She would simply have to push this guilt down to shakehim.
“Floyd,” she whispered as she rocked his body gently. “Floyd, wakeup.”
“Nugh,” he grumbled, only slightly opening hiseyes.
“Floyd.” She got a little more frantic. “Floyd, wakeup.”
“Huh?” He bolted into a sitting position with ice cold terror racing through his veins. “Annabelle, you are here?” He rubbed his eyes, wondering if this was merely an extension of his dream. “Has somethinghappened?”
“We need to go now,” she insisted quickly. “We have to leave. The carriage is waiting outside for us. My mother has sorted it.” She glanced around his bed, noticing that there was no packed bag there. “Did you still want tocome?”
Disappointment crushed her chest. Even without Floyd she still needed to leave for herself, to escape Lord Ashdown, but the prospect was much more terrifyingalone.
“You wish to go now?” Floyd whispered in shock, waking up fully now. “Today? Right now? In the middle of thenight?”
“It is almost morning time, it has to be now.” Annabelle’s tone grew frantic. Floyd was not moving as rapidly as she needed him to. He was giving her too much time to find doubt within herself. “We need to move before my mother gets discovered for helpingus.”
“Oh my goodness.” Floyd banged his feet on the ground as he tried to get out of bed in a hurry. “I did not think it would be sofast.”
“Have you packed?” Annabelle’s heart beat faster as she spotted Floyd reach under his bed to grab out his bag. At least he seemed ready to go. “So, you areready?”
“I am... are you?” He gave Annabelle a searching look. He just wanted to check that she was not having any second thoughts. “Are you sure this is what youwant?”
“I am going even if you do not,” Annabelle replied firmly. “I need to leave before my father makes me marry Lord Ashdown. The carriage is waiting outside and I intend to get onit.”
With her heart thumping in her chest, Annabelle turned on her feet and she walked back towards the stairs. Her eyes slid closed for a second and she prayed for Floyd to follow her, but she would not force him to do so. Luckily it was not long before she heard his feet tapping behindher.
Floyd no longer knew what he was doing, even after all of his deliberation, he had no idea what he wanted to do. Even as he packed his bag he had no clue as to what would happen. He certainly did not expect things to happen so quickly, he had not expected Annabelle to burst into his bedroom in the middle of the night demanding that he leave right away. The sleep was still thick in his eyes, even thought it would not normally be long until he rose to tend to the horses anyway, the shock of waking up in such a rapid way left him dazed andconfused.
Maybe he should have expected that, falling in love with a fiery red-headed Lady who only wanted adventure in her life. Floyd had absolutely no idea what would happen when he got on the carriage with Annabelle, he had no clue as to where his life would take him next, but it was going to be veryexciting.
Or so hehoped.
As the fresh air hit his face, he grabbed onto Annabelle’s arm just to check one last time. He did not want to upset her, but he needed to becertain.
“This is what you want?” he asked as he stared deeply into her eyes. “You arecertain?”
“I have told you, I am certain,” Annabelle replied with utter conviction. “I promise you, this will be the best thing we ever do. This is the start of a new life forus.”
Floyd nodded hopefully. “Right, let us dothis.”
