Chapter 23
“Annabelle?”
When Otto stormed through the house on the hunt for his daughter, only to learn from one of her silly girlfriends that she had gone for a walk outside ‘to clear her head’, he was furious. He could not believe after everything they had been through as a family, his youngest daughter was doing it to himagain.
His feet hit the ground hard, his blood boiled, racing through his body at a million miles an hour, he raged. He would make sure that Annabelle knew what was happening this time, once and for all. She would not get out of thisanymore.
Why could she just not see that he was right? He was always right... soon Annabelle would see, so would everyone else. It did not matter what people had told him, what others had tried to show him. This was the rightdecision.
But he eventually spotted his daughter, curled around herself on the dirty ground in her wedding dress, weeping like she had just been given the worst news in the world. It was almost as if she had been told that she was dying, or something equallyhorrific.
But I am right... I am,he tried to convince himself. Only now, even the voice inside his own head was not as full as conviction as normal.I have to be right. I have pushed for this sohard.
“What are you doinghere?”
As Annabelle heard the dreaded sound of her father’s booming voice, her head snapped back up and horror coursed through her body. “I... I am sorry,” she gushed while trying to stand up. Her heart hammered as she realized just how much trouble she was about to get in for dirtying up her dress. “I just...” She racked her brain, but she could not think of a suitable explanation. There was nothing to get her out of this. “I amsorry.”
“What are you doing out here?” Otto was not totally sure why, but the fire had completely gone out of him. All the angry words that filled his brain only moments before seemed to dissipate into nothing. “In the mud. On your weddingday.”
“I will just... erm, I will just go inside and get cleaned up.” She desperately brushed at the tears under her eyes. If she could just get away from her father, maybe she couldsurvive...
“No,wait.”
Annabelle turned her body around at her father’s command. She looked up through her eyelashes and waited with baited breath. Any minute now he would let loose all of his anger, and she would collapse in apuddle.
Otto was not sure what he was feeling, there was a river flowing through him and every single time he tried to dip his hands into the water he could not graspanything.
“Why are you crying?” he ended up asking pointlessly. He knew why, he just needed to keep the conversation flowing while he worked out what it was that he wanted todo.
“I am not...” Annabelle tried. But her father was not about to let her get away with that one. The intense look he shot her made her suck in a deep, cool breath of air before she continued. "I am just trying to get all my... doubts out now. Once the wedding ceremony starts, I do not want to feel negative about Lord Ashdown atall."
That did not sound too false, did it?At that point, Annabelle would have said anything to get her father to leave her alone. She did not particularly want to leave because that would send her right back to the dreaded wedding day, but she did not want to hear his harsh words when she felt so emotionallyfragile.
“And you came out here with Primrose to do that?” Annabelle nodded, unsure of where her father was going with this one. “To the horse that you showed absolutely no interest in before you met the young FloydBrewer?”
Otto glanced between his daughter and the horse, all the pieces of the jigsaw finally coming together. He had been seeing through blinders, and now all of that was finally falling away. He just hoped that it was not toolate.
“Oh, I erm... I did notthink...”
“You did.” Otto nodded seriously, all the words that his wife had been telling him for the last few months finally made their way into his brain. “You wanted to spend some time with the horse because she reminds you ofhim.”
“I do not think about him much anymore.” Annabelle’s cheeks tinged bright pink as she attempted a lie. She was never cut out for the deceptive life, she did not like it at all. “I just wanted to seePrimrose.”
Otto sighed regretfully. He actually felt a little bad that he had grown so distant from his child that she felt the need to lie to him. He did not ever mean to become that sort of man. When did his need to be correct start overshadowing everything else? “Beatrice was not happy about marrying Abraham,” he mused, more to himself than Annabelle. “But she did not cry. Now she is having his child, and I do believe that she ishappy.”
“Beatrice is a good girl.” Annabelle did not mean that to come out quite so coldly. She had nothing against her sister or her behaviour. “And I think she is happy too,” she added in a much softer tone. “She is looking forward to being amother.”
“She is a good girl.” Otto nodded as he repeated himself, trying to give himself a little more time to work out where his jumbled thoughts were going. “A very good girl. I am not suggesting that you are notthough.”
Annabelle’s heart stopped in shock. Had her father just paid her a compliment... sort of. It was the first one she could ever remember getting her entire life and it caused her heart to leap about excitedly in herchest.
“You just have a stronger will.” Otto paced the grass up and down, leaving Annabelle very uncomfortable. She had only seen her father be so active when he was struggling to create a business deal. This was nothing like that... was it? “I am starting to see what your mother has been trying to tell me about you and this situation allalong.”
Annabelle bit down on her bottom lip, trying to keep all of her questions inside. Of course, she wanted to know exactly what her mother had said to defend her, but she could notask.
“Your mother was right about you,” he mused, more to himself than Annabelle. “Was she also right aboutWatson?”
Annabelle’s heart lifted, was this an actual chance for her to get her point across? She had tried one too many times with Otto, but he had been shut down before she even opened her mouth. Now, he seemed much more open. He had brought itup.
