“Annie May, I’d like to speak with you please, when you have the time, my duck.” Annie May heard her grandmother call to her. They hadn’t unlocked the doors yet, and Annie May was cleaning up while her Nan was doing some paperwork in her office.

Annie May walked back to the office, lost in her thoughts about the poem Daniel had read to her the night before. Over the last month, they’d spent almost every evening together, and last night, they’d gone to a bonfire. Daniel had pulled out the book when things quieted down and read to her from the contents. She’d rested her head against his thigh, looking up at the sky as he read to her, happier than she’d ever been in her life. The words he spoke were words of love, promises that were not meant to be broken once made. Daniel recited words of passion, devotion, and wonder at finding someone so worthy of being loved.

Over the last few weeks, he’d slowly broken down the walls of her own self-doubts and made her feel beautiful with his admiration of her face, her eyes, but most importantly of her brain and how intelligent she was. They liked the same kinds of music, movies, and agreed that life without cheap comedy movies was not a life worth living. She felt beautiful when Daniel was around and as though the world had dimmed when he wasn’t. He still didn’t know her virginal status, but the issue had never come up. He’d gone no further than kissing her cheek so far, though she was starting to long for the feel of his lips against hers. Maybe tonight, maybe he’d kiss her properly tonight, she thought.

He’d excitedly taken her all over Derbyshire, visiting castles, hiking, going to Bakewell to sample the tarts, to stone circles she didn’t even know existed in that part of England, to the Heights of Abraham, showing off the places he loved so much. He’d even taken her to Matlock Bath, where she’d enjoyed learning about the way children used to put pieces of wood in the water to retrieve it later as petrified wood. She loved Derbyshire; she loved the people here; she loved that Daniel was so very proud of it, and by now she was pretty sure she was falling in love with Daniel. And her Nan was here, showing her love and kindness every single day with her own brand of humour to spice it up. This was her fairy-tale world, and nothing could intrude.

“Yes, Nan?” She asked as she walked into the office, curious.

“You’ve always got a smile on your face now. It’s so good to see that. I do hope we won’t be needing any prams soon?” Ruby asked her, a wicked grin on her face.

“Oh, Nan! I, well, Nan! Really! We won’t, don’t worry, but well…” Annie May cut herself off. She loved her Nan but sometimes the woman said things just to shock her, she thought, loving the teasing despite how much it made her blush.

“Sit down, love, I want to talk to you.” Nan looked serious suddenly, the teasing over and Annie May hoped she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“No, you haven’t done anything wrong, child. I’ve just had a letter in the post, and I wanted to talk to you about it.” Nan was very perceptive, Annie May thought.

“What’s in the letter?” She asked.

“Well, I debated on showing it to you but thought you needed to see it.” Nan looked worried, causing Annie May to be concerned, so she sat down in a chair beside her Nan.

“What is it Nan?”

Ruby took a deep breath before handing over a sheet of paper to Annie May. Annie May looked at it, seeing only a letter, but then she started to read the words.

“There’s this too.” Nan handed over another piece of paper, an ultrasound picture.

“Where did this come from?” Annie asked, her heart shattered.

“The post-mark says Greece, but I don’t know who Piper Sandbrook is. She’s not a local anyway. What are you going to do?” Ruby asked her granddaughter, placing her hand on Annie May’s shoulder.

Annie May gasped, the comfort almost too much to bear at this point, and put her hand over her mouth. She stood up as her world fell apart, dashed her hands over her eyes, pulled her shoulders back, and spoke to her Nan.

“I’m going to get back to work and forget he exists. One way or another.”

“But Annie May, you should really talk to him about this. The woman may not really be Daniel’s fiancée; anybody could make that up. And this picture doesn’t even look real to me. I wasn’t going to show you because I thought it might be a tall tale, but I thought you should know about it.”

“No, Nan, it’s probably true. I bet she’s some tiny little blonde, and just glowing with maternal hormones as we speak. I’m not breaking that up. Daniel turned out to be a frog a long time ago; I see he never did quite turn into a prince now, despite what I thought. I guess I was just something he amused himself with. Why would a man like that want me anyway? I’m a giant lummox; no man wants a woman like me, not for a wife anyway.” She dashed out of the room, into the ladies toilet, to cry in peace.

Annie May replayed the words in her mind, how the woman had heard about Annie May from a friend and that the woman, this Piper whoever, had been out of the country working for the last couple of months. That she was pregnant, but on her way back because she’d heard about Annie, and she was coming to “kick Annie’s head in.” Annie May didn’t do fighting like that, and the thought of a violent confrontation made her shudder. Not out of fear, but loathing for how very low-class it was. And to threaten violence while pregnant? What kind of woman was this?

Over the next few days, the phone at the inn would not stop ringing. Annie May or her grandmother would pick up the phone only to hear obscene music playing. Their post was filled with hateful pictures and awful words that Annie May just didn’t want to think about. She also refused to talk to Daniel on the phone, deleting his number from her new mobile and blocking his calls. She screened the calls on the landline to avoid him and his fiancée, and Ruby refused to let him come into the inn at all, though she did try time after time to get Annie May to talk with Daniel.

They were hearing rumours that Daniel’s office was being targeted by someone too. The windows had all been smashed in at his office; the tyres on his car had been slashed, and he went home to find a dead dog lying across his steps one night. The police determined the dog had died from natural causes and hadn’t been killed with cruelty, but the threat was the same. Annie May wasn’t sure why the woman would be terrorising Daniel either, if they were together, so she discounted those rumours out of hand. Daniel must have put the regulars up to it, trying to gain sympathy for himself and make people think he wasn’t the cad he’d turned out to be.

Finally one night, Piper made her first appearance. Annie May knew who she was as soon as she walked in the door because she fit Annie May’s picture of the woman so well. Long blonde hair, tiny waist, a short dress that barely counted as clothing much less a dress, shoes that Annie May called ‘hooker heels’, and far too much make-up. The kind of expensive, high-maintenance woman that Annie May had no wish to be like, but always compared her own image with.

The woman was loud and rude, frequently bending over the bar to show off her knickers to the older men gathered at the tables. They cringed away, not wanting to be caught looking at her. The woman demanded her drinks and glared at Annie May while she drank them. An hour after she came in she started speaking in a very loud voice, using foul language that made everyone in the bar cringe. Apparently, she thought all of the men in the bar wanted her, but she belonged to one man alone.

“Miss, I think it’s time we ring a taxi for you.” Annie May said, trying to remind herself to be polite. “I’m not serving you anymore to drink tonight; you shouldn’t be drinking in your condition anyway.” Annie May meant her pregnancy, but apparently Piper took it to mean her inebriated state. Her pregnancy wasn’t apparent yet, but Annie May remembered the picture.

“What’s it to you, Goliath? Where’s this Annie May? The cow with a cow’s name?” Piper looked around, staring at all the women in the place.

“That would be me, Piper. I think you really need to sit down and collect yourself, if you don’t mind.”

“I can drink if I want to. Besides you’re the bit…” She fell over before she could finish but quickly stood up again. “Right, well, I was going to kick your head in but seeing as how you’re more Ironman than a woman, I guess I’ll have to settle with making my presence known. So, here I am, you soulless ginger cow, stay away from my bloke!” With that she collapsed to the floor again, the heel of her too high shoes snapping as she tottered around on them.

Annie May dialled Daniel’s number from the inn’s phone, where it was still saved, and spoke in clipped words. “It’s Annie May. Piper is here, come get her before I call the police.”

“Annie May! Wait…” But she hung up before he could finish.

Some of the female customers had picked Piper up by this time and helped her to one of the seats outside.

A few minutes later, a car pulled up but it wasn’t Daniel. It was an older gentleman, and he walked in to speak with Annie May.

“I am very sorry for any damage my daughter may have caused. Please do forgive her, she’s a troubled girl.”

“I am very sorry to hear that sir. But when she sobers up, would you please tell her that I don’t want Daniel anymore, she’s quite welcome to him. I’ll be going back to America soon anyway, so I’m sorry to have caused trouble.”

“Ah, I see; she’s at that again is she? Well, I do hope I can prevent you any further problems, miss. Good night.” With that the man walked away, taking his daughter with him.

The man’s words were strange but Annie May didn’t pay much attention to them. The words of his daughter crowded his out as they played through her mind over and over again. The one line she said struck right to the core of Annie May’s emotions. You soulless ginger cow. Had Daniel told Piper about the childhood incident? Had they laughed over her size, her hair colour, and her weight together? Is that why the woman used the very words that would hurt Annie May the most?

“Annie May, don’t let that silly bint bother you, love. You aren’t a cow; you are a beautiful young woman. Don’t let her words sting you. She’s just some cheap trollop anyway, no matter how expensive her clothes may have been. You’re Nan’s girl, and far more beautiful than you realise. I bet she’s riddled with diseases as well, standing there with her knickers out like that. Some people have no class, at all.” Ruby took Annie May’s hand and led her to a dark corner.

A lot of people had left after Piper went, probably off to spread the news around the village Annie May thought, and it was quiet now. Looking at her Nan, Annie May tried to figure out how she’d got it all so very wrong.

“I thought we were falling in love, Nan. I thought he really liked me. Despite being so tall, despite not being a stick, I thought he liked me and appreciated the things I am. I’m an intelligent woman; I’m educated; and I’m pretty, despite being tall. I’m kind and caring, generous with my time and the things I can offer people. Why did this have to happen?” She thought about her first evening here, how hopeful it had been, and now it was all going down the drain.

“Annie May, I still think you should talk to Daniel. That bloke wanted more than just a quick jump out of you. Any man that reads poetry as he did to you can’t be too bad, my love. Why don’t you call him?” Nan pleaded with Annie May but Annie May just shook her head.

“No, he’s hurt me far too much, Nan, once too often. It’s just all too much and I let myself fall far too fast. I should have known better. But thank you for trying, and for loving me. I love you so much!” Annie May saw the last of the customers out for the night, then went to her own bed. Alone, with a pillow over her head to hide her sobs, she cried herself to sleep, vowing to never love like this again.