This is horrible, Annabelle thought sadly to herself as all eyes lay upon her. I hate it.

It was not so much the dress that was an issue, although it was not one she would pick herself. No, it was the situation that Annabelle found herself in. It was as if everything was completely spiralling out of control around her and there was not a damn thing that she could do to stop it.

Her hands ran down the lace covering the tightly laced corset bodice. The flower designs stitched into the material were lovely, a really nice touch, but Annabelle felt swamped and constricted by them. The sleeves sat on the edges of her shoulders and flowed down into ruffled, large sleeves that were challenging to navigate. The ivory gown splayed out at the waist and cascaded around her feet leaving a long train behind her. Maybe if Annabelle was not so worried about what this dress represented, she would feel the sensation that she was a princess, but that feeling was completely out of reach.

“I think it would be lovely to have her hair tied back,” the wedding dress designer commented quietly to Josephine, completely ignoring Annabelle. In her eyes, she was only a mannequin. “With the matching wedding hat and lace choker we have.”

“Yes, yes,” Annabelle’s mother, the traitor, agreed. “I think that will look lovely. It will offset her red hair well.”

Annabelle rolled her eyes and kicked her foot lightly against the bottom of the dress, taking her frustration out on the material. She kept trying desperately to plan her way out, but it was not as easy as she first thought. For a Lady like her, with all the restrictions in the world, what could she do? She did not have any money, she could not get any help, if she left her home and her name behind then what would she have? It felt impossible.

“What do you think, Annabelle?” Josephine asked with a bright grin. “Is this the dress you would like to wear on your wedding day?”

No, I do not want a wedding day, Annabelle wished to scream back, but she could not. Embarrassing her family in public would only anger her father further and since he was already very displeased with her she did not want to make it worse. There was a horrible atmosphere clinging to the air of the Hathaway household at the moment, one which no one wanted to encourage.

“Yes, sure, it is a fine dress,” she replied in a monotone voice. “Thank you very much.”

“Right.” The dress designer looked a little confused by Annabelle’s less than happy reaction. She had been in the textiles industry for years and she had never come across anyone who looked so displeased. Usually the girls getting married liked the dress even if not the husband. “We shall work with this then. Where is the wedding happening?”

“At the house,” Josephine shot back quickly. “We are having it here.”

Josephine had insisted that they not throw such a large party, like they did with Beatrice. It was not necessary, coming so close after their eldest daughter’s wedding, and as Annabelle did not want the same as Beatrice, it did not matter.

Otto was not too pleased, he liked to get the most out of every situation, he preferred to do his business wherever he could, but since this wedding had already caused him so much trouble he did not want to encourage more. He just needed it to happen now. Since Lord Ashdown was happy for it to happen in any way it could, Otto could not disagree.

Annabelle had no concerns with how the wedding happened either, she certainly was not about to argue that she wanted a ceremony in a church. The more informal it felt, the less she needed to worry. If it was about to happen in her home, then maybe she could still escape... somehow.

“Oh well that sounds lovely. You have such a wonderful home; it is the perfect place for a wedding. What do you have planned for the interior design?”

As Josephine started to talk about flower arrangements and colour designs, Annabelle turned her mind off to the conversation. She did not want to listen to it, the less she knew the better. With the dress still clinging to her body it was more of a concern that she could hardly breathe. The bodice was tied far too tightly which did not help, but it was not just that.

Without even waiting to be told to do so or waiting for someone to come and help her, Annabelle reached behind her back and she started to untie the dress as best as she could. It was challenging, there was a lot to the dress it was designed in a very complex way, but she needed to try.

Annabelle did not have much control over her life anymore, this was all she had.

“Would you like help?” the dress designer asked as she spotted Annabelle struggling. “I am sorry, I did not see you there.”

“I will help her,” Josephine jumped in with a smile. “I am sure you have lots to pack away now. We are finished here now, are we not?”

There was something about the way she said that which left the dress designer with no option. She nodded, but looked a little awkward as she did so. “Right, yes.”

Annabelle felt her lips curl down into a frown once she no longer had to keep up the charade. Her expression relaxed into one of sadness which cut deeply into Josephine’s heart. She desperately wanted to keep her plan to herself while she got everything together, but she also wanted Annabelle to know that there was hope. It was not for credit, that was not what drove Josephine, but she could not say nothing anymore.

“You do not have to worry too much,” she commented idly as she unlaced the dress bodice with expertise. “This will all be over soon enough.”

Annabelle’s eyes slid closed to keep the tears inside. It did not feel like it would be over soon enough because as soon as the wedding was done, the marriage would begin. This was only the start of a terrible life sentence.

“I know you are worried,” Josephine continued, trying her best to keep her tone as neutral as possible. “But soon enough you will not have to.”

“Mother, please,” Annabelle whispered. “It is not just the wedding day. It is all of it. You know this.”

“I know.” Annabelle felt taken aback as her mother said that. “I understand that much. What I am trying to say is that you will not have to worry about it for much longer.”

Annabelle tried to turn around to see what was going on in her mother’s eyes, but her fingers laced around the bodice tighter and kept her in place. “What do you mean?” she pushed desperately. “What are you trying to say to me, Mother?”

Josephine’s stomach twisted in knots. Maybe she should not have started this conversation after all. She only wanted to let Annabelle know that she did not have to worry, she should have known that she would prod with questions. “I am just trying to tell you that you do not have to worry.”

“But...” Unfortunately for Annabelle, she did not get to finish that question. The dress designer swished back into the room and took over the removal of the dreaded wedding dress. But the conversation did not stray too far from her mind.

Is she trying to tell me that I can still escape? Annabelle wondered with a flurry of excitement in her chest. Does mother think that I can do it? It was only a small burst of belief but it was enough to bring a smile back to Annabelle’s face, and a genuine one this time. Maybe all hope was not lost after all...

“Is everything done here?” Otto joined Annabelle and Josephine with the same furrowed, angry eyebrows that he’d had on for days. “Have you decided on the dress?”

“Yes, I have,” Annabelle answered him, almost defiantly. Her mother’s words had boosted her more than Josephine could have hoped for. She watched the weight lift from Annabelle’s shoulders with surprise. Maybe her daughter understood her words more than she first thought. Now she would have to make it happen. “I have chosen my wedding dress. Now that I am dressed in my own clothing, I think I might go for a walk in the gardens.”

Annabelle gave Otto a daring look. She dared her father to try and enforce even more rules upon her. He parted his lips, wanting to send her to her room where he knew that she would be safe and away from that stable boy, for whom he had no trust whatsoever, but he also did not want to punish this good behaviour. Annabelle had been doing as asked, he could not complain too much about that.

“Fine.” He stepped to one side to let her past. “But stay near the house please, I do not want you near the stables.”

Annabelle nodded with her lips pinned tightly together. There were so many arguments there, so many things that she just needed to say, but she could not. Not now, she had been given her first tiny bit of freedom in days. Maybe her father would not watch her anyway, and she could do what she wanted.

It was crazy for her to even want to see Floyd, knowing that it could only end in heart break, but the temptation was still there burning brightly in her chest.

Josephine kept her eyes firmly fixed on her husband as Annabelle left the room. His words had left her utterly confused and she knew with an absolute certainty that she needed to find out more. Otto had always wanted Annabelle to learn to ride, he had complained to her many a time that his youngest daughter did not seem interested in the horses, so why now would he be telling her to keep away?

Clearly, in all her time planning and plotting, she must have missed something vital.

“The stables?” she asked in a casual, unassuming tone of voice the second that they were alone. “What is happening with the stables? Are we having work done?” She knew that was not the case, of course, but it felt safest to act like she knew nothing at all.

“No, we are not,” Otto answered gruffly. He still had not forgiven his wife for going against him, and he knew that he would not until she apologized. “I do not want Annabelle straying that far away from the house.”

There was no way that was the full truth of it, Josephine knew that there had to be more. She just had to push that a little bit harder for it. “It is safe, is it not?”

Otto glared at his wife out the corner of his eye. He did not want to tell her the truth because he did not want to encourage her silly notions that Lord Ashdown was the wrong person for Annabelle to marry, but he needed to say something. Her sharp, keen eye could sense that there was a lot more to what he had told her.

“It is safe for us, but not for Annabelle,” he lied. “There is a stable boy who has taken a liking to her. I believe that he wishes to ruin her.”

“Oh.” Josephine did not know what to say to that, she had not been expecting it at all. “Does Annabelle know about this?”

Otto sighed, grateful that Josephine had bought his story, which in his mind was not too far from the truth. “I have tried to warn her, but she does not think I know what I am talking about. If anything, my warning has only made her intrigued. I have seen her wandering by the stables to get the attention of this young man. I suppose I am worried that it will end up going badly and she will be ruined. We do not want her to end up unmarried, do we?”

“No, of course not.” Josephine was stunned. How had all of this been happening without her knowledge? She truly had gotten wrapped up in herself that she had become blind to everything else. “That would be terrible.”

But still there was something about Otto’s words that did not quite ring true. If that was the case, then surely this man would no longer work for the Hathaway family? Otto would not stand for it, he was too proud and powerful a man.

Josephine knew that she would have to investigate for herself, and while Annabelle was outside, she had the perfect chance. “Well, thank you for sharing that with me. I shall keep an eye out for any untoward behaviour.”

“I have it under control already...” Otto tried to intervene, but Josephine continued to talk as if she had not heard him.

“I am sure you have lots to do, and with this wedding to plan, so do I.” She gave her husband what she hoped was a genuine smile. Josephine did not want him to suspect a thing. “I shall see you later at dinner.”

Otto remained where he was for a couple of seconds, struck by his wife’s attitude towards what he had just told her. It seemed like something she should have been more concerned about. Unless she had decided to trust him. Maybe now she realized that he knew just what he was doing, finally.

Yes, that had to be it. After all, what else could it be?