The information that Floyd loved her too, filled up Annabelle until she was fit to burst. She could hardly contain it; it felt like she could be swallowed up by it at any given moment. Every so often a smile would burst onto her lips, seemingly at random to the rest of the world, but she was always thinking about him. The way he seemed unsure about sharing his feelings with her, the feel of his lips as he pressed them against hers, the sensation of his arms wrapped around her after the kiss. Well, until she felt compelled to leave before her father found her. Now that she had something with Floyd, she did not want it ruined.

“What is with you today?” Catherine asked in a frustrated tone of voice. “You are acting so strange. Not like yourself at all.”

“Hmm? Oh I am sorry.” There was that smile again. Even in the most inappropriate of moments it crept back out. It was almost as if her happiness did not care about social normalities. “I am distracted today.”

“I know that, it is obvious. What I cannot be certain of is why.” Catherine folded her arms across her chest and she examined her friend closely. “What are you daydreaming about?”

Lies filled Annabelle’s brain, there were so many excuses that she could have easily given her friend, but she wanted to tell Catherine the truth. She wanted to share her burden with someone and while Catherine was not her most understanding friend, she was her closest.

“I... have a secret,” she admitted with a coy glance downwards. “But if I tell you, you must swear to me that you will keep it to yourself.”

Catherine perked up at Annabelle’s words. If there was one thing she loved, it was gossip. Anything to add a bit of excitement to the long and boring days. Usually, the girls preferred to talk about the lives of other people, it was not often they had something of their own to discuss.

“I promise,” Catherine replied in a hushed tone. She sat closer to her friend with a wide-eyed thrill darting behind her gaze. “What is going on?”

Annabelle felt a delicious shiver racing up her spine as she finally let some of the pressure off her shoulders. It felt incredible to share this news, it was so positive. Annabelle was so caught up in the happiness that she felt, she was not considering the complications anymore.

“I am in love.” Her cheeks flamed bright pink as the words fell out of her mouth. “I tell you, Catherine, it is the most wonderful feeling in the whole entire world, there is nothing quite like it.”

“You... you are?” Catherine felt confused. The last time she spoke to Annabelle about this topic she was dreadfully unhappy with the idea of getting married. She could not help but wonder what had changed. “With the Lord? Is it not true then, what Edmund said about him?”

“Hmm?” It took Annabelle a few moments to understand why Catherine was talking about something completely different to her. “Oh, Lord Ashdown. I am certain that everything Edmund said about him was the truth.”

Catherine tried to fit the pieces of this story together but it was instantly obvious that she was missing something. There was no way Annabelle had done a complete turnaround with her feelings. Even if she was the most erratic out of their friendship group, it did not seem likely. “So, you are willing to marry him even though he is known for spending time with courtesans? Even though he is a brutish man?” Catherine shook her head. “No, I cannot see it. What has changed, Annabelle?”

“I do not love Lord Ashdown,” Annabelle chuckled, laughing at the terrible joke. “He is a horrible man who has already shown me that he is an awful man.” She shuddered, showing her friend her disgust. “No chance, I will never want to marry him.”

“What is going on then?” Catherine demanded. “I do not understand. You are in love, but not with Lord Ashdown?”

“I am in love with someone else,” Annabelle confirmed. “The most wonderful man on the planet.” Her eyes grew dewy with dreaminess. “He is handsome, kind, sweet... and a good kisser.”

Catherine gasped in shock. That was the most scandalous news she had ever heard. Kissing before marriage was unheard of, it was very risky and reputation ruining. If any of the girls would ever break the rules, it would be Annabelle, but this felt like a step too far. Catherine was not sure whether to be excited or horrified by her friend’s behaviour.

“You... you have kissed someone?” She could not even say those words aloud; it was a struggle for Catherine to even whisper them. “You have kissed someone who is not Lord Ashdown?” Annabelle nodded gleefully. “But you are betrothed to Lord Ashdown, everyone knows it. How will you persuade your father to change his mind?”

“Oh, he will never agree to change his mind... and especially not for Floyd.” The idea that Otto Hathaway would allow Annabelle to marry someone low born was utter madness. “He is a stable boy.”

Catherine opened and closed her mouth a few times as she tried to work out how to respond to that revelation. Of all the horrific things that Annabelle had just told her, that was the worst one.

“You cannot be serious,” she finally managed to reply. “That is crazy, Annabelle. You must see how mad that is.”

“Oh I know, but it is love...”

“What is love?” Catherine exploded as it hit her all over again. “What is happening to you that is so important you would throw away everything? How can you be so willing to sacrifice your whole life?”

Annabelle had expected Catherine to be shocked, but this felt a lot like an overreaction. It was not a snap decision that Annabelle had made, she had really thought it through. “I know what I am doing,” she insisted. “I do not want to marry the Lord that my father has chosen for me, and that has nothing to do with Floyd.”

“No, but if it was not for this stable boy you would still be going through with the wedding, whether you liked it or not.”

Annabelle felt insulted by the way Catherine described Floyd and his profession, it was too much like her father. “You do not know him,” she announced while standing up. “You cannot pass judgement.”

“You cannot know him either.” Catherine racked her brain desperately, trying to find a way to make her friend see sense. “You must have only met him recently or I would have heard of him.”

“So?” Annabelle folded her arms defiantly across her chest. She was not pleased with the way Catherine got a little too close to her. “I do not need to know him long to know that I love him.”

“But will you love him forever when you are living in a tiny shack with nothing to eat? Will you be as happy when you have two starving children attached to you and no way to feed them. Will it still seem like such a good idea when you never see your stable boy because he is working for some other Lady, trying to earn you enough money to live?”

Annabelle felt chastened, but she did not want her friend to see that. She tried her best to rearrange her expression but she did not manage it quick enough. Catherine could see that she was getting through so she continued quickly, hoping to push the point through.

“Annabelle, if you decide to go through with this, you will not only lose your money and your title, you will also lose your family. Your father will disown you, your mother will be forced to stick by him.” She pursed her lips, knowing there was also something else that would have to happen. “It will also be difficult for all your friends to have anything to do with you. You will be tainted, we will all be made to keep away from you so our reputations stay intact.”

“I...” Annabelle had not thought about that, not really. She had been so wrapped up in her selfish thoughts that nothing else had mattered.

“I know that you do not like Lord Ashdown,” Catherine spoke softly. She wanted Annabelle to know that she understood, even if she did not really. Catherine had never felt any feelings that were worth risking everything for. “But you will find happiness with him in the end.” She held onto Annabelle’s hands and gave her a sympathetic look. “I am sure most women feel unhappy at first, but soon things start to look up. Maybe the things said about him are not all true...”

“But they are,” Annabelle whined helplessly. “He is horrible. Every moment I have spent with him has been awful. He has said terrible things to me and touched me when I did not want him to.”

Catherine did not want to say it aloud, but she felt certain that no other man would want to know Annabelle now that she had been kissed by a stable boy. Maybe it was not a known fact, but these things had a way of getting out.

“Maybe he is acting out because he is nervous.” Catherine knew that she was reaching desperately, but she could not allow her friend to delve into these depths. Especially when she felt certain that it was on such a whim. “Maybe once he has gotten to know you better, he will calm down.”

“And the courtesans?” Annabelle cocked an eyebrow at Catherine. Some of her points were a little too reasonable for her, she needed to find a way to defend what she had done. “You believe that will stop too?”

“Possibly. Probably.” Catherine felt all her hard work flying out the window. “Your father would not have chosen him without good reason. You know how protective he is over the Hathaway reputation. He is worse than most people.”

“I suppose you are right.” Annabelle nodded agreeably. “But I cannot help how I feel.”

Catherine rolled her eyes, letting some of her frustration out. “So, what is your plan?” she asked angrily. “How do you intend to be with this stable boy? Are you going to stop the wedding half way through?”

“There will not be a wedding,” Annabelle answered confidently. “I am certain that I will have it solved by then.”

“Solved?” Catherine threw her hands in the air exasperatedly. “How? I do not wish to be rude but you are not thinking straight at all. You are allowing your imagination to get the better of you, Annabelle. Life is not all one big adventure, sometimes there are things that we simply have to do. It is fine to dream in our minds, but life is not like that.”

“I understand why you are so concerned, Catherine, and I am grateful for it, but I know that this is right for me. For girls like Edith and Harriett, maybe even you, marrying a Lord and being kept in a certain lifestyle is fine, but for me it is not.”

“Annabelle, stop it. It is not just you at stake here. It is everyone...” But Catherine could tell that she was losing her friend, Annabelle’s pig-headed determination had already made up its mind. “Please, just think about this before you do anything silly.”

“Catherine, I have done nothing but think about this. This is the right thing for me.”

The girls stared at one another, both seeing each other through new eyes. They had always been friends, there had never been anything to tear them apart, but on this subject, they could not understand each other’s point of view.

Catherine could not understand what would drive someone to sacrifice everything that they had been given. She did not understand why Annabelle could not see that they were the lucky ones. The lower born people had hard lives, they had to work for everything that they had and it would never be as much as the richer folk. In Catherine’s mind, there was no comparison in their lives.

Annabelle wanted Catherine to understand what it felt like to be in love, but she knew she could not. Until Annabelle felt it herself she did not get it either. She hoped that Catherine would just trust that she knew what was best.

“I must be going now,” Annabelle said quietly. “And thank you for listening to me. I appreciate it. I know it is hard to keep it a secret and I would appreciate it if you kept it to yourself.”

“Of course, I will!” Even if Catherine did not agree with Annabelle, she was still her best friend. She would never break that trust. “I just hope that you think about it and you make the right decision.”

“I will.”

Annabelle hoped that she was not walking out of Catherine’s bedroom for the last time. She did not want their friendship to end over this. She had risked a lot telling Catherine the truth and her friend would have to risk a lot too by never telling anyone. But she trusted Catherine with her life and she did not think her friend would ever let her down.