“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 him again.

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 this anymore.

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 right decision.

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 equally horrific.

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 so hard.

“What are you doing here?”

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 am sorry.”

“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 wedding day.”

“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 could survive...

“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 a puddle.

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 grasp anything.

“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 to do.

“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 at all."

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 emotionally fragile.

“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 Floyd Brewer?”

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 too late.

“Oh, I erm... I did not think...”

“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 of him.”

“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 see Primrose.”

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 is happy.”

“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 a mother.”

“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 not though.”

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 her chest.

“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 all along.”

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 not ask.

“Your mother was right about you,” he mused, more to himself than Annabelle. “Was she also right about Watson?”

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 it up.

“Watson is a terrible man,” Annabelle whispered. “He has been awful with me.” Her eyes wetted again. “He called me a... dollymop.”

“A dollymop?” Otto did not understand this word. It was a term he had not heard before.

“A street girl.”

A redness filled Otto from his toes to his head. The anger was back, it consumed him entirely. Only this time it was directed at the right person. For all this time, he should have seen Watson for what he really was but he was so consumed with being right that he did not want to see it.

He had been manipulated, and he did not like that at all. It made him seethe.

“I am sorry,” he said sincerely as his head fell forward in shame. For the first time in his entire life, Otto felt the need to apologize for what he had done.

“What for?” Annabelle actually took a step backwards, she was so shocked. Her father had actually apologized to her. Something had to be going on. She could not work out what she had missed because she could not see into her father’s mind.

“I should have listened to you. You have been trying to tell me all along.” Otto tucked his hands behind his back as he continued to pace up and down. All the mistakes that he had made with Annabelle flooded his mind, overwhelming him with regret. “You told me that he said terrible things to you, you said that he put his hands on you, your mother warned me that he is known for seeing courtesans and I paid no attention. I was too stubborn to hear it.”

“Right.” Annabelle’s whole body pounded. It was weirdly wonderful to be validated, but unfortunately, it came far too late. "Yes."

“You warned me, Josephine warned me, even my friends warned me. Old man Thomas told me that he saw Lord Ashdown with a courtesan only the other day and I chose not to hear him.” Guilt racked Otto’s bones as the realisation dawned on him. “He asked me to come outside, I followed him. I saw Watson with a very painted young lady, who he insisted it was the daughter of one of his business associates.” He looked at Annabelle with nothing but regret in his gaze. “I let him manipulate you as well as me.”

Annabelle did not know what to say to that. She could not believe that her father had fallen for such a foolish trick. It must have been utterly obvious to everyone that the woman was a courtesan. Her father must have been stubborn and blinded.

Otto felt shame as he recalled the memory. He was so taken in by Watson that he would have believed any lie that the man spun him. It was not Annabelle that threatened the family reputation, it was not even Watson really. It was him and his foolish determination to have everyone follow his rules.

“You would not have run off like that if you were not serious. There is no way your mother would have risked everything to help you if she did not feel strongly.” Otto continued to stare at Annabelle, seeing her as if for the very first time. “And this Floyd, he gave you something else to focus on.”

Oh my goodness, he is really listening! Annabelle felt very excited. I cannot believe it, this is my one chance to let my father know everything. The truth at last. “Yes, he was wonderful to me.”

“It is just unfortunate that he is only a stable boy.” Otto shook his head, visibly disappointed that there was not even a suitable alternative to the horrible Lord Ashdown. “He cannot be the one for you.”

“He is an Earl...” Annabelle blurted out, revealing Floyd’s secret without thinking about it too much. “Or at least he was. His father...”

Otto shook his hands in front of his face, silencing Annabelle. “Was is not good enough, he still does not have the money he needs to support you.”

“But I love him.” It was now or never. Annabelle needed to give it her all while her father’s walls were finally down. There was no telling when they would shoot back up again. “I love him dearly. He has been nothing but wonderful to me. He might only be a stable boy now, but he has ambition. He wants to open a riding school...”

“That is not something he can do without money,” Otto replied dismissively.

“I know, but he is working for it...”

“It will take too long.”

“He deserves a chance though.” All pretense fell away from Annabelle. She gave it everything that she had, she opened up her heart and allowed everything to spill out. “He will do it, I believe in him.”

“Belief will get him nowhere. Money will.”

Annabelle was silenced, she did not like to accept how right her father was. Of course, Floyd needed money to get going. Money that he did not have. He had a dream, one that she desperately wanted to come true, but want did not always make things happen. Life simply did not work that way.

“I know,” she finally admitted quietly. “I know all of that. I am sorry, I know I have damaged the family reputation. I did not mean for any of that to happen.”

Otto considered the reputation of the Hathaway name again. It had been the centre of his focus for such a long time, he had become blind to anything else. Maybe it was not as important as he once thought. Maybe if people did not want to do business with him because of the actions of his child, they were not important. Maybe he did not care if he was not invited out in polite society anymore. Josephine had already told him in the middle of a heated discussion that it did not bother her. It was only him that clung onto it... and now it was he who had almost destroyed it.

His wife put her children first always, even when it meant risking absolutely everything. Now it felt like the perfect time for him to do the same.

“I will help you,” he finally said decisively. “I will help you to avoid this marriage to Watson.”

“What?” Annabelle stumbled, she grew dizzy with her father’s words. There was no chance she was actually getting away with this, he would not really let her leave this wedding day behind, would he? That felt like a dream too far.

“Yes,” Otto continued decisively. “I will explain to everyone why you do not wish to be his wife, I will tell others what he said to you. I will tell them what I saw, they will know about the courtesan who I saw with my very own eyes.” The humiliation still burned brightly in Otto. He should have known. “His reputation deserves to be tarnished for what he has done.”

“But... but... people will hate me.”

“I will protect you.” Otto smiled, finally feeling like he was doing the right thing. This was the first time in his life that he actually felt very good about his choice for his daughters, there was no doubt in his mind at all. “I will make sure that no one can get to you.”

“It will be too much...”

“I will send you away.” It hit Otto that his daughter had actually been through many adult experiences during her time away from home. Maybe it was best for him to let her make the choices for her future. He clearly did not know best, whatever he had previously believed. “I will give you money, a carriage ride, I will help you to escape the city for a while. Until everything dies down.” He could not help himself, he had to let Annabelle know his opinion on the subject. “I would prefer it if you stayed away from the stable boy, I think you deserve someone who can take care of you better, but it is up to you.”

Letting go of the control felt surprisingly good. Otto felt like a weight had been lifted from him. Of course, he would worry about Annabelle for the rest of his life, just like he did with Beatrice, but something in his gut told him that he needed to simply trust that she would do what was best for her.

Annabelle was utterly overwhelmed with emotion. Without even thinking, she went with the flow and she flung her arms around her father in a very overt show of affection. “Thank you, Father, this is too much.”

Otto peeled his daughter’s arms off of him. That was a step too far, he could take only so much. He did not even know how to respond to Annabelle’s grab. Affectional displays had never been something that he was very good at.

“We better get back to the house, we both have a lot of work to do.” Seeing Annabelle’s panicked expression, he realized that was not possible. He shook his head and started again. “I will not make you go back inside, I will send you away now. You do not have to worry about anything in the home again. Trust me to sort it for you.”

Annabelle gulped, trying desperately to keep her emotion inside. “Thank you, Father. I do not know what to say. This is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

Annabelle’s heart skipped a beat, this was incredible. Somehow, this had transformed from the most horrible day ever, resulting in her having the worst husband ever, to her having the freedom to do whatever she wanted.

She did not even feel bad about breaking her father’s wishes. Of course, she was heading straight to Floyd again, there was nowhere else in the world she belonged. He would see soon enough. He had seen that she was right about Lord Ashdown, soon he would see that she was right about her stable boy too.