Page 5 of Annabelle Enchants the Rejected Earl
Chapter 3
“It is not right, is it?”Annabelle asked as she paced Catherine’s oversized bedroom the following morning. The cream and pale blue décor was designed for calm, but she could not feel that way today. After a night of barely any sleep, Annabelle still had unbridled terror racing through her system. “Lord Ashdown will not ask my father for my hand in marriage, willhe?”
Catherine flickered her eyes over to the Stanbury sisters who immediately shook their heads. Catherine was much better at delivering bad news than them. She seemed to have a better way withwords.
Catherine sighed loudly as she searched her brain for the right words to calm her friend down. “He might does, if he has taken a liking to you. He might also be interested in the dowry you come with.” Annabelle shot her friend a terrible look, that was not what she wanted to hear. “I know you might not like that,” Catherine did her best to defend herself. “But I feel it is better for you to be prepared for what might comenext.”
“Maybe I should speak with my father today, maybe it would be better for me to tell him in advance that I do not want to marry LordAshdown.”
“I do not think that is a good idea,” Catherine shook her head rapidly from side to side as she disagreed with Annabelle. “I do not believe your father will appreciate your opinion on thematter.”
“I cannot have an opinion on the man I am going to marry? The father of my children? The person I have to spend the rest of my lifewith?”
Catherine did not even bother to answer that. They all knew the answer, once Otto Hathaway had made a decision, it would happen no matterwhat.
Edith shuffled uncomfortably in her seat, she did not know how to deliver the knowledge that she had balling up inside of her, but she felt compelled to get it out somehow. She did not wish to make her friend feel worse, but it didn’t feel right to keep secrets from hereither.
If this affected her future, then she deserved toknow.
“Annabelle, I think there is something you should know,” Edith told her quietly. Regret laced her tone, but the weight shifted from her shoulders just the tiniest bit. “I do not think Lord Ashdown is the one for you, I think you should find whatever way you can to get out of marryinghim.”
Annabelle rushed to her friend’s side and she gripped tightly onto her arm as she stared desperately into her eyes. “What do you mean? What do you know?” shebegged.
“Ido not know anything about him at all, but our elder brother used to work with him at the bank a few years back.” Edith glanced over to Harriett who gave her a helpless shrug. She did not know what was the best thing to do. In the end, Edith continued on. “I mentioned Lord Ashdown to Edmund this morning when he was visiting and his opinion of him is notpositive.”
Annabelle slid backwards and tried to catch her breath. Sheknewthat there was something wrong with Lord Ashdown, she could just sense it. Still, she was not sure how she felt to have that confirmed. “What did hesay?”
“That he is a brute.” Edith bit down guiltily on her bottom lip. “And that he likes the company ofcourtesans.”
Annabelle instantly felt her whole body still. There was no way that would be invented, it just was not the sort of thing that one would lie about. And she knew Edmund well, he was a man who took life very seriously. He would never say something unless he had seen evidence of it himself, he did notgossip
“Oh my goodness. I was not expectingthat.”
Edith threw a comforting arm over her friend’s shoulder, but Annabelle shook it off as she raised back into a standingposition.
“Well that simply confirms it, Ihaveto find a way not to marry this man. I have to somehow stop my father from allowing this tohappen.”
“It still might not happen,” Catherine tried to reassure her friend. “He might have only said that to try and rile youup.”
“I suppose so, I just do not want to turn a blind eye to it in case he was being serious.” Annabelle’s brain spun, she did not know what to think anymore. It was all so confusing. “What do you think I shoulddo?”
“I would leave it,” Catherine said confidently. “I do not think you truly have anything to worryabout.”
“Maybe you should try speaking with your mother?” Edith suggested helpfully. “She might have some idea of what your father isplanning.”
“Maybe she could stop him too,” Annabelle agreed with a nod. “She is the only woman in the world that he ever listens to. Not all the time, but it is worth ashot.”
Harriett was not convinced. She knew that Annabelle needed to consider every option, just in case she could not control life in the way that she hoped. “You know, I think a lot of men involve themselves with courtesans. Many society women turn a blind eye to their husband’s affairs, that is common knowledge. If youdoend up having to marry Lord Ashdown, maybe that side of him will work to youradvantage.”
Annabelle rolled her eyes dramatically. That was the last thing she needed to hear. “But I do not want to marry him, I do not want to be a wife whose husband has affairs. I would much rather have a husband who wants to treat mewell.”
“I have faith in you,” Catherine said as she rubbed her friend’s shoulders comfortingly. “I am sure this is something that you will figure out. Your father will probably not want to see you wed until you are twenty years of ageanyway.”
Annabelle nodded, but she was barely listening to her friend. A plan was forming inside her mind and it was one that heavily featured her mother. Annabelle had never relied on her mother for much, she usually preferred to be independent, but this was not something she could doalone.
She neededhelp.
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