In their silhouette

Chapter five

They had orange cake, chocolate cake, cheesecake and strawberry cake with tea.

After tasting each cake, they had to give their views on it. Annie loved the cheese cake and orange cake. The strawberry had potential, but nay.

“Mister Caddel?” Sarah sighed.

“The strawberry cake is a must. Maybe the chocolate cake as well.”

“When did you like chocolate cake?” Annie chimed without thinking.

“The moment you first baked them for me.” He fired back.

Annie’s hands trembled underneath the table, and Sarah held them.

Peter cleared his throat and rubbed his head. “We won’t be making the final decision now, anyway. My brother will also give his input.”

“Then why gather us here?” Gibbie Caddel frowned. “Are you even aware of what is currently happening in this world?”

Peter smiled, a sad smile. “I know… It's why I did it.”

Annie understood. “Thanks Peter.”

“Did I gain your approval again?”

Gibbie opened his mouth, but Peter held out his hands.

Annie laughed. “Sarah approves of you, and that's all the approval you need.”

Peter smiled, his eyes shining up at Sarah, who, full-on, blushed. Annie’s eyes met Gibbie’s, and he winked at her before eyeing the remaining slice of chocolate cake.

In many ways, Gibbie had changed.

Annie did not see the same boy she used to hang out with and kiss in the attic when Sarah and her mother went out, or the boy who brought her flowers during Valentine's day.

For all she knew, he might now love those women who filled their faces with makeup and giggled over him.

What had she expected? For him to wait for her?

For him to understand why she had broken things off?

Why did she take my foolish mother’s advice?

Wasn’t she happy?

Gibbie owned a multitude of houses, and maybe he kept a diamond ring for a special person too. He had become successful because she had left. Maybe her Mother had some sense with her advice.

“Okay then. Let us not make Gibbie any more angry. Let’s be off.”

Peter went to the back to talk with the baker. Sarah waited for him by the door while Gibbie and Annie returned to the car, where they punished themselves in silence.

It was dark outside, and the streetlights were on.

Sarah, after sharing a tender kiss with Peter, entered the car.

“That was extremely rude of you guys. We just wanted to hang out. He wanted to get away from it all,you know, politics and everything. Why are you guys being so difficult, like children?”

Gibbie Caddel frowned. “Sorry.”

Sarah avoided Annie’s gaze. “What a stupid rumor, anyway.”

Gibbie Caddel nodded. “Who would want to get rid of you, Annie?”

Annie shrugged just as she locked eyes with Sarah. “Apparently, all the guys I have ever tried dating.”

Sarah looked at her hands. “Their loss.”

Gibbie Caddel murmured. “Exactly.”

A moment of silence went by before Sarah found her words again.

“Okay. So the official one will be at the White House. His mother will also be present and his grandmother… gosh.” Her hands trembled for the briefest of seconds.

Until this point, Annie never considered that maybe Sarah also struggled with acceptance. This boggled her mind and caused her to zone out for the rest of the ride.

How could a beautiful girl struggle with acceptance?

“Annie,” Sarah called, drawing her back to reality.

“Yes?”

“Mister Caddel was talking to you.” she raised her eyebrows at Annie. “Are you alright?”

Annie nodded and, with no desire to exchange glances with Gibbie Caddel, she simply apologised.

“What were you saying, Mister Caddel?” Encouraged Sarah. “Don’t mind her. She’s gotten much more sour in your absence. It makes her ugly, doesn’t it? A petty 'cause she is so beautiful.”

Annie gawked at Sarah. What the f**k was this woman saying?

Gibbie Caddel cleared his throat. “Just call me Gibbie. What? We’re not friends anymore?” He stared into Annie’s eyes. “No way for me to come back?”

“Sorry.” Sarah mumbled. “They have drilled it into me since birth. Continue Gibbie.”

Gibbie stared at Annie, and it forced her to nod. A smile hung on his lips for the briefest seconds before it disappeared.

“As I was saying, have you already rented out the building in which the wedding will occur?”

Annie nodded.

It was a bloody good sum as well. She could have used it for something else.

“Peter does not want it there anymore.”

Annie looked at Sarah, and she nodded.

Annie then kept her posture straight, cradled her trembling hands, and nodded. A plan gone wrong. She didn’t plan for this.

After a minute of studying her, Gibbie said, “They will return your money.”

Annie nodded and subtly let her shoulders lay back. She would have whooped.

She needed that money for fees. No jokes.

“So Gibbie, how have you been?” Sarah asked, a small smile undoing itself on her face.

Gibbie Caddel smiled. “I’ve been well.”

Sarah nodded. “That’s good. You have been successful, exactly like mama predicted you would be.”

Gibbie took off his hat. “My condolences–”

“No need. I had Annie. She took good care of me. Really, I wasn’t alone. Never a dull moment when Annie’s around.” Sarah smiled and lifted her hands in a victory fist, even though her voice cracked.

“Wanna talk about it?”

Sarah dragged in some air as a smoker would. “Rather not. I’d rather hear your success stories. Mother proud?”

Gibbie grinned. “As she should be, but not satisfied. Congratulations to you. Peter is a good man. I am sure you will be happy. Annie has nothing to worry about.”

Sarah’s eyes teared up. “I’m so sorry, my beautiful Annie.”

Annie raised her eyebrows. “Am I really beautiful?” She played with the ends of her hair and her mind flew to how many foods they had left in the fridge.

She could use this money for fees, buy groceries and give some to Sarah.

Sarah sighed.

Annie returned from her daydreaming. “Yes.”

They (Gibbie and Sarah) shook their heads.

“So anyone new?” Sarah asked Gibbie.

Gibbie’s eyes met Annie’s.

Stupidly, Annie shook her head. “Don’t mind me. Busy thinking about something.”

“No.” Gibbie Caddel stared at his feet, then outside.

Sarah hummed. “I see.”

Like always, Annie zoned out and shut herself from hearing their conversation.

They had ended their relationship a long time ago. Why did it matter if he dated someone else? He had every right to, right?

So, she dwelled in her thoughts of Benjamin, her dog. Benjamin returned today; something about this pleased her. Maybe she could get rid of this foreboding feeling that someone loomed over her shoulders and this uncertain future.

Annie could clearly picture herself poor and the farm taken from her. She grasped her thighs at that. Imagine the farm was gone.

And now tax rates, and the government’s plan to raise them made the future all the more frightening.

The carriage rocked to a stop. Sarah and Gibbie stepped out first. She watched them hook arms and sighed. At that moment, Sarah looked happy. She was fed, clothed, and had a roof over her head.

Her eyes shifted to Gibbie Caddel.

Not talking to Gibbie as Sarah was doing hurt her, as if someone shot her three times in the head. A tornado of emotion wrecked her mind. The past extended his claws and clamped her heart.

Tears… she was crying.

Gibbie Caddel was a danger. She had to avoid him.

She wiped her tears.

She was a hindrance to him, right? And anyway, he was rich now. There was no way she could jeopardize that.

The best plan was to do what her mother had told her.

The driver coughed and stared at Annie.

“Sorry.” She mumbled and jumped out.

Back inside the cottage, Annie prepared the food while Sarah entertained Gibbie.

His hearty laugh brushed the room gold, squeezing her heart and almost taking her back to the days when they used to run away to the forbidden fireground, as they called it.

Tonight, only Gibbie and Sarah were going to eat. It was the only way she was going to manage food and sustain it for the week after.

Annie set up the table and cleared her throat.

Gibbie stopped laughing, and Sarah sighed.

Once she saw them seated, Annie waited for Benjamin on the front porch. Benjamin, her dog, had a white coat. He has been mistaken for a wolf over three times by Miss Lizzy, and even Sarah. Even Pete, who went hunting, aimed his gun at Benjamin.

“You should get him on a leash. One day, I might just end up shooting him.” Pete told her after returning Benjamin.

Benjamin got given to her when she was five. Her mother thought she would have no partner to love in her life. She thought (which is in fact true) Annie’s unpleasant face would chase away every single man who ever laid eyes on her.

So, let a dog who knows nothing about beauty standards love her.

Miss Lizzy’s boots crunched on leaves and plopped on damp mud.

Annie got her ass off the porch and crouched with her arms open.

Miss Lizzy laughed. “Do not say that you were waiting for me.”

Benjamin jogged to Annie and licked her face close to my scar.

“Ben. I am glad you’re back, boy.”

She ruffled his fur.

“I had already fed him. He was a good boy on the journey. He didn’t cause me a lot of trouble.”

“Of course he wouldn’t.”

Annie rolled her eyes, and Miss Lizzy laughed.

“Alright, enough of this. Why are you here?”

“Oh, Mister Caddel is staying over. They are having dinner. I didn’t want to be a disturbance.”

Miss Lizzy frowned. “Does he know yet?”

Annie laughed. “No, I don’t give a f**k actually ‘cause it doesn’t matter whose idea it was. I had a choice. I could have decided not to do it, but I did it. Anyway, she was right.”

Miss Lizzy spat. “I am glad your mother is gone. I just feel sad for your father. All his life was spent with that woman.”

“Please keep my mother’s name out of your foul mouth. She was only ever thinking about me. It came from a good place.”

“Really? Everything that she said to you came from a good heart? You must have been one fortunate daughter when she passed away.”

“Let’s just drop this already.” Annie patted Benjamin. “Let’s wait for them to finish, then I will take you in for tea.”

Miss Lizzy frowned, and a minute passed with them just staring at each other. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to.”

“Alright. Are you planning on keeping the farm?”

“You don’t think I should?” Annie searched Miss Lizzy’s emerald eyes.

Miss Lizzy smiled. “Do whatever you wish.”

“You think I can keep the farm?”

“Have you eaten?”

“Not yet. I am just waiting for them to finish.” Annie returned to ruffling Benjamin.

“Alright. Rather come to my place. I have been aching to have someone over. After a whole day spent hiking and surrounded by people, being alone is distasteful.” Miss Lizzy said and smiled at Annie.

Annie hurried with Miss Lizzy to her wooden house. Miss Lizzy lived two doors from Annie. Often, when Annie passed it on her way home, it looked so dark and lonely, almost as if it had nothing left to give to Miss Lizzy. It looked so close to falling apart.

When they were kids, Sarah used to cry whenever they passed Miss Lizzy’s house. She still hates it, but she no longer cries.

Miss Lizzy’s small living room contained her bed, television, table, and a few couches. Comfortable, Annie put her ass on the seat closest to the heater while Ms. Lizzy busted about in the kitchen.

Lavender smell flung in the air and clung to her nose.

Annie shut her eyes and drifted back to the time when her mother sprayed her with her lavender perfume. At age ten, after catching her mother messing around with someone other than her father on the couch, she got treated to jewellery and fancy food, which were things she had no desire for.

Annie’s Mother never hugged her or looked at her with love. She hissed threats at Annie whenever she got the chance. Though, she never threatened to tell on her. She never told on her.

Miss Lizzy gave her rice with soup all over it and chicken.

“What happened to my tea?” Annie asked.

Miss Lizzy sat down, and Benjamin laid beside her feet.

“I heard your stomach rumble back there. And anyway, when last did we eat at one table?”

“Thank you.”

“No. Thank you.” Miss Lizzy smiled.

“Piggard Olvidar asked for you.” Annie clanked her spoon against her plate.

Miss Lizzy chewed slower. “Okay.”

“It sounds like he and his wife are happy.”

Miss Lizzy filled her mouth with food. “I should visit him sometime. Want to come along? In that way, we can shop for your sister’s wedding. God knows I need something to wear.”

Annie nodded and kept her eyes on her plate as she ate.

“Nothing much happened on the hike?” She asked after a few minutes had gone by.

Ms. Lizzy’s eyes sparkled. “Oh, it was good. I think I have pictures. Too tired to fetch them now. We will do it some other time. You should do it sometime. You and Mariah. How is Mariah?”

Annie pushed her plate away. “Thank you. I think she is well.”

Miss Lizzy raised her eyebrows. “You think?”

Annie nodded. “Marialla told me she had a stomach bug. I don’t know if she is alright.”

“And you haven’t gone by to check?”

“I will, I will. I just haven’t had time. Tomorrow I will. A glass of water?”

Miss Lizzy, all the while keeping a sharp eye on her, nodded at the kitchen.

Annie gulped down two glasses of water.

“ May I also ask you a favour?” Annie put the glass in the sink.

Miss Lizzy nodded.

“Could you maybe keep Benjamin for a while? Mister–”

“Sure thing." Miss Lizzy smiled.

Annie sat back down near the flames. The long hours that passed by created the expectation that Gibbie and Sarah might have hit their beds. And with this in mind, she left Miss Lizzy’s house, but not without Benjamin and Miss Lizzy walking with her.

Benjamin jogged beside Annie, and she was reminded of all those times she spent with her father. Those memories, past memories, she had flushed at the back of her mind, continued to haunt her and make her its victim, especially the memories of her mother.

Her mother’s laugh rung clearly in the back of her mind. “Benjamin will leave you, too.”

She had a lot to drink one Friday afternoon, and Annie had come back from school at the wrong time.

“You will have no one to love you, you wretched child. Sometimes I wonder what mistakes I made to have you.”

Annie covered Sarah’s ears and hurried her to our bedroom, while her mother threw shoes at her.

She will prove her wrong; she will not break her.

“Okay. This is where we stop. Say goodbye now.” Miss Lizzy stretched as Annie said her goodbyes.

Annie hugged Benjamin, and he barked.

“You be a good dog as I know you to be. See you in a couple of days. High five.”

Benjamin turned around and jogged away; and fear gripped Annie. She tried to call him back, but he continued onwards.

Miss Lizzy laughed. “He is a curious, that one.”

“Alright. Be safe.” Annie murmured.

She nodded, turned around, and jogged after Benjamin.

Annie watched until they disappeared from her vision, then she sauntered to her cottage, the only family she had.

Sarah still lived there, and maybe her parents as well, since she still had their pictures.

Was this the reason she held so tightly to the cottage and the farm?

She stopped walking to laugh at herself.

What silly thoughts.

Annie entered the cottage and gasped, shocked to find Gibbie awake and standing by the table. He pushed up his glasses and tapped the chair beside him.

A hot meal sat on the table.

“How about it?”

Annie stumbled back, looked at Gibbie, then gawked at the food.

Gibbie Caddel ruffled his hair and cleared his throat. “You’re not hungry?”

This was the food that was supposed to last for a week.

She ran her hands through her hair. “What now?”

Gibbie Caddel sighed. “Alright.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what?” Gibbie Caddel muttered as he packed away the plates.

“Miss Lizzy had just fed me.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

Annie sat down and served herself some potatoes and letters. “But you’re going to have to eat with me.”

Gibbie Caddel stared at her for a hot minute, shrugged, sat down and nibbled on a chip.

Annie burped and looked away, embarrassed.

Gibbie Caddel shook his head. “That’s such a turnoff.”

Annie nodded. “I know.”

And they both laughed.

“I missed this place.”

“Neh, why would you miss it?” Annie got up and began piling up the plates. “Where ever you are, you are now safe. No thieves, no random murders turning up every morning, no houses going on fire.”

Gibbie helped her clear the table. “So it’s true that those things are still happening? No one knows who is doing them?”

Annie shook her head.

“What do you say, lollipops, wanna go skinny dipping?”

Gibbie Caddel had truly changed.

Annie laughed. “Go sleep Caddel. Sleep is important.”

“Wanna join me? The bed is lonely and the attic ain’t safe.”

“Mister Caddel, let’s not.”

“Sleep well, lollipops. Don’t let the bedbugs bite.”

“Uhm.”