Cursed by the land

Friends And Foes

Aunt Rebecca nudges me and tells me to go eat as all the guests were heading there. I pick an empty seat beside Eli and sits down. She smiles at me and a servant attend to her needs. Another servant also moves to my side and also leave to come back with what I ordered for. A young man in his early thirties sits on my left and offers me a smile. I return back the smile and he introduces himself as Noah Rikards. ‘Abbey de Lawrence’ I also introduce myself. ‘Nice meeting you Miss de Lawrence.’ I bow at him and he shifts his attention to a servant that approached him to ask him for what he prefer.

The guests who were already served starts eating and soon the servant appears with what I ordered for. I pick the fork and knife and fumbles a little as I’ve eaten with it thrice. The first one was when I was learning the basic table etiquette. The second was during a party that was held by my employer back at Kenthood. I had mistakenly dropped the knife and the cluttering noise of the metal drew the attention of the rest of the guests. The third was during the wedding of Mr Harrison. After learning from my past mistake, I made sure to calm my nerves so the scenario doesn’t repeat again.’ The knife should be right not the other way round.’ Mr Rikards whispered to me. This made me embarrassed and my cheeks flushed red. One girl in her early twenties sitting across the table looks at me wondering what made me blush. I quickly conduct myself and start eating. I cut the meat into smaller chunks as I didn’t want to be seen as glutton for finishing early.

The guests who were done eating started walking to meet and greet each other to discuss matters of their interest. Aunt Rebecca looked busy as she was talking to Mrs. Rivers whilst Jude and Mrs Rivers’ daughter were still walking about. A young man in his late twenties walked over and whispered something to Eli so she had to leave with him. I stood alone and had nothing to do.

One of the guests stared at me in pity and asked for who I was. I introduced myself and she asked if I were new and I replied.’ You can go to the library to pass time. ‘Because you’re new most men and young ladies of your age won’t approach and it’ll take time before they do.’ I thanked her went to ask aunt Rebecca for where the library was as Mrs. Rivers has moved away to speak to another guests. She calls one of the servants to show me the way to the library.

The servant turns towards me and with her eyes cast on the floor begin to lead the way and I follow her. We climb the stairs to another floor and we step on a new corridor. She opened the door to the library. I step in and I’m awed by the scenery. There were about ten racks and every shelf was filled with books.

‘I’ll be leaving you here miss, I have other guests to attend to’ she bows her head and I bow after her and she leaves the room. I enter the room and start walking through the racks. I read the books title by title and finally settles on one that I prefer. I take the book and sits on a chair. Mr Rikards the man who was sitting next to me enters and immediately he sees me he waves and I wave back. I continue reading for almost an hour and half before I decided to go downstairs so aunt Rebecca won’t stress of my whereabouts.

Immediately I step out of the room I spot three girls walking around as if looking for something or someone since they all fix their gaze on me and start walking towards me. My palms starts sweating and I wipe it in my dress.

One of the girls was the one who sat across me when we were dining.

She walks towards me and every step was with a threatening stare. I halt in my tracks and they all block my path. ‘Isn’t she the one that is taking Rik from you Emily?’ One of the girls with blond hair and a little busty asked the girl with dark hair who is Emily. ‘She is the one, hmmph she thinks she can stand a chance against me’ she turns and answers her friend. They take a step further and Emily finally opens her mouth to talk. ‘Hey new girl, wherever you came from don’t think you can stand a chance against me, my family has already arranged marriage with Rik and you stand no chance with him so I don’t want to see you anywhere near him.’ I stare at her dead in the eye and shoved her aside. She’s awed and I figure out that she might be spoilt so no one ever stood up to challenge her. Just before she took another step Eli appeared and she looked at me before shifting her attention to them. ‘Are they bullying you Abbey?’ She asked and I told her she shouldn’t bother as I reckon they’re three idiots who have nothing to do with their lives. ‘Oh, it’s the princess of the town. Who knew she’ll make a grand entrance today Leticia?’ I turned and Emily was speaking to the blond girl. The girl with ginger hair looked like an i***t to me since she looked timid and a bit scared. It was evident that she didn’t want to partake in any of the drama going on but she was influenced by her friends.

Before they could walk any closer, the door opened and Mr Rikards steps out. Immediately Emily sees him she acts coy and I sneer at her for being a pick me. Mr Rikards ignores her completely and smiles at me before leaving the corridor. His actions leaves her embarrassed and she blushes. ‘It doesn’t matter what he does to me but he still loves me’ I roll my eyes and Eli tells me to leave since the three idiots didn’t know what to do with their time. We walk down stairs and aunt Rebecca is standing with Jude. It seems her friend was gone since she was nowhere to be seen with her other sister and Mrs Rivers.

Mrs Daviss walks over to aunt Rebecca to thank her for her gift and time. ‘This must be your husband’s niece that you mentioned the last time’ Mrs Daviss asks and aunt Rebecca affirms to it. ‘It’s a pity that you’ve lost your parent, child, I know it won’t be easy but always strife for the best.’ I nod and she turns to aunt Rebecca and thanks her once again. Before leaving, she hugs Jude and Eli and also hugs me as I was now automatically part of their family.

We walk out and the carriage man has already brought the carriage outside. He steps down to stand by the carriage so he can help us sit in the carriage. He shuts the door again and this time the inside is darker as the sun is setting. ‘How was the party?’ Aunt Rebecca asked. ‘It was an enjoyable one’ Eli replied.‘I saw you standing and talking to Mr. Rupert, anything to say about that?’

‘He was just asking me why father couldn’t make and there’s nothing more to it’ Eli responded. ‘You know the family will benefit and you both suit each other right? You’re not growing any younger and I’ll encourage you to find someone to settle with before we become the talk of Woodluck.’ Aunt Rebecca adds but Eli looks out the window and pretends as if she didn’t say anything. ‘The earlier you find someone the better. Did you enjoy yourself Abbey?’ She turned and asked me and I replied that I sure did. ‘I know you’re new here but you should hurry and settle in. You’re also not growing old so I’ll encourage you to also find someone of your choice to marry, you’re also part of this family.’ I bowed my head at this.

She turns her attention to Jude and in a crisp tone, ‘you need to comport yourself during functions Jude. You’re also not getting any younger. As a lady you shouldn’t go hopping and jumping the least chance you get. Compose yourself as you would’ve been married by now if you were to be in another family.’ Jude pouts her mouth as before she could open her mouth she was given a deadly stare.The rest of the ride was quiet. We entered the house to meet lit candles as it was evening when we arrived. Uncle was already in the house and sitting on a table reading documents. Aunt told us to go change so we can come back and help her cook the evening meal and we did just that.