Chapter Four

AN: Heads up; this needs quite a bit of work xD

“Thank you for the wonderful day, my dear Anna,” Delmont said once he had helped me out of the carriage.
Trying not go laugh in his face, I replied, pasting a plastic smile on my face, “You’re welcome. Goodnight.” Then I turned and went back to the house, not waiting for him to reply.
I could see that some lights were still on in the house, though not many. Sighing, I realized most of my family was in bed – Delmont, his friends and I had stayed out until nine o’ clock, strolling, talking (not that I did much of that), eating dinner and strolling again before someone suggested we head home. Nine o’ clock! And then it had taken nearly an hour to get back to the carriage, get all the different people home and then get back to my home.
I knocked on the door, hoping that our maid, Fanny, would open it quickly. It was chilly out here; autumn had quietly arrived in the last few weeks.
Thankfully Fanny opened the door almost right away. “Good evenin’, mum,” she said, giving a small curtsy before stepping aside so I could come in. “Did you have a good time?”
“I loved the museum,” I replied. “The art was beautiful! And after we went on a walk we dined at that new hotel. It was very lovely.”
I knew Fanny could see right through my response. Suspicion in her eyes, she said, “That’s wonderful, mum.”
I gave a small smile. “Well, goodnight, Fanny.”
“Oh, Miss Anna, I nearly forgot; your parents were wantin’ to say goodnight to you once you got back,” Fanny said. “They’re waitin’ in the parlor.”
I gritted my teeth for a moment. “Thank you, Fanny. And goodnight.”
“Goodnight, mum,” she said, smiling cheerfully before heading off to bed herself.
Did Father and Mother really make her stay up just to answer the door?! I thought. They could have come out of the parlor and done it themselves!
Going in and bracing myself for “How was it? Did you have a good time?”, I spotted my parents in their usual places – my father in his chair in the corner, engrossed in the newspaper, and my mother on one of the couches, knitting up a storm.
“Hello, Mother, Father,” I said, forcing myself to smile.
“You’re back!” Mother said, putting down her knitting and getting up. Father actually managed to pull himself away from his newspaper and look at me.
“The art museum was wonderful,” I said, hoping to avoid any questions. “We were out for awhile and I’m quite tired, so I’m going right to bed. Goodnight!” I hurriedly kissed my mother on the cheek and went to do the same to my father.
He wasn’t so easily satisfied by my little summary of the outing. “Did you have a good time with Delmont and his friends?” he asked.
I blinked. I might as well tell him the truth. It probably won’t do much, but there’s no point in lying to them, I thought. “To tell you the truth, Father, no, I didn’t.”
“Why ever not?” Mother said from behind me, sounding disappointed.
I turned. “Mother, Delmont and his friends are just so . . . so  . . . ”
“So what?” my father said. I looked back at him and could see he was getting annoyed.
Wonderful, I thought.
“It’s just that I cannot stand Delmont,” I said at last. “Or his friends.”
Mother gaped. “But . . . but, Anna, Delmont seems such a nice young man!”
Forcing myself not to scream and rip my hair out, I said as calmly as I could, “Mother, he’s really not. I know you and Father will probably never believe me, but he’s really very self-absorbed and shallow.”
“You’re right, Anna,” my father said, getting up. “I don’t believe you. Your words sound like that of a whining child trying to get her way.”
“I knew you wouldn’t belive me,” I said. “This is pointless. I’m going to bed.” I turned to leave, trying to ignore the shocked face of my mother.
“Anna Willowford!” my father thundered. “You will stop this childishness, turn around this instant and get back here!”
Clenching and unclenching my hands into fists, I turned back.
“Anna, this has gone far enough. If I hear one more word from your mouth that is insulting to Delmont or his friends you will be severely punished. I am tired, absolutely tired, of hearing this whining. You are going to court Delmont, and if Delmont  so wishes it you are going to marry him, and there will be no buts about it!” my father said, his face dark with rage.
I felt like I had been slapped. Clamping my mouth shut so I didn’t say something I would regret, I turned, tears blurring my vision, and walked out of the room, my hands in such tight fists that my nails dug deep into my palms.
“Anna – ” Mother began.
“Let her go,” Father said.

~

I didn’t sleep a wink that night, instead trying to come up with a solution to fix my wretched life. Of course, though, I didn’t come up with a single thing. My life just didn’t seem fixable.
I finally got up and got dressed at about five in the morning. The sun really hadn’t shown itself yet, and an idea came to me. If I never left my room Delmont couldn’t court me. I wouldn’t have to see him, and I certainly wouldn’t be able to marry him. I would just . . . just stay in here until my father said I didn’t have to court Delmont. I would waste away in my room before I would continue to court, or, wretched thought, marry him. I. Would. Waste.  Away.
Sure enough I heard a knock at my bedroom door a few hours later. “Mum,” said Fanny’s voice. “Yer father says ye’re to coom downstairs.”
“Tell him I’m not coming down,” I said firmly. I sat on my bed and crossed my arms, staring stoutly at the wall.
“But, mum, ye-” she began.
“Fanny, I’m not coming!” I snapped. Then I sighed. “I’m sorry to snap at you, Fanny. But please just tell him I’m not coming down.”
Sighing herself, she hurried off to deliver my message to Father.
A few moments later I heard rapid footsteps. A hand tried my door knob, but its owner quickly discovered that despite the fact it turned, the door would not budge. A hard, angry pounding then threatened to rattle my door off its hinges.
“Anna Willowford, you will come out this instant!” my father roared.
“Father, I’m not coming out until you say I don’t have to court Delmont!” I spat back.
“Then you won’t be coming out!” I could just imagine my father’s face bright red with rage at my rebellion.
“That’s fine by me!” I called triumphantly. “I’d rather die in here than see Delmont again! The man is a hothead, Father, and I refuse to court him!”
“Go and calm down. I’ll talk to her.” So Mother had arrived to calm down the beast before he broke my door down.
“But she-” my father began.
“Go,” my mother urged. Growling, my father stalked off, ranting about a “rebellious child”.
“Anna, please open the door,” Mother pleaded. “Don’t do this.”
“Mother, you cannot ask me to spend my life with a man like Delmont! I can’t do it! He’s awful!” I said. I could hardly believe myself that I was being so stubborn, but I didn’t see any other way out of this.
“What is so very awful about him?” she cried. “Why can’t you just humor us and court him? He seems very nice!”
“Mother, he. Is. Stuck. On. Himself. He does not care about me. And, Mother, I wasn’t joking. I will not come out of here until Father agrees to not force me to court Delmont anymore. I’ll die before I do!”
“Anna, this is childish. Just come out!” she pleaded once more.
Suddenly I heard Fanny’s worried voice. “Mum, ‘e’s ‘ere!”
“Who is here, Fanny?” Mother said, exasperated.
I didn’t need to hear Fanny’s response though. I knew exactly who she meant.
“Mother, I will not come out!” I said again. “I swear I will die before I court that man!”
The sound of rapid footsteps was suddenly back. I heard a new voice roar, “Let her out right now!”
“D-Delmont?” Mother stammered. “What on earth are you-”
“The little boy told me she was locked in her room!” Delmont said angrily. “What on earth would provoke you to do such a thing?!”
“I don’t understand!” Mother cried.
“Neither do I!” Delmont spat. “What has she possibly done that is so terrible you would lock her in her room?”
“She didn’t do anything – we didn’t lock her in her room!” I could hear how very flustered Mother was and could imagine her wringing her hands.
“Then this is even more disgusting! You would actually lock your daughter in her room like she’s some common criminal, and she didn’t even do anything wrong? Let her out now or I will be forced to call the authorities! This is outrageous!”
I sat on my bed stunned. If the situation hadn’t been so awful I would have laughed. Fanny’s young son, Thomas, must have heard the commotion and told Delmont upon his arrival that I was locked in my room.
And strangely, I almost felt . . . touched . . . at Delmont’s concern.
But, quickly shaking that off, I decided I would come out of my room, tell Delmont I had locked myself in my room so that he wouldn’t keep upsetting my mother, and then inform him that our courtship was over.
Yes. That was what I would do.
So, striding to my door and unlocking it, I pulled it open and opened my mouth to say, “Delmont, I locked myself in here, so leave my mother be! And you can just find another girl to court!”, only I was cut short when a blood-chilling scream pierced the air.
Shouts began to ring throughout the streets then. “CHOLERA! CHOLERA’S COME TO THE CITY!”