The Lady's Keeper

6 Write Me, Villain

It's twin sister sat snug on her right hand. Where it had been since the day she'd purchased the knock offs from a passing gypsy in Whitechapel market. One for her, and one for Bella.

The plain painted gold band glinted coldly back at her, the glass cut stone embedded in the centre seemed even more empty and hollow today. Any beauty that nostalgia once held was stolen by the inked words upon the parchment. It now symbolised an imminent doom. Great and tragic doom.

"Jeanine!" Her mother's call snapped through the air, breaking her out of her despair.

Hastily, she grabbed the letter and ring, stuffed them back inside the envelope and concealed it about her person. 'Yes, mama!'

'The Fitzroy family will be over soon for lunch, please make haste child, get ready!'

Composing herself, she went ahead upstairs to prepare for the guests. The letter would have to wait.

After meeting the family during the ball, and again at the picnic, the elders had deemed it appropriate to encourage and cement the acquaintanceship through calling upon them. Papa had realised that hiding away would only encourage the rumours that circulated around his small family. The best thing for them would be to move on. To finally allow normalcy to enfold them, and hopefully, become accepted once more. Jeanine, under normal circumstances, would have been thrilled at the opportunity to meet some girls her age, at long last! Now, her mind was trapped elsewhere.

Annabelle was standing attentively by the vanity, tweaking the hairbrush and perfume bottles into orderly soldiered lines. Her hands would fix, then come back to rest clasped together. Then tweak again and so forth.

Jeanine watched her with an amused smile on her face. Slipping the envelope back out, she examined it properly. Turning it over in her hands, she realised that although it was addressed to her, it had no town house address. Only her name.

Where they trying to be mysterious?

Suspicious more like.

'...Annabelle.' She said slowly, making the other girl jump with a little squeak.

'Miss! I didn't see you there, shall we proceed to get you ready?'

'Do you remember the mailman who handed you this?' She held up the envelope.

'Yes, Miss, same man that has been delivering mail over the past few weeks around here.'

Jeanine hummed in response, thoughts whirring to come up with a plausible answer. If he was the regular mailman for this area, then someone else must have approached him earlier and either asked - or bribed - him to deliver this envelope to me, today.

'Could you possibly do me a favour?'

*

Lisa smiled politely as she was escorted into the parlour, following after her mother and her hostesses. The lunch had been pleasant, mostly adults taking up conversation whilst the girls exchanged minimal pleasantries. Jeanine had been uncharacteristically quiet and withdrawn, no matter how hard she tried to force on a happy act. It wouldn't budge out from beneath the stormy armour of her solitude and growing despair.

When they were seated, Jeanine's mother gave her a sharp look. One that she'd witnessed countless times before. She had to restrain from rolling her eyes.