Ann stood at the end of the gangplank, her veiled face turned towards the warmth of the sun that she had never fully been able to feel. The slightly chilled breeze whipped by her cheeks and she took in a deep breath reveling in the fresh air that filled her lungs. Ah to be back on the sea once again. To experience the adventure of life. A smile began to curve her rosy lips as she took an impulsive step forward feeling the sturdy wood under her foot.
"Ann!" a harsh voice sounded beside her, "You will wait for Rosemary to guide you. Honestly we don't need any more of your embarrassing displays." The harsh voice of her stepmother took on an angry note, "and wipe that outrageous smirk off your face."
Ann having faced this scrutiny for too many years turned her smile up a notch, "No stepmother. I am finally to be free of you so with what little time we have left together I do not wish to listen or comply to any of your silly demands."
Ann heard a gasp and could just picture her step mother raising a gloved hand to her mouth in shock.
"After all that I have done for you! You ungrateful little brat! How dare you speak to me like that," her stepmother hissed as she grabbed Ann's arm with her boney vice like grip. "Rosemary!" she snapped, "Hurry over here. I do not pay you to be lazy."
"Yes Miss," a soft, breathless voice responded as light footsteps approached. Ann sighed as the expected thin arm of Rosemary, her hand maid, slipped through her own. Just as Ann was about to protest the aid, a hardy man's voice broke in.
"Ah Ms. Flint! Tis about time ye made it here. We await your luggage and then once you're safely onboard we'll be castin' off," the man whom Ann could only assume was the captain told them.
"Oh Captain Wood so sorry to be late. Problems you know," her stepmother spoke. Ann could just imagine a pointed look thrown her way. "Of course we are so very grateful to you for agreeing to take dear Ann at the last moment. Such a saint you are, a blessing from above!" her stepmother crooned.
"Ah Ms. Flint, Twas nothin'. Come along mistress Ann and we'll get ye tucked in for the trip," the kind captain wood said as he placed a comforting hand on Ann's shoulder before turning and walking up the gangplank and barking orders to his crew to prepare for cast off.
"Goodbye my dear Anne! I shall see thee in a few months time, time enough for the wedding!" her stepmother shouted out behind her as Rosemary led Ann up the plank.
Ann cringed at the barb her dear stepmother's voice stuck in her side.
My dear Dan, she thought silently, please forgive me.
Later that evening Ann stifled the urge to scream at Rosemary to shut up as the girl prattled on and on about how lucky was to be marrying Stanley Von Hoff, currently the new plantation owner of one of the largest plots in Barbados. It wasn't that he wasn't handsome, in fact he was quite the opposite. The perfect picture of Adonis she had once seen in a painting. With his chiseled features, luscious looking lips, and his golden hair he was likely to make any girl swoon, a living god from greek myth. But he was insufferably arrogant and had a bit of a temper. There was also the aspect of his eyes. His eyes were a deep brown, almost black and they held a glint of hell, or so that is how Anne thought of him. She had once heard the quote "The eyes are the windows to the soul."
Anne snorted at the thought. If Stanley's eyes were the windows to his soul then she wondered what the Devil's eyes looked like. She had to admit, he frightened her a bit.
Unfortunately he had been Dan's best friend. And therefore had been on that fateful expedition that tore apart so many lives….so many…..Oh my Dan..
"Miss…Miss…" an impatient sigh tore through Anne's despair.
"Yes, Rosemary?" she answered in a neutral voice as she ran a hand through her hair. She imagined it still looked as if she had walked through a windstorm, her brown slightly curly hair all tousled and frizzy. That was one thing that had always annoyed her stepmother. The fact that her hair would stay neither straight nor in perfect ringlets. Dan had loved her hair, tangling and entwining his fingers in it as they stole a kiss in the shadows.
"Tis time for bed, Miss. Here place your veil on. Wouldn't want anyone ta see yer face ifin' ye make yer way to the privy," Rosemary told Anne as she placed a sheer looking black fabric to drape over Anne's head. Or ifin' I'm ta walk in me sleep again, Anne mocked silently. The veil was held on by the most atrocious pins and combs that stabbed at her scalp incessantly, though Rosemary didn't seem to care as she insisted that Anne looked beautiful and mysterious and discomfort was merely a small price to pay.
Anne just pursed her lips and allowed Rosemary to lead her to the straw mattress bed. Yes, of course, wouldn't want anyone to see poor disfigured Anne…Demonic Anne…Blind Annie! She thought bitterly. The names she'd been called over the past five years.
"Now you just rest up, Miss. Have a good nights sleep," Rosemary told Anne as the girl slipped under the heavy covers.
"Goodnight Rosemary," Anne told her, rolling over so that her back faced the room, her shoulders hunching as she curled up into a fetal position.
Rosemary shook her head in sympathy for her poor charge. She was lucky that Sir. Von Hoff was offering to marry her. Such a generous man to take in a twenty-five year old blind woman with a scarred face and red eyes. Then again, he had been on the expedition in which Anne had lost her sight and taken on the appearance of the damned. So perhaps that tied them together. The servants whispered about Anne sometimes, that with her red eyes she could summon up the forces of Hell and curse them all. Rosemary had always told them to be quiet but inside she had always wondered herself if Anne was cursed. It matter's not, she scolded herself as she prepared to sleep on the cot in the corner, Anne is off to marry a wonderful man and start a new life. Be happy for her. And in all her naivety Rosemary was happy.