Author's note- Yay, another pretty fast update (faster than usual anyway). I'm quite happy with this chapter, so I hope everyone enjoys it! Also, thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: StarrNight, Vadraxia, Ekoaleko, Morgan Lee Faye and NightimeRoseOX. Thanks so much!
Chapter 14- Blue Feathers and Wedding Dresses
A few weeks after her adventures in Forget-Me-Not Valley it was Ann's birthday. She was twenty-one on the seventeenth and while to her this wasn't a big deal, Jack seemed to think it was.
That was his reason for ringing the Inn very early that particular morning.
Ann rolled over in her warm, comfy bed, thinking absently about the weird dream she'd just had which involved Blue Feathers and wedding dresses. She had just reached the conclusion that she must have been thinking of Mary and Gray, and was preparing to go back to sleep, when there was a loud knocking at her bedroom door. Who's that at this time? she wondered, pulling herself upright.
"There's someone on the phone for you, Ann," her father called sleepily from the other side of the door.
Thinking it was probably Mary with some wedding news- though why it couldn't wait she didn't know -Ann reached over and grabbed her own phone off the bedside table.
"Hey Mary," she mumbled.
"Mary? It's Jack!" he announced, sounding ridiculously cheery for five o'clock in the morning. "Happy Birthday!"
Trust Jack, Ann thought, grinning in spite of herself. "Do you know what time it is?" she asked through a massive yawn.
"Well, I always get up at six, don't I?"
Ann rolled her eyes to the ceiling, "Jack it's only five."
"No it's not! Wait a minute- " Judging by the sudden silence at Jack's end of the line, Ann assumed he'd gone to check his clock or something. A few seconds later he was back, "Ok you're right, but it doesn't matter. I was just so excited about today!"
"Why? Is it your birthday too?"
"No, I'm just excited about your's, that's all," he explained.
Why though? Ann wondered. They weren't having a party this year, so there wasn't anything for Jack to be looking forward to. Perhaps he just hadn't realised yet. "I'm not going to have a party," she pointed out, as tactfully as possible. "Cliff and I were just planning to go for a pizza at Kai's this lunchtime. Manna and Duke have given him an extended lunch-break specially, you see."
"Oh I knew you weren't having a party", Jack answered, "because you'd have invited me right?" At this point Ann could almost see him winking cheekily, and she laughed,
"Yeah, of course I would."
"Anyway, I was ringing to ask if you'd come round to mine today," he continued. "I have a great surprise for you."
Ann couldn't help feel intrigued by this, as Jack was very imaginative, and his surprises were nearly always good.
"Ok," she agreed, "what time?"
After a brief moment of hesitation, Jack mumbled, "Um...now?"
"You've got to be joking, Jack; it's five o'clock in the morning!" Ann cried in disbelief. Deep down though, she couldn't help but feel pleased that he was so eager to see her. "Look, give me an hour and I'll be there, ok?"
"Fine," Jack grumbled before putting the phone down.
Ann also put her reciever back and flopped down onto the bed again. As she pulled the covers around her, determined to get a bit more sleep, her mind buzzed with thoughts of Jack's surprise. Funnily enough, when she did at last drift off, her dreams were once again plagued by Blue Feathers and wedding dresses.
It was a scorching day in Mineral Town, yet the streets were deserted as Ann made her way to Silver-Ridge Farm. A quick glance at her watch told her she was over fifteen minutes late for meeting Jack so she sped up, all the while regretting taking the scenic route. She raced through Rose Square, down past Yodel farm, waved at Rick who was stood feeding chickens and finished up outside Jack's front door, doubled up with a stitch.
Once she'd recovered enough, Ann went to knock the door, but Jack flung it open first.
"Hey!" he started cheerfully before noticing the look on her face. "What's wrong?"
"St-stitch...owww...I should not have run..." she panted, clutching her side.
"Come in," Jack offered quickly.
The first thing Ann noticed when she stepped into the farmhouse was that Buttons didn't immediately bound up to her in greeting. While Jack went into the kitchen to fetch them drinks, Ann searched for him. It turned out he was lying under the dining room table with his head between his paws, looking thoroughly miserable.
"Hey Jack, what's wrong with Buttons?" she asked when he came back clutching glasses of pineapple juice.
For some strange reason, Jack grinned. "Oh don't worry about him, he's just sulking."
Ann was shocked; Buttons didn't sulk. He was the liveliest, friendliest dog she knew. Admittedly, Ann didn't actually know many, but that was besides the point; Buttons was still lovely.
"So why is he sulking, then?" she wondered aloud.
Jack grinned wider than ever now, "That's to do with my surprise," he told her mysteriously. By this point, Ann was absolutely desperate to know what was going on, though she tried hard not to show it. She knew Jack well and if he thought for a moment that he had her interested, he would drag this out for as long as possible.
"Want to know what my surprise is, Ann?" Jack continued tantalislingly, while she just shrugged. "You'll love it, trust me."
Again, she said nothing.
"It's in the kitchen..."
"Really?" Ann's head shot up as she abandoned all pretence of uninterest. "What do you mean by 'it'?" she added, feeling slightly suspicous.
There was then a long silence in which Jack took an unecessarily long drink of juice. Ann was just about ready to scream at him, when he muttered, "Well, I said 'it', but what I really should have said is 'she'..."
"She?" Ann reapeated slowly. "You mean there's something alive in your kitchen?"
He nodded, "Yeah. Go on, take a look."
More out of curiosity than anything else, Ann stepped past Jack and into his messy kitchen. She felt wary, but as far as she was concerned she had the right to be. There was every chance Jack was referring to a spider, or something much worse, when he said 'she'...
"Wow, Jack! Thank you so much! Oh, I love you!" Ann gasped when she spotted what he had been talking about. She whirled around in delight and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. "She's so beautiful!"
There, sat in little wicker basket in a corner of the kitchen, was a puppy. One that could compete with Buttons in terms of cutness any day. She was black all over with tiny white paws and a white patch across her chest.
"She is mine right?" Ann asked as she ruffled the puppy's silky ears; one of which pointed upwards, while the other flopped down.
"Sure," Jack confirmed. "She's a collie-cross if you were wondering. And she's called Bracken, but you can change that if you want."
Shaking her head, Ann said, "No it's cute; it suits her perfectly." She turned to face Jack who had also crouched down by Bracken. "Where did you get her from anyway?"
"My cousin in the city," he explained. "His dog had puppies and he needed homes for them, so he rang me up. I went and picked her up for you a few days ago."
For the next few hours, Ann and Jack played with Bracken outside in the sunlit fields. Buttons, who had been coaxed out of his moodiness by a packet of dog biscuits, also joined in the games of 'fetch' enthusiastically. He now seemed determined to show his new canine friend how it was done, but Ann felt, with a strange sense of pride, that Bracken was more than capable on her own.
When they got too hot under the glare of the summer sun, Ann and Jack retired to the shade of the apple tree to watch the dogs chase each other about. "They sure have a lot of energy, " Jack commented lazily, leaning back against the bark.
Ann nodded contentedly, as she watched Bracken pounce on Buttons. "She's great Jack; the best present I've ever had."
"No problem," he answered simply.
For a while after that, they sat in comfortable silence until Jack spoke up tentatively. "Ann?" he said, slowly. "Y'know earlier?"
"Yeah?" His tone was making her feel nervous.
"Well, you said you loved me, and I was just...you know..." he mumbled, his voice eventually trailing away into silence. Ann waited for him to say more, but Jack had looked away. Her cheeks were now tomato red and she could feel them burning, so she was actually quite grateful.
"I know, and I-I do...as a friend of course," she mumured back.
"Of course," Jack agreed.
Is it just my imagination or did he seem reluctant to admit that? Ann thought carefully, wishing that she would stop blushing. It had gone beyond embarrassing by now.
The topic of love pricked at Ann's memory uncomfortably, and she was almost certain she was forgetting something. Just then Jack nudged her gently, "Hey, weren't you supposed to have met Cliff for lunch or something?" Ah. That would be it, she thought with a horrible sinking feeling, oh Goddess now I'm in trouble!
Ann lept to her feet and sprinted out of the farm as fast as she could, shouting to Jack that she'd collect Bracken later. She raced through the streets to Kai's beach restaurant in the vain hope that Cliff would still be there. Unfortunately, he wasn't. Even worse, according Kai, he'd waited ages for her, before storming out in an awful mood.
"Happy Birthday, by the way!" Kai called out as she left. Yeah, well, it was up until this moment, Ann thought as she trailed home, ready to beg and plead for forgiveness.
Thankfully, Cliff's inevitable annoyance didn't last long. Not much longer than four days anyway. It was the fact that Ann had been with Jack all day that seemed to have pushed him from being slightly miffed into definitely angry. In the end, it was the addition of Bracken that brought Cliff out of his sulking. He was clearly desperate to take her for a walk, but for that he needed to be friends with Ann again. So eventually, they made up.
The remaining days of summer whirled by far too fast for Ann's liking. She and Cliff spent their first Fireworks Festival together, took Bracken for long walks along the beach together and then there was Mary and Gray's wedding to think about.
Before long, it was just days away and so Ann had to go round to Mary's house to try on her bridesmaid's dress. Something she had been dreading.
"Hello Ann," Mary greeted her, that evening. It was a fine day, weatherwise, so she had taken Bracken along with her. The puppy was growing fast and Ann suspected that soon she would be bigger than Buttons. She could only imagine the kind of chaos a dog as wild as him- but much bigger -would create, so she was taking her new pet's training very seriously.
"Down Bracken," Ann commanded as forcefully as possible when the puppy lept up at Mary in enthusiastic greeting. Amazingly, Bracken obeyed and settled for having everyone make a fuss of her instead.
Mary was only too happy to obilge in this while Ann tried on her dress. She could hear her best friend cooing over the dog as she stood in Mary's tiny en-suite bathroom examining her outfit. Mary's mother had made the outfits and Ann couldn't help feeling dubious. As it turned out though, the dress didn't actually look too bad. It wasn't pink anyway, which was something. It was blue; a cool, icy blue. The design was simple, nothing fancy or frilly, which was just what Ann had wanted. According to Anna, it would compliment her eyes beautifully.
Feeling more optimistic, Ann slipped the dress on, glanced at herself in the mirror above the sink and stepped outside.
She spotted Mary rubbing Bracken's stomach, and gushing the sort of meaningless nonsense people come out with around cute animals. Bracken's feathery tail thumped against the carpet, before she noticed Ann and barked happily. Mary looked up, grinning.
"You look great, Ann," she smiled, encouragingly. "You'll be upstaging me!"
Ann laughed, "Oh, I don't know about that," she replied. "Can I see you in your dress, please?"
It was clear that Mary had been waiting eagerly to be asked. While she was putting her outfit on, Ann turned her attention to Bracken.
"What do you think of all this then, girl?" she asked the dog softly. "Not quite my usual style it is?"
Even though she knew Bracken couldn't possibly understand her, there was something about those liquid brown eyes that comforted Ann. She found herself sighing.
"What is it?" Mary called almost instantly from the next room. She must have dog-like hearing, Ann thought, with a chuckle.
"Oh, it's...it's nothing, don't worry," Ann answered quickly. Then she hesitated, before saying, "Well, actually...the thing is I had this dream not long ago. About Blue Feathers and stuff. And I was just thinking, y'know...that it's weird."
"I don't think it's weird at all," Mary told her, matter-of-factly. She sounded almost satisfied. "I think it's a sign."
"I was afraid of that..." Ann muttered quietly. But Mary still heard her,
"Why?" she asked, sounding disappointed.
Ann took a deep breath, "Because I don't want to marry Cliff. Not yet, anyway. And that's what you think this dream means, isn't it? Some kind of subconcious message that I want to get married to him."
There was along pause in which she could almost hear her friend thinking hard. "But," Mary said eventually. "I thought you did. I was sure. And then you tell me about this dream and it seems like fate, but then you say you don't feel that way. It doesn't make sense."
Mary seemed to be waiting for a reply, but Ann felt as though her mind had become jammed with thoughts. Finally, she managed to speak."It was just a dream, that's all. It means nothing, and I don't know what you mean by me seeming like I wanted to get married or whatever because, trust me, I don't." For Ann that seemed like an end to the matter, but Mary went on,
"Maybe it's not Cliff you want to marry, though. Maybe it's someone else."