Chapter Summary: As her parent's secrets begin to be revealed, Annalise has a strange premonition and finds herself drawn deeper into emotions raised by her two suitors. Andrew reveals a secret of his own.

Chapter Thirteen

July was quickly fading, taking with it the comfortable heat of mid-summer and replacing it with the typical humidity of a Parisian August. Soon all those who could afford to do so would flee to the comfort of the country and seaside but for the moment there were still parties to attend, cafes to be seen in, assignations to be made, whims and fancies to be indulged. There were also sisters to be found and Gustave was having a difficult time accomplishing just that.

He had looked in all the usual locations where Annalise could be found - her room, the music room and the library without success. He had even ventured into the unfamiliar territory of the kitchen in hopes that, just maybe, Annalise would be in there annoying the cooks as she tried to learn their secrets. The housekeeper, a formidable woman who did not take kindly to young men being in places they did not belong, had quickly shooed Gustave out. He had stood in the back hallway, thinking, and decided to give the gardens a try in the hope that his sister would have enough sense to remain within the walled grounds. Gustave knew Annalise was not just some scatter-brained chit barely out of the nursery but had a fine mind in her pretty little head - when she chose to use it. He hoped she would remember the strict rules that had been laid out since that damnable music had arrived and stay within the grounds.

Gustave walked down the hallway and out the door. He stood on the back portico, his eyes scanning the gardens, finding no sign of his sister. It was not as if she could hide in the wide open, sunny gardens. Gustave could feel his temper begin to rise; if Annalise had so much as even ventured out that back gate there would be hell to pay for both of them. It would also mean dinner that night with Andrew and Katherine would be completely out of the question. He turned around to go back into the house so that he could check the front gardens when he saw his sister standing at the open windows of their father's study. Gustave quickly walked down the portico.

"What are you doing?" he hissed angrily at her as he stopped by her side.

Annalise turned around, a finger to her lips. "Shhh," she said quietly, "I am trying to listen to what Maman and Father are saying."

"You are going to get into so much trouble ..." Gustave started but was silenced by the look his sister shot him.

"Just listen!" she told him as she pulled him closer so that they could hear the words drifting from the study.

"Nothing!" Raoul was saying. "They have found nothing! I send out the best men I know and they could find nothing!"

"Perhaps there was nothing to find," Christine's voice came out through the open window.

"I cannot believe that."

"Maybe it really was just an accident."

"An accident? An accident?" Their father's voice sounded incredulous. "After everything that happened, after everything that he did to you, you can actually think that sheet of music finding its way into this home was an accident?"

"Mon Dieu, Raoul, you were the one who said that it was finished! Do you still think that he would hurt me and after all this time? We do not even know if he is still alive!" Their mother sounded exasperated. "Why can you not accept the fact that that music coming here was just an accident? Bonnard's is a big store, full of many books and papers, things just happen."

"Things never just happened where he was concerned! He wanted you; he always wanted you. What better way to get to you than to bide his time and wait until your children were grown - when he could have mother and daughter."

There was a long silence.

"I made my choice that night, Raoul," their mother's voice carried a tone that Annalise and Gustave had never heard before. "I have never regretted it. Do not make me regret it now."

A door slammed shut and something could be heard shattering into pieces.

"Damn you to perdition!" Raoul shouted.

Gustave tugged gently on his sister's arm and they moved quietly down the portico and into the gardens. They walked in silence until they came to an ornate bench where they sat down. Gustave took his sister's hands in his own and could feel them shaking.

"What is happening?" Annalise asked in a soft voice, tears threatening to start.

"I wish I knew," her brother answered.

Annalise looked up and into her brother's eyes. He quickly looked away. "You do know something!" she sniffled.

Gustave shook his head. "No," he replied, remembering the promise he made to his father and understanding a bit more of the "why" behind the reasons his father had for asking him to have a care for his sister.

"Yes, you do!" Annalise insisted. "Tell me!" She took back her hands and shook his arm. "Who were they taking about?"

"I do not know who they were talking about!" Gustave truthfully insisted as he turned back to look at his sister. "God, I wish I did!" He looked at his sister - the fear and uncertainty on her face made him relent just a little in the promise made to his father. "I will say that Father is concerned for your safety and happiness."

"I know that! I am not a silly little dolt!" Annalise sat quietly for a moment before standing and extending a hand to her brother. "Well, if Father is so concerned about my happiness then I think I should go out and be happy. Let's get ready for dinner. I want to have a lovely meal with our friends and dance until I have holes in my slippers!"

"Annalise ..."

Annalise fixed her brother with such a look of fierce determination that he was not sure for a moment who stood before him. "I want to obey Father's wishes and be happy. Are you coming or not?"

Gustave got to his feet. "I am coming but I swear to you if you even step one foot out of line tonight, I will tell Father and you will never get out of this house until you are an old lady!"

"I may not live to be an old lady," Annalise whispered to herself, not knowing from where the thought had come.

Gustave noted the frown on her face, saw her lips move but only heard jumbled words. "What did you say?"

"I said I do not want to be an old lady tonight," Annalise replied, a smile on her face. "I want to be young and happy and float on the music."

Gustave held out his arm for her to take. "Then let us go and get ready and I shall see that all your wishes are granted, fairy princess."

The angry words exchanged between her parents, the secretive distance from her brother, the strange premonition, all these things raced through Annalise's mind as her maid helped her ready for the evening out. They were there as she slipped into her powder-blue gown, slipping aquamarines into her hair and ears, a matching necklace encircling her throat. They were seated next to her during the ride into Paris. They watched as she entered the crowded, popular restaurant with her brother and friends. They stared at her from her dinner plate.

"And Andrew has promised to take me bicycle riding in the park tomorrow!" Katherine was saying, her excitement shining in her eyes.

"Only if she promises to do better at riding on something with two wheels than she does on something with four feet!" Andrew laughed.

"As long as everyone is telling their promises," Annalise said with a smile to her brother, "I am going to hold you to your promise."

"What promise would that be?" Andrew wondered.

"I promised to grant her whatever she wished for the evening," Gustave said somewhat ruefully.

"And what are you wishing for?" Katherine asked.

"The moon," Annalise told her, a half-smile on her face. "Tonight I settle for nothing less than the moon."

A small band began to play dance music to the sound of chairs scraping across the floor as couples all over the restaurant stood, making their way onto the dance floor. Andrew rose, extending his hand to Annalise. "I cannot promise you the moon but, perhaps, you would like to dance on the clouds?"

Annalise's eyes grew wide with amazement. "I should like that, very much," she replied.

Gustave smiled at Katherine as Andrew and Annalise made their way onto the dance floor. "Shall we? I do not think they should be the ones having all the fun tonight." He was rewarded with a huge smile and a gloved hand.

"Why did you look so amazed when I asked you to dance?" Andrew wondered and was surprised to see Annalise blush. "What?"

"I ... " Annalise found she could not meet his eyes and words escaped her.

Andrew sighed. "Do you truly think I am that much of a beastly American that I would not know how to speak to a lovely young woman?" There was no answer. "Do you?" Andrew wondered.

"Yes. I mean no. I mean ..," Annalise told him as she lifted her eyes, the blush not fading from her cheeks. " I do not know what I think," she sighed, a smile playing across her lips. "I really am the silly little dolt I told my brother I was this afternoon."

"I find you neither silly or a dolt," Andrew assured her. "I find you sweet and kind and I know that I will miss you terribly when I return home."

Something in Annalise sank. "When must you go?"

"By the end of September, mid-October at the latest, so that we can safely cross the Atlantic and be home and settled in time for holidays." Andrew looked deeply into Annalise's eyes. "Do you want me to go? All you need to do is ask me to stay and I'll not leave."

Annalise had to remember how to breathe as she looked into Andrew's soft brown eyes. There was something there she did not recognize; it was deeper warmth than she had ever seen before. It was as if he was looking right into her heart and squeezing it with his gaze. She almost felt as if he could devour her right there on the dance floor. Annalise found she could not even find the words to reply, feeling as if Andrew possessed her body and soul. It was a new and strange feeling and it scared her.

"I should not have expected an answer," Andrew was saying.

"What?" Annalise finally managed, not having heard a word he said after "go".

"Nothing," he told her as the couples around them began to clap. "I believe the music is over." A strange look crossed his face. "Ah. I think you have another dance partner." He bowed slightly as Michaud Deschene approached. "Sir."

Michaud bowed back. "Do I intrude?" he wondered.

Andrew took Annalise's hand, giving it to Michaud. "No. Our dance is over." He looked at Annalise with a strange smile and walked back to the table where Gustave and Katherine were just taking their seats.

"I do seem to be in the habit of interrupting when you are with your American friend, do I not?" Michaud asked. "My manners and timing are sadly lacking and highly deplorable. Shall I return you to your brother and your guests?"

The music had begun again and Annalise stared at Michaud. "No," she told him with a smile. "I should like it very much if we were to dance."

Michaud laid a hand over his heart. "You honor me," he replied as he took Annalise into his arms and began dancing her across the floor.

Annalise closed her eyes, allowing the music to wash over her, trusting this man to guide her. The feeling of being in his arms was one of comfort and security. She could not categorize as easily the emotions that washed through her as Michaud gently caressed her back, where his hand rested, with a single finger. The sensation was warm and wonderful and made her whole body feel as if it were on fire, her head feel lighter. Annalise would have sworn that her feet did not touch the floor. She finally opened her eyes to find Michaud looking at her with such tenderness that it took her breath away and she found she could not draw her gaze from his as he swept her along with the music.

"What is it with him?" Andrew wondered. He sat alone at the table with Gustave; Katherine having accepted an invitation to dance from a young man she had met several times previously.

"You are asking me?" Gustave asked. "I have no idea as I am not a seventeen year old girl with stars in her eyes."

"And I could not give her the moon so she obviously found it with someone else."

Gustave looked at his friend. "Are you in love with my sister?" There was no answer. "Are you?"

"And if I was?"

"I would not have a problem with it."

"What about your parents?"

"Ah," Gustave replied with a grimace.

Andrew thought he knew the answer. "Right. The brash young American is not good enough for their daughter." He looked at Annalise and Michaud. "I could cheerfully kill him."

"I never said that my parents would not think you were not good enough for ..." Gustave paused. "What did you just say?"

Andrew was still looking at Annalise in the arms of another man. "I said I could cheerfully kill the man who is currently dancing with you sister." He finally turned his gaze to look at his friend. "I am going to tell you something that no one outside of my family knows and you must promise to never let anyone know."

Gustave was getting a little tired of being the keeper of everyone's secrets but he nodded his assent.

"When I was thirteen, I was out riding on the edges of my family's property with one of the farm hands. He was teaching me about fence repair. It was dusk and we were getting ready to go back home when we heard a noise in the distance. The man I was with told me to stay where I was and he rode off. The next thing I know I heard a loud scuffle and a shot was fired. I dug my heels into my horse's flanks and went to see what happened. When I drew up, I found the farm hand on the ground bleeding from a wound to his leg and a couple of men trying to rustle a calf. They pointed a gun at me." Andrew ran a hand through his hair. "God! I was only thirteen! I had no choice."

"You shot them?" Gustave asked, his brows knitted in amazement.

"One of them. I had been shooting since I could hold a gun and I always carried one with me when I went riding. I killed the one I had shot. The other one went fleeing into the darkness and the man I was with ... he sent me back to the house for help. He recovered from his wound and told the authorities that he had fired the fatal shot so that I would not get into trouble and bring a scandal down on my parents' good name." He laughed with no mirth. "I have had to live with this for the last eight years and it makes me crazy at times." Andrew fixed Gustave with a deadly look. "And you must never tell. Ever! Katherine does not even know."

"I promise never to tell," Gustave told him. This was a side of his friend that he had never seen and was not sure what to make of it. "But you surely would not ..."

"Kill that man for dancing with your sister?" Andrew finished. "No. I never want to go through that again. It is obvious, though, that Annalise prefers him to me. I guess I should just bow out of the picture and let her have what she wants."

"She does not know what she wants." Gustave leaned back in his chair. "And my parents would find you an admirable suitor for Annalise. I did not mean for you to think otherwise. It is just that, at the moment, things are a bit strained at home. Something is going on with our parents and until it goes away or is resolved or something, I do not really think they are going to be in the mood to hear anything about anyone wanting to court Annalise." He nodded his head towards his sister. "Why do you think she is in the mood she is in tonight? Whatever is going on with our parents is affecting all of us."

"I am sorry for you, then," Andrew told him, "and I shall continue to be the brother's best friend and walk away quietly when the time comes for me to take Katherine and return home."

"Don't go too quietly," Gustave said. "I shall be in your corner and advocate for you, should you wish. I think you would be good for my sister."

Andrew managed a weak smile. "Thanks." He looked towards Annalise. She was positively glowing in the arms of her dance partner and Andrew's weak smile turned into a firm grimace. "I wonder if she feels the same way."