Once dinner was finished Amaryllis and Ghada excused themselves early, not wanting to remain in the silence throughout dessert.
"What was that all about?" wondered Amaryllis outloud as soon as they were out of hearing range.
"I don't know," replied Ghada, " But I have never seen Valerie actually hurl a solid object at father before."
Both of the puzzled girls walked up to the fourth floor where their bedrooms were and bid goodnight to each other. Hester came into Ghada's room ten minutes later to check up on the youngest daughter and sing her a lullaby if necessary. Tonight was not one of those nights as the little girl looked so deep in thought Hester thought the girl wouldn't even hear her.
Ghada was left alone in the darkness of her fairly spacious chamber. Unable to sleep, she got out of bed and walked over to her balcony windows and threw them open and stepped outside. Curiously a light was still on, on the first floor, and Ghada saw shadows moving about. She recognized the shadow of her father as he was a big rounded fellow with massive curly hair. A smaller figure was in the room with him, and after a time Ghada guessed it was Valerie.
"She's in trouble you know," said a small almost triumphant sounding voice.
Ghada turned around to see that Delora was standing on the balcony with her now.
"But why is she in trouble, Delora?" asked Ghada.
"Tonights a nice night you know," stated Delora either ignoring the question or choosing not to hear it.
"Yes, I it is a nice—
"Good night for running away you know."
Ghada looked over at Delora wondering where she was going with this.
"Her and that disgusting commoner, oooo daddy's so mad!" screeched Delora, and with that ran out of Ghada's room.
Ghada looked down again at the light which had gone out the moment she looked away. Wanting to talk to someone of what she just heard, she wandered across the hall into Amaryllis's room.
Amaryllis sat on her bed unable to sleep like Ghada and was trying to put on her slippers.
"Oh!" said Amaryllis turning around, " I was just going to go visit you!"
Ghada sat down on the bed with Amaryllis and explained what happened with Delora.
"Well Delora's half-mad Ghada, you can't believe everything she says. God Father's going to have a ripe ol' time trying to find a husband for her."
" You really think she will get married? I always pictured her in this house forever wandering around the corridors scaring people with information that no one knows or cares about."
Both of the girls giggled over this idea.
"She would make a perfect ghost you know, with that pale complexion of hers. Not to mention how thin she is, she could be a walking skeleton," said Amaryllis.
"I'm still worried about the running away part. What would father do if his daughters started running away?" asked Ghada imagining herself getting ready to leave.
"Well I suppose they would be replaced if he got married a seventh time…."
Amaryllis was then hit with a pillow by Ghada and the two girls started jumping around the chamber smacking one another.
It only took a few minutes for Hester to come running in to stop the two girls from splitting the pillows seams.
Hester pulled Ghada out of Amaryllis room and half threw her into her own room.
"Now go to sleep!"
Ghada sighed and settled into her bed, unaware of when sleep finally found her.
The next morning uproar in the household awoke Ghada, screams and shouts were heard all over the house and Ghada jumped out of her bed to see what was wrong. Leonora was the first one to find her.
"She's gone!" said Leonora in a frantic voice.
Ghada stopped for a moment and already knew who was she was talking about but decided to ask anyway.
"Who's gone?"
"Valerie! Oh this is awful, father has made all the servants go looking for her and is out there himself practically ripping the town apart trying to find her." Leonora sniffled, not liking the different atmosphere in the household.
"Amaryllis and Amory, have you told them?" asked Ghada.
" It was father who told them, he woke them up first and they've been up ever since."
Ghada ran downstairs to find her favourite sister and best friend.She found her on a chair crying and clutching a stuffed toy that Ghada hadn't seen her use in years.
"Amaryllis?" Ghada approached cautiously not wanting to upset her even more.
"She's gone, my older sisters gone. She always was nice to me and Amory even if she wasn't to anyone else, and now she's gone, oh Delora was right!" and with that Amaryllis burst into fresh tears.
"Does anyone know where to look?" Delora entered the room followed by Amory and the rest of her half sisters.
"What do you mean where to look? She could be anywhere!" said Amory, getting annoyed at the consistent nonsense Delora was saying.
" Well she did run off with that boy afterall," said Delora.
The whole room quieted down and everyones eyes were locked on Delora.
"What boy?" asked Eustacia.
" Why the peasent of course." answered Delora.
" You mean to tell us that Valerie ran off with a boy, and not just that but he has no money?" asked Mahalia.
"But she's never found any interest in a boy before!" said Ani, clearly stating what everyone else was thinking.
" I saw them run off together last night," said Delora.
"And you did nothing to stop it?"said an ever growing angrier Amory.
"Where did he take her?" asked Amaryllis finally calming down.
"How should I know?I only saw them, I didn't question them."
Delora grew flushed and decided now was the time to make her exit and did so quickly leaving the other girls gaping at what had just seemed a normal conversation with their half-mental sister.
" She's crazy, she must have seen one of the servants not Valerie!" said Mahalia.
"But that man from yesterday, the commoner, I saw him looking at Valerie the longest,'' said Amaryllis.
" And when he was, Valerie didn't say anything rude or react at all, she almost looked contempt at the fact he would be so bold as to enter our house looking like he was."
" So she ran away out of spite?" asked a bewhildered Eustacia.
All the girls turned silent and reproachful.After a timea bang was heard as the doors were thrown open announcing Wycliff's return. Ghada ran out to meet him first.
"Did you find her?"
Wycliff looked at his youngest daughter and shook his head sadly.
"She was just like her mother…" he half grunted and spoke talking more to himself then anyone else.
Amory and Amaryllis ran to their father also in hopes of good news. Seeing none found on his face they both looked at the ground unable to meet his eyes again.
" I am aware," announed Wycliff, " That Valerie has eloped at the St.Enrico's Church and has ran off with a common stable boy."
Someone gasped, but Ghada didn't see nor care who did it.
"So she's gone forever?"
" Well I'm sure she won't be coming back soon," answered Wycliff.
"Where's lunch I'm starving," boomed Wycliff changing the subject.
The servents ran into the house and scampered into the kitchen to prepare a meal. The girls all walked off for quiet leisure time and Wycliff entered his study. Looking at all of his wives old pictures he let out a sigh.
"They've all left me but one," Wycliff picked up the picture of Eustacia's mother.
"My first and most faithful wife, I don't deserve you," Wycliff said to the picture, " You must come back soon, Eustacia misses you and the rest of the girls I'm sure do too."
Ghada stood at the doorway hearing her fathers voice full of sadness and the reality of his age setting in on him. She crept away from the door not wanting her father to know that she heard.
As the years went by Eustacia married an elderly man named Leavitt who was a successful baker, and very wealthy man. Mahalia was given away to a man twice her age, Kesler, who worked as an accountant to the Duke of Barrymore; That had given her a lot of money and some of that wanted power she had always wanted. Lastly there was Ani who was payed for by a man named Johnavon who had fallen in love with her at first sight, and vowed to give Wycliff the most money for her.
It was when Ani got married, reality set in to the now eleven year old Ghada, how close to the cushion she was getting…..
$&$(&
Ok I know I'm pretty bad at writing stories but I'd really like any comments you guys could possibly muster up 'cause I want to know who is actually reading my story(I hope someone is O.o).
And there's more to come, I actually have a plot in my head now (these 2 chapters have kinda been written randomly, leading to nowhere but now they'll go somewhere!)