Chapter 4
"Miss Annalee, your Father and the guests are waiting." Millie says from just outside the door.
"I know. I'll be right there." I tell her, not moving from my position in front of the mirror.
Millie leaves and, slowly twirling the small cross necklace around my neck, I stare at my reflection. For my entire life, everyone has said that I resemble my mother. For the first time in all my sixteen years, I can see what they are all talking about.
Looking back and forth between the mirror and a small picture of a woman on the vanity table, I check off all our similarities.
First is our hair, medium length ending at mid-chest. The brown strands straight with only a few kinks here and there, although right now, my hair has been curled and put up.
Next are our eyes, a deep brown, almost blending into our pupils and with golden flecks speckled across the irises. Shaped like large perfect ovals, our eyes exude an innocence that, at least in my case, is completely misleading.
Then comes our skin, although hers was fair, and mine tanned, we both share the same natural blush and light freckles that spot our cheekbones.
Our noses are both medium sized and strong, leaving the question as to where Elizabeth gets her small upturned nose. Finally our lips, full and a natural deep strawberry color.
Although we both lack defined cheekbones, our heart-shaped faces ensure a more prominent chin, which thankfully, adds the angles that my face needs to counteract the baby fat that I still carry on my cheeks.
"Anna, you must hurry. Tula says that Father is getting anxious and we don't want to keep the guests waiting." A soft voice says from my left.
I turn to see Lizzie standing in the doorway, clad in a dark coral colored dress and accompanied by Tulla, one of our maids, who was probably sent to fetch us.
"I'm coming. I'm coming." I tell her softly as Tulla heads back down the servant stairs, a small staircase hidden from the entrance by a wall.
I stand up and try to gently glide out of my bedroom and into the hallway, as Mrs. Avilly instructed me but I just end up stumbling over my feet a couple times.
Lizzie smiles "Don't do that." She says, "You will probably fall onto your face."
I return the smile before tripping over a leg of the side table and landing flat on my face.
Lizzie jumps and gasps, "Oh dear, are you alright?"
She leans down beside me and I start to shake, strange sounds start coming from my mouth but are muffled by the floor.
"Oh my word!" Lizzie says, rolling my onto my back to reveal my laughing face.
She sits back and starts laughing along with me, "I thought you were crying."
"Why would I be crying?" I manage to say, breathless, "I have been falling on my face since I was two, why would now be any different?"
She doesn't answer but gets to her feet and pulls me up with her.
"Oh no." She says, still giggling a little bit.
"What?" I ask, finally managing to catch my breath and sound normal again.
"Your hair." Lizzie responds, her face looking worried.
I turn around and look in the mirror hanging over the side table I tripped over. Sure enough, my hair is partially undone with curls uncurling and most of my hair has come out of the up-do.
I groan and try to fix my hairdo, curling some of it with my fingers and re-clipping my hair. The end result is worse than before.
Lizzie grabs me by my hand and pulls me back in the bedroom and sits me in the chair facing the vanity. She proceeds to completely undo my hair and starts curling it.
Thankfully, curling only takes a couple minutes, since my hair was already mostly curled.
Before finishing my hair however, Lizzie leaves and quickly gets a maid to tell father of our little… setback.
"We have to hurry." She tells me, quickly striding back into the room. "According to Millie, dinner will be served in around twenty minutes."
Completely forsaking the thought of redoing my hair into its previous, intricate up-do, which had been done by weaving silver thread throughout my hair and then topping it off with a , Lizzie, selects a few silver flowered clips and with them, pulls my hair back into a low chignon, letting a few tendrils hang down, framing my face.
I take one last look in the mirror and decide that I like this hairstyle better than the previous one. It has more of the romantic feel that the dress emanates.
The gown is dark blue, fairly simple with large puffed sleeves that tighten at the wrists and silver tulle that outline the square neckline and the opening at the front which shows my blue petticoat that matches the dress perfectly. On my bodice, tiny little flowers and vines have been embroidered with silver thread. The dress is like a midnight sky, and the silver accents, the stars that dot it.
After my inspection, I turn around to find Lizzie already gone. I rush out and find her at the top of the stairs.
"Hurry, Anna." She tells me, "We are about to be announced. "
I take my place behind her and wait to be called.
"Miss Elizabeth Swann, daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann." Someone announces from the bottom of the staircase.
Lizzie gather's her skirts and slowly starts walking down to the first floor where at least a fifty people are waiting, spread across the parlor, and the entrance. For this party, Father invited many higher classed citizens from the two neighboring towns to attend.
Knowing that my name will be next, I take a quick breathe and remind myself to be calm.
"Miss Annalee Swann, daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann."
Adjusting my neckline a tad, I make my way down the stairs.
Don't fall… don't fall… don't fall. I tell myself over and over again.
Thankfully, I make it most of the way down without an incident. I, of course, stumble over my feet a little but manage to quickly cover it up, hoping no one noticed.
At the bottom of the staircase, Father is there to greet me, his eyes full of love and his arms open and ready to embrace me. I hug him before looking around and spotting Elizabeth, drink in hand and surrounded by Belinda, Katharine, and another girl.
I quickly walk to her and her "friends."
"Hello Katharine, Belinda." I say, smiling too large for it to be real. "Who is your friend?"
"Hello, Annalee and congratulations." Katharine says, smiling brilliantly. Even after our numerous spats as children, she still thinks that we are the best of friends. Thankfully, I enjoy laughing at her and her sister so their company isn't complete disliked.
"This," Katharine continues, "Is our cousin, Mary Attlee."
I turn to Mary, who, sports the same shining expression of her cousin.
"Hello Mary. How nice of you to come." I say, hoping she doesn't turn out to be like her cousins. As much as I like making fun of them, two Attlees is quite enough.
"I am sorry, ladies," I press on. "I have to steal Elizabeth for a few minutes."
Grabbing her arm, I drag her to an unoccupied corner.
"Thank you." She tells me. "Mary is just as bad as her cousins. All they seem to talk about is fashion and finding a husband. There is much more to life than that."
"There is? I don't believe you!" I retort, mimicking one of Belinda's expressions, my head tilted down, my lips pursed, and my eyes batting a dozen times a second.
Lizzie smiles just as we hear the call for dinner to begin.
We follow the crowds into the extremely large dining room and find out seats, beside each other, across from Father and Captain Norrington and directly in the middle of the table.
As the meal progresses, I feel someone staring at me but every time I look up and around, they are too quick for me, diverting their eyes.
By the time dessert comes along, I am extremely anxious. Dozens of times during supper, I got shivers due to the stares but I never managed to catch the person.
I push the creepy stairs to the back of my mind, determined to enjoy the rest of the evening because after supper, we dance.
"Gillette! Stop, you'll make me fall over!" I laugh and slap him softly on the arm, as we dance around the room to a lively song.
Thankfully, everyone knows that the possibilities of Gillette and I courting are next to nothing due to his low rank. Otherwise, Father would be on me in a moment, telling me to act more polite, and less familiar.
At the end of the song, I drop myself into a chair and brush my slightly wet hair from my face, too exhausted to do anything. Gillette brings me a drink and I quickly gulp it down.
"Next time we, dance, I command you to keep quiet. I probably made a fool of myself with how loud I was laughing." I tell him.
Gillette just chuckles and holds out his hand. "Care for another dance, madam."
"I can't, sorry. I can barely stand as it is." I reply, shaking my head.
"Later, perhaps."
I nod as Gillette walks away and asks Mary to dance. I watch as she quickly agrees, not surprisingly since she has been sitting most of the evening, only having been asked to dance once by her uncle, the banker in town.
After sitting through a few more quick dances, the musicians start playing slower waltzes and couples start filling up the floor.
I look around at the seated guests and can't seem to find Lizzie anywhere, proving that she is still dancing probably unable to escape the Captain's attention.
I feel extremely sympathetic for her. If I could barely stand after a few dances, Lizzie must be close to passing out.
Not paying attention to my immediate surroundings, I look up and jump slightly, startled by the young man standing directly in front of me.
No one says a word for a few moments, and I take this time to analyze him.
The man is tall. Around nine inches taller than my five feet six inches. Although slicked back from his forehead, his dirty blonde hair is a little long, curling at his neck.
His eyes are a warm chocolate brown and are accompanied by his strong, straight nose and his jaw which, although squared, isn't sharply chiseled.
His face is clean shaven and his skin tanned, bringing up the question as to his profession.
His build isn't tiny but it isn't overly large and is beautifully complimented by his muscles which thankfully aren't pathetically small or grossly over sized.
"Uhhh…" I say, feeling so extremely proud of myself for being so clever.
"S-sorry," he says bowing slightly. "My name is, uh, Fredrick Barrington.
I smile at his obvious nervousness.
"And I am Annalee Swann." I tell him.
He smiles slightly and says softly, "I know."
Already liking his somewhat awkward and nervous disposition, I hold out my hand.
He looks at it uncertainly before taking it and gently kissing it, all along, his eyes on mine.
"I was wondering if you wouldn't mind giving me the pleasure of a dance." He says.
I stare at him a few moments, a smile forming on my lips.
"I'd love to." I tell him, reaching for his outstretched hand.
The first thing I notice as I touch his hand is its roughness, again asking the question as to what he does for a living. He acts and talks and looks like a high society man but his tan, his hands and his longer hair all point to a lower class family.
He leads me to the floor, where dozens of couples are slowly waltzing. It is now that I realize that the music is quite slow, making this slightly awkward, because we have to make conversation and because we will be closer than most other dances require its partners to be.
I look up at Fredrick Barrington and notice immediately that he is thinking the exact same thing, probably hitting himself mentally for not thinking this through completely.
I duck my head so he doesn't me my smile and out of the corner of my eye I see Elizabeth, finally seated, and staring intently at me.
"You're a stranger to Port Royal, Mr. Barrington." I say after a few moments of silence.
"Please, just Frederick. And I am from Harbor View." He says, sounding relieved at having something to do other than stare at the top of my head.
"Is Harbor View close to the sea?" I inquire.
"It is actually. Why do you ask?"
"Well, you seem to be a gentleman but your skin is rough and dark and you're hair seems to be in need of a trim." I duck my head, worried that he might be offended by my frankness.
I hear a small chuckle and when I look up, laughter fills his eyes.
"You are even more outspoken than I heard you were." He says.
Relieved, I continue, a smile now on both our faces. "So I am assuming that you must be a merchant; and obviously quite prosperous. Well, prosperous enough to be invited to this event. My father is quite picky as to who he invites into our home."
"You are quite good at assuming." Frederick responds, chuckling.
"I can also tell that you must to quite a bit of manual labor, contributing to your muscles. You are also so kind to your workers that you help them with some of the work, hence again, the muscles."
"You are right again, except maybe for the kind part. I don't normally associate with the workers, Miss Swann." He says,
"Please," I start.
"Call you Annalee." He cuts in looking as if proud of his abilities to guess my next words.
"Actually, I was going to say, 'Call me Anna.'" I tell him, a small smirk on my face.
He just continues smiling.
"Do you have any family?" I ask him.
"Yes." He replies, "A father and I had a brother." His face drops slightly.
"Oh," I say, solemnly, not quite sure what to do. "I am sorry."
"It's all right." He says, "It has been some years. I honestly don't think of him much anymore.
"Now that you know pretty much everything about me, tell me a little bit about you."
"Well," I start but fall silent. "I honestly don't know what to say. My whole life is on display so I really don't know what to say that you haven't probably already heard."
Frederick looks thoughtful for a few moments before he speaks up, "Okay, we will start with the simplest things: What is your favorite color? What is your favorite animal? Who is your best friend? What are some of your hobbies? What is your favorite food?
I stare at him curiously for a few moments. Why on earth is he so eager to know so much about me?
"Well, I start again, "My favorite color is dark blue because while still being a royal, majestic color, it still as calmness to it; sort of like night time. My favorite animals are dogs, especially herding dogs, because they are intelligent, active, and obedient if trained well.
"My best friend is my sister because she is kind, wonderful, and honestly, the only girl I really know that is around my age. But I am pretty sure that even if I did know more young ladies, I would still prefer Elizabeth above the rest." I tell him.
"The only real hobby I have is reading since there isn't much else I can do. I tried painting but it ended up looking a lot like my cooking, which I will probably leave to the cooks in the future." I make a face, remembering the chicken pie I had tried to make for Father and Elizabeth a few months back. In my defense, salt and sugar are identical.
"You, Anna, are even more amusing than I heard. I wonder why your Father has kept you hidden for so long."
"Haven't you heard?" I say, putting my hand on my chest, faking shock, "The face you're looking at is just a mask. Under it, I am a freak, a monster, a disgrace to humans, if you could even call me that."
Frederick lets out a laugh, catching the attention of almost everyone in the room. Even the musicians skip a beat.
We both duck our heads, trying to keep our laughs in as the guests slowly return to their previous actions, some of them shooting us disapproving glances and others smiling at us, as if remembering their younger days.
We take a few moments to properly control our laughter before continuing.
"So, although than the fact that there isn't anything else to do, tell me why you enjoy reading. You can't possibly only read because of boredom." Frederick says.
I think for a few moments, "Nope, boredom is the only reason I read. I haven't had the chance to out much before so reading was the only way that I really got to do exciting things. But that is going to chance now that I am of age."
"Aren't you afraid of being married off and then held down by your husband and family commitments?"
My face turns sour and I guess Frederick notices.
"Sorry, I didn't know that that was a bitter note. I apologize."
"It's all right." I reply
I look around and spot a grandfather clock, which shockingly states that it is already almost midnight. I have been dancing with Frederick for at least twenty minutes, more than I have ever danced with one single person.
It is also almost time to clear the dance floor and go to the parlor where we will play cards, talk, and read for the rest of the night, until around one or two in the morning, where, at this time, the guests will leave and I will probably faint from exhaustion.
I look up at Frederick and see him looking at me intently before saying, "Miss Anna, you confuse me. One moment, you speak so deeply and intelligently and then you say the strangest, most wild things."
"Haven't you already figured it out?" I ask him, "I am obviously a crazy lunatic with split personalities who preys on the minds of young men.
"I am who I am. Nothing can change that, and I am proud of who I am even if I may be confusing to some people. What can I say? It takes a while to figure me out. I doubt even my Father and sister completely understand what I do and say and why?"
This gets a small chuckle out of him and I realize what I just did.
"Sorry," I say, "I did it again, didn't I?"
"I don't mind."He responds, "It makes you even more interesting than you already are."
Suddenly, I hear a commotion from the entrance.
"Stay here." Frederick says, "I'll go see what it is."
I walk over to a nearby chair and take a seat just as Frederick returns, looking nervous and anxious.
"What is it, Frederick?" I ask him.
"It's nothing," he says, "But I must be going now."
He turns and heads for the doorway that leads out to the garden.
"Now? But the night is still young." I follow him extremely curious, knowing that something was extremely wrong.
"Just do me a favor." He says opening the door and taking a step outside.
After seeing me nod, he progresses, "Forget about me and don't talk to pirates."
He quickly kisses me on the cheek before disappearing into the night, leaving me to stand alone, my hand on my cheek where his lips had laid.
