Annie finished putting the last pin into her hair, today was the day they were going to their aunt Charlotte's. And she would have to look her best since they would be in Charles Town. She wore a beautiful floral dress, her hair was pinned up and pulled away from her face. And she of course wore her mother's necklace, that hung loosely tied around her neck. She looked in the mirror, she had dark circles under her eyes. She grabbed some powder from atop of her dresser and began apply the powder under her eyes and all over her face. Annie had been awake almost all night thinking about Charles Town, she couldn't wait to be living with her aunt for a while and she wondered if she would be finally courted, she hoped so. But she had also felt more conscious about herself now that she knew she would be among men that hadn't been her brothers or father. She had never been called beautiful or pretty by any man other than her father.

Annie turned and walked toward her bed to where her hat had been. She picked it up and placed the hat onto her head, she adjusted the hat so it would not get in the way or mess up her hair. She took the two blue ribbons of the hat and tied them loosely under her chin, she was satisfied with the way she looked and decided to gather her bags and make her way out of her room. She turned her head and looked at her room one last time before she left, who knew how long she would be with her aunt for. Her aunt Charlotte did say she could stay for however long she would like.

Annie walked out of her room and closed the door behind her, as she walked down the hall one of her brothers, Samuel ran out of his room with Nathan following closely behind him. He ran straight into Annie, causing her to stagger to the side, she placed one of her hands against the wall to steady herself.

"My, you two are always in such a rush. I understand you are excited to leave," She sighed "As am I."

She felt relieved she knew she would soon be with her friends she had not seen for some time, she would have a chance to be a seventeen year old girl. Samuel and Nathan stopped to look at Annie who was now standing straight and adjusting her skirts with her many bags in hand. Annie looked down at her bags then back at her brothers her hands had been rather full.

"Would you two please help me take these bags to the wagon, I have so many and I did not pack lightly." Annie said.

Samuel looked at Nathan then back at Annie, he started to run in the other direction away from Annie and Nathan, he wanted no part in helping Annie with the heavy bags. Annie and Nathan could hear Samuel giggling as he ran out of the house.

"Samuel! Come back, I need help!" She yelled out after him, she looked at Nathan who had a smirk on his face.

"Don't you think about running away either, here take these bags here they're the lightest ones I have." Annie said as she handed two of her bags to Nathan. Nathan sighed and took the bags.

"What did you pack in these bags, bricks?" Nathan asked as he and his sister made their way down the hall and stairs, to the front door of the house.

"Oh come now, it's not that heavy, it's only clothes Nathan. Would you like to trade bags, you are welcome to take these ones." Annie said to her younger brother, his eyes widened, he looked at the bags then to his sister.

"No, I'd much rather carry just these two here." Nathan replied, Annie gave a laugh as they made their way outside on to the porch and down the stairs, they both walked up to the wagon and placed the bags into the wagon. Annie could feel her arms burn from the weight of carrying her bags she shook her arms a little.

"Please don't tell me you have any more bags to carry Annie." Nathan sighed as he made his way to the front of the wagon. Annie decided she would have a bit of fun teasing her brother.

"Oh, yes I have five more, I was thinking you could take at least three and I'll take the other two, they're light." Annie paused when she heard Nathan give a loud groan of annoyance, Annie laughed.

"I'm only teasing you Nathan."

Nathan had a look of relief on his face, Annie turned around to see the rest of her family begin to leave the house and make their way to the wagon with their bags. Benjamin Martin closed the front door behind him and made his way to the carriage with William who was walking beside him. Benjamin picked up William and placed him on the seat of the carriage. Abigail Susan, Margaret and Thomas seated themselves on the wagon.

"Thomas, Gabriel is bringing two horses up to the front here now, you will be riding. Annie gets your spot on the wagon." Benjamin said as he seated himself, Thomas nodded and got off of the wagon.

Annie walked around the wagon and then climbed up and seated herself, where Thomas had been sitting. The wooden seats were never comfortable, it was fortunate that they did not have to go too far to enter Charles Town. Annie began to feel the excitement building up within her, finally she would be back with her aunt and her friends. She had not been the Charles Town in over a year, she would write to her friends, and they would of course write back to her. She had just recently received a letter from one of her friends by the name of Dorothy. Dorothy was getting married, she had been engaged to a man named Jedediah. He was four years her senior (her being nineteen and Jedediah twenty three.) Annie had met Jedediah only a few times, and from what she could tell he was a good man. Annie was excited that she would be attending their wedding that fall.

The Martins were all ready to finally leave their plantation, Benjamin flicked the reins and sent the horses in front of the small carriage forward, the wheels of the carriage began to squeak as they made their way towards Charles Town. Annie held on to her smallest bag that she had brought along with her to the front of the wagon. She had not been lying when she told her brother she had not packed lightly, she had might as well brought her whole room with her. Annie tapped her one foot on the floor of the wagon quickly, causing a loud tapping noise. Abigail looked over to Annie with a smile on her face, she took a look down to Annie's boot then back up to her face. Annie looked as though she was oblivious to the noise she was causing.

"Excited?" Abigail asked with a faint laugh, and small smile, Annie snapped her attention to Abigail when she had heard her speaking to her. She had already been daydreaming about the next few weeks, or even months ahead of her in Charles Town. Annie noticed Abigail take a glance down to her foot that was tapping excessively on the wood below, Annie looked down and just laughed. She stopped her irritating tapping right away.

"Yes, it's been so long since we've last entered Charles Town." Annie answered, she had noticed that little Susan was already sleeping in Abigail's arms.

"I have to say, I think I am just as excited as you are." Abigail replied, she gently rocked Susan in her arms. Annie just gave Abigail a smile.

"I spoke with your father this mornin' and he told me that you would be leavin' us for a while, and stayin' in Charles Town. I think it's nice that you get to have a break from what you are normally used to doing back at home. I myself wish I could just escape for a while, it would be nice. real nice to be relieved from chores and such…" Annie looked at Abigail.

"Well I should be thankful, I am you know, a free woman. Your father is a good man. So many others I know, people like me, people of colour. They Don't get the luxury I do… But here I go with the negativity. I'm sorry chil' pay no mind to me." Abigail said trying to laugh it off. Annie felt bad for Abigail, She wanted a break to, she deserved a break just as much as anyone else does.

"We really are thankful of you Abigail, you're a wonderful woman. You deserve a break just as much as I do, ever since my Mother had passed you have been a great help to us. If I didn't have you to help me with things around the house, and with my siblings. Well...things would be much harder for me, and my Father." Annie finished.

"Thank you chil'" Abigail paused and smile, she took a look down to Susan who gave out small snores, Abigail looked back to Annie.

"Would you like to take your sister, she's getting a little heavy in my arms." Annie nodded and extended her arms over to her little sister she gently placed her hands on to the pit of her arms and took her gently from Abigail's arms. Trying not to disrupted her from her sleep, and trying not to get Susan's legs tangled in the reins or hit Margaret and Nathan who were sitting in the middle of her and Abigail. Susan herself stayed up much too late, helping Annie pack. Annie insisted that she should go to bed, but she resisted to do so.

"I'm considering that as my break." Abigail gave out a small laugh, Annie smiled at Abigail's remark as she adjusted Susan in her arms, she rocked her gently back and forth when she heard her begin to stir in her sleep.

Half and hour had passed, and the Martins had finally entered Charles Town. Annie's eyes were scanning everywhere around Charles Town, she studied the bustle of the city, it was so busy compared to the Santee where they lived. It was hard for Annie to tell whether or not she could get used to such a thing, she couldn't take her morning rides for a while, and she would be placed among many people. Annie brought her attention to William's large gasp he made, that she could hear all the way behind her from the carriage he had been riding in. Annie noticed Williams small arm up in the air and his finger pointing to the large vessels to the left of them. Annie herself felt rather astonished when she laid eyes on the massive ships that had made port in Charles Town. They were such beautiful things, it was hard to imagine that men so small could make something so big.

It must of taken them ages she thought.

Annie noticed few men that had climbed up the masts of the ships.

Are they not afraid of falling? But then again that's what they are used to.

She would love to board a ship such as the ones she was marveling at, it would be quite the experience indeed.

Annie diverted her gaze away from the ships, and focused her gaze on the people around her, some noticed her looking at them and gave her a smile. She would of course respond and give a smile back.

It's good to see people are so polite here she thought.

Perhaps she would adjust quite easily to her surroundings once she had settled in at her aunt Charlotte's. The city was beautiful and the people were friendly.

Annie noticed that they had been nearing their aunt Charlotte's house, as they got closer and closer to the house, she noticed someone familiar standing at the front door of the house. It was her aunt Charlotte. Her aunt noticed Annie starring at her and began to wave, she wore a large smile on her face. Annie returned the smile and waved back. Annie looked down to Susan and shook her gently trying to wake her.

"Susan, Susan come on, wake up. We're here." Annie said softly to her little sister, Susan slowly opened her eyes, she took her one hand, curled it into a fist and began rubbing her eyes roughly. She gave a yawn.

"Are you still tired Susan?" Annie asked, she thought maybe the half an hour it took them to get to their aunt's would have been enough for Susan, but she was still young and needed her sleep. Susan nodded to Annie and gave out another large yawn.

"Then when we get into aunt Charlotte's, you can take a nap. It will almost be nap time for you anyway. You were up much too late last night. You'll have a better sleep tonight." Annie replied.

Susan began to sit up in her sister's lap. Nathan began to pull onto the reins of the horse to bring them to a halt. Everyone began to dismount their horse or step off their wagon or carriage. Annie noticed her aunt call for a few of her slaves to help them bring their things into the house. Annie noticed one coloured man approach her.

"Would you care to give me your bags Missus Martin?" The man began to reach for her bags, Annie took a step back. She would be just fine taking her own bags, there were lots of bags she had packed. And there had been more that were still in the wagon that she would have to come back for, for a second trip. The man looked confused, or looked almost offended. Annie just gave him a smile.

"I'm fine with taking these bags, but there are more bags I have brought with me that are still in the wagon. Perhaps you could take those, it would be a great help." Annie responded. The man nodded and went to retrieve her bags from the wagon.

"Of course Missus Martin." Annie began to walk towards the house with her siblings, William, Samuel, Nathan and Margaret began to run up to steps of their aunt Charlotte's house.

"Aunt Charlotte!" they had all cried with joy as they ran straight towards her with open arms, Charlotte had opened her arms and took her nieces and nephews into a warm embrace.

"My how all of you have grown, it's been a year and you've all changed so much." Their aunt exclaimed, Annie, Thomas, Gabriel, Susan, Abigail and Benjamin all trailed behind the others. They took their time making their way onto the porch. Annie noticed her aunt look up at their father, and her face had lit up in an instant. Annie had noticed that it always had whenever she looked at their father.

"They're huge," Charlotte paused. "What have you been feeding them?" She laughed.

"Well, there from good stock. On their mother's side of course." Benjamin smiled, Charlotte returned the smile proudly.

"Thank you," Charlotte looked towards Gabriel, Annie and Thomas. "And my, you three have changed as well, you boys are so handsome, Thomas. Soon you'll be taller than me. And Annie, you look gorgeous. You look so much like your mother." Charlotte said with pride in her voice, Annie smiled. She loved being compared to her mother. Benjamin cleared his voice.

"This is very true, and of course she gets her good looks from her father as well." Benjamin laughed and he stood up straight, Charlotte gave a laugh at his re-mark.

"Of course" She paused, Annie knew her aunt Charlotte had not been just saying that her father had been good looking just because, Annie and her other siblings had noticed how close their aunt and father had gotten the last past two years they had seen each other.

"Where do you think the boys get their looks from? " Her aunt paused. "Now, come inside and wait till you see what I have." Charlotte said, Annie and her brothers and sisters looked at each other then back to their aunt.

"Presents?" Annie's younger siblings said rather loudly with excitement. Charlotte nodded and before another word could be said, William, Samuel, Nathan and Margaret found themselves running into the house as fast as their legs could take them.

"You three keep an eye on those heathen's." Benjamin Martin said to his three oldest children, but even Thomas and Gabriel couldn't help themselves but run into the house after their sisters and brothers in excitement to find out what their aunt had gotten them. Every year their aunt would buy them something new, and she had always bought them the best. It became a tradition for their aunt to buy them gifts every year. Annie began to walk into the house with her bags in hand. But her aunt stopped her before she could enter the house.

"Annie put your bags down here, I will get one of the servants to take them for you, you go on and see what I got for you." Her aunt told her.

Annie thought for a moment, but then nodded and placed the three bags onto the floor of the porch. She went to walk through the door, but her aunt had remembered something and placed her hand on her shoulder to stop her. Annie turned around to see what her aunt had wanted.

"Yes, Aunt Charlotte?" Annie asked curiously, her aunt gave her a smile.

"I need to speak with you later, I have a certain matter I need to discuss with you and your Father tonight, after you are finished getting settled in."

Annie wanted to immediately know what her aunt had planned to tell her, she felt impatient and wanted to know what the certain matter her aunt needed to tell her, exactly was. She wanted to beg for her aunt to tell her, but instead she just gave a smile and replied.

"Of course, I am looking forward to hear what you need to discuss with my Father and I."

"Oh, I think you will be very pleased to hear what I have to tell you, it will be sure to make your stay here even more enjoyable. And Annie, I am so pleased that you will be staying here with me." Charlotte replied, she leaned in to give Annie a warm embrace. Annie returned the embrace and wrapped her arms around her aunt.

"Now go on, I don't want to keep you from opening your present, I do hope you will like it." Her aunt said before Annie turned to walk into the house, Annie gave her a smile.

"I am sure I will, you have never failed to deliver us the best." Annie said ,she looked at her father, and Abigail who had Susan in her arms. Annie could already see Susan was ready to nod off again at any moment. Annie turned away and walked into the house, she began to walk faster and faster until she found herself running in excitement to see what she had got, Annie entered the living room to see her siblings beaming as they held up what they had received, Annie noticed Samuel and Nathan playing with fake wooden flint locks. Shooting at each other and cried out in pain as they played dead they also received tinymodel soldiers, like the ones Thomas made. Margaret held up a new dress and Thomas and Gabriel both got each a new beautiful hat. Annie noticed that Thomas was now extending his arm to reach for Annie's present that was contained in a box. Thomas picked it up and began to lift the lid in curiosity to see what she got.

"Thomas don't, I want to open my own present, thank you." Annie said, she walked up quickly to Thomas to grabbed the box from out of his hands, he released the present letting her take it into her hands without any resistance. Annie opened the lid of the box and gasped loudly when she noticed a beautiful red silk, she placed the box onto a chair and lifted the red silk from the box. It had been a new dress. She couldn't contain her excitement. She knew how expensive silk had been and she had been shocked that her aunt had purchased her the dress. It was so gorgeous, she wished she could put the dress on right away, but there had been no proper occasion that she could wear the dress to. She would have to just stare in awe over the dress until she could actually put it on.

Margaret walked over to Annie to admire the dress with her, Margaret herself had gotten a dress as well but it had not been made out of silk like Annie's was.

"Oh, you're so lucky Annie, it's beautiful." Margaret replied, Annie looked at Margaret's dress that had been slightly dragging on the ground, her sister held her dress in her hands and had slowly lowered her arms down so that her hands were at her waist.

"May I see your dress Margaret? Don't let it drag on the ground or you will dirty it." Margaret, held up her dress, her face slightly dropped when she showed Annie her dress. Annie could tell her sister had been slightly disappointing when she had not received a silk dress like herself, Annie smiled when Margaret brought her dress up to eye level.

"It Is absolutely gorgeous Margaret, you will be sure to look stunning in that dress. Are you happy Aunt Charlotte bought you that dress Margaret?" Annie asked, She could see Margaret's face light up when she heard that Annie thought the dress was gorgeous and that she would look stunning in it. Margaret believed that their aunt Charlotte had made a good decision in having that dress made for her.

"Of course" Margaret beamed "I think I shall change dresses for this evening." Annie liked to hear that Margaret was happy with what she had got. She was happy that all of her siblings were enjoying their presents. aunt Charlotte had done it again, the presents she had got for them had never been a disappointment.

"That's a good idea, I'm sure aunt Charlotte will appreciate it, she will be happy to see you like it." Annie replied.

Margaret gently took her dress and folded it neatly in her arms and held it to her chest. Annie held her dress out in front of her once again and continued to stare in awe, Annie turned her attention to her father, aunt, Abigail and Susan enter the living room. Charlotte wore a large smile when she saw that everyone was enjoying their gifts, Annie quickly ran towards her aunt Charlotte and gave her a large hug, her aunt gave out a laugh. Margaret decided to run over to Charlotte and join the embrace.

"Oh, thank you aunt Charlotte! These presents are absolutely wonderful. I am in love with this dress." Annie beamed.

Margaret had then also thanked her aunt for the dress she had gotten her. Annie and Margaret stepped away from their aunt, removing themselves from the embrace.

"You, are so very welcome you two." Charlotte paused to hear her nephews then thank her for the presents.

"You're welcome she said again. Now are any of you hungry? You left rather early this morning, had you any time for breakfast? " Charlotte asked as she turned her head to look at Benjamin, he shook his head.

"No, we ate light this morning. Some of the children this morning had not packed the other night and were rushing around this morning, Abigail herself was getting her things ready." Benjamin replied. Charlotte nodded.

"Very well then, I shall have lunch made for all of you. Abigail," Charlotte paused and turned to look at Abigail. "I Will have some of my slaves to take you to where you will be staying. You may go ahead and meet with the others in the kitchen when you're done, would you help them prepare lunch for us?" Charlotte asked.

"Of Course I will Missus Selton." Abigail responded, she slowly put Susan down.

"Joseph!" Charlotte called, in a few moments Joseph had ran out from one of the rooms. And awaited for Charlotte's order.

"Would you care to take Miss Abigail here and show her to where she shall be staying, after that I want some of the others to find themselves to the kitchen and prepare us some lunch." Charlotte said, the man nodded in response.

"Yes Missus Selton" he then began to walk forward towards Abigail. He extended his arm to take her bag. Abigail allowed him to take her bag from her hand.

"Come right this way Miss Abigail." Joseph said. He waited till Abigail nodded, he began walking away from the others with Abigail following closely behind him. When the had finally left the room, Annie had turned her attention to Susan who still looked very tired. She was ready for her nap.

"Aunt Charlotte, I think I shall put Susan to bed. Is that fine? She had been up rather late last night and she needs all the sleep she can get." Annie asked.

Susan looked up at her aunt. Susan looked like she would collapse at any moment and fall asleep on the floor below her.

"Yes of course, that would be just fine. I agree she looks rather tired and needs her rest. " Charlotte replied.

Annie caught her father looking at her, he had a certain look on his face. He wondered as to why Susan had been up all night.

"And what was the reason for that?" Benjamin asked, Annie leaned down to pick up Susan. As soon as Susan was in Annie's arms Susan rested her head on her shoulder. Annie looked at her father again.

"It was my fault, I should have taken her to you last night, but I found her awake in her room and she wanted me to take her to my room. And when I had been packing she insisted that she would stay up and help me." Annie explained.

"That is not your fault, I wasn't blaming you for her not going to bed. I just wondered as to why she was up so late. It's just best right now that she gets some sleep, we will save some food for her when she wakes. I assume she is much too tired to eat any how." Benjamin said. Annie adjusted Susan in her arms before she began to walk away from the rest of her family and make her way up stairs. She would put Susan in the room that she had normally stayed in when they had visited.

Annie had arrived at their room and opened the door, she noticed someone was in the room from the corner of her eye and jumped, frightened from their presence she had not known who it had been. Until she noticed that it had only been one of her aunt Charlotte's slaves, it was a young woman who looked almost the same age as herself.

"I am so sorry Miss Martin, I didn't mean to scare you, you see I'm just puttin' your things away. I will show myself out of the room, I'll come back later when you are finished in here. And i'll put away your other items." The young women said, she looked rather shy and she tended to look away from Annie and stare at the floor, or the bed in front of her. Annie gave the young women a warm smile.

"It's quite alright, I know you did not mean to scare me. My name is Annie, you may call me by my first name for now on if you would like. What is your name, may I ask?"

The young women was surprised by Annie's kindness usually other people would not treat her with the same kindness.

"My name is Mary." Was her only response.

"Well it's nice to meet you Mary, I'm just going to put my sister to bed, you are welcome to come back in once my sister has waken again." Annie said as she began to pull the covers down from the bed, she lowered Susan onto the bed and pulled the covers up onto her sister.

"Yes Missus." Mary said before she made her way around the bed, past Annie and out of the room. Annie closed the door once Mary left, and turned to her sister who was staring back up at her with her big eyes.

"What? " Annie asked curiously. why wasn't her sister already asleep or had her eyes closed. Susan stuck her arms out of the cover and went to reach for Annie's hand to pull her closer to the bed. Annie still didn't understand what she wanted. Susan could tell Annie looked confused by the look on her face, Susan sat up and the began to pull the cover and blankets down from the other side of the bed, to show that she wanted Annie to lie down beside her.

"Oh, you want me to stay with you until you fall asleep, huh?" Annie responded, Susan nodded her head up and down.

"Very well." Annie said, she climbed up onto the bed and crawled over beside Susan to lay down beside her, Annie laid down and Susan rolled on her side to snuggle up beside her sister.

"You really shouldn't be wearing your good clothes to bed, but I'm sure you are much too tired to change now." Annie said, she herself had decided to close her eyes and relax for a while, before she would join her family downstairs and eat some lunch. Susan did not respond with a head nod, she didn't even look at Annie, she was half asleep already. And the longer Annie laid down and closed her eyes, the more she began to feel tired as well. Minutes had passed and both Annie and Susan were asleep.