The Angel

Chapter 7

After she left the meadow she had hurried home, as it was getting late.

Her maid met her at the door in a panic, "Miss! I was worried sick! I thought you had ran away!" She was almost to the point of tears.

"No. I just went for a walk to get away." She answered.

"Good. Good. Come on in and I'll get you some dinner." The little maid pushed her through the doors and into the dining room.

Her thoughts swam with images of the handsome man she had just been with. She could still feel the butterflies soaring in her belly from Red's touch. She could hear his laugh and see his smile. She could still smell his scent from when her helped her off the bridge.

Her cheeks were beginning to ache from all the smiling she was doing.

She sat at the table where her nieces sat eating and giggling away.

"Where is your mother?" Vi asked them.

"She is in our room. She got a letter from Daddy and Grandpa." Her oldest niece, Bailey answered.

"Oh. I see." Vi picked up her fork and knife.

"Mommy seemed sad." The youngest replied.

Vi frowned. What could it be now?

"Someone stole from Grandpa and now they want to fight..." Bailey leaned towards Vi and whispered, "You know who."

Vi watched as the other girls gasped and Bailey blushed. They didn't understand why they had to hate the MacCarthy's, they just knew they had to.

"They would never." Vi took a small bite out of her buttered roll.

Bailey nodded her head and the girls took off running to another room.

Who had stole money from her father? Why had they? And what did she mean a meeting.

Vi decided she would go to her sister-in-law and discuss the matter with her.

----

She knocked softly on the door of her sister-in-law's door.

"It's Vi." She said to wooden door.

"Come in." She heard Penelope say.

Vi opened the door and walked inside. She smiled at Penelope and then closed the door behind her.

She could tell she had been crying.

"What is wrong?" Vi asked.

"Marshall is coming back. We are moving away." Penelope said.

"Away? Why? What has happened?" Vi's family all lived near by. She didn't understand why they would move away.

"Your father thinks Marshall sold him out to the MacCarthy's. He has banished Marshall." She broke out into sobs, "Along with me and the girls." Her shoulders shook as she wept.

Vi pulled her into a tight embrace. "How can this be? Marshall would never. He does not like our father but he would not betray him." Vi thought of Red.

Was she betraying her father?

"I know he is innocent Vi." She pulled back, tears streamed down her face, "But your father is cruel." She shook her head. "You know that better than anyone." Penelope stood and walked to her window.

Vi looked down at her arms in her lap. She would never be able to wear short sleeves and feel comfortable with the scars that lined her arms.

She knew who he was.

"Marshall will be here in three days, we leave then." Penelope wiped her face and hugged herself.

"When is my father returning?" Vi asked.

"Two days after we leave. He is making sure he does not have to see Marshall or us any more than he has to." She began crying again.

"I do not understand my father. His heart is ice."

Vi stood and left the room. Her father would definitely take this out on her, she had no doubt. She needed to prepare herself for whatever he did. She would need to distance herself from him until he was calm.

She walked to her room. Why had she not received a letter-

Then she remembered the letter she crumbled up and threw.

She searched her floor for it and found it waded up in a ball, under her bed. She must have accidentally kicked it under there.

She straightened out the paper and read what it said.

Vi,
As you know your 19th birthday is almost upon us. I have made arrangements for your hand to be given to Mr. Cassidy at this time. I know he will be a pleasant husband and will provide you with a prosperous future.

More like prosperous for you. She thought. She continued reading.

Your brother, Marshall has been banished from our family and our land. He is a disgrace to our family and a traitor to his own name. I will return to our home once he is gone, as I also have further business to attend to.
Sincerely your father,
Jeffery Dawley.

She had to talk to her brother Marshall. He could explain to her what happened. He couldn't have possibly went to the MacCarthy's.

She wondered if Red would know anything.

----

He was in a daze the entire walk home. He thought over everything they talked about. He couldn't help but smile to himself.

He couldn't get this girl off his mind. It was strange his attraction to her, he had never wanted to be around someone so much. He had never cared enough to want to know that person's thoughts, to want to know why she felt a certain way.

Not to mention her beauty, her eyes, her hair, her hands. He was entirely sure he would have burst if her neckline was cut lower.

He shook his head at the thoughts. He was going to end up falling for this girl if he wasn't careful.

He did not even know her name.

He was beginning to think he was going insane.

He knew his father's annual meeting was coming up. He needed to focus on pacifying his father a little longer so he could figure out a way to escape.

He had to get away.

He stepped inside the front doors and took off his riding boots. He slipped on the dress shoes he left at the door and made his way into the kitchen to sneak an apple for Pepper.

"What do you mean he had gone missing? One of my loyal customers gone?" He heard his father's voice coming from the dining room.

"Yes sir. He was spotted at the Old Mill just two days ago. Apparently he had a wagon full of cargo with him."

Rian stopped in the hallway to listen.

"Hmmm. I suspect John has some new business partners."

"Sir. He was at the Old Mill, on the Da-"

Rian stepped in through the doorway.

"Ahhh. Son! Come, sit with us."

Rian moved to his usual seat at the table. He sat across from his father. His mother sat next to his father with a sour expression on her face.

Next to Rian sat his father's oldest partner, Mr. Cassidy.

----

About 99.99999999% of all the pictures I use are from tumblr. XD
Pictures are clothes Rian would wear, Pepper, Vi, and Marshall on the horse. Yeah I know he's from a TV show. Mabye Game of Thrones.. I'm not sure.
Sawyer :p