Flowers and Fences (SIX)

Chapter 3

     When Anne and Parr arrived downstairs they saw two very uncomfortable teenage girls staring at each other, and both were evidently extremely anxious. Willow was scratching her knuckles so hard she might break skin and poor Kat Howard had no idea what she did wrong but she still felt immensely guilty. Cathy and Anne quickly swept into action. Anne going for Willow because the girl looked quite shaken up and on the verge of tears but was completely silent and Cathy going to Kat to explain the situation. 

     After a few moments, Willow was still non-verbal but had given Anne a nod to signal that she was okay and Parr had successfully informed Kat of the current situation. They all walked to the living room for a more comfortable environment to talk things through. Kat told them that she and Cleves had been walking Wolfie but Cleves stopped for coffee and she continued on home. When she got there, she saw a girl sitting at the table and Wolfie started barking. When Willow heard the barking she jumped up and cowered in the corner, Katherine tried to calm her down but when she got close the girl forced herself further into the corner and started scratching every inch of skin she could get to. This triggered her anxiety and she backed up and stood still for fear that she could do something that caused Willow to react in an even worse manner. 

     When she finished the story, Anne glanced over at Willow and saw the guilt and fear expressed on her face. Anne smiled in a way that she hoped Willow would find comforting and almost reached over to put a hand on her shoulder or knee but then realized the action would probably do more harm than good. 

Parr then spoke up, "Where's Jane? I thought she was making Willow some food." 

     The queens turned to Willow, expecting an answer. Willow opened her mouth and looked like she was trying to push words out of her throat but nothing came, after doing this a few times she took a deep breath and attempted to steady herself. 

Finally, she responded, "She went to the bathroom." 

The sentence was spoken choppily and it appeared to take a lot of effort for her to get it out. 

     Just when Parr was about to respond, Cleves burst through the door and shouted a greeting. Once she saw the unfamiliar girl she simply glanced around the room and continued on her way to the kitchen, acting like nothing was out of the ordinary. Almost instantly Jane walked in, surveyed the scene and immediately began profusely apologizing for leaving Willow by herself. Anne and Parr assured her that they had calmed things down and both Kat and Willow were okay. Despite the reassurances, Jane was still visibly concerned and moved to sit by Kat.  

    In the silence, Anne noticed the shaken look in Willow's eyes and the rapidity that her leg was bouncing at. She slid over to the couch over and whispered to her, "Hey, come with me." Noticing the evident hesitation in the other girl, she continued, "It's fine, no-one will care. And I promise you'll feel better once we get away from all this." Receiving a nod of agreement, she smiled and took the other girl's hand and ran upstairs to her bedroom. 

    The queens noticed of course but they trusted Anne, something about Willow brought out a kinder more mature Anne Boleyn and they loved seeing it. 

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     Once up in Anne's room, Willow seemed to regain composure immediately and thanked Anne an insane amount, even while Anne insisted that she was just being a decent person. Anne picked a blanket off the floor and tossed it at Willow who caught it with a confused look on her face. 

"You can stay up here and get some quality rest while I talk to the other queens about letting you live with us and not bothering you with their nonsense and all that," Anne said, flashing a warm smile. 

     As Anne was about to leave, Willow spoke up, "Just wondering, you'll probably think I'm weird but hear me out. Your name is Anne and then there's Jane and Cathy, which I assume is short for Catherine, and Kat which is also short for Katherine. Are you guys actually Henry the 8th's wives or something?" 

 Anne's eyes glowed with pride and she smirked in an elfish way as she replied, "We're so much more." 

  Hey! Author here! I'm sorry this took longer than expected and it's a little short but the next chapter will be a lot better. Ciao for now - Trash ☆