Lady March - (L.L.)

Chapter 26

━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━

A Faint Memory Long Gone

━━━━━━☆☆━━━━━━

Later that night, while she was lying sleepless in her bed, Annie didn't bother to block out a faint flashback from when she was first visiting - more like, living with the March family a few years ago. Though it had been a while since the event happened, a calm smile formed on her lips.

***

Annie shrouded her body in a sack-like ball gown, pink with baby blue flowers that one of the Moffat sisters had bought her from all the way in Rome. She would have preferred the big, red roses or the orange dahlias; this dress, in particular, made her feel like an expanse of wallpaper. But she preferred something inconspicuous.

Meg too had been dressed up. A puffy, yet elegant pink dress with flared shoulders and an alluring trim. Despite the girl's fondness with dazzling up now and then, Annie could still feel a tad pity for the older girl. Just one night, she constantly reminded herself.

Earlier that week, Meg had been invited by the Moffat family to spend a few weeks with them in celebration of the eldest sister, Belle Moffat's, coming of age. Marmee had encouraged Annie to come along, as she hadn't gotten the chance to travel around the town ever since she first arrived in Concord. Although hesitant at first, Jo had recruited Annie and Laurie to make sure that Meg 'didn't fall in love' - whatever that meant, anyway.

While Meg and Annie left ahead of time and boarded a carriage together, Laurie made sure to arrive later on. He was planning on giving the girls a surprise visit - more like just to Meg.

The day of the celebration came quicker than assumed. As Meg stood beside her on the staircase as all the girls awaited their dramatic group entry, Annie couldn't help but notice the way the girl's eyes ate up the scene like a Christmas party - her limbs feeling supercharged and her head giddy. Everything about the flowing silks made Meg want to dance - her feet moving with grace as her heart leaped with joy.

All thoughts had momentarily vanished as the entry had been made. Everyone smiled their best smiles while a round of applause was heard from the spectators.

"Daisy -- can I call you that?" Belle Asked Meg as all three of them descended the stairs together. "It's a pretty name, don't you think?"

Meg did nothing but grin, indicating a silent agreement between the two. In Annie's opinion, the girl's actual name was completely fine as it was. Why did she see the need to be addressed otherwise?

"Oh, and you," Belle said, pointing her words at Annie. She smiled falsely, almost greedily. "How about I call you Lily - it suits you."

If she was talking about the amount of flowers pinned on her dress, Annie thought it to be a horrible joke. Either way, Annie suppressed the urge to roll her eyes at the Moffat daughter. They'd barely spoken a word to each other before today - how was she to know what suited her?

With a tight smile, she politely declined. "I'm quite fine with my own name - Annie - thank you very much."

Belle shrugged. "Suit yourself."

She grabbed Meg's hand and dragged her over to the chocolate fountain, likely with the plan to meet more potential suitors.

This had, thankfully for her, left Annie by herself at the bottom of the staircase. Sure, there were many guests gathered all around the house, but she was glad to know that nobody was trying to converse with her. Anymore, at least.