Love and Whiskers

by Olivia Myers

  “Yes, Father. I am just feeling tired. Goodnight.” Ann then scampered off to bed.

  Neala went upstairs to help Ann get ready for bed. As she helped Ann with her nightgown, she could tell that Ann was up to something. She kept looking at Ann skeptically, and Ann kept glancing away.

  Finally Ann exclaimed, “What? Why are you looking at me that way?”

  “You’re up to something,” Neala replied.

  “I am not.”

  “Oh yes you are. You think I don’t know when you’ve got a secret? I can see it in your face.”

  And Ann just looked away as she finished buttoning her nightgown. She jumped into her bed and pulled the covers up to her neck.

  “Fine. Don’t tell me. Just don’t cause any trouble, you hear?” Neala demanded as she tucked the blankets around Ann’s body.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nana. Can I go to sleep now, please?”

  “All right. Goodnight, Ann. Sweet dreams.”

  “Goodnight, Nana!” Ann sang out as Neala closed the bedroom door.

  Ann counted to five and then jumped out of bed pulling her nightgown off over her head. She tiptoed to her armoire and searched for some warm clothing. She put on some bloomers underneath a wool skirt, and found a scarf and gloves. She couldn’t find her winter cap, but she pulled out a sweater and her winter coat.

  After getting redressed, she realized that she still had to wait a little longer until Neala retired to her room and her father had gone into his study. She kept peeking through the crack under her door to see if anyone was in the hallway. Needing something to occupy the minutes of waiting, Ann rearranged her pillows to look like she was still in bed. It didn’t look too convincing, but she lost patience trying to make her covers look exactly right. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity, Ann was starting to sweat in her warm clothing, so she decided it was time to sneak out.

  Candlelight flickered under the door of Neala’s room, so she knew Neala was in there reading before going to sleep. She peered around the corner to see if her father was in his study, but she couldn’t tell. Ann looked around and listened intently to see if she could hear him, but she only heard an owl hooting outside. She crept over to the study and pressed her ear against the door. At first she couldn’t hear anything, but then she thought she heard the sound of his chair scraping the floor. Ann dashed behind a window curtain in the hall, but her father didn’t come out of his study. When she thought it was safe, Ann quickly and quietly walked down the hall.

  Walking down the stairs, she could hear Archie and some of the maids talking in the kitchen. Archie was quite entertaining and could always make the maids laugh. Ann tried bending over the railing trying to look into the kitchen, but she wasn’t quite big enough. Archie had cracked a joke that had all of the maids cackling in delight, so Ann took advantage of their noise. She ran down the rest of the stairs and out the door as stealthily as she could.

  Ann walked around the house toward the stables, but she remembered that the kitchen window faced the stables. Crawling in the flower bed, she tried looking into the window to see if anyone was paying attention to the outside. Too afraid that she would be spotted, Ann decided to not risk peeking her head up to the window after all. She ran toward the stables.

  Little did she know that Archie and the maids were actually waiting for this moment. One of the maids saw a figure moving in the dark, and she pointed out of the window asking, “Is that Ann?” Archie and the maids squinted into the dark to try and make out the shadowy figure. When it stopped right in front of the stable, they knew it was Ann waiting for Henry.

  Archie opened a bottle of wine and poured glasses for everyone. “Here’s to young love!” he toasted. Everyone raised their glasses reminiscing about their own first loves. They drank and Archie began a story of his first love with his dog, which had all of the women in stitches.

  ***

  Ann’s feet started feeling tingly from standing in the cold grass, and she could see her breath in the night air. Thinking it might be warmer in the stables, she opened the door and stepped inside. She had never really set foot in the stables and certainly never did so by herself. She felt a certain exhilaration at the rules she had broken tonight. At first she was too scared to walk around, but boredom got the better of her. She slowly walked past all of the stalls looking at the horses. Most of the horses were still getting some sleep. Their ears would perk up as she poked her nose through the bars on the stalls. The horses just adjusted their weight on another leg and flicked their tails before returning back to their slumber.

  Ann passed several horses and started to worry that Henry wasn’t coming.

  “Where are you, Henry?” Ann whispered out loud to herself.

  A horse whinnied and stomped its hooves. Something must have disturbed it, so Ann decided to take a look. Feebly, Ann stepped up to the stall. The horse was spinning around, whining and stomping, but Ann couldn’t figure out why. Ann tried talking to the horse in soothing tones and even singing, but this only aggravated the horse more. It started bucking and kicking the stall doors, and it was breathing really hard. Ann wondered if there was something in the stall that she couldn’t see that was upsetting the horse, so she slipped into the stall to see if she could help. The horse turned around and faced her. Its eyes were black and wild with fear. The horse pulled its ears back and started pawing the ground.

  Ann stepped toward the horse reaching her hand out to show she wasn’t going to hurt it. But the horse bucked up and started pawing the air.

  Just then, someone pushed her to the side of the stall. She tripped and fell into the hay. When she looked up, she saw Henry trying to calm the horse down. Henry shouted at Ann, “Get out. Get out of the stall!” Ann crawled behind Henry and out of the stall. She stood up and the horse bucked up again. Henry tried ducking out of the way, but the horse kicked Henry in the head. As the horse’s hoof made contact, Henry fell to the ground.

  Ann screamed for Henry to get up, but he wouldn’t move. Then Ann saw something wet dripping from Henry’s forehead. It was blood. It pooled around Henry’s head like a dark, morbid halo. Ann felt dizzy. She tried to say something, but she couldn’t breathe. Stumbling backward, she ran into the stall behind her, startling another horse. She heard its loud breath and spun around. Ann started screaming again.

  As the maids were still laughing and drinking with Archie, they all slowly stopped talking, setting their glasses down and trying to hear a little better. They could hear something, and as Archie looked back toward the stables, his glass slipped from his hand and crashed onto the floor.

  He and the maids ran out to the stables. Archie reached the stables first and flung the doors open. Ann looked at them with terror and looked back toward Henry. Archie ran up to the stall, dodging the still agitated horse. He scanned the stall for Henry, spotted him and pulled him out by his leg.

  One of the maids held Ann, trying to shield her from seeing anymore of the blood. Ann still caught a glimpse of Henry’s pale face and lifeless body. Archie told the other two maids to fetch the doctor and Henry’s father. Archie turned toward Ann with a painful look then told the maid to take Ann back to her room.

  Roderick was about to turn in for the evening when he noticed two maids running out of the stable. He was about to go downstairs when he saw a third maid with her arms wrapped around a little girl. After a moment, Roderick realized the little girl was Ann. He briskly walked to the front door. The maid walked into the house with Ann, and just as Roderick was about to yell at her, he stopped short. He saw that Ann was sobbing and trembling. Roderick bent over and swooped Ann into his arms looking toward the maid for an explanation.

  “It...It’s Hen...Henry,” she stammered. “He’s...he’s…”

  Roderick turned around and headed for Neala’s room. Still holding Ann, he kicked at Neala’s door jolting Neala awake. As she opened the door, Roderick piled Ann into Neala’s arms and sprinted back down the hall.

&nb
sp; When Roderick made it to the stables, he saw Archie covered in blood.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “I’m not sure, but Henry...he’s...he’s dead.”

  George Stewart had just entered the stables and crumpled at Roderick’s feet. Roderick held George as best he could, but then slid down to the ground with his arm around George. Roderick, too, knew what it was like to lose someone. They both wept.

  ***

  It had been a fortnight since Henry’s funeral. Neala had taken up to sleeping in the rocking chair in Ann’s room since every night Ann had terrible nightmares about Henry. Ann would wake up in a panic, with sweat and tears dripping down her face. Neala would get up and sit on Ann’s bed and sing her back to sleep as she stroked Ann’s hair.

  Miss Barnum had stopped coming by until further notice because Ann refused to get out of bed. It was all Roderick and Neala could do to even get Ann to eat. Finally Neala had had it; she couldn’t stand to see Ann so morose. So, one morning, Neala swung open Ann’s bedroom curtains and ripped the blankets off of Ann’s bed. Without even saying a word, she picked Ann up and carried her to a bath she had drawn.

  “What are you doing? Put me down!” Ann screamed at Neala as she tried wiggling out of Neala’s arms.

  Neala dumped Ann into the bath, clothes and all.

  “This has got to stop, Ann. You will wash up and come downstairs to eat breakfast with me and your father.”

  Ann looked up to Neala and started to say something, but Neala just put her finger up and said, “Right this instant.”

  After peeling off Ann’s drenched nightgown, Neala helped bathe Ann who had very little strength. As Ann dried off, Neala grabbed a dress for Ann to wear. The dress, once almost too small, was now baggy on Ann’s frail body. Neala pretended she didn’t notice as she sat Ann down at the dresser. Neala then brushed and braided Ann’s hair before taking her down to breakfast.

  Roderick was sitting at the breakfast table mindlessly stirring his tea when Ann entered the dining room. Straightening up, Roderick bid his daughter good morning and offered her some tea and a biscuit. Ann was actually quite hungry, so she gently took the biscuit from her father. After breakfast, Roderick offered to take Ann into the market instead of going into work.

  Ann paused and thought about it, but then Roderick offered, “We could go out to the field and pick wild flowers if you would rather.”

  Ann smiled a little at her father and nodded. Roderick smiled back and bid for his manservant to send a note to his work saying that he would not be in today. Neala took Ann back up to her room to change into better clothes, and Roderick asked Archie to put together some kind of picnic basket for him and Ann to enjoy outside.

  Ann enjoyed a wonderful morning with her father in the field. They picked flowers for all of the house maids, and even made a bouquet to set in Jane’s garden. Ann asked her father if it was too late to go to the market, and he responded, “Of course not!”

  Once they got back from the market, Ann and her father ate supper and retired to the parlor where Ann offered to read for her father. Roderick couldn’t even pay attention to the story Ann picked because he was beaming with joy that his daughter had come back to him. Ann started yawning as she was reading, so Roderick offered to take a turn. Ann sat at the foot of her father’s chair and was soon lulled to sleep by his deep, calming voice.

  Roderick picked his daughter up and carried her to her room. He lay Ann down in her bed and kissed her forehead, whispering, “I love you, Ann.” He walked quietly out of Ann’s room so as not to disturb her, but then he heard, “I love you too, Papa.” His heart swelled and he gently closed Ann’s door.

  ***

  Roderick woke up the next morning with a sense of peace he hadn’t experienced since Jane was alive. He felt lighter, happier. After getting dressed he practically bounded downstairs and into the kitchen.

  “Ah, isn’t is such a beautiful day, Archie? The sun is shining, and your bread this morning smells delicious. Is there anything I can help with?”

  Archie just smiled and said, “Nope. I think I’m all set, Mr. Blockstone. I will bring breakfast out for you and Ann in just a few short minutes”.

  “Are you sure? Let me grab the milk at least.”

  “Whatever you’d like, Mr. Blockstone.”

  Roderick grabbed the milk and some glasses and went back into the dining room. He noticed that one of the maids had placed her wildflowers as a centerpiece on the dining room table. Roderick poured some milk for Ann just as she descended the staircase. She looked a bit paler than normal, but smiled at him as she sat down for breakfast.

  “Good morning, Ann.”

  “Good morning, Papa.”

  Roderick smiled. It had been a long time since she had called him “Papa” and she had called him that twice in less than nine hours.

  “Did you sleep well?”

  “Actually, I didn’t. I had a dream that Henry’s ghost visited me.”

  “Oh really? What did he say?”

  “We just talked and played like normal except he was a ghost.”

  “Hmm. Did it frighten you?”

  “Well, at first I was scared, but then when I realized it was Henry, I was really happy to see him again.”

  “Well, that’s good. I’m glad it wasn’t another nightmare.”

  Roderick and Ann ate the rest of their breakfast in silence as Roderick contemplated his daughter’s words. He wanted to just dismiss this as a dream, a way in which Ann could mourn the loss of her friend, but something felt wrong. Throughout the rest of the day, Roderick kept thinking back to his daughter’s dream. He felt scared, and even a little paranoid.

  ***

  That night as Roderick and Neala tucked Ann into bed, Ann found herself hoping that Henry would visit again. She felt guilty about telling that small fib to her father earlier. Ann really knew that Henry hadn’t been a simple dream. He had actually come to visit her. The two had talked for hours. Ann asked Henry what he was doing there, and he told her that he wasn’t quite sure but he was glad to see her again. Ann looked down and fiddled with the buttons on her nightgown.

  “I’m so sorry, Henry,” she finally said.

  “For what?”

  “I shouldn’t have gone into the stables without you. None of this would have happened.” Tears pooled in her eyes, but Henry put his hand over hers. They both pulled their hands back, shocked that they could feel each other’s hands.

  Then, they reached for each other’s hands again, and didn’t let go. “Ann, I was going to tell you this, that night in the stable. I was always too scared to tell you while...well, while I was alive. But, now that I’m here, I don’t want to miss my chance again.”

  He paused.

  “Yes, Henry?” Ann prodded.

  “I wanted...I mean I was going to tell you that…”

  “Yes?” Ann pressed again.

  “I love you, Ann. I have loved you for a long time now.”

  Ann inhaled and couldn’t seem to breathe out again.

  “I’m sorry. I know you could never love a stable boy, but I just couldn’t go on without you knowing…”

  “Henry, stop. I love you too. I was so lucky to have you in my life and to fall in love with my best friend. I just never told you because I was afraid you would think that I’m just a foolish little girl.”

  “Ann, I never thought you were…”

  Ann leaned over and kissed Henry. She pulled back quickly. Her eyes met his in a question. She wondered whether she shouldn’t have kissed him, but Henry just cupped her cheek in his hand and gently embraced her.

  ***

  Over the next few days, Ann’s spirit had returned, but her strength was dwindling. Every morning, Roderick’s concern increased as Ann’s complexion kept getting more and more pale. Eventually Ann was unable to even get out of bed. Roderick called the doctor who couldn’t confirm what was wrong with Ann other than a fever.

  The doctor visited every morning to check
on Ann; otherwise, Roderick and Neala were constantly in Ann’s room. Roderick picked wild flowers for Ann and put them on her windowsill every morning. Neala fetched Ann breakfast and wiped Ann’s forehead with a damp cloth. Then Roderick would read out loud to Ann, and when they grew weary of reading, they made up stories to tell each other. Roderick became very animated while telling his stories and would act out entire fight scenes, playing both characters. Ann would chime in every once and a while, telling her father what else to act out.

  Every night, Roderick and Neala would sit on either side of Ann as she drifted off to sleep. Roderick held his darling Ann in his arms, and Neala would stroke her hair and sing lullabies. Once Ann fell asleep, the two would bid each other goodnight and retire to their bedrooms.

  Neala never openly talked about her religious faith, but she had always been a devout Catholic. Once Ann became sick, Neala prayed only for Ann’s health to return. She sometimes prayed for hours until her knees were sore and stiff. Then Neala would try to get some sleep, but often she woke up in the middle of the night and prayed once again for Ann to regain her strength.

  Roderick on the other hand didn’t even try to sleep much. He meandered listlessly through the dismal hallways of his house and often visited Jane’s garden. He was so afraid. He had finally started feeling like the kind of father Jane would have wanted him to be for their daughter, and now it seemed that he was going to lose Ann too.

  One night, Roderick had retired to the parlor and kindled a fire. He sat in his favorite chaise and stared into the flames. As his eyes grew weary, Roderick drifted off into a fitful sleep. In his dream, his beloved Jane came to him and silently took him by the hand. His initial fear turned into a deeply-rooted trust of his wife as she guided him toward her garden.

  Jane dropped her husband’s hand and turned to face him. Roderick startled at some movement to the left of him. At first he couldn’t quite make out the pale mist, but as it took form, he realized it was Henry. Henry had walked out of the side door of Roderick’s house and paused there, gently studying Roderick.

  Roderick looked back at Jane who was smiling at Henry. She lifted her hand and motioned to Henry. Dazed, Roderick looked back to Henry who was now looking into the doorway. Henry lifted his hand, and Roderick saw another dainty hand place itself into Henry’s. Ann stepped out of the doorway and saw her mother. Ann paused for a few seconds, and Roderick realized that Ann didn’t know what her mother looked like. Just as he was about to introduce her to Jane, Ann smiled gleefully and ran into her mother’s arms.