Town Square Affairs
"Luanne darlin' come over here, I want you to quickly run to the town square today Godwilling." said Marybeth, the aging wife of Hosea, a member of Hampshire's best farmers.
Luanne who had been outside her adoptive parents well kept cottage picking flowers quickly entered the kitchen through the back door.
"Yes ma." she answered back, with a country drawl that sounded more like singing.
"Here are a few coins, make sure to pick up two loafs of bread and a bottle of fresh milk. Now don't be too long, I know you like to wander around the square when you get the chance, but today try to be back in an hour by God's grace alright?" Ma said.
Luanne nodded already peering out the door to check the time on the clock in the dinning room that opened to the living room.
It read exactly three o'clock. Splendid. She thought to herself.
The town square was lively with different shops lined up beside and opposite each other, children running about playing and the cart owners pushing to and fro their delicacies or respective wares.
The smell of baked goods led Luanne in the direction of the bakery she frequented so many times that she knew the way by heart.
When she finally rounded the quiet corner she saw the beloved bakery from afar and pressed onwards eager to make another visit but Germaine intercepted her.
He was the only son of a rich gentleman that pestered Luanne at any given opportunity. Many times she'd politely ask him to leave her alone and stop his pursuit but the arrogant fellow didn't take her no as a valid answer.
She stumbled back from the young man she had unintentionally collided with and looked up to meet his green eyes sparkling with secrecy.
"Ahh Luanne so we meet again. I thought it'd be a short while before I see your pretty face again but this is sooner than I had expected." he says in a thick German accent heavily drenched in arrogance.
His gaze then drops to her much fuller figure -puberty having completed on her seventeen years old body- and he smiles with pleasure. "You're looking well love."
"Good day Germaine and please stop looking at me like I am meat, you know very well that lust is a sin." she says with genuine love and concern for him.
He indignantly rolls his eyes.
"Ever saintly I see. Well haven't I many times told you to accept my hand in marriage? Yet every time I came back for an answer you foolishly refused." Germaine says, his gaze darkening in remembrance of her persistent refusals of his proposals.
She frowned slightly and tried to pacify him. "I'm sorry Germaine but I've told you times before why I refused. I do wish you well though."
He steps closer to her and she quickly looks around, the corner she had turned by was fairly lonely and no one had passed by the two in a while.
Luanne unwilling to be scared, moves away from him in response to his bold step forward. But he harshly grabs her arm and pulls her to himself using his arm around her waist to cage her.
She struggles to be let go of but his grip remains firm and unyielding. His warm breath repulses Luanne and she wonders what he would do to her if no one came to her aid. Feeling desperate, she prepares to scream for help but he speaks before she can cry out for the attention of people.
"And how many times will I tell you that wish me as you may all I want is you. And one day I will have you. By hook or by crook." Germaine says his words laced with certainty and a cunning threat. All the while as he spoke his thumb never leaving her cheek, effectively eliciting chills at the soft yet unwanted caress.
"Unhand me this instant or I will scream." Luanne says firmly refusing to show him weakness despite the chills she felt that said otherwise.
"So what if you scream? You get your reputation soiled and I have an excuse to marry you. I don't think you'd willingly walk into a lion's den, but then again who am I to complain. I am terribly famished and you my dear seem a delectable meal." His ravenous look temporarily kills the scream in Luanne's throat before she cries out in determination. Germaine shakes her silly and the forceful jolt frazzles the delicate Luanne so much that her tear ducts betray her and a warm salty liquid slides down her cheek.
She whimpers shocked and saddened, she had never thought Germaine to be this callous. The thrashing girl is almost immediately brought to an abrupt halt as he stops shaking her. Luanne looks up from teary eyes to see Germaine breathing heavily, distraught at his own act. He blinks twice and clears his throat at a loss for words.
Luanne stares at him crestfallen and without a word briskly sidesteps him.
Once he was out of her way she picks up her pace and runs off glad to have escaped danger, silently thanking the Lord for her safety as she enters the busy bakery.
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Leanne rolls her eyes internally -if that's possible- for the ninth time today.
Yes she had been counting, it was one way for her to make keeping the company of Beth, or preferably Elisabeth, more bearable.
Sometimes Leanne wondered why she even put up with her friend at all. Maybe it was her lack of companionship with most humans that made her hang on to the little she had in her life.
Not that Elisabeth was much of a companion to her anyways. But Leanne had never found anyone her age suitable to form a real bond with -after her adoption off course- , the other girls her age being too vain for her taste. Again not that Elisabeth wasn't vain. Leanne paused and thought contemplatively why then Elisabeth was in her life.
Oh yes, she was literally in her life. They moved in the same circles, they were equally accomplished according to society, and they both possessed external beauty. Only, Elisabeth used it to her gain while Leanne didn't use it much, at least not in the way Elisabeth did.
Leanne smiles a wry smile and refocuses on Beth's persistent chatter.
"And my, you wouldn't believe his offer! Go away with him to Enchanté. I may not be french or a saint but surely he didn't think I was that loose!" Beth continues giggling proudly as she divulged the details of her escapade with Philippe, the only son of a well-to-do Ambassador of France.
Leanne's eyes widened evidently scandalized.
"Oh spare me that look you nun. It's about time we go meet up with the others at the town square anyways. Let's go outside, our carriage should be prepared by now." Beth says sniffing slightly, irritated with Leanne.
Leanne merely pursed her lips at Beth and rose along with her. She was supposed to spend the afternoon with her other friends after all.
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The well dressed pair alight the carriage and begin walking towards Marylou, Ansel, and Mr. and Mrs. Tybalt -the kind guardians of Marylou which chaperoned the group anytime they went on outings like these.
Marylou who had been conversing with Ansel turns to see Leanne and Beth, smiling somewhat gratefully she waves at them with her pretty silk handkerchief.
The two girls smile in return -well Beth did, Leanne forced the strained expression on her face out of courtesy- and increase their pace as they walk over to the group.
"Good day, I apologize to have kept you all waiting." Leanne says politely.
Beth looking less sorry nods as well before her eyes drift around the group.
"And where is Germaine?" she asks confounded for a moment, her easy smile dimming slightly.
Leanne casts a surprised glare her way, hadn't she been fawning over Phillipe not too long ago?
Germaine who had turned out of a fairly lonely corner approached them. Taking her gaze off Elisabeth, Leanne eyed him with suspicion. What could he possibly have been doing there?
The odd-behaving character stood next to Beth, placing a quick kiss on her cheek though he seemed a little absentminded as he did so.
"Ah, looking for me dearest Elisa?" he inquires, teasing her.
Elisabeth's cheeks turn a light pink hue and she expertly releases a tinkling sound peering up at him through her long curved lashes.
"Enough of that Germaine. You know better than to kiss her in such a manner, or at all for that matter." Mr. Tybalt says with a disapproving look as he admonished Germaine.
"And stop behaving so improperly young woman, where are the good morals you should possess? If you have forgotten them at home regain them at once child." Mrs. Tybalt chided when her husband gave her the signal to reprimand Elisabeth.
Elisabeth looks away from Germaine slightly embarrassed at the public reprimand she had received before her peers. Germaine on the other hand makes a half hearted apology and begins to converse with Ansel who was too preoccupied with Marylou to focus on the topic of the latest political discussion.
Marylou shies away from Ansel's doting inquiries while he speaks with Germaine, mildly flattered but more interested in looking out for other gentlemen.
As it appeared, he was already infatuated with the quiet and pretty Marylou. However she was only sixteen and very much childish in her ways - hardly wife material for a man as noble in both senses of the word as Ansel.
Leanne already bored with her company took permission to visit a bakery but turned around to find Germaine studiously watching her.
As Germaine stared at her he wondered how he had not noticed her distinct facial features before now. She was like an exact replica of Luanne; the same lush pink lips, enchanting chestnut eyes, exceptionally long eyelashes and most becoming stature.
The only exception between the two in terms of similarity was that Luanne had a welcoming gentle personality and hair like rich soil, while Leanne seemed more reserved with her uninterested expression and locks that resembled liquid gold.
Leanne ready for a challenge arched her right brow and spoke. "Would anyone else perhaps like to join me for brunch?" The request was made open to all present but Germaine could see the threat in her eyes daring him with a cold gaze.
Germaine who had begun to take interest in her squashed it in an instant. He was a rake but clearly she was not a girl to be trifled with. Even if he presumed his affluence and Luanne's vulnerability could let him have his way with her Leanne was out of bounds for him with her unflinching demeanor and high social standing in society.
He didn't take it much to heart though, and wordlessly followed the group to the bakery as they obliged Leanne's offer to collectively stop by for a treat.
Within a few minutes they arrive at the bakery. Most eager to eat a piece of pie and escape her company, Leanne pushes the door wide open.
Instead of entering the quaint shop she stumbles backwards as a girl gently collides with her shoulder.
Luanne who had unintentionally hit the shoulder of a well dressed lady apologizes and quickly begins to leave her presence. She had to be home in time and Germaine had kept her longer than she had planned.
The occurrence goes by unnoticed by the rest of the group but Leanne stares after her feeling an odd wave of incomplete recognition. "Halt there would you please? Lady in brown!"