Late afternoon light washed over Gigi as she sat in the garden. A trail of gray smoke, from Alton's burning still lingered, hovering over the city as if his spirit were taking one last look before departing.
Gigi dropped her gaze to her hands and the maroon dress they rested on. A smile curled her lips as she brushed her hand down the silky material. Images of the last six days spent with her grandparents floated through her mind.
The drive through the city, envious looks following the carriage as it rolled down the streets. The dressmakers fawning over them as they were shown endless swatches of silk, satin and lace. Her grandmother's joyous tone as she introduced Gigi as her granddaughter at the celebration of Alton's life the previous night.
Gigi let out a sigh, wishing she could move backwards and relive those few days once more. The sound of footsteps crunching on pebbles pulled her from her thoughts. Turning, she watched as a servant appeared from behind a hedge. He bowed as he stopped before her.
"Lord and Lady Brixton wish to speak with you, Lady," the servant said.
A new smile flickered across her lips at his address. Rising, she followed the servant as he wound his way through the garden to the terrace, the skirt of her dress clutched in her hands.
The servant bowed to her and left her before her grandparents' sitting room. The guard opened the door and Gigi stepped inside, forcing herself to take a deep breath.
"Come sit, dear," Lady Brixton said, with a kind smile, motioning to a chair. "There is something we wish to discuss with you."
Gigi's mother was no where in sight, but she didn't focus on this. Taking a few tentative steps forward, she sat down.
"Genevieve," her grandfather said. "You may not be fully aware of this, but Alton was not married and had no heirs." Gigi nodded, knowing this from the previous day's event. "Since you are our only grandchild we would like the opportunity to get to know you."
"Having you here these last fews days," her grandmother said, "has made us realize that we want to get to know you more. Spend time with you." Her grandparents shared a look. "That is why we want to invite you to stay with us for the summer."
Gigi blinked, shocked by the invitation. Her grandmother gave her a bright smile as the words were absorbed.
"The King is hosting a month long festival in Loria, in five weeks time," she said. "You would accompany us there. It would be your chance to be introduced into society. Nobles from all across the Kingdom attend the festival." Lady Brixton's voice rose in volume as she kept talking, the words falling from the tip of her tongue. "You attend balls, riding parties, garden parties. Teas with the queen herself, it is the brightest point in the year. Every lady dreams of the King's festival."
Images of elegantly dressed lords and ladies swirled in Gigi's mind. Sweeping ballrooms and endless banquets. A rush of excitement filled her and she could hardly contain her smile.
"At the end of summer, once we have returned to Taraben from the festival, you can return to your...home." Her grandmother's gaze darted to Lord Brixton's for the briefest of seconds, before settling back on Gigi. "My dear child, what we wish is for the chance to know our only granddaughter," Lady Brixton said.
Silence filled the room, as the last of Lady Brixton's words seeped into the walls and escaped through the open windows. Gigi was lost for words, what lay before her was the chance she had always dreamed of having. Before she could even realized what she was saying, her response leapt out.
"I would be honored to stay," she said. "I can not express my gratitude."
A look of delight filled her grandmother's face as her grandfather nodded approvingly.
"Dear, it will be a time you will never forget."
Giddy with the thought of it all, Gigi rose, her eyes beaming.
"I must go tell my mother. Thank you."
With a quick curtsy, Gigi left the room. As she hurried through the manor, her mind was swirling with images that only buoyed her mood even more. At her mother's room a maid told her that her mother had walked out into the grounds, looking for Gigi.
Gigi left the manor and wandered through the paths, wanting to call to her mother, but afraid that would be seen as unladylike. Golden sunlight poured into the garden, warming her skin. Eventually she found her mother beneath a tall willow tree. The long branches swayed lazily in the breeze, moving to a rhythm she couldn't hear.
"Mother," she said.
Annaleigh turned to her daughter, a faint smile coming to her lips. But something in the brightness of Gigi's expression made her pause.
"What is it dearest?"
"Lord and Lady Brixton have invited me to stay with them for the summer and attend the King's Festival with them. Oh mother I never thought they would want me to stay!"
In contrast to Gigi's vibrant mood, Annaleigh was stricken.
"Dearest, when did this happen?"
At her mother's muted tone, Gigi felt herself settling.
"A moment ago."
Annaleigh rested a hand on Gigi's arm. It felt like a heavy weight that made her return from the scenes in her mind. The blaze of her excitement began to fade.
"Did you give them an answer?" her mother asked.
"Of course, I said yes."
Something in Annaleigh's face tightened like she was struggling to keep her emotions under her control.
"Dearest, I know how this world, this life might seem like a dream to you." She paused, as if holding in the storm of words that threatened to burst from her lips. She took in a deep breath. "This life, though beautiful from the outside, can be ugly. I left for a reason. It was not some fancy that over took me one night." She took Gigi's hands. "I made my decision because I felt it was the only one I could make and still find some happiness."
Confusion washed over Gigi, evaporating all the joy she had been feeling a moment before.
"I understand that, but one summer is not a lifetime," she said.
Annaleigh brushed aside a strand of Gigi's hair, a sad smile on her lips.
"Darling, do you really believe that you would be content after seeing all the splendor of this world to return to a life as a vagabond?"
"I don't know, but like you said, you lived in this life and chose to leave it. Do you not think me capable of making the same decision if it wasn't right for me?"
"I lived eighteen years in this world and knew I had to leave. I do not believe a summer would convince you of the same."
Gigi pulled her hands free of her mother's. "What if this life is for me? Did you ever think of that?"
"No, because this life is not a happy one."
"But these last few days have been happy for me," Gigi said. "I've gotten to know a part of my family I've never known. Why can't I take the chance to know them more?"
"You might not like what you find once you do." Annaleigh turned away from Gigi and looked up at the shifting branches as if trying to rein in her thundering thoughts. She turned back to Gigi, sorrow seeping into her eyes. "Darling, though a part of me still cares for my father and mother deeply, I can not deny that they are one of the reasons I left. I can not stand to leave you with them."
"What would you be leaving me with? Lady Brixton has been nothing but kind and loving since we arrived. I have a grandmother who cares about me, despite what I am."
Annaleigh took a deep breath. "It's not real Gigi, there is so much you do not see and could not understand."
Gigi waved her hands about, her brow furrowed. "What is it that you think I won't understand? You want me to leave without giving me a reason as to why."
For a long moment they stared at each other, Gigi's face full of confusion and Annaleigh's hard with indecision. The wind rustled though the tree, trailing with it the hum of the city. The sound was music to Gigi's ears.
"I see no reason to leave," she said, quietly.
Annaleigh stared at her daughter searching for words that would ring true, but not turn her against her.
"Gigi, you do not know them as I do," she said, talking slowly as if she didn't want to push the words out too hastily. "I know you can not see it, but they are hard, controlling people. Life under them was unbearable. You do not understand what you have and what you are giving up."
"They aren't like that. Maybe seventeen years ago they were, but not now. I can see it." Gigi took a step forward, her face open and earnest. "Look how Lady Brixton has been these last few days." She took her mother's hands. "She wants to know me. What kind of hard person would even offer such a thing to me, someone not worth seeing?"
Annaleigh placed her hand on the side go Gigi's face.
"Dearest, it's not real. This is not a life you could ever truly be happy in."
Gigi took a step back, letting go of her mother's hands.
"This life wasn't a happy one for you. But what if it could be for me." Gigi's face fell into a puzzled frown. "Don't you want me to have that?"
Annaleigh took a step forward and reached for Gigi but she pulled away before her mother could touch her.
"Gigi, of course I want that for you. That is why I left this world." She waved her hand towards the manor. "This is a facade of happiness. What we have with your father, Huck and everyone else is happiness."
"You mean a life where we're forever moving? Never actually having a home? Living from day to day? Not having enough food at times? Being sneered at where ever we go?" Gigi's expression fell into a mask of pain. "You think that is happiness?"
"It is far more happiness than these people will ever know," her mother said, her voice strong.
"For the first time I feel like I actually matter," Gigi said. "I don't feel less than a dog. A stain on the side of the road, that other people detest and look down on."
Annaleigh's face fell as she took a step forward.
"Do you really feel that way?" she asked, her voice tight.
Gigi stared down at her dress, brushing her hands over the smooth fabric.
"How could I not?" She looked up at her mother, then dropped her gaze. "The world believes I am nothing, what else was I suppose to think?"
Annaleigh closed the distance between them, placing her a hand on Gigi's shoulder, while the other titled her chin up.
"That is not true," she said.
Gigi looked into her mother's warm eyes.
"But isn't it? There is no one lower than us. We're where you're sent when no one else will take you. The scum of society."
"You are not the scum of society. You are my daughter and the most wonderful thing in my world."
Gigi broke away from her mother's hold. "That hasn't kept me from being cold at night, laughed at or hungry."
She looked down at the manicured grass the encircled the tree. There were spots where the roots broke through and created small hills in the even surface. She let out a sigh, but didn't look up.
"I'm going to stay," she said.
"Gigi, I can not leave you here."
Gigi raised her head. "I'm old enough to make this decision and I've decided."
"What about your father, Huck and your family?"
A faint smile came to Gigi's lips. "It's only for a summer." She gave a wry chuckle. "I'm still a vagabond, they might want to know me but in the end that's always what I will be."
The smile took full form and Gigi stepped forward and kissed her mother's cheek. The thoughts of the summer ahead flooded her mind and swept her up in a tide of giddiness.
"It is only for a summer and then I will return to you," she said.
She stepped back from her mother, her face beaming. Lost in her own wonder, she could not see the look of sadness that resided in her mother's eyes. She moved off towards the terrace, working hard to keep her feet from dancing as she went. Behind her, her mother watched with a feeling of dread.
******************
The next morning Gigi stood outside her mother's room, a soft robe wrapped tightly around her. She knocked quietly. When her mother called out, she entered. Annaleigh had her back to Gigi and was packing her saddle bags. She was dressed in the clothes they had arrived in.
Gigi walked in tentatively, her mother's silence overwhelming her. They had barely spoken a word to each other since the day before but Gigi hadn't noticed, too caught up in her grandmother's talk of plans. It wasn't until her mother had said goodnight and informed her she was leaving in the morning that Gigi felt the break between them.
"I came to see you off," Gigi said, trying to poke a hole in the stillness.
"That is very kind of you," her mother said.
She continued to pack, neatly tucking away clothes and supplies for the journey. Gigi moved about the lavish room that had been her mother's growing up. No object or heirloom gave this knowledge away. Walking to the windows, she stared out on the dawning day. With a quick glance at the sky, she turned back to her mother.
"The day is a good one to travel," she said.
Her mother nodded but made no comment. Worry creased Gigi's forehead, as she hurried to the bed side and looked pleadingly at her mother.
"Don't part with me like this," she said.
Annaleigh stilled and finally looked up at Gigi. There was a faint rim of red around her eyes and the slight darkness beneath them spoke of a sleepless night.
"Our family will be outside Taraben in three weeks time. If I am not happy, I will come home," Gigi said, rushing to fill a gap that was of her own making. "Even while I'm in Loria we usually travel there towards the middle of summer. I won't be that far from you."
Her mother reached for her face, but barely touched it.
"I'm afraid dearest, you will be so much further than you know," she said.
"It is only for a summer."
"Gigi, is there nothing I can say that would convince you to come with me now. Now before I lose you."
Gigi rushed forward and hugged her mother, breathing in the scent of soap and something that was only her.
"You will never lose me," she said.
Annaleigh held onto Gigi tightly, her head resting on her hair. They stayed that way, their thoughts touching for a moment before diverting again. Annaleigh kissed the top of Gigi's hair and released her.
"Tell father and Huck I will be coming back," Gigi said.
Her mother didn't respond but tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She kissed her forehead and pulled her back again. Their time was disturbed by a knock on the door. Annaleigh let go and called out. The door swung open and a servant stepped in and bowed.
"Your horse is ready, Lady Annaleigh," he said.
"Thank you."
The servant gave a nod of respect and left, shutting the door behind him. Annaleigh turned away from Gigi and finished the last of her packing. In silence, they left the room and moved through the quiet manor.
They passed very few servants, but all bowed or curtsied, their eyes trained on the attire that Annaleigh wore. Though worn and made of dark, dull colors, she wore her clothes with a grace that would never leave her. A grace that she said she was comfortable in her own skin, no matter whether she held a title or not. Gigi looked at her, longing for that same feeling.
Elkly greeted them at the main doors and followed them out. In the courtyard Annaleigh's horse stood at the ready, looking far more well feed than it ever had. Handing her bags off to the stable boy, Annaleigh turned around to face Gigi. A parade of emotions crossed her face, though she wore a smile strongly.
"Dearest, no matter what comes, remember I love you, as does your father and your family."
They embraced, Gigi holding onto the moment, suddenly aware of the distance and time that would separate them.
"I love you," she said, quietly.
Her mother tightened her grip. At the sound of approaching footsteps, they parted. Lord and Lady Brixton, dressed as immaculate as always, walked through the heavy, double doors. Lady Brixton stepped forward and took Annaleigh's hands, squeezing them.
"I am glad you came," she said.
Annaleigh graced her with a small forced smile. "As am I."
Lady Brixton stepped back and Lord Brixton shifted. He met Annaleigh's gaze and gave a small nod. She returned it with a curtsey.
"Annaleigh," he said as a means of farewell.
"Father."
She turned and walked down the steps. She hoisted herself into her saddle. The sight of her astride the horse made Lady Brixton stiffen slightly. Gigi hurried down the steps, making Lady Brixton flinch forward slightly as if to stop her, but she remained where she was, her words held back. Gigi stopped before her mother, looking up at her. Annaleigh smiled down at her, sadness apparent in her gaze.
"Be wise, my dearest," she said, caressing Gigi's cheek one last time.
"I will," Gigi said. She took a few steps back towards the manor. "Clear skies, mother."
Annaleigh nodded. Her gaze then travelled up to her parents.
"Look after her," she said, though the words had no hope in them, only a pang of loss.
"We will," Lady Brixton said.
Annaleigh gave one last look to Gigi, before nudging the horse and turning away. Gigi watched as the horse and figure moved down the lane, the hooves ringing on the peddles. They stopped for a brief moment at the gates before going through and falling out of sight. Before Gigi could be dragged into thoughts of doubt or the impulse to chase after her mother, her grandmother moved down the steps and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"Come, my dear," she said, turning Gigi away from the sight of the closing gates and guiding her back up the steps. "We have a lot to do."
**********************************************************************
Clear skies!
(Okay, so I'm stealing from myself but it's all I could think of.)
What do you think of Gigi's decision? Would you have made the same one?
It is a world she's never known and it is a lot nicer than her own so I can understand why she would say yes...kinda, she is leaving Huck behind which I don't approve of.
So, back when I was in Paris I was riding the Metro and these two guys got on. They were not just good looking but gorgeous. I swear they had just come from a modeling shoot or something because they were in suits and gosh they were so hot, like jaw-on-the-floor-a-puddle-of-drool-forming-at-your-feet-hot! ð¤¤
They sat across the way from me and let's just say I kept breathing but it might have been difficult. They sat as if they weren't even aware of how hot they were, it was just a state of being for them. Gosh I'm surprised I managed to not turn into a puddle. I was texting Kevin_Is_Tristan the whole time because he was in Paris with me and knew he would understand. (I don't know if that makes him sound gay but he's not). Let's just say it's good they got off a couple stops later because I think I would have been putty if they hadn't.
Anyways, have you ever come across a guy like that before? One where you just want to stare because it blows your mind someone can look so attractive?
Remember! Tomato, potato, lolato! (Or vote, comment, follow)