Read Online Remembered by E. D. Brady - Free Book Online Page A

drank tea and picked apart the latest book.
    “The one I handed you before is even better. I believe you’ll
enjoy it even more,” Mrs. Wellum said. She proceeded to give Annie a brief
summary of the plot.
    When Annie was finished with her tea, she stood to leave,
throwing her cardigan back on.
    “Are you all ready for the mid-spring festival next week?”
Mrs. Wellum asked.
    “Yes, it should be a great evening,” Annie answered. “I’ve
never gone before. This is the first year that the twins are old enough to
attend.” She walked slowly towards the front door.
    “It’s a wonderful opportunity for a beautiful young woman to
mingle with available men,” Mrs. Wellum said with a cunning grin.
    “It could be a very interesting event, then,” Annie replied.
    “I hope you have something wonderful to wear. I don’t doubt
that you’ll be much admired as it is, but a stunning dress would leave every
other young woman paling in comparison.”
    Annie blushed at the compliment.
    “It was at such a festival that I met Mr. Wellum,” Mrs.
Wellum added. “Perhaps you’ll be as lucky and meet the man of your dreams.”
    Annie felt a little giddy with anticipation as she left Mrs.
Wellum’s house with another book and a package of fresh fish—a gift from Mr.
Wellum—tucked under her arm.
    Before she took a step from the front of the house, she
noticed, with uneasiness, that the apprentices were making their way back down
the hill, and Mrs. Wellum had already closed the door, leaving her with no
excuse to go back inside. 
    If she hurried, she would be able to make it to her front
door before they reached that far. She walked briskly—almost running—back up
the road.
    It was a terrible blunder.
    She should have waited in Mrs. Wellum’s front yard until
they passed, pretended that she was looking for some dropped object. Instead,
she huffed up the hill, heading straight for ten glaring faces, out of breath,
blushing bright red, and worse still, she would not make it to her front door
before them.
    Approximately ten feet from the approaching front line, she
stopped. She could have crossed the narrow road and waited for them to pass. It
would have seemed courteous, as though she was giving them the right of way,
but that is not what she did. She came to a complete standstill in the center
of the road, unable to think straight, and waited for them to barrel into her.
    Mercifully, they made a narrow opening for her to walk
through.
    It was beyond any form of humiliation she had ever known.
    Almost every one of them smirked at her embarrassment as she
pushed her way through.
    She grew so flustered that she lost her footing and stumbled
forward. She felt someone grab her arm, but not before the book and package
fell to the ground.
    She prayed for sudden death.
    He was in front of her instantly; the beautiful one. He bent
down and picked up her package and book, then began walking up the hill away
from the others. She realized that he did not intend to hand her stuff back,
but was walking her to her front door. He didn’t smirk like the rest. Instead,
he gave her a reassuring smile.
    When she was safely in front of her house, he handed back
her things. With a smile and a bow, he turned and ran to join his group. She
stared after him and was caught, again, when he turned around to give her one
final smile.
    She was smitten.
    “What happened to you?” Cora asked as Annie put the fish in
the freezer. “Why is your face so flushed?”
    “Nothing happened. I ran up the hill.” She didn’t look in
her sister’s direction. Cora would spot the lie in a heartbeat.
    At only seventeen-years-old, Cora was wise beyond her years,
and extremely intuitive. She was outspoken, sarcastic, stubborn, but also
intensely loyal and extremely loving, and she had a brilliant sense of humor.
    Max was her opposite in personality. He was quiet and
thoughtful, courteous and sensitive. Sometimes it was hard to remember that he
sat in the same