The Farmer's Daughter

Princess Sunshine

I sat in the barn with Tim for God-knows how long. It could've been five minutes or an hour. It didn't matter. My time here was counted for either way. Oh mon Diue! I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands. "Annette?" I jumped, startled at his presence. I had forgotten that he was still with me. "Is everything alright? You look...lost." I scoffed a bit as I nodded my head. If I were to recount the times that I felt that that same feeling again, I would never end this story. "I'm just tired, Tim." I stared at my hands, memorizing every line and indent. "I had a tough evening."

The locket's cool surface slid across my collarbone. "Would you like to talk about it?" For the first time since I've been here, I smiled at him. "No," my hands twist my hair into a low pony. "Would you like to talk about why you've been avoiding me instead?" I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. "What?" He chuckled alongside my own laughter. "Pensais-tu que je n'etais pas attentif?" I leaned against a haystack, getting comfortable. It's odd how Tim made me feel safe. He made me all the tension in my body leave entirely. "Honestly, no. I didn't know you were paying attention." I scrunched my nose with embarrassment. "To me."

He sent me a lopsided grin. "How could I not?" Tim came over to me and sat down. "You are the sunshine to my day. My Princess Sunshine." He twisted a strand of my hair between his fingers. His words and his care hypnotized me. "Princess Sunshine?" I asked, breathless. I was falling in love with him. You know how love at first love feels like? I did in that moment. Just the two of us alone in the barn, it felt like I was home. I placed my head on his shoulder and forgot about all of my worries. I closed my eyes with a wistful wish on my tongue. One that I never uttered until much later.

I dreamt a dream that I could not remember the next morning. But I knew it was good. I knew I was happy, safe, and with Tim. I was his sunshine to his day, he said. And, oh, how desperately I wanted to be his princess sunshine.

* * * * *

"Est-ce que tu m'ecoutes, Marie-Annette?"

I pulled the needle in my hands too sharply, snapping the thread for the third time. "Merde!" Madame smacked the back of my head at the filthy word. "Watch your mouth," Madame scolded me with a frown on her face. "You have been spending too much time with that boy, Philipe." I rethread my needle as I smiled mischievously. "Philipe is a perfect gentleman and to answer your question, yes I was listening to you." She harrumphed, brutally stabbing the bejeweled corset that was customed ordered earlier today.

"You most definitely were not!" I didn't let her outburst bother me. She always got distressed when it was time to deliver the parcels to her clients. A few went out this morning with her delivery boy. Madame had to fire the last one because he was late to pick up the parcels. The one before last was fired because one parcel opened accidentally. In the shop. "If you were, you would've heard me ask you a question." I continued to embroider red roses on the skirt that I was working on currently. "And what question was that, Madame?" Today, Madame gave me a thimble to my fingers intact. I had scabs on certain fingers from yesterday. "I asked, what has gotten you smiling like that? Every time you look up from your work, you smile." Did I? I couldn't recall that.

I bit my lip to keep myself from smiling again. "Is it that boy? Comment s'appelle-t-il deja?" She tapped a finger against her lips as she thought. "Ah, Tim?" My cheeks flared up with a heated blush. I hid my face, focusing on my sewing. "I have yet to see him in town. If it weren't for your father, I could've sworn he didn't exist." Great, papa. Genial! Papa and Madame speaking about Tim is just what I needed. "You could've told me about this boy, Annie. Tell me about him!" I sighed and dropped the dress on the table. "Just like you told me about mes grand-parents." I grabbed my satchel from the floor. "Funny, I haven't seen them in town either." Madame pouts and threw some scrap material at me. I stuck my tongue out at her before I ran out the door laughing.

I'll go visit Philipe until I'm sure Madame is no longer angry at me. I giggled as her red, exasperated face came to mind. "Bonjour, Annie!" The monsieur of the bakery greeted me. His cheeky round face smiled broadly at me, waving his arm to and fro. "Bonjour!" He's one of the few that has always treated me too kindly. I taught his boy mathematics and now he's at universite. Whenever he sees me around town, he would tell me to come to his bakery to take a few pastries home. "N'oubliez pas de venir a la boulangerie, Annie!" He reminded me like always. "Je n'oublierai pas, monsieur!" He nodded satisfied and trotted back into his shop.

The wind blew my hair across my face as I continued to walk towards Philipe's home. But, just as I was about to cross the street, a man stepped in front of me. My heart pounded at the sudden movement of this stranger. "Bonjour, mademoiselle," the man greeted me with a small bow. "Etes-vous Marie-Annette DuPond?" I looked at him nervously. I cannot imagine that I've seen this man before, let alone met him. He's an older gentleman with greying hair and serious frown lines on the corner of his eyes and mouth. His clothes were refined and cleaned. It demonstrated his social standing as well as the house he works for. The family's crest was on his lapel. The same one that was molded on my locket.

The man's tailored suit is black with a light blue vest and white undershirt. All of it was eloquently primmed and styles. "Oui, monsieur," my feet shuffled nervously, "Je suis Marie-Annette DuPont Gagneux." I anxiously eyed the onlookers walking on the street. We are too exposed to the entire town. This man is english. "Erm, je vous connais? My papa is on deliveries. If you wish to speak to him, you must go to pass the bridge to our farm. He'll be there tonight." I stepped around him with my satchel tightly clutched within my hands. This cannot be happening.

"Pardon moi, mademoiselle DuPont," he stopped me again, "but I am not here to speak with your father. I am here to bring you to my Lady." His piercing blue eyes demanded authority and respect. I so desperately wanted to escape. All my happiness dulled as quick as lightning strikes the heavens. To run all the way home and lock the door behind me. Perhaps if I had, then nothing would've gone the way it did. But I didn't. I went with him to my grandmother.