Barrow's Boy - A Downton Abbey Fanfiction

Abigail

Happy International Women's Day! 

Here's some Abi for you all!

     Nobody knows the exact reason why they exist. They can't ask a deity what their purpose is and get a response, nor can they find the answer written in hieroglyphs on a wall. Some would say that one finds the answer within yourself, while others argue that there is simply no reason for one's existence at all. 

     Whatever the why was, Abigail Bennett couldn't know. All she knew for sure was that she did not exist to be a trophy, an accessory for a man to show off, or a simple vessel for a man to reproduce. 

     She was worth a lot more than that. 

     The men that Edward or Papa brought in for dinner typically eyed Abigail in a way akin to how she had seen Mama viewing her newest jewellery. Pieces that Papa brought home to end their marital spats, always telling her that "only the best could be seen on a wife of his. On a Bennett lady." The jewels wore Charlotte Bennett, large gems dangling from her earlobe or resting against her chest from the chain around her neck. As a young girl, Abi had watched with fascination as her father would grab Mama's wrists and clasp a bracelet on each. As she grew older, the pattern emerged. One moment, they would be fighting over whether Abi should be allowed to continue playing with "the Wilson boy and that Barrow kid." The next time Abi saw them together, her mother would have something new to wear. 

      Abi looked at the bracelet on her own wrist. It was the only piece of jewellery she wore these days, with good reason. 

     Teddy's words rang in her head. "Only beautiful things for my beautiful girl." They hadn't fought before he gifted it, nor had there been any looming events that she had to look her best for. There hadn't been a reason or a purpose to it. He'd simply been reminded of her and purchased it. 

      And that was why Abi loved him. Abigail loved the boy who made an effort to understand who she truly was. Who took the time to know what she liked, to know that a subtle piece like this would be much preferred to an elaborate display of every diamond the designer could fit. And, deep down, Abi knew that Teddy would not have minded if she never wore the thing. If she tossed it in the back of her wardrobe, never to see the light of day again, he would not make her dig it in, nor would he try to force a different bracelet onto her wrist. 

     It was fitting, Abigail supposed, that her father was eager to set her up with an heir of Pavone Jewellers.

      It took a month before anyone in her family noticed the jewellery on her wrist, and even then, it was mentioned by the one who only had one functioning eye to see it with.

      "Abigail?" Edward asked. He, Abi, and Charlotte had been sitting in their drawing room, Abi working on a recent piece of Teddy in her sketchbook. She hid the image against her chest as she looked at him. "That bracelet, is it new?"

     "Oh." Abi looked at her wrist, then back at her cousin. "Yes. It is."

     She turned back to her sketch but wasn't given long to work on Teddy's eyes as the conversation, for some reason, continued. 

     "Is it from Andreas?" Mama asked, having placed her stitching in her lap to look at her daughter. 

     "No. It wouldn't be very appropriate for Andreas to send me jewellery."

     "Whyever not?" Abi's father asked, walking into the room with a stack of papers in hand.

      "Really, Papa?" It had recently become much more common for Abigail to question her father's intelligence. "I thought you, of all people, would be against a boy sending jewellery to a girl he's not even courting."