Broken

In sickness and in health.

       Every little girl has their dream fairytale. Some might be that they get a unicorn, others might be they find a prince charming like the ones in books. And that was Anna's. But Anna's prince charming wasn't an actual prince with a royal family. Her prince charming lived in Small Heath.

When Adrian Decker leaves, Anna's blood is boiling. How could her mother do that? She couldn't even give her a heads up? Not even bother telling her?

"What the hell is wrong with you Annabelle? Do you want to have a nice life? With a nice man? A man who will take care of you and your children? A man you wont let you go hungry? A man who puts clothes on your back and a roof over your head?"

"I can do that perfectly fine by myself. I do not need a man to take care of me."

"Every women needs a man to take care of them Anna."

"Well then I'm not every women apparently. We need to leave, we're going to be late."

"Wait until your father hears about this."

"I'll make sure to tell him if that'll make you feel better mum."

"You're going to be married, whether it's with that man or not. You are going to have a nice life and I will make sure of it."

"Yeah you're right. I will get married and I will have kids with a man who will take care of me, and put a roof over my head and clothes on my back, and show me what love really is. I'm going to marry a man who I know, and who knows me, and we'll get married when we love each other and when we know the time is right. And we'll have kids when the time is right. I am not going to marry a man just because he is rich and he's from a higher class family. I am not and will not have an arranged marriage. End of discussion."

Anna wanted to say that she was going to marry Tommy, because she is. It's been her dream for so long. All she's ever wanted was Thomas.

"Now, I hope you're ready. We have to go."

Anna grabbed her purse and so did Isabelle and walked out of the house.

"This is not end of discussion by the way." Isabelle said.

"Whatever you say mum."

...

"Annabelle would you mind waiting out in the hall?" The doctor said.

Anna looks at her mum waiting for approval.

"Go, it's okay."

As Anna sits in a chair in the hallway of a hospital, she thinks about Adrian. Well not really him, but she thinks about arranged marriages. Yes, some have lasted, some have fell in love, but she already as fell in love. Anna doesn't want anyone else other than Tom.

Anna knows that her mother is going to speak with her father. And there's 3 things that going to happen. 1) Her father doesnt want her to go off and marry Adrian (which is the right option) 2) Her father wants her to marry Adrian, and 3) Her father forces her to marry Adrian and move to Boston and leave everything behind. There's a good chance he might choose option 3. And if he did, Anna could just move to France where Thomas will be and they can live there when he's done with war.

But they could never do that. They can't leave everything behind. Just like she can't with Adrian. She will not with Adrian. She will not do anything with Adrian. She doesn't want to see him again, let alone hear of him again.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Isabelle walking out.

"Let's go."

"Everything's okay? Do you need for medicine? Cause I can stop by—

"No I don't. Let's just go Anna."

Something was up. But her mother never talked so she wasn't even gonna bother. The doctor just probably told her something she didn't want to hear and she got mad and walked out, like usual.

"Mrs Silver? There is a phone call for you." A nurse said

Isabelle walked to the desk to answer her call even though she wanted to just leave.

"Hello? Hi Polly. Oh dear. Uh huh, yes, uh huh. Well I will talk to her. Why yes. Okay, uh huh, alright. Yep, bye bye."

"What did Pol want?"

"She was telling me how the Shelby boys are going to war, and you didn't tell me."

"Well I thought you wouldn't care."

Isabelle stopped in her tracks.

"And why on earth would I not care Anna?"

"Seriously? You've never liked the Shelby boys. Why would I tell you?"

"I never said I didn't like them. I said I didn't like you playing in the mud with them. You're not a boy, you're a growing women. You should be proper. Not spitting and running around dirty streets with boys!"

Anna scoffed and walked out. She did not have time to be dealing with this right now. They needed to get home.

"Don't walk away from me Annabelle!"

Anna stops in her tracks and turns around to face her mum

"Mum, look around. You're causing a scene."

Isabelle does look around and indeed, she did cause a scene, because now basically everyone is staring at her.

"Come on, mum."

...

As Anna was finishing up dinner, she heard the door open.

"Dad?"

"Yes i'm home."

"Richard! We need to talk."

Richard walks into the kitchen and sees Anna.

"Do I want to know what your mother wants to talk about?"

"It's about me. She brought over a man who she wants me to marry. I said no, of course, and we got into an argument and she's been waiting to tell you all about it."

"Anna.."

"I know, dad. You guys want me to go off and marry some rich man and live a posh life. But what about what I want? Why can't I, for once in my life, make a choice for myself. We are talking about marriage. Tell me, how much do you know about Adrian Decker?"

"I know his father. Nice man. Good in business."

That was the answer Anna knew she was going to get.

"Do you know about him other than what London knows about him?"

"Well.. no, but—

"Exactly. We know nothing about him when he's behind closed doors. That man is, what, in his 30s? I'm 17, dad."

Anna paused for a second. She really did not want to flip out on her father.

"Just please, think about what I want. Please."

"I'm going to speak with your mother."

Anna sighs. Whatever she said probably didn't even phase her dad. This is just how life was now. She had to suck it up.

Like always.