There Must Be a Reason

Chapter I: Blue

Hurry lady Annalise, your father planned to have a picnic with you," said Josette, one of An's favorite maids, "you know your father does not have much time before he leaves again. He was hoping to have this date with you!" As the youngest and only daughter to the Grand Duke Creighton, the wealthiest duke in the kingdom, he had many responsibilities and had little time to spend with his children.
"Yes, yes, I know! I just can't decide what necklace I should wear! I have not seen my father for two months!" Annalise's father travels to the palace to discuss trade with the royal family and is away most of the children's childhood, which is why all three of his children strive for his attention. And of course always wins, she is the duke's pride and joy.
"Yes of course my lady, I believe you should wear the blue sapphires, your father sent those in not too long ago, if I am not mistaken"
"That is a fantastic idea, Josette! Quickly fetch it for me!" Annalise said with pure excitement.

"When will An get here, I am beginning to get weary."
"Oh Lincoln, you are much too crabby, I think it's wonderful that our sister takes pride in her beauty."
" Finn, I just think that at her age she should not be too worried about those things, she's only just turned nine. I just do not want some old guy asking for a proposal, it has already happened!"
"That's true but it was the-!"
"That is no excuse! He is our age, Finn! Sixteen is much too old for our little Annalise!" The twin boys often fought about these topics when it came to their little sister. The butler has taken care of many fistfights because of the topic, but today is a special day, the family picnic! There will be no fights and no arguing...
"Boys, what is the meaning of this?"
" Father!" Both boys said in unison as they each grabbed their father's arms to lead him to the sitting room, "How was your trip? Did they mend the roads? I heard that they were bumpy on the way to the castle so you complained to the royal butler about it." Said Finnegan with sparkles in his eyes.
"It must have been a long journey, I do hope you tell us all about-"
"My little starlight! Annalise dear do come here!" Interrupting the duke, he saw his daughter begin to ascend the stairs and rushed over to greet her at the bottom.
"Father, Oh how I have missed you." She hurried as fast as she could without tripping down the grand staircase of the Creighton mansion, into her father's arms to greet him with a hug.
"Let us all go out to the garden to enjoy ourselves." The duke said with a smile, as he set down his daughter and turned to his sons.

"Tea miss?" Asked Josette, as she acted more formally than she would with Annalise on her own.
"Yes please, two lumps of sugar with it."
"Tea sir Finnegan?"
"Yes, thank you, Josette, no sugar," He responded with a slight smile, "Father how was your trip? We haven't seen you for two whole months so there needs to be something to speak about."
"It was quite boring, nothing too exciting, your mother informed me that you have yet to begin to plan your debut balls. It is coming up soon, if I were you I'd begin to start thinking of all of this." The duke said in return with a semi-cold look in his eyes, of course, he did not mean to look so cold it was just the duke's ora. He is a rich and powerful man and he has gotten so used to giving this look to people he is discussing trade with so people remember their place, he simply forgets to turn it off around his children. They know their father doesn't mean to upset them, but he seems to be able to turn it off with such ease when it comes to their little sister, for they envy her. For the rest of their picnic, they had small conversations, about politics, and how their studies were going; the duke complimented the boys on how well their academic work was going.
"Father," Lincoln began, "would you like to partake in a spar with Lord Finnegan and me?"
"No need to be so formal, son. Of course, I would like to spar with you! Ms. Josette, would you be so kind as to escort Lady Annalise to her courts?"
"Oh but father, could I please take a walk around the garden? I haven't gone in a while and it is such a nice day."
"I suppose it would be alright but do not go too far, stay inside the walls, please."
"We will make sure to keep her in our sight, my lord," Ms. Josette said, "Now my lady, where shall we go?"
"I would like to go and see the willow tree," Annalise said, rocking back and forth from her toes to heels with a grin on her face, and with a dimple on the side of her cheek. She turned and began to walk with elegance and grace with Josette standing off to her side ready to complete any task Annalise wished. As soon as they turned the corner around the corner of the tea house that stood at the entrance of the Creighton family garden, An began to run, not just a slight jog but a run. Josette was used to this behavior, she was expecting; in sight Lady Annalise is.. Well a lady, and out of sight her manners out of mind. Josette hadn't started to sprint after Lady Annalise until she had turned the corner herself, she knew the duke was watching her closely to make sure that she was eligible enough to take care of his pride and joy.
"M'lady please wait up, I am in my good apron for your father, and do not intend on getting a new one!" She said loud enough for An to hear but quiet enough that the duke could not have heard.
"It's alright I shall just purchase a new one for you if it gets messy, it would be my fault anyway." They began walking at a decent pace again as they saw and passed the gardener, who bowed to show respect to the only daughter of Duke Creighton. After they passed him they began to giggle. When they reached the great weeping willow tree that Annalise's great-great-grandfather had planted when he was a young child. Annalise gave the maid a smile with a certain look, Josette knew exactly what this meant, and she nodded. The young maid began to walk towards the path to stand guard while Annalise began to climb the tree to grab a box that was hidden within the fronds with many trinkets and notes. Josette never dared to ask what the notes were and why she treasured them so dearly, she was just as giddy to be the only person on earth to know about this little secret, she knows many little secrets about Annalise, but this secret is a little bigger than a little secret. Annalise always took a little while to look at each little thing in the box.
"M'lady! Someone is coming around the corner!" Annalise got startled and put everything back in the box with less care than she would normally and climbed up the weeping willow to put the small wooden box with flowers carved into the sides away. She climbed back down with a couple of leaves in her hair, which Josette quickly pulled out. Just as she was fixing her curls back to their original form to not be so frizzy, a scullery maid was walking by and was shocked when she was discovered to not be where she was meant to be, "Eleanor, why are you not in the kitchen?" The maid bowed in embarrassment.
"I am so very sorry I will be heading back that way now!" She began to scurry away toward the kitchen to attend to her duties of simply cleaning pots and pans. Annalise turned to Josette and began to giggle.
"That was a close one!" Josette said behind her hand with a slight giggle in her voice. They began to walk around the garden some more. An's favorite thing to do is pick flowers and enjoy the smells. She picked Red and Purple Roses, Daisies, Tiger Lilies, and Lilacs, but her favorite flowers are French Hydrangeas. For this reason, there are many bushes across the garden. They did this for about a half hour or so. The young lady wanted to bring the flowers up to her room and make bouquets to put by her bedside. She picked out a vase and had Josette call another maid, Jennifer, who is also a skilled florist, to prepare the bouquet.