Annalise Starke had known her mother was going to die eventually; she just hadn't expected it to happen so soon.
At fifteen she had moved with her mother back to her home country of Australia with half a heart (metaphorically, of course) and her mo...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
𓇼
"ᴏɴʟʏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴇᴇᴘᴇꜱᴛ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴜᴀᴅᴇ ᴍᴇ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴛʀɪᴍᴏɴʏ, ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ɪꜱ ᴡʜʏ ɪ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴇɴᴅ ᴜᴘ ᴀɴ ᴏʟᴅ ᴍᴀɪᴅ," Lizzie said with a laugh.
I was sitting on the couch watching Pride and Prejudice—the 2005 version, of course—when I heard the front door. I turned, watching as my father heaved his stuffed-to-the-brim carry-on through the door, before letting it slam behind him.
"Hey, Dad, how was your trip?" I asked, pausing the movie.
He sighed. "Good. It was good." He kicked off his shoes, leaving them abandoned by the door, and came to stand beside the couch. "I got a lot done. I likely won't have to travel again until next week."
Only a week?
"That's...good," I tried to be enthusiastic.
He cracked a smile. "Anything interesting happen while I was gone?" He asked, taking a seat beside me on the couch. He sighed, sinking into the cushions. "Oh, Pride and Prejudice (2005), controversial choice."
I scoffed. "Of course you would say that!" He grew up on the 90s version, so he would think it was superior. But he would also be wrong. "I usually love Colin Firth, but Keira Knightley is the superior Lizzie Bennett, and there's just something about Matthew Macfadyen."
"Yeah—something wrong. Colin Firth is clearly the correct choice." It wasn't lost on me that he didn't mention the 90s Lizzie. Something we both agreed on. "What brought this on? You only usually break out the Pride and Prejudice fix when you're stressed about something."
I shook my head. "Not this time." That might've been the case in the past, but in recent years, I got my fix of everything from this movie. Romance, check. Sisterhood, check. Wholesome family, check. Yearning, check. Pride and Prejudice always fixed whatever was wrong, or accentuated whatever was right. "I think I just needed a classic romance. After all—"
"Jane Austen knew what women wanted all the way back in 1812," Dad finished for me.
I craned my neck. "Hey!" I scolded, and he only laughed beside me, and for some reason, that's when I remembered the call. "I just remembered, we got a strange phone call while you were gone. It said the caller ID was unavailable, and whoever it was didn't say anything. I just wanted to ask if it could've possibly been a client before I get all creeped out," I joked.
At first, Dad didn't respond. Then, he took a deep breath in, and exhaled. "Why don't you go and grab your brother," he suggested. "I want to talk to you both about something."
My brows furrowed. "About the phone call, or..."
He waved me off. "I will explain everything to you both when you get back."
