Chapter 6

After the shock of realization faded, I began reading through the rest of the journal. From what I could gather, in this “life”, my mother had died when I was little and I hardly remembered her. As I read about it, I couldn’t help but tear up a little, remembering how close that my mother and I had been throughout my life. But it was different here. Everything was different here.

My father was a general in the King’s military and, since I had no other family, I had lived with him and his crew on the ocean for the majority of my life, occasionally “coming to port” as I had called it in my journal. The crew had come to be my family.

There were people that stood out as I read. Names like Edgar, William, and others still that I couldn’t even begin to put a face with the name, all of whom obviously worked on the ship. As I kept reading, one name kept becoming more and more frequent. Thomas. I was beginning to get more and more curious about his importance and what had brought it up so abruptly when, as if to answer my question, a note fell from the back of the book onto the floor. I opened it up and began to read it, blushing as I realized what it was, a love letter.

My Dearest Anna,

You looked astonishing last night in your lovely emerald gown that you wore to your father’s party. I have been counting the days until the next party in his quarters at which I will see you again. I doubt you have the slightest idea of how much it brightens my day to see even the slightest glimpse of you, Anna. I do presume that your father has taken it well that we are seeing each other, seeing as I still have my skin. As you have requested, I have told no others of our affections for each other sole for William ( I think he would’ve beaten me if I hadn’t eventually told him what was going on )

Until we meet again,

Thomas

I folded the note and put it back in it’s original place and continued to read the rest of the journal. I read tales about how I was often getting myself into trouble. Usually, it was small things like hiding some of the men’s belongings and forcing to go on a scavenger hunt to retrieve them. But recently, I had started doing more daring and dangerous things. A new habit of mine was to sneak out at night, steal one of the small boats, and row to the nearest island where I would explore, hide out, and wait for my rescue. These “little adventures” as I called them in my journal usually only lasted a day at the most. In my last entry, though, I wrote about plans for the “grandest adventure”. This time, I had planned to make the search last longer than a day.

After reading the last of it, I closed the journal and replaced it in the desk drawer. After putting everything back in it’s rightful place, I walked to the chest at the end of my bed and looked inside. Laying on top was a velvet green dress, obviously the one Thomas had referred to in the note.

It was long, flowing, and accented with lots of lace and pearls. I lifted it out of the chest and held it against myself, and then tried it on. It was obviously handmade, I thought to myself, never before had I worn anything that fit so perfectly. Turning to look in the mirror for the first time, I paused to marvel once more. This time, though, I was marveling at myself. My face was almost exactly the same, except for my skin and hair. My skin had been tanned and dried by years at sea and a light sprinkling of freckles lay themselves across the bridge of my nose. I also noticed that my nose and cheekbones were a little pinkish due to recent sun exposure.

My hair seemed many shades lighter and a bit dryer, almost frizzy and straw like in some places, also from time at sea. And it was longer, much longer than I had had it in New York. My hair usually didn’t go far past my shoulders but now it was almost down to the middle of my back. I didn’t like it. I quickly scrounged around and found a ribbon before tying it up in a small bun at the back of my head to keep it out of the way.

Taking off the green dress, I laid it out on the bed and pulled out the next dress. It was a soft blue canvas fabric, the color of the sky, and much more simple than the first one. I found it to be more like one that women of this time would wear everyday. I marveled at it a bit before trying it on. Once again, it fit perfectly, just like the first one. I spun around and smiled to myself as I felt it billow around my legs. I wanted to look through the chest and find another dress to try on when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in…”

Thomas walked in first, followed by my father. Thomas was smiling, like he usually did, but my father looked more serious. “Anna, due to your recent ‘little adventures’, I’ve decided that you need someone to watch you and keep you in line…” Thomas began to grin wider and took a step closer to me. I could immediately tell where this was going.