Her face too is distracting. I have just begun to admire it when suddenly Bella makes her move. Her hand moving quick as a snake, she snatches the handkerchief poking out of my dinner jacket pocket. Then she’s streaking away, fleet as a deer.
“Catch me if you can!” Bella calls, laughing over her shoulder.
I take off behind her and we begin a wild chase across the boat. Dodging crewmembers and passengers alike, we sprint through the corridors and zigzag through the ship. Finally we end up back in the garden, panting and laughing. She playfully tucks the handkerchief back into my black dinner jacket as we walk into a vine-covered gazebo.
The moon shines high overhead in a cloudless sky. The stars twinkle down on us.
Bella leans against a pillar. Without thinking, I place my hands to the rails on either side of her, my arms from soft walls against escape.
But Bella has no thoughts of escape. Her hands snake around my waist and pull me close. Then her lips are on mine and I stop thinking of anything else.
Her lips are soft and warm and send shivers throughout my skin. My whole body’s tingling and an onslaught of sensations flow in through my lips. Fire consumes me; her lips whisper across mine, sending coded messages of passion and desire. I don’t know how long the kiss lasts. All I know is that I never want it to end. This moment, right here, is perfect.
Annabell
The kiss is too short, so I pull him in for another. We kiss and kiss. Happiness has been all but absent from my life, but in those few moments I feel boundless joy. Even if I end my life without ever being compelled to smile or laugh again, I will be content.
Finally Hans leans back, laughing.
“I have an idea.” he says.
Hans sneaks off and soon returns with a humongous slice of cake and two forks.
“She’ll never know.” Hans murmurs in my ear.
I smile and know he’s right. The cake is delicious and it really does taste like Angel Food. It’s the best thing I’ve eaten in forever. We share it, and the cake is gone far too quickly. So, Hans sneaks out and returns with another piece. We eat that one too and sit back, absolutely stuffed.
On the garden bench, we kiss some more. Then we sneak back to the ball and slow dance to perfect flowing melodies. I lean my shoulder against his chest and feel as if I am filled with happiness.
Chapter 6: Waking Up
Hans
The night ends too soon. The whole evening is a dream and I never want to wake up. But wake up I do, both literally and figuratively, at 6 AM the next morning.
“Hey, wake up!” a loud voice booms in my ear.
I open my bleary eyes to the rugged young face of Cody.
“Dude, nice job last night!” he practically shouts in my ear. My head pounds and my eyelids feel thick and heavy: I wonderful if it is possible to have a kissing hangover.
Cody puts his hand up for a high five and I slap it without even thinking of the meaning. Slowly the details are starting to pour back into my head. What I did last night was NOT something to be proud of.
“That was a masterful job of thievery!” Cody croons in my ear. Guilt pours into me and I wonder why I’m bothering to pretend celebration. I’m awake enough now to realize the meaning of the high five.
“No it wasn’t.” I groan, trying to shake him off.
“Dude, you managed to slip off her locket while dancing with her. That’s pretty good skills, man!”
“Who cares? It wasn’t the right Annabell Delancey anyways.” I grunt.
“What do you mean it wasn’t the right Annabell Delancey?”
“Both the girl and her mother are named Annabell Delancey. I stole the wrong necklace.”
“What are you worrying about? Dude, you didn’t steal the wrong necklace. You stole the right necklace. I checked it out, and it is exactly what we were looking for!”
“No way.” I say, filled with disbelief and dread at the double-meaning of his words.
“Yes way. It’s pay day, man!”
Chapter 7: Dreams
Annabell
I wake up long before my parents and lie in bed for a while. I am absolutely filled with happiness. A smile is stuck on my face. As I lie under my blankets I experience a soaring feeling that makes me feel as if I am flying.
I dress in a bright colored sundress and then make my way quietly out of our family’s suite and down into the ship’s dining room.
As soon as I enter, a middle-aged man hurries over to talk to me. He seems very excited.
“A pleasure to meet you.” he says, performing an elaborate bow. “My name is Christobald Renaldo.”
I shake his hand and reply.
“My name is Annabell Delancey.”
“A pleasure, a pleasure.” He continues to enthusiastically shake my hand before finally breaking away.
“Ms. Delancey,” he addresses me with surprising formality, “I am from a London ballet company that performs at the Royal Opera House. We are looking for talented young dancers to take on as apprentices. I saw you dancing last night and I think you're what we are looking for. Are you interested in someday becoming a professional ballet dancer?”
I am stunned. All I have ever wanted is laid out right in front of me. I answer with the first question that pops into my head.
“Will I be paid?”
“Yes, of course!” Mr. Renaldo says, looking disgusted that I ever had to ask such a question. “Room and board will be provided for as well.” he pauses for a moment, then repeats “Does that interest you?”
I finally find my voice, and speak out loud and clear.
“When can I start?”
“That’s the spirit!” Mr. Renaldo pats me on the back, absolutely delighted. We go through the breakfast buffet. Then we sit at a table together and Mr. Renaldo tells me the details of the ballet apprenticeship.
My heart is soaring. I’ve finally found the escape I’ve been longing for… and it's better than all my wildest dreams.
Hans
I find her probably 3 hours later. She's positively skipping with happiness. I've resolved that now I'll finally tell her the truth. But when I see how happy she is, all my resolution melts away.
"Hey, sweetie." I say, grabbing her hand as she skips by and pulling her into an empty hallway.
Bella gasps and then realizes it's me.
"You scared me!" she cries, but doesn't sound at all mad.
"My apologies." I tell her, grinning. "Now, tell me why you are smiling so big."
"Because of you." Bella says, reaching forward to brush my hair out of my eyes. I can tell there's more to her answer, so I wait.
"Have you ever had a dream that you’ve been waiting for your whole life to come true?” she blurts out.
I nod, but don’t go into details.
“The only thing I can ever remember wishing for is to be a dancer. To me, dancing is euphoria. It is pure ecstasy, jubilation and joy. Sometimes I feel as if I am pirouetting on water, soaring through the air, waltzing through fire. When I dance, the impossible is possible.”
“You’re a beautiful dancer, Bella.” I tell her with feeling. “No, beautiful isn’t a strong enough word. When you dance, it makes my heart turn somersaults and my stomach do acrobats. Dancing is a part of you the same way music is a part of birds. You are a dolphin when you flow with the music; filled with the stunning joy of movement and so graceful that it takes my breath away.”
Bella’s eyes have filled with tears of feeling. “Thank you, Hans. That was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. You are a true poet, or maybe a magician. I love the way you contort words and expressions to convey strength of feelings. The feelings you just described should have been impossible to explain, and yet you managed.”
I duck my head with embarrassed humility.
“Thank you, Bella. You are very kind. But please, continue with your story.”
Bella nods, and returns to the topic of her dancing dream.
“This morning I ran into Mr. Christ
obald Renaldo, from a London ballet company. He wants to hire me as an apprentice. I’ll have a place to stay, have money to live on, everything I could ever dream of! I will be able to start as soon as we get off this boat and finally say goodbye to my miserable parents.”
"Bella, that's wonderful!" I say, pulling her close for a hug. My mind is forming fantasies that I can't seem to force away. My job is in London and that's where Bella will be living. I know she's young right now, but if I waited for a few years...
I know this is crazy because we've just met, but I can't help it.
We kiss then, and thinking is impossible. It's just the feeling of her lips on mine, her hands in my hair. My hands rest on her back. The world is on fire, and if possible I feel even more passion than I did last night.
After a while, Bella pulls away.
"Let's explore the ship." she whispers in my ear.
I nod. I know the real reason for this is so we can be together in a place where Bella’s parents won’t notice us. Holding hands, we make our way through endless ship corridors. We've only been on the cruise two days in our three-week long journey, meaning there are still new places to see and rooms to find. After a while, we decide to sneak into the second-class area. I'm glad no one looked too closely at us; our guilty faces would have given it all away. Enjoying the cloak-and-dagger feeling, we eventually make our way back to first class.
I love this ship, the RMS Veendam. She's huge and top quality. In first class, every room is gilded and filled with elegant furniture. Attendants in blue and red uniforms patrol the halls saying "Need anything, sir?" or "Need anything, miss?" I would never be able to afford first class myself, but my company paid for passage on this ship.
The people here are all filthy rich. The men wear suits all the time and the women's dresses follow the newest fashions. Dinner every night is a many course affair with white-coated servers and live entertainment. I revel in the luxury of it all and enjoy it while I can. All too soon I'll be back in my dingy London apartment.
Chapter 8: Missing
Annabell
We roam the ship and talk for hours. At last I can put it off no longer. Lunch has long since passed. I must return to my parent's room to dress for dinner. I bid Hans goodbye and hurry down the long ship corridors.
The moment I enter our apartments, I can sense trouble brewing. Sylvia greets me immediately to take my coat. Her constantly present smile is absent and she says nothing.
Filled with dread, I turn to enter the sitting room. My parents are waiting for me, of course.
"Annabell, where is your mother's locket?" my father yells the moment I walk through the doors.
"I don't have it." I say, my voice loud and clear. How could he know that I had the locket? Maybe I can still get away with this!
"Don't lie to us, you disobedient little girl! Your mother saw you wearing the locket!" My heart sinks. "Now get moving, you have one minute to bring it to us!"
I sprint to my room and tear open my jewelry box. I riffle through the drawers and then search my things randomly. Where is it?
"Minute's up." my father yells, "You had better have that locket..." his voice trails off, thick with implication.
I delay as long as I can to continue searching, but at last I am forced to return to the sitting room empty handed.
"Where is it?" his voice is filled with anger and impatience, "This is no time for games, just give us the locket."
"I don't have it." I say.
"Don't have it?" my father's voice continues to rise dangerously, "You just had it last night. Now, WHERE HAS IT GONE?" His fist slams down on the table. My mother flinches, but says nothing.
"I don't know." I say again.
He waits for more, his face seething with anger.
"And...?" he waits for me to fill in more.
"I...I...I think I lost it." I stammer out.
"Lost your mother's necklace? LOST YOUR MOTHER'S NECKELACE?" he slowly advances as the abuse pours out of his mouth, "You stupid little girl, you had NO RIGHT to steal your mother's property! And then you LOSE THE FREAKING NECKELACE! You are an immature filthy piece of SCUM! You are a complete DISGRACE!" Insults continue to stream out of my father's mouth as he draws closer and closer.
I am quivering from both indignation and rage against his insults. I want to scream at him, to punch him so hard he can't get back up. But fighting will only make this worse. I just have to wait a little longer. Then I'm free! I can be a dancer like I always dreamed.
These thoughts swirl through my head until finally he is upon me. Then his fist slams into my face and everything goes black.
Hans
I look for Bella at dinner. Where is she?
I watch Bella's father walk in and a woman who must be her mother. The features on the face of Bella's mother exactly match Bella. But her face is sterner somehow, and less open. It greatly detracts from the beauty I've come to appreciate in those familiar features. I recognize the father, of course, due to my endless surveillance missions. The couple sits down together at an otherwise empty table. They look innocent enough, though I know this is a deception.
Throwing all caution to the wind, I decide to join them. My curiosity and worry over Bella's absence overcome my common sense.
I walk over to the table and bow.
"May I join you?"
The father answers in an oily voice.
"Our pleasure." He motions to an empty seat, and I take my place across from Annabell Delancey.
"Hans Sohne." I introduce myself, holding out my hand to Mr. Delancey. He firmly shakes mine.
"I am Rufus Delancey and this is my wife, Mrs. Annabell Delancey."
I shake her hand too. It is small and delicate. Mrs. Delancey's attempted look of harmless feminism is lost by brilliant blood red nails. I think they look terrifying.
We go through the usual pleasantries of "Where are you from?" and "Isn't the weather nice today?" as guests file in around us. Soon our 12-person table is full.
I talk with the people surrounding me and avoid addressing the Delanceys. Mr. Delancey seems like quite the slick character and his wife is scary. But while I converse with my friendly neighbors, I keep an ear on the Delancey's conversation. Finally, I find the information I have been waiting for.
"Where is your beautiful daughter today, Mrs. Delancey?" asks a plump middle-aged woman.
Mrs. Delancey exchanges a quick look with her husband and then laughs lightly. "Oh, the silly little girl just tripped over her own feet! She's in bed and her head aches terribly, poor thing."
The occupants of the table murmur in sympathy, me included. But something seems wrong. Bella's the most graceful girl I've ever met. She'd never just trip over her own feet...
Chapter 9: Guilt
Annabell
I wake up and my head hurts so bad that I gasp. Immediately, Sylvia is at my side.
"Oh, you poor thing." she murmurs, laying a bag of ice over my eyes. It feels wonderful and I sigh as the cool ice numbs the pain.
"What happened?" I begin to ask her, but then it all comes rushing back to me.
I see my father's face filled with rage, and the fist slamming straight into my head.
It's strange that my father got so mad about the necklace. He rarely does anything worse to me than a slap in the face. Probably the hangover from last night's dance put him in a really foul mood. I can think of no other explanation. The simple silver locket could hardly be considered valuable. It is certainly the plainest piece of jewelry in my mother's collection.
"It was the plainest piece of jewelry." I correct myself. Now the necklace is gone and I have no explanation for why. I was so distracted during the ball (I feel myself blushing) that anything could have happened to the necklace. I certainly don't remember taking it off, meaning the locket was lost sometime during the dance.
My musings are interrupted by the soft voice of Sylvia.
"Do you need anything, miss?"
"I'm fine, thank yo
u Sylvia."
I hear her quiet footsteps leave the room.
Then, I fall into a deep and dreamless sleep.
I wake up in the morning feeling refreshed. My head is still filled with a pounding ache, but it is one hundred times better than yesterday.
I put on a beautiful rose-colored cotton dress and wait impatiently while Sylvia curls my hair. We work together to obscure my black eye and bruising with a thick layer of makeup but the discolored skin refuses to be hidden. After a while my face looks better and I tell Sylvia it is good enough. Then I leave the room quickly before my parents wake up.
Hans
I see her in the morning and she looks awful. Her face is swollen and a horrible black eye cannot be fully obscured by makeup.
"Bella, what happened?" I ask her immediately, worry clouding my voice.
"I tripped." she tells me quickly. But Bella won't look me in the eye, so I know she's lying.
"You're the most graceful girl I've ever met. I don't think you've ever tripped in your life."
"Yes I have." Bella tells me haughtily.
"I don't believe you." I say. Then my tone switches to pleading. "Bella, please tell me what happened."
She's close to tears, but manages to hold them back.
"He hit me."
"Who?"
"My father." Bella says miserably. " I was so stupid, I stole my mother's necklace because I was mad at her. I wore it to the ball and then.... and then..." she stutters, "I lost it!"
She's shaking now, so I pull her tight.
"He was mad, Hans. So mad." She buries her face in my shirt. I don't know how long I hold her. One thought keeps swirling through my head.
I did this to Bella. All this is my fault. If I hadn't stolen the stupid necklace, none of these things would have happened! The guilt is horrible. It sits like a pot of boiling lead in my stomach. I feel sick, horrible, awful. I would gladly take all Bella’s pain as my own. It’s a million times worse to watch someone you love suffer than to suffer yourself. Especially since the suffering is completely my fault. How could I have done this to my girl?
I wish I could give her father a piece of my mind. With any luck, maybe my job will allow me to sometime in the near future...