Chapter 3 - The Announcement

In the few months between the twins' birthday and the day he collected them from the barn, Bill began to organise almost every aspect of their lives, and that of their mother. He continued his work around the village and in his spare time, worked in the stable. He did not allow anybody in to see what he was doing. Sometimes Anna and Rebecca crept in while Bill was working in the village. Although they had their suspicions that he had a hidden motivation for being in their lives, there was no evidence. Bill was far too clever for that.

At first, the girls' mother was reluctant to carry out Bill's plan, but he was very careful with the introduction of more food into Rebecca's daily meals. It was such a gradual increase that neither Rebecca nor her mother noticed. In fact, their mother thought that Bill had changed his mind. Rebecca quite happily ate everything she was given and often seemed to doze off after her meals. Her mother noticed that she was becoming lazier and going out less often, much to Anna's frustration, but her actual weight gain was so slow that it was barely noticeable.

Now Bill walked behind the girls, watching Rebecca's rounded rump as she strolled home. Tonight, everything was going to change...

Anna and Rebecca barged into the house, still chattering excitedly, but they stopped as soon as they saw the kitchen table where a large feast was laid out.

"What is this?" muttered Anna. Rebecca shrugged.

"I see you've noticed our special dinner," said Bill smiling, as he walked in behind them.

"Special?" asked Anna

"Absolutely. Take a seat; we have something we need to talk about."

Anna looked at Bill suspiciously, but Rebecca did not need telling twice. The days of being given a little too much to eat several times per day had gradually stretched her stomach, and now the sight and smell of the food on the table made her mouth water in anticipation. Without thinking, she reached out for a savoury pasty, but her mother slapped her hand.

"Rebecca! Wait for the others!" she snapped.

"Others?"

"Y es," laughed Bill. "Did you think this was all for you?"

Rebecca glowed red, but Anna demanded to know who else was coming. Bill exchanged a glance with the girls' mother, who gave a shy smile and nodded.

"Anna; Rebecca... As you know, I came here with sad news, but your mother was very kind to me. Over the last few months, I have grown very fond of her, of you all in fact, and well, I am pleased to say, your mother has indicated that she feels the same." Bill spoke slowly and clearly; this was obviously a speech he had rehearsed. "Anyway, I am delighted that you are the first people we are going to tell. Last night, I asked your mother to marry me and she agreed!"

Both Anna and Rebecca stared at him, mouths open in shock and lost for words.

"Bill has been very good to us," said their mother, taking advantage of the silence. "I don't know how we would have coped without him."

Before the conversation could continue, there was a knock at the door and several of the villagers came into their home, thrilled to see the food spread on the table. Bill welcomed them all individually by name as though he had lived there his entire life. There were handshakes from the men and squeals of excitement from the women as the engagement was announced. Anna and Rebecca were largely ignored and while Rebecca took the opportunity to fill her plate with pies and cakes, Anna drifted around the crowd listening to what they were saying.

"... may be able to control those two girls..."

"... perhaps those children will learn to show some respect..."

" ...wanton hussies..."

Anna was shocked. She had no concept of her reputation as an immoral and ruthless young woman and genuinely could not understand why or how it had happened. There was no way she could find out either as every time she approached one of the guests, they turned up their nose at her and looked away. Feeling sad and rejected, she went to find Rebecca who was sat on her bed with a plate of cupcakes she had taken from the table while nobody was looking.

Anna closed the door and leaned against it.

"How has this man managed to take over our life?" she asked

Rebecca did not answer; she just nodded and took a bit from a cake covered in strawberry icing and filled with jam.

Anna frowned at her sister.

"I think you need to slow down with the cakes a bit," she said.

"What do you mean?" asked Rebecca. Anna crossed the room and poked Rebecca's waist.

"You are beginning to get love handles."

Rebecca looked at Anna with annoyance, but said nothing. Instead, she made a point of finishing the cake and picking up another.

"Well, it's up to you," said Anna with a shrug. "We need to go downstairs and stop this... whatever it is."

"Yeah," replied Rebecca with a mouthful of cake. She shoved the last piece into her mouth and licked the icing from her fingers. Anna said nothing, but she did give a small sigh of disgust which Rebecca either did not hear or chose to ignore.

They crept down the stairs, looking for their mother, but there were even more people from the village now, making movement around their small house difficult. They tried to push their way through the crowd found themselves shunted back towards the stairs every time they were making any progress.

"This is ridiculous," muttered Anna.

"I know! It's like they were all trying to stop us!" replied Rebecca. "They must know something we don't!"

"I think all that sugar is going to your head," said Anna. "Not everything is a conspiracy."

As they spoke, Anna say a flash of colour out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look and noticed a gap in the crowd leading to a figure in a green robe. Although she could only see dark red hair around the hood, Anna instinctively knew that this was not somebody from the village. She nudged Rebecca and nodded towards the stranger, and slowly, the two sisters began to cross the room.

Unlike before, the crowd seemed to separate in front of them clearing a path to the figure who turned towards the girls and smiled. She was only slightly older than them; maybe in her early twenties and very attractive, although more striking than beautiful. She had very dark eyes and bright red lips, their colour exaggerated by the paleness of her skin.

"Hello girls," she said. "Bill has told me all about you." She reached out and stroked Rebecca's belly before adding, "I must say, he has chosen very well."