Chapter 4: New Life

The driver picked her up at her home the next morning. Though Adam had promised her that everything she might need would be provided for her, she still packed a few of her essentials that she thought she couldn't live without.

Or maybe she just wanted a little piece of her home with her always.

So she'd packed a small duffel bag, and hugged her mom on her way out, promising to call her every day and keep her updated on what was happening around her. She also promised to visit at least once a week.

Her mother warned her again, about being careful around her new family. Even if they were family, they were part of a different world entirely.

Abigail promised to remember everything her mother told her, and went down to the parked car. It was the same driver from yesterday, and Abigail got the impression that he was now assigned to her as her driver.

The security detail was still waiting in the same spot as before. And once Abigail was in the car and driving, they followed behind.

__________________________________________________

The drive to the house was about half an hour. Her father's property was close enough to still be in the city, but far enough out of it that the smoke of the city and light pollution probably wouldn't reach it there.

Abigail wryly wondered if his company was responsible for any air and light pollution that he had moved so far out to avoid.

Soon, they arrived at the large gates to the Mansion, and the security driver placed his finger on the thumbpad, opening the gates.

From the gates, it was at least another five-minute drive before they reached the house proper. And Abigail was a little lightheaded at the size of the property. But there was absolutely no doubt about the entire thing, the land was absolutely beautiful.

The lawns were well manicured and cared for, and the trees and shrubbery trimmed to perfection.

The car pulled right up to the steps, and Abigail quickly pulled on the car door and let herself out. She saw her father standing on the steps, speaking into his phone.

He was here at least, Abigail reasoned, even if he was distracted, he was at least here.

She climbed the steps quickly to greet him, she hadn't realized how much she had missed him. But having longed for her father all her life, and then suddenly meeting him, it was like she was a little girl again. And suddenly it was her old seven year old longing, brought to the surface again.

"Adam," Abigail said, hurrying up the steps. "Hi, I didn't know you would be here to greet me."

"We'll talk again alter," Adam said into his phone, and then turned to Abigail, putting it away. "Of course, I wanted to give you the tour myself of the place. And do introductions properly. Charlotte was furious that I met you yesterday all alone. She very much would have preferred if she got to be there too."

Adam phrased it like it was meant to be something good, but Abigail got the impression that it was anything but that. She didn't press into it, though.

"Where would you like to start the tour?" Adam asked his daughter. "Inside or outside?"

"Outside, please," Abigail answered.

She had seen the almost forest on her drive through the place, and she would love to get a better view. Besides, she highly doubted she would be able to get a full tour of the inside in one hour, and it seemed like Adam worked his time on hourly schedules.

And also, she would be living here, she could explore the inside whenever it was too cold to go outside.

But she wanted to see the trees.

"Then the gardens it is," her father answered.

Adam indicated for her to step down again, and then followed her off the steps and directed her around the side of the house.

"I won't bore you with details you're probably not interested in," Adam started. "What I will say is this, we have our own cherry, orange and apple orchard. We also have a few scattered trees of various fruits, and we have our own vegetable garden just behind the maze."

"There's a maze?" Abigail said in awe, looking around, it looked like they were approaching some of the trees; Abigail wondered which fruits they were.

Just then, one of the servants came running up to them. He looked like kitchen staff, wearing an apron and everything.

"Sir, we have an emergency, Emerald," the waiter sounded out of breath, but still not a speck of dust on his uniform.

"Oh, damn, what now?" Adam cursed. And he started to follow his waiter inside. "Erhm, Abigail, I just have to deal with something quickly, but you can continue walking around for a bit, and I'll send someone to come and get you as soon as the situation is dealt with."

"Oh," Abigail said, but Adam had already started walking away from her. "Sure," she told his form, too far away now for him to hear her.

She turned back to the thicket of trees, maybe she could see for herself which fruits these were.

The garden was larger than anything she had ever seen, and she decided she absolutely could not go back into the house right now. She had to see as much of it as she possibly could, forgetting for a moment that she was now living here.

Abigail wandered as far into the gardens as she possibly could, the trees getting denser. She still saw no fruit on them, and she wondered if she had maybe taken a wrong turn somewhere.

She wondered who the landscaper was, they obviously hadn't gotten to this part yet. Then again, it probably was a very big property, even a company would have their hands full seeing to everything over here.

Abigail looked back over her shoulder, trying to see if she could see the way back, and didn't see where she was going. She knocked her feet against something, losing her balance.

She shut her eyes, and held her arms out in front of her, waiting for the impact of the ground to hit her.

But it never came.

"You can open your eyes, you know," a man's voice answered. "You're not going to fall."

Abigail opened her eyes and quickly righted herself, leaning against the hard muscles of the man that had caught her. His eyes were a liquid brown, a little darker than her own, staring down into her. This close, it was almost possible to tell the exact shade of his eyes, his pupils widening as he stared at her.

"Oh, erm, thank you," Abigail said, trying to disengage herself from him.

She stepped back a little too quickly, and knocked into the metal on the ground again, and nearly collapsed again.

The stranger caught her again.

"Is this your first time outside?" The man asked, a little coldly. "You need to watch where you put your feet, you know."

Abigail quickly disengaged, but carefully this time.

"No," she started to answer, but she could tell her voice had an edge in it, and she quickly reeled it in, controlling herself. "No, but you're right, I should have watched where I was going."

"Obviously," the man answered.

Abigail found it a little bit of a challenge to keep her voice controlled that time, but she managed it.

"Thank you for catching me," she said, matter-of-factly, a sincere and warm thanks was beyond her now. "Mister . . . "

"You can call me Mark. And just try not to make it a habit," the man responded, barely glancing at her, turning back to the trees and surveying them.

Abigail was beginning to wish he had just let her fall. She was sure a scrape on the face would be better than this kind of savior.

"Miss Woodtriche!" She heard a voice calling her. And he was a little far for her to correct him, so Abigail, not really wanting to remain in this man's company any longer, decided she would just answer to the name.

"I'm through here!" Abigail turned her back to Mark, and started towards the sound of the voice.

"Thank you again for saving me, Mark," Abigail spoke, a little softer this time.

But she hurried away before he could respond; there was only so much sarcasm she could take in one day.

The staff member from earlier found her as soon as Mark was gone from her sight, and lead Abigail back to where she had originally gotten lost.

"Ma'am," the wait staff told her, as he led her through the brambles. "Your father is waiting for you inside."

__________________________________________________

Abigail spotted her father, just inside the grand doors, two women standing by his side.

"Abigail," her father introduced her. "I'd like you to meet Charlotte, my wife, and Olivia, your half-sister."

Olivia seemed disinterested at best, and Charlotte seemed outright disgusted by her presence.

Abigail swallowed back the emotion welling in her throat. This was not going to be as easy as she thought it would be.