Chapter Two - Charmed Life

Who on earth was Annabeth?

The question floated around my head all through the day. Through dinner, through the washing up, through my favourite show (Mr What, of course, the shapeshifting alien from Sixam!), I couldn't really concentrate on anything but that.

Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. "Mom, I'm going to my room," I announced, and she stared at me, but smiled after a minute.

"Talking to someone?" she asked, winking, and I blushed hotly.

"No! Oh my Plumbobs, Mom, no!" I stomped away, glad to have an excuse to go. Mom was always checking in little ways like that if I had a boyfriend yet. She was the prettiest girl in school at her age, and had a host of boys with crushes on her when she was still in pigtails.

Me? Not so much.

I slammed my door, and locked it for good measure, before picking up the pillow and reaching for the photo album.

The next photo was a picture of Annabeth with the same man, heavily pregnant this time, and again doing the soppy romantic staring. There was a pumpkin behind them, so I guessed it was October, sometime.

Below that photo was a picture of a woman in sunglasses, her hands on Annabeth's stomach. They seemed pretty close, the two of them, from the way Annabeth seemed to be laughing, and I wondered if this was the person who had taken the picture above, and the previous picture of Annabeth and her partner.

The photos on the opposite side were both around the same time - one of Annabeth carving a pumpkin, and one of two pumpkins either side of the door. They seemed a bit angled, actually, and I guessed the man must have snapped them.

The next pages were sweet. A nursery, empty, obviously waiting for a child, and then the other photos were all of a baby girl.

Her parents obviously loved this little girl so much. I smiled, and checked the back of the photos, but there was no writing on any of them to give me a clue about the little girl's name.

Annabeth certainly seemed to lead a charmed life. A baby to love, and a husband who loved her. What I couldn't figure out was what the photos were doing in our house, seeing as I had no idea who she was.

Chapter One - Annabeth, My Love

It all started when my mother told me to clean the spare room at the top of the house out. It was, she said, too dusty up there, and I needed to take up a cardboard box and fill it with stuff to give away.

I couldn't really argue (she does, after all, have the power to ground me) so I took a box and went into the room, which is pretty much filled with other boxes, and started going through them. Old baby clothes, which I put into another box so Mom can give them to my cousin when she has her baby, old toys, books, clothes...everything we stuff in the spare room, pretty much.

Right at the back was this massive box filled with photo albums. I stopped sorting and sat down, picking one out at random and expecting to see a childhood photo or something as I opened the pages.
But I didn't at all recognise the woman in the first picture. 

I stared at it, wondering if she could be a great-grandparent, but I doubted it. I didn't even recognise the house behind her.

It was weird.

I looked at the next photo, but it was of the same woman and a man, so close that they were obviously together. The look in their eyes was tender, and it made me smile slightly.

Turning the page, I found another picture of them in that garden, tending to boxes of plants. I wondered who had taken the pictures - one of the family, maybe? A friend? It had to be someone close to them.

Under that, a candid shot of the woman looking out across the garden. She really was very beautiful, in that sort of pale blonde way.

The right hand page had a more intimate photo, taken presumably by the man. The woman in pyjamas, late at night.

And then a picture of a lit candle.

I went back to the front page, and slid the first photograph out of its cover, noticing something written on the back.

Annabeth, my love.

I stared at the photo. I didn't know any Annies, Beths, or full Annabeths in our family. Who on earth was this woman? I tried to think of what I knew of her.

Happily married, with a husband, in a beautiful house. Had a garden, and a candle. Was beautiful and happy.

Not exactly groundbreaking stuff. I put the photo back in place in the album, and was about to flip back to the candle photo when I heard my mom coming up the stairs. For some reason, I feared getting caught, and stuffed the album in the baby clothes box, to look at later.

"Honey? You done sorting?"

"Yes, Mom!" My voice came out in a guilty squeak, but Mom just picked up the box and smiled gratefully, which made me feel even worse.

"Don't worry, we'll have this all sorted out before you can say boo! It'll be nice when it's all done." She looked around, and I nodded quickly, standing in front of the baby clothes box as she carried it out of the room and started to head downstairs.

Oh, gulp. Only one thing to do now. I picked up the photo album, and stuffed it up my shirt, heading off to my room as soon as she was all the way downstairs. Quickly, I put it under my pillow, and rushed downstairs.

I'd look at it later, for sure.