Lady Ann's Holiday: The Final Chapter - Part Thirteen

By the time they reached the stable there was no longer any connection between them that Ann could sense.

The fact that Burt had once been another person was completely unnoticeable. He was just a servant like any other, who seemed even to have given up on his infatuation for her. He was just a working class Yorkshireman with no breeding beyond what he needed to remain servile to his betters. He made no eye contact on the walk back and gave only a deferential doff of his cap as he took up Rosebud’s rein and led the horses inside and out of sight.

Harry was present, waiting for their return, presumably to chastise Burt for riding the horse, but when he saw Ann he restrained himself, presuming perhaps that she had already done it.

Ann stood for a moment, watching, as Burt put away her father’s stallion then take Rosebud toward her stall, smiling contentedly.

He seemed happy… in a way she hadn’t been when she was a man. It occurred to her that this entire series of events might have been set in motion by some higher power to rebalance things: to take a frustrated and bitter young woman with no purpose and give her a different life where she was a simple but useful enough soul, doing her duty proudly every day.

Though if that were the case, what resolution did she have? She still felt confused and slightly unhappy. She didn’t feel as though she had found her happy ending.

Though perhaps her story wasn’t yet over…

Ann sighed, turning her back on the little world of the stable and on Burt as he continued to work hard and she walked alone back up to the house.