Chapter 12 - The Only Daughter
"The last thing I remember?" Yvonne thought of her conversation with that big bird and then how she kept falling and falling until she woke up.
'I better not tell them about my dream, they'll think that I've gone crazy!' She shook her head and then looked at Mr. Toone.
"I remember falling down and then when I woke up, I was on the floor." She pointed at the place next to her bed that she had fallen when she woke up.
"Hmmm…" Mr. Toone just nodded his head and rubbed his chin in contemplation.
"Mrs. Jacinth, where were you when my daughter was on the cold floor instead of her warm and cozy bed!" The mountain man yelled at the auburn-haired woman and she trembled in fear.
"Forgive me, my Lord. I had left to check on the Young Miss' breakfast but when I came back she had rolled on the floor and it seems that she couldn't recognize me. That was when I rushed to inform my lady." The woman named Mrs. Jacinth bowed her head and explained herself.
"Dear, don't be angry. It's her duty to look after Vonny's breakfast." The petite woman placed her hand on his chest and tried to calm him.
This instantly placated the mountain man and he nodded his head.
"Will someone tell me what is going on? What daughter? What breakfast?" Yvonne couldn't take any more of their acting and she yelled out in exasperation.
'This ridiculous voice is starting to piss me off!' She gripped her throat in anger.
"Young Miss Yvonne, last night you fell off a horse while trying to mount it." Mr. Toone spoke to her in a patient manner like she was some child.
'Is this old geezer patronizing me?' Yvonne narrowed her eyes at him.
"You did not sustain any injury thanks to the stable boy who broke your fall but it seems that there was some trauma to your brain." He continued and Yvonne just looked at him as if she was lost to what he was saying.
'I fell off a horse? Me? Who was named as the queen of horseracing in my teens actually fell off a horse? What a load of bull!' Yvonne refused to believe that and waited for him to continue.
"It seems that you might have forgotten a few details of your life. Like your mother, father and the maid who takes care of you." He pointed at them and said in a loud voice.
"You are the only daughter of Earl Rutherford St. Claire and Lady Raylene St. Claire, Yvonne St. Claire." He stressed on the names and Yvonne froze after he was done.
'Rutherford? Raylene? Where have I heard those names before?' Yvonne pulled her hair and tried to remember.
The hair strands in her hands fell forward and she had a good look at them.
'Violet hair? But I have black hair!!' She looked at the maid with panic in her eyes.
"Get me a mirror!" She ordered and the maid rushed to get a silver mirror that was on the table by her bed.
'What is this?' She took the weird-looking mirror and looked at her face in its reflection.
A small chubby face with a cute button nose, big amethyst eyes that shone brightly, soft pink lips and the most shocking of them all was the thick and long deep violet hair.
'Why is this mirror showing the wrong things?' Yvonne touched her face all over and looked at herself from different angles but the end result was the same.
The little girl in the mirror was her, the Yvonne St. Claire that made people tremble now looked like a delicate flower that would drift away with the wind.
"What is this!?" She looked at Mr. Toone.
"This is you, young miss." He said in a confused way.
"But… but.." That was all that came out of her mouth.
Suddenly she felt a shooting pain in her head and everything around her slowly became a blur before she completely lost her consciousness.
As she fell sideways with the mirror still clasped in her tiny hands, she heard shouts of concern and distress from the two people who rushed towards her.
'Mother? Father?' She thought and closed her eyes.
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In a parlor in another part of the house,
"What is happening to my Vonny?" Raylene St. Claire asked in a worried voice and Rutherford rubbed her back and they looked at their family physician with anxious eyes.
"I suspect that the fall might have caused Miss Yvonne to develop mild amnesia." He tapped his cane on the floor as he said this.
"Amnesia? Does that mean Vonna does not remember anything about us?" Rutherford said in a low voice.
"Right now she doesn't. But, My Lord, she might remember it in the future." He comforted them and their faces instantly brightened.
"Did you hear that Ray? Vonna will call me papa again!" Rutherford beamed at his wife and she happily bobbed her head.
"But we still do not know when that might be." Mr. Toone interrupted them and trembled when he saw Rutherford's darkening face.
"Is there anything we can do to help her?" Raylene held her husband's hand and asked in an expectant tone.
Mr. Toone thought about it and then nodded his head.
"According to what I felt from our conversation, Miss Yvonne thinks that she has been kidnapped from her real family. So you need to be careful when you approach her and not scare her away." He suggested and the couple looked terrified by this information.
"Miss might be a four year old child but I've heard stories about her wit and intelligence from many people so try to give her time and space to think and she might see how much you care for her and this might trigger her memories." He said as he stroked his chin.
'My Vonna is a child genius after all!' Rutherford proudly nodded his head and they decided to heed the physician's advice.