Annabel Verhoven’s Trophy Box

Annabel Verhoven’s Trophy Box: Object Post 35

Source? Annabel presumably bought or repurposed it to hold her trophies

Significance? The box’s existence told Tom quite a bit about Annabel’s motives

Fate? Annabel is supposedly off the menu, but it wouldn’t be too surprising is she still has that box in the bottom of her wardrobe

Author’s inspiration? Oddly enough, this is inspired by Mum’s present drawer

First appearance? The Kissing Ring

Annabel Verhoven was a single mother who took the occasional lover. She was reasonably discreet, but she had a little habit of collecting a trophy from each of her men. Tom Merriweather, a one-off lover simply because it was less embarrassing to agree than to refuse, was nonplussed when one of his socks vanished. He was much more annoyed when he discovered Annabel had taken his tiny silver tom-tom, a charm his mother had given him years before.

Annabel is pretty shameless…

I don’t suppose you’d let me take your photo, lying like this and looking happy?”

“I don’t suppose I would either.”

“That’s what I thought. Pity. It would have been something nice to put in my trophy box.”

“Your what?”

“My trophy box.” She moved her hand a little lower. “I have a dried flower, a silk cravat, a button, a napkin with a heart on it, an earring, a lipstick, a cuff link, a keyring and a pair of red paisley underpants.”

“Is that all?” He was rather amused, suspecting she was making it up.

A lipstick?

“There are one or two more. If you won’t let me take your photo, I’ll make do with one of your socks.”

“You will not.”

She did, though, and it took quite a bit of persuasion before Tom got it back.

[Tom] pulled on his shirt and sat down to resume his shoes and socks.

One of his socks was missing.

“Annabel?”

“Out here!”

She was in the kitchen, dressed in jeans and the same cross-over top she’d worn when he first came to dinner. Her hair was tied up in a towel turban, and she was spooning coffee into mugs.

“Annabel, I seem to be missing a sock.”

“Oh? Is it under the bed?”

“No, I expect it’s in your trophy box. I want it back.”

She bit her lip. “Oh. Can’t I keep it?”

“No.”

“Please?”

“No! You’re not keeping my sock. That’s just creepy.”

She sighed. “I’ll go and get it. Pour the coffee, will you?”

He poured the coffee.

She came back and handed him a brown wool sock.

“Annabel.”

She raised her brows at him.

Wordlessly, Tom pointed to his feet, one bare, one clad in a white athletic sock. “That’s not my sock.”

“Oh.”

He folded his arms. “Look, just get my sock for me, will you?”

“Okay.” She went off, bearing the brown sock and returned with a white one.

He hoped it was his.

Later, after Tom got his little tom-tom back, he decided to buy something for Annabel’s trophy box. The thought of giving it to her brought him to his senses…

Annabel Verhoven and her trophy box appear in The Kissing Ring

ABOUT THE BLOG

Sally is Sally Odgers; author, anthologist and reader. You can find you way into her maze of websites and blogs via the portal here.(Sally is me, by the way.)

The goal for 2017 was to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. 2017 is well behind us, but I ran out of year before running out of books. As of June 2018 I STILL hadn't run out of books, but many of those still to come are MIA by which I mean I don't have copies and remember little about them. There are more new books in the pipeline, and I'm certainly showcasing those, but in between times, I'm profiling some of my characters, places and objects. Thank you so much to everyone who's come along on this journey so far!