"Who are you?" the two say simultaneously.
Once again both their hands fly to their mouths and surprised gasps follow.
Questions swirled through their minds as they took in their unnerving similarities in appearance. Physically speaking, neither could see no difference save the other's hair color.
Disbelief makes both girls momentarily forget the little animal standing between them, and with her big honey brown eyes Doe looks between the two amazed girls.
After she picks a fallen treat from the dirt, with yet another wide-eyed look she takes off deeper into the woods, leaving the two strangers still staring at each other in shock.
Luanne is first to break the silence when she answers the earlier question posed. "I am Luanne, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss uh... " She trails off unsurely hoping the woman before her would take it as her cue to introduce herself as well.
Leanne instead bypasses a cue she ought to have politely taken and in a most unladylike manner eyes her suspiciously. "You're the stranger I called out to in the town square aren't you? I felt there was something familiar about you but this..."
Luanne's smile had faltered by now both embarrassed at being slighted and confused. "What? When ever did that occur?"
Leanne purses her light pink lips and gives Luanne a quick once over in an attempt to tell whether she was lying or not.
However, she couldn't tell so she replied her carefully -slowly letting each word past her lips as she tried not to give too much away. "Never mind that now."
"Alright, but I am curious so please pardon me if you find this intrusive but may I know how old you are?"
Leanne frowns deeply wondering if the question was part of some set up unbeknownst to her before finally answering the said Luanne's question. "Seventeen, why do you ask?"
"Curiosity is one reason. But now that you mention this I am of the same age as well, my date of birth is on the third day of the third month..." Luanne says trailing off, her suspicion beginning to seem more likely.
With uncertain eyes she looked back up at the fair lady wondering if she had heard the last portion of her sentence before she trailed off.
"Likewise, how odd. Is this where you have grown up?" the woman in question says having heard her.
Could it be that- Preposterous! she thought to herself, shutting down the fearful consideration.
"Well around this area. But my place of residence with my parents is a short walk from here..." Luanne says with a gesture to a cottage in the far off distance behind her. "...what about you? If I may ask that is."
"I am Leanne and I live in the much more reserved area of Hampshire." she says disdainfully.
"Oh my, so that is your name? Of all the names you could have been named..." Luanne says ignoring Leanne's condescending tone and accidentally wonders aloud.
"And just what are you insinuating?" Leanne asks with a challenging look in her eyes which were now narrowed into slits.
"Oh, I am sorry if I have caused any offence or said anything unseemly. I was merely trying to make some sense of the situation -something I had intended to do within myself and not to your hearing." Luanne replies exercising the long suffering that she had learned from many years spent reading the Bible and interacting with people.
But there was only so much she could take as a human and she was praying that the Holy Spirit would continue to give her the strength to be gentle and not fan the embers Leanne seemed to carry around with her.
Leanne cocks an eyebrow and looks at Luanne in disdain. "Hmph. As much as I'd like to uncover why you have my face I have something more urgent at hand. I was involved in a carriage accident and my driver has been gone for a fairly long time. I do believe I may require some assistance in getting back home before dark."
Immediately after the words left the well-dressed woman's tongue a short worried looking man emerged from the thick forest trees to both women's surprise.
"Oh Miss, there you are! I have been searching all over this jungle for you."
Leanne rolls her eyes and turns around. "Forest Smithers, it's a forest."
He hunches over with his two hands on his knees breathing heavily.
"Yes, as you call it Miss." he says quickly agreeing with the daughter of his employer and comports himself.
Leanne sighs and turns back to look at Luanne. "I do not know what to make of this opportune meeting but since I presume Smithers has come back with help thank you for everything Miss Luanne, I shall be on my way now."
"I'd prefer it if you call me Luanne, and I'm glad to hear that. Could I however have some form of contact with you?" Luanne says with a hopeful look that revealed her pretty dimples. The very same dimples Leanne seldom allowed people see, since she rarely smiled genuinely and a mere tight lipped smile wouldn't prompt its appearance.
Feeling a dull ache in her chest and she lowered her high walls a little. If she truly had a sister she wanted to know her even if the prospect for some reason chilled her bones.
Luanne's bright hazel eyes softened her resolve even more and she found the words spilling out of her mouth before she even realized it.
"Meet me here again tomorrow by noon then."
"Okay, if God wills you'll see me here by His grace at the time you have chosen. Goodbye!" Luanne says cheerily and Leanne nods almost smiling herself -much to her chagrin.
"Very well, goodbye to you too." Leanne says before she turns away and takes Smithers' outstretched hand. Luanne turns back to make her way home as well.
Before reaching the narrow exit of the forest Leanne takes one more look at the girl she felt a strangely familiar connection with. It's like a part of her she didn't know had been sleeping was stirring awake.
How could that even be? So many questions, emotions and considerations welled up inside her on the road home that she forced her mind to pause for a moment so she wouldn't become dizzy and faint.
A conversation with a certain brown eyed boy, a carriage accident, and now the possibility of a twin sister. This day had been full of so many surprises she didn't know what to expect anymore from her once 'monotone life'.