Ignoring the fact that the author intends for Shelphie and the maid to be together and harping on about, "but it wasn't really annulled" seems kind of ridiculous. It was a short one-shot, probably with an agreed-upon page limit since it was an anthology, and the author either didn't feel the need to go into the specifics of the actual annulment or didn't have the space. I have no problem believing this is an alternate universe where Shelphie could just say, "I'm not marrying that man," to her father and his reply would be, "ok."