*ON HOLD* Cora Crawley had another brother. Her brother married and had a beautiful daughter named Evelyn Levinson. When a mysterious fire burns the Levinson home, 6-year-old Evelyn was the only survivor. Cora takes in her orphaned niece - and this...
Evelyn blinked. "It's too early for me to do deep thinking. Thank you though. I'll think on it." She glanced up at the clock. "I better get outside. Scold him if he's one minute late. Bye!" She downed the last of her coffee and hurried out of the door.
Mary was making her way in just as Evelyn rushed by her. "Bye Mary! Have fun on your walk!"
Mary chuckled. "You as well," She strolled into the breakfast room and smiled. "Goodmorning, Papa."
"Goodmorning, Mary. Sleep well?"
She poured a cup of tea and nodded. "I did, yes. So I was thinking..."
"Uh oh."
She chuckled. "No, nothing bad." She took her seat at the table. "You said you planned on getting Evelyn a kitten for her birthday?"
"I did."
"I had a thought: Why don't you suggest the idea to Matthew instead? He'll be here for her birthday, but he'll be leaving again shortly after. I think it might give her some comfort to have something she can love that came from him when he leaves. Knowing that he picked it out for her, helped her with the name. Their first child, if you will."
Robert thought for a second before smiling. "I think that's a wonderful idea, Mary."
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Evelyn stood in front of the mirror by the entrance, rebraiding the end of her loose braid. She tugged a few strands free by her face before taking a step back to look at her dress. While it was Spring, it was a rather cloudy day with a chilly breeze - hence the need for sleeves. But, Evelyn was grateful for the buttons on the cusps if she would have any need to roll them up.
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Pleased with her appearance, she opened the front door to nearly be whacked in the head by an oncoming fist. Matthew immediately retracted his hand and went wide-eyed.
Evelyn chuckled. "Perfect timing." She looked down to his hand to see a small bouquet of white and lavender baby's breath flowers.
"If I would have been a second later I would have been the cause of a second broken nose."
"Third."
His brows raised. "What?"
"Nothing."
"Oh...ok." He held up the flower, nervously. His gaze reminded Evelyn of a young schoolboy asking his crush to the fair - it was precious. "These are for you. There was a little cart on the way here and I thought they were quite pretty so..." He extended them out to her.
She grinned and took them gently. "They are very pretty. Thank you."
He nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Let me hand these off to a maid and I'll be right back."
"Ok,"
As Evelyn descended back into the house, Matthew huffed and shook his head. "Pull yourself together...you know her. You've known her for years. You were going to propose to her for goodness sake now you're acting like a fool."
