An Unexpected Romance

A Handsome Stranger

Selina woke with a start. While the sun was shining into her room, that wasn't what was waking her. The friendly chirp of the birds on the tree branch by her window didn't wake her. It wasn't the smell of breakfast. It was her father. Harshly shaking her shoulder to get her to rise from her slumber. Harshly waking her from her dreams of the tender softness that used to be her father before the tragedy that was her mother's death.

It wasn't that her father was harsh he wasn't gentle either. He struggled. With the constant reminder of his late wife in the eyes of his daughter, whom he loves very much. It's hard for him to show any gentle affection toward Selina.

"Selina. Get up. There's work to be done," her father pulled the covers off of her and walked out of her room. Before he closed the door he looked at her in the way he usually did. As if he didn't know how to talk to her, "You have ten minutes. Best get to it."

Selina watched as her father closed the door before she got up from bed and moved to her wardrobe. Changing from her nightgown into a dress fit for farm work, she braided her hair and pulled the long braid into a bun. Her gold hair shone in the sun. Her mother looked back at her through her mirror. She smiled at the woman looking back at her. She always told herself that if she smiled at herself in the mirror every morning it was as if her mother was right there with her. She only wished she could give her father the same treatment. If only he thought as she did. To her father, her mother was forever gone. It didn't matter how much of her life stayed with them. She was gone.

Selina sighed, her smile fading. Perhaps it was time she excepted the truth as well.

When Selina walked downstairs she didn't expect breakfast to be on the table. Usually, her father had her make breakfast for the both of them. Selina also didn't expect to see a stranger sitting at the table. When said stranger heard her approach, he looked up. He smiled. Selina smiled back, timidly. She didn't know who he was and why he was there.

"Selina, this is Andrew. Andrew, this is my daughter," Selina looked at her father. An unrecognizable look on his face, unrecognizable yet she knew that look all too well. That was the look described in books she would read when she was younger. When her father told her he would never have that look for her. There were a lot of things he promised to never do for her.

Selina saw her father's expression change when she didn't make a move toward the stranger. She cleared her throat and looked at him. She stepped closer and extended her hand to him,"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said.

Andrew smiled, he stood from his spot at the table and reached for her hand with a firm yet gentle grip, "Please, call me Andy. I'm glad to meet you. I've been waiting for a moment like this for a long time."

Selina looked to Andrew with curiosity,"Look forward to what? You certainly don't look like someone who would look forward to meeting me."

"Oh, my lady. I've been looking forward to meeting you ever since your father sent me a letter with your picture in the mail. It's an honor to call you my fiancé."

Hearing Andrew's words made the smile fall from Selina's face. She looked at her father, hurt clear in her eyes. From hurt to anger, Selina's expression changed when her father didn't say anything about the matter.

"Father. I need a word. Now."