TURNING PAGE | ❝I surrender who I've been for who you are.❞
After the loss of her husband, Winifred Erstwhile must come to terms with her new life amidst her grief. In a world where society views her through the lens of marriage, the widow slow...
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1810.
"IT IS CERTAINLY A RELIEF to have you back home on English shores, brother," says Hugh. He, along with the rest of the Erstwhiles — including Winifred — are gathered in the drawing room at the family's ancestral home to celebrate the return of Joseph from his fighting overseas. It had certainly been a pleasant surprise to hear. Even though he fought valiantly, it was thought that he would be of great use back home, on civilian duties and monitoring unrest.
Joseph has not changed too much. He just feels older, somehow. When he first reunited with Winifred, she could see wisps of reddish-blond stubble coming through on his face. But he has been telling stories of the battlefield to his family with just as much fervour as he would imagine them before he was sent overseas. He can make what Winifred feels are horrors of battle sound like glorious feats. Although sometimes, when he thinks no one else is looking, she swears she can see flashes of weariness in Joseph's face.
"It is a relief to be back," Joseph says, instantly reaching for Winifred's hand and squeezing it.
Solomon lets out a proud chortle, setting his cup down on his saucer. "Bless me! What fine gentlemen my sons have turned out to be. Hugh will carry on the Erstwhile estate with shining example, Laurence is on his way to becoming a fine barrister, and my youngest... no less than a brave soldier."
Everyone in the room lets out a slightly self-deprecating chuckle, often the usual response to Solomon's enthusiasm and eccentricity.
"But Joseph, my boy, I would not mind some grandchildren..." the old man winks, half between sincerity and sarcasm.
"You already have grandchildren!" Hugh points out, referencing his own daughter and two sons.
"Well, I say the more, the merrier! And unless Lance has a wife we do not know about...?"
"In your dreams, Papa," Lance grins.
The family laughs again, only this time Joseph and Winifred falter. They exchange a slightly nervous look between them, one which he masks better than she does. Perhaps he does not feel the same degree of doubt that his wife feels, about any prospect of them having a family together. She has seen how quickly the women around her were able to have children — Madeline, her sister-in-law, the list going on and on. But after three years of marriage... nothing.
