Love in 1865

Chapter One

I often wondered about what I was going to do with my life, but things change- like my mind- with time. Father and Mother tended to ask me what my plans were a lot, and unlike my sister Adalaine, my ideas were far more modest. However, she has been able to achieve and master these goals where I am still dreaming about my own. My sister had always wanted to marry Paul, the Lord Munkres' son- which she did-, she wanted to have a family- which she did-, but what she never realized or planned was that she'd die due to complications of childbirth. I was the first of the family to be notified of her passing, and I was the first to hold her sons, but unlike the rest of the family, I never had a chance to grieve, I never had a chance to move on, and I never stopped receiving advice about how to live my life.

It's been almost a year since her passing, and those three things still haven't changed. Everyday that my sister has been gone I have been checking on her kids, Gerald and Timothy, and paying my respects at her grave. Today was no different as my father brought Paul to our home and highly suggested that I needed to talk with him about my nephews. Thinking nothing of it because I figured he was still grieving, I put my hood on and began to walk around town with my sister's widower. We were heading off the main stretch of road that went toward the "Book&Tailor Shoppe" when he stopped and looked at the busy streets. Paul was an ordinary man despite the wealth that came from politics and being a lord's son. Other than that, I knew very little about him, but he just wasn't special enough to be remembered. Every "decent living man" in my town has a wife, kids, trusty hounds, a bad drinking, gambling, or smoking habit, a lacking vocabulary, and a somebody they would sneak away with during the day. To lose one would make you a laughing stock.

"I spoke with your father, Gwyneira, and I have decided that I want to keep you and your family involved in Gerald and Timothy's lives." I curtsied slowly. "Thank you, merciful Paul." His attention turned to the church with a sinister declare, "But in order for you to have access to the boys, you must become my wife and raise them with me." Appalled by such a demand, I looked to Paul and no longer saw loss and pain on his face, but it was painted with greed and lust. I drew a step back as he asked impatiently, "What do you think, fair Highton girl?" "I think it a fool of you to ask me such! If you ever loved Adalaine, then you would never ask me to betray her." I tried to keep cool and levelheaded, but he stood domineering over me with an angered brow. "Your sister is dead, there is nothing to betray." I continued to take evasive steps in the opposite direction as I planned an escape. "Did you even love Adalaine? My sister? Did you even mourn her loss or did your tears mean celebration of the bachelor in you still?" I watched as Paul balled up his fists and dashed past him in a sprint. If there is one thing you do not do, it's anger an entitled white man- unless you are a stronger one. Feeling dejected and slightly weak, I continued to pass through the crowd and into the cemetery to visit my sister for the third time today. Just when I thought that I had caught my breath, Paul came from behind with a rope at my neck. "You will do as I say or you will end up beside her, wench!" I kept kicking and struggling while I gasped, "Then meet her again I shall!" But the more I fought, the tighter the pull on the rope. I was running low on oxygen and fight when I heard a whistle and I fell to the ground.