Time & Tide - Original Wattpad Version

Chapter Twenty-Six: In Which Jessie is Married

"Please," he said, and it was so sad sounding that I felt wretched.

"Very well. Too kind of you, Mr. Cooper," Margaret said, making the decision for both of us. She stepped aside and Mr. Cooper took her place and I hated everything about that, both literally and symbolically. I took his elbow and tried not to brush my fingers along the bonnet behind us both.

The walk back to the Goodenough house was slow and silent.

When we reached the garden gate, he offered the bonnet again. "I have no use for it besides as a gift for you," he said intensely. "No sisters, no mother. Please. Take it. As a friend."

"It... it's an extravagant gift, even for a friend." I said, trying to catch Margaret's eye. But she was busy staring at her gloves, pretending to pick at a loose thread.. "Mr. Cooper, I don't think I can."

He looked crestfallen. "Please, Miss Franklin. It's the least I could do."

"I," I croaked.

"Please?"

"All right," I said softly, plucking it from his hands. "Thank you, Mr. Cooper."

"It's my pleasure, Miss Franklin," he said. He started to lean towards me, jesus for a kiss, I realized, and jerked back, out of range. He wrinkled his nose, looked away, and dropped a resentful little head bob.

"Good afternoon, Miss Franklin," he said, and turned away and was halfway down the road before I could curtsey or say anything in return. When I looked up, Margaret was already opening the door, Miss Brown helping her off with her own bonnet and light coat. I followed her in, and Miss Brown said nothing about the skeletal bonnet dangling from my good hand by its ribbons like a dead cat. Margaret's coat and bonnet hung from a peg beside the front door, and Margaret was disappearing into the parlor, with nary a word to me.

This was not the kind to "let's go home" I was hoping for.

I hesitated, then called myself a coward. I had started this. I had to deal with it. I undid my jacket buttons and gloves as I walked, knowing the parlor would be warmer than the rest of the house. Margaret preferred it that way. I knocked once, then entered. Margaret was standing beside the desk.

"Margaret?" I said, softly. "I'm about to go into the kitchen; do you want anything?" She was silent for long enough that I thought perhaps she hadn't heard me. "Margaret?" I asked again.

"I find that I do not... I do not like your Mr. Cooper," Margaret replied, staring out the window and winding the helpless drapes in her fingers.

"Yeah. Look, sorry about that, I thought he was just a guy I hung out with, but it turns out he was girlfriend-zoning me this whole time."

"You offered him no discouragement, Jessie," she hissed.

"And how am I supposed to do that in an era where - hold on." I went and closed the parlor door, locking both that and the door to the kitchen to be sure. "Right. Okay. So here's the thing, Margaret, I don't know how to avoid this, okay. We're both single women in a time that tells us, and everyone around us, that we are assets to be snapped up, objects to own, and as far as I can tell there is literally no way to signify that it should stop, that we're not available!"

"And what would you have?" Margaret said, miserably, shoulders hunched.

"Margaret Goodenough," I said, voice shaking, hands shaking, birds fluttering behind my ribs,goosebumps marching up my spine, mouth dry, Christ, I'm going to say it. I'm really going to say it. "Margaret, look at me."

She turned, slowly, her own face blanched, spots of flush high on her cheeks, her eyes glassy and wet. "Jessica..."

Might as well go the whole nine yards, I thought, and got down on one fucking knee. Because why not? Margaret gasped, and I was too far away to take her hands in mine, but I looked up at her seriously.