Of Fangs & Fins ✔

7. Stay with Me

Song Recommendation: Timmies, Nineteen95 - don't fade away

Seven.

Eryn.

London was somewhat prospering during the early 1500s. With plagues breaking out here and there, labourers were needed at an all-time high, wages were high and rents were low.

Geoffrey Harleston and I became betrothed around 1520, our parents arranging it faster than I was prepared for. Father thought I wouldn't find anyone. It would be good for business, the Harleston's owned the most prestigious goldsmiths in Strand, a street that was cramped and busy full of people. I was rarely allowed in Strand. I was to stay at home, planning the wedding with girls whom I barely knew and avoiding his mother.

I'd left my family, leaving them on the outskirts of the hustle and bustle. I never got to say goodbye to Lee or Emery. Geoffrey promised I would see them often. He also promised he would find them work. He made a lot of promises.

Geoffrey was a Merchant Adventurer. It was a stupid name, I always said. However, he was a busy man. He made frequent trips to places like Calais and Antwerp, ignoring the calls of his family business. Instead, he made a business of his own, selling wine. We became extremely wealthy after that, marrying shortly after and moving into a two-story Tudor wattle and daub house. It was a very lonely life. The house was too big for me to spend my time alone every day, waiting for him to return each night.

Geoffrey was off doing different things and I fell into a long depression as reports of plague getting worse. Geoffrey wanted a child, but I was too wary to birth one. With the state in London, I foresaw it getting worse but he didn't listen. Why should a husband listen to his wife?

There was a night that I could remember as clear as day, and it was the night Sybil found me.

Geoffrey was on in way back from Calais. I spent the day talking with the wives of Geoffrey's friends. Dimwitted ones, that was for sure. I spent the whole day talking about tedious decorations in their homes that they didn't like.

"Excuse me, ladies," I murmured, lifting myself from my seat and making my way to the kitchen. Because of the sicknesses getting worse, I insisted to no longer have fruit in the house. Geoffrey thought I was losing my sanity, but somehow, I knew it would be worse before it got better.

I was right, that ignorant fuck.

Elizabeth Anne, the wife of a man who made me appreciate Geoffrey more, walked into the kitchen with me.

"They're a bore." she groaned, pulling off a bonnet that was tied tightly around her chin. I kept my eyes off her, my stomach tied in knots. I heard rumours of what would happen to women if they were found out.

"Punishable by death," I muttered, staring off into the window.

"Hmm?" she muttered, taking a step towards me. I knew why she was here alone with me. She expected me to kiss her first, the excitement of being with a woman maddening.

I ignored her, knowing that this was being too frequent and too risky. As much as I appreciated her bosom, I knew the precautions needed to be taken.

Elizabeth darted to me, cupping my cheeks and staring eagerly. Her eyes begged for me to lean down.

I was a tall woman, and my father would often tell me to wear flatter shoes so men would find me sightly. My blunt jawline and long piercing eyes weren't ladylike to him at all. He would say I was a miracle I found Geoffrey when I did.