( 𝐘𝐎𝐔 )
Penelope Brooks was not a stranger to being in love, men chasing after her heart like it was a game of tag in a small playground- she loved love. So when her path crosses with the love-detesting Jo March, she is determined to prove her wr...
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BLEAK MORNINGS almost never occurred in the Brooks household. Martha was either up making a ruckus or Penelope was roaming the halls humming a tune, the sound of a sewing machine from Ethel or Tobias complaining about work to his family.
So when the house was quiet, it confused the family members. Penelope had not made her way out of her bedroom for breakfast. Ethel popping her head in afterwards, worried that Penelope had come down with something.
"Darling," Ethel saw Penelope sat on her windowsill, still in her nightgown. The soft material falling off of the surface. "Are you alright?" Ethel made her way over to Penelope, who hadn't moved to even acknowledge her Mother's presence.
"Yes," She lied. Penelope had not been able to stop thinking about her quarrel with Jo March. Perhaps Jo was right... Perhaps love was for fools? No, of course not. Penelope was not about to let some woman that she had only known for a short period of time to alter her perspective on love. Penelope loved everything about love. The comfort, the warmth, the way your heart speeds up when you see your beloved. Jo March could not change the way Penelope felt, she refused to let it happen.
"Well, that simply is hard to believe," Ethel sat across from Penelope, her eyes still didn't meet her mother's, "Would you like to talk about it?". Penelope remained silent. Ethel knew her daughter, knew that her feelings were about to start pouring out.
"It's just that-" Penelope sighed, "That I don't think that it is a bad thing to want to be in love," Ethel was shocked by Penelope's intense tone, she had never heard her daughter be so hard-spoken. "I would like to be in love very much, I would like to get married and I would like to be someone's forever, that is not silly of me." She burst, her breaths heavy with fits of passion, "Just because I would like to be loved by somebody doesn't not make me invalid and it certainly does not make me any less of a woman!"
Silence fell over Penelope's quarters. The only sound was the blowing wind outside. Ethel took in her daughter's words, she could tell that it had been bothering her- that she probably needed to let that out.
"Why would it make you any less of a woman?" Ethel asked, "Why does wanting to be loved make you any less valuable?"
Penelope thought over her Mother's words. She knew that it didn't, that wanting to be loved was not a crime.
"Jo thinks that love is for fools," Penelope let a tear fall. Ethel dabbed it away with her handkerchief. "But, I am not, I am so much more than that" Penelope didn't want to cry, but it was too late, "It sounds so pretentious, but it has hurt me,"
"If Jo thinks that love is for fools, Jo has never been in love," Ethel smiled.
"Be friends with Amy instead!" Martha's voice sounded out. Penelope turned her head to see Martha, who had been listening in at the door the entire time. "Amy is kind and funny, she's a great artist" Martha came in and sat on Ethel's lap.
"I just don't want Jo to think so little of me," Penelope sniffed.
"Oh, I doubt she thinks little of you, I saw how much she lit up when we arrived at the Laurences. You two are great friends, don't let that go over this," Ethel advised. Penelope knew she was right, there had not been a day in her seventeen years of living that her Mother wasn't.
The doorbell rang throughout the hallowed halls of the Brooks estate. All three of the Brooks women looked at each other in confusion, they had not planned for visitors. Penelope held on to a slither of hope that it may be Jo, that she had come to apologise for everything- that she was ready to travel the world together a few years earlier than planned.
Penelope and Ethel shared a knowing look, Penelope smiled as she got up from the windowsill. She rushed down the spiral stairs, her bare feet padding against the polished wood.
Martha and Ethel followed closely behind, anticipating Jo's arrival. Penelope quickly caught her breath and smoothed down her nightgown, ignoring the fact that Jo did not care appearances, she was more fond of the mind. Penelope slowly turned the doorknob with closed eyes, excited knowing that when she opened them, Jo would be standing there; But she wasn't.
