Chapter 15 Unwritten
Chapter fifteen
Unwritten
Rose
There comes a day when a woman stops believing the story written about her and begins writing the one she was born for.
— From The Mysterious Deep: A Comprehensive Understanding
The night was alight with stars and a full moon, keeping them company.
I stared out the window of the carriage, trying to calm my nerves, which were fraying at the edges.
Running my hands together, I thought about everything that could go wrong.
Maybe Edmonds would go back on his word.
This could all be an elaborate plot to improve his name.
Three pirates for the price of one. Maybe Lord Smith wouldn’t bend like I believed he would. Maybe James would-
“Hey, it’s all right,” Oscar slid his hand into mine.
I turned to see him and struggled to take the next breath. I hated how thin he was, and even though he’d shaved and was wearing clean clothes, the last few months were written onto the circles under his eyes.
“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner,” I whispered.
He lifted my gloved hand and brought it to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on the back of it.
“You are perfect, Rosie. I couldn’t ask for a better sister,” Oscar said.
My eyes stung, and I turned back to the glittering sky for comfort. It felt too real. Emotions bubbled up when I wasn’t ready for them. It made it hard to take the next breath, which might have been because I wasn’t used to a corset anymore.
“I might have put in a few requests for better siblings if anyone asked,” Oliver grumbled across from us.
“Why do I get the feeling you all are scheming?” Roberta said next to him.
She was beautiful. A year later, and she was the spitting image of Ruby and Mother.
Blond curls carefully placed over her shoulder complemented her deep blue dress.
The only reason anyone would think we were sisters is because of the green eyes we shared.
Otherwise, her soft jawline and slim figure were all our mother.
“Us? Scheme?” I gasped. “Unthinkable.”
Oliver snorted and shook his head, but a muscle feathered on the side of his jaw that was tightly clenched. I was convinced Oscar, and I had taken years off his life over the past two years.
“You three always have conversations that don’t make sense to anyone else. It’s very rude and irritating,” Roberta said, glaring at me as if I were the problem.
“You could have gone in the other carriage,” I said.
In fact, it was exceptionally inconvenient that she insisted upon joining us rather than going with our parents and Ruby. I’d been hoping to have a few minutes to review the plan, but Roberta could not be told anything once she had made up her mind.
“Forgive me for wanting to spend time with my siblings,” she huffed.
“And we are happy to have you, Bertie,” Oscar said with a grin.
Roberta’s mouth fell open, and she glared at him, eyes flashing.
“Do not call me that!” she said.
Oscar held up his hands, and a half-cough, half-laugh broke from him.
“You used to like it when I called you that,” he said.
“When I was a child!” she hissed.
Despite the tension I carried, I let the river of amusement carry me. Roberta was always high-strung and convinced she knew everything.
“Yes, Oscar, don’t you know you are talking to the future Lady Braddock?” I smirked.
Oliver let out a booming laugh, and Roberta sniffed, shooting me a scathing glare.
“It was more peaceful when you were in Paris,” she said.
“Do you think the giant mole on his neck is contagious?” Oscar asked.
“Absolutely,” I agreed.
“Undoubtedly,” Oliver said.
Roberta stomped her foot and pointed at each of us with a single finger.
“The three of you are the worst. He’s a very respectable gentleman.”
I nodded gravely. “To be sure. His stutter is most becoming.”
My brothers laughed, but Roberta scoffed and pushed herself further down the seat away from Oliver.
“At least I have prospects and won’t be a spinster,” she said.
The laughter died down, and the sting of her words fell over me like wind to the sea. Oscar shot me a warning glance, and Oliver groaned and looked to the sky for assistance.
“Oh, Roberta, being Lady Braddock will suit you just fine,” I said.
She narrowed her eyes and glanced at me and then out the window, some of the fight going out of her.
“I always liked James. I still like him,” she sniffed.
“Roberta,” Oliver warned.
“It’s fine,” I waved him away.
Roberta and my younger siblings wouldn’t know the truth of why I ended my engagement, and part of that meant them blaming me for it. I’d gotten used to it. James knew how to be likable and worm his way into the good graces of others.
“Why did he tell people you were engaged if you weren’t?” she asked.
I took a long breath. “I don’t know.”
It was a lie, but the truth was too much for one carriage ride.
“You are going to make a scandal tonight, I just know it. Ruby says that it wasn’t right for James to lie and that he deserves to be humiliated for it, but it’s selfish. What will Lord Braddock think of it? He will probably think we are prone to scandal.”
I reached across and rested my hand on her knee. “If he runs away at the first sign of trouble, then he isn’t the one for you.”
Roberta clicked her tongue and pulled her leg away, glaring at me.
“That’s easy for you to say. You don’t care what anyone thinks of you,” she said.
I suppose that was true in a lot of ways. It was hard to argue with her. I wasn’t wise or worldly. Whatever advice I offered her would be twisted and thrown back in my face.
“Thank God we’re here,” Oliver said a moment before he turned pale. “Actually, maybe we should just go home.”
I smiled up at him just as Roberta protested loudly.
“Too late now,” I said.
Sure enough, Fairview Manor was alight with dancing torches illuminating white stone and peaked roofs. A year later, and it hadn’t changed in the least bit. It was still beautiful, no matter what lived inside its walls.
The carriage came to a stop, and I steadied my breathing.
The last four months were all for this moment.
If I lost faith now, everything I’d done would be for nothing.
I was strong. Even though my crimson dress was made of silk and chiffon and the shoes on my feet were heeled and delicate, I was still a captain in my own right.
I may have hung up the title, and my dark hair was curled and tied back like a proper lady, but I knew who I was now.
A year ago, the voices were loud inside my mind, telling me everything I wasn’t. Now my own voice was louder than all of them. I would not falter.
The carriage door opened, and I sucked in a long breath, adjusting to the corset and the fluttering inside my chest. Oscar got out first and held out his hand to me. I was more than I was a year ago, and my brother was back at my side. There was nothing I couldn’t do.
When I stepped out, he pressed a kiss to my forehead.
“I’m proud of you, Rosie,” he said.
The words chased some of the flutters away, and I sank into them. We’d been through a lot recently, and both of us changed more than we knew what to do with, but at the end of the day, it was us against the world.
“Let’s get this over with,” Oliver murmured. “Are you sure I can’t change your mind?”
“Change her mind about what?” Roberta asked, emerging from the carriage.
I shook my head.
“Nope.” I smiled sweetly at my eldest brother.
“I told you it’s impossible, Oliver. No point in even trying,” Oscar said.
“My conscience says I must,” Oliver answered.
I gently pushed my shoulder into him, and he sighed. Maybe it was worse than a few years off his life; it might have been closer to a decade.
“Someday we will all laugh about this,” I said.
“Doubtful,” Oliver and Oscar said at the same time.
“Mama, Rosamund is scheming!” Roberta called.
I turned as she slinked off to where our mother was leaving her carriage. Mama met my eyes, and instead of the scolding I deserved, she nodded once, her delicate lips pinched. The urge to hug her was insistent, but if I wavered now, I wouldn’t find the courage later.
The gravel shifted beneath my feet like my own conscience wavering under the weight of a single moment.
Every step mattered to the frantic beating of my heart.
No one warned you that facing your demons was terrifying.
It was meant to be empowering in the stories, but the reality was shaking hands and shaky breath.
The heat of the torches ran over my skin in the December wind like a reminder. I was my own woman, and I made my own choices. I’d faced sea monsters and death over and over. James Allan was nothing compared to that.
The hall of Fairview was just as I remembered it.
Stone gargoyles that had once reminded me of wraiths now appeared tame compared to what I now knew lived in the Glass Sea.
Their haunting eyes that followed me held more life than the dead guarding the sea.
I stared down at the plush crimson carpets embroidered with a swooping falcon from the clouds, and in an instant, I saw what Bash had done.
His flag that I mocked was the antithesis of the Smith crest. A skeleton beneath blood clouds.
A tribute only he and his father would recognize.
The ballroom was still stunning. Gold inlaid with silver tendrils and oval windows dressed with snowfall silver curtains. The chandelier at the center sent a shiver through me with its sparkling diamonds illuminating the light cast below.
“Lord Bailey, Lady Bailey, Mr. Oscar Bailey, Mr. Oliver Bailey, Miss Rosamund Bailey, Miss Bailey, and Mrs. Hardy,” announced the servant with a great bellow.