12-02-2019, 04:08 AM
Olivia's face pinched together tightly at her sister's words and tears welled up in her eyes, but she bit them back, lips parting slightly as a low growl left her lips. Pearl riled her up with those words, and she wouldn't soon forgive her younger sister. She fired back coldly.
"And what if he does, Pearl? What if he was kidnapped and has had to fight his way to freedom and only wishes to come home to his betrothed? If you were him, how would you feel to go back to where you belong, only to find your future wife in the arms of another, having forgotten you entirely? If I move on, if I let him go and let the hope of him returning slipping from my mind, am I any better?" Her voice raised an octave as she spoke, and she wasn't done.
She rose swiftly to her feet, aggressively approaching the younger Carrington as she added the log to the fire. In that moment, the fact that Pearl was sick did not register at the top of her priorities. Her eyes glistened as she reached out to sharply turn Pearl toward her in a desparate bid to make eye contact.
"I will not take off my ring, and I will not give up hope that he will return. You'll pry it off my fingers over my cold, dead body." This time, her voice dropped low. "If I give up on him, what reason do I have to go on?"
It was no secret that Olivia's hang up on her betrothed affected her in the most detrimental ways. She did not drink wine when she went to the local establishments. And there was talk of the young woman becoming an alcoholic, with how often she sat alone at a table, sipping at a glass of whiskey. No one ever approached her, save for family members--and often that came with chastisement.
To say that Olivia became unadmirable in the wake of her husband's cold feet was an understatement; the woman was on a fast track path to becoming a spinster. The gentlemen callers had stopped coming weeks ago, and the only ones that dared show up at the manor seeking Olivia were family members.
"And what if he does, Pearl? What if he was kidnapped and has had to fight his way to freedom and only wishes to come home to his betrothed? If you were him, how would you feel to go back to where you belong, only to find your future wife in the arms of another, having forgotten you entirely? If I move on, if I let him go and let the hope of him returning slipping from my mind, am I any better?" Her voice raised an octave as she spoke, and she wasn't done.
She rose swiftly to her feet, aggressively approaching the younger Carrington as she added the log to the fire. In that moment, the fact that Pearl was sick did not register at the top of her priorities. Her eyes glistened as she reached out to sharply turn Pearl toward her in a desparate bid to make eye contact.
"I will not take off my ring, and I will not give up hope that he will return. You'll pry it off my fingers over my cold, dead body." This time, her voice dropped low. "If I give up on him, what reason do I have to go on?"
It was no secret that Olivia's hang up on her betrothed affected her in the most detrimental ways. She did not drink wine when she went to the local establishments. And there was talk of the young woman becoming an alcoholic, with how often she sat alone at a table, sipping at a glass of whiskey. No one ever approached her, save for family members--and often that came with chastisement.
To say that Olivia became unadmirable in the wake of her husband's cold feet was an understatement; the woman was on a fast track path to becoming a spinster. The gentlemen callers had stopped coming weeks ago, and the only ones that dared show up at the manor seeking Olivia were family members.
