This is the continuation of the story that started on May 24th, 2011 "My story begins" (link). Read below...
“I am sorry friend my mother wants you gone.”
“Why?”
“She sees you as a threat?”
Jefferson chuckled “A threat to what?”
“My mother wants Fiona to marry a rich man, some one who can keep her in a fine house and a luxurious life style.”
“I am going to be a lawyer.”
“I know but,” Charles didn’t have anything else to say. “My mother does not make sense but she wants you gone and I have to be the one to tell you. She sees you as threat and that’s all I know.”
After that Fiona didn’t see Jefferson all night not even a glimpse of him in the gatherings. But the next morning when she woke up she found a note under her door.
My dear Fiona,
Perhaps you think I shouldn’t address you so informally after all we have only just met so I do apologize in my forwardness. I know your family does not want me to see you ever again as they fear I will mess up the plans they have for you. But I say one must follow their heart no matter where it might lead. I hope your heart leads you to me as my heart has lead me to you. Once again I apologize for my forwardness, I just never know when I will see you again and if I don’t I must tell you how all that I feel. Dearest Fiona I hope you listen to your heart and follow it truly.
Yours always,
Jefferson Cromwell
After that Fiona and Jefferson wrote for months on end through her brother and even agreed to marry through letters. When Cornelia got wind of this she had Aurhur threaten to remove Charles inheritance if he helped anymore. Then after Charles’ marriage to perfection itself, Isabelle Cummings, Cornelia saw Fiona and Jefferson’s love still blooming she decided that she would take Fiona to Europe in hopes that would break up the couple but Fiona spent almost two years but that didn’t stop the couple and one night while Fiona and Cornelia were in Paris she ran away with Jefferson and they got married in London. Apparently Jefferson had tracked them down and persuaded Fiona to marry him and now. He thought once they were married the Danfords would accept him but as soon as the news got to Aurthur of his only daughter’s elopement he wrote her out of the will providing nothing for her or any children she might have. She was now penniless.
Jefferson was convinced they would be fine. He was an up and coming lawyer in the Stone and Calvin Law Firm the second biggest law firm in Boston. But then a year after they had their second daughter Emmy, Jefferson’s father got terribly ill and Jefferson thought it was only right to run the families publishing firm. Unfortunately at that time Jefferson took control over the company it was already sinking and it sunk further still during Jefferson’s reign. Eventually the family had to move from their small brown stone in the Back Bay to the apartment above the publishing shop. One of the main reason’s they stayed a float as long as they did was that Fiona was secretly borrowed money from her friend Iris who in a twist of fate ended up happily married to Alfred Dumont. But after Jefferson died from a slow painful disease that the whole town learned of the Danford’s horrible debts. Fiona had to sell most of their possessions from Jefferson’s large book and record collection to some of her jewels she had run away with when they got married and even some of their girls dresses and dolls. She had allowed them to keep some of their favorite things, Laurel kept a dress, Emmy two books her father had read to them every night and Gloria kept a doll she never let go of. Once every thing was sold and most of Jefferson’s debt paid Fiona packed her girls and their few belongings and made their way back to her mother’s house.
Though Fiona wrote to her mother it was obvious she wasn’t well received. No motor car or carriage came to pick them up at the Pittsfield train station. Fiona had to pay a man with a cart to drive them to the outskirts of Pine Haven where he had a farm and from there she and her girls would have to walk. Half way to Pine Haven it began to rain and with each passing minute the girls got more and more drenched. The farmer’s wife recognized Fiona persuaded them to have a cup of tea but the girls were still wet and chilled when they left the farmer’s house. But not until Fiona saw Miss Pembers’ utter shock had she realized how little her and her girls would be received in her own home. Fiona was almost going to turn back and return to Boston but these were her girls. She need them raised in a warm home not a gutter and she need them to have a good education not just a job in a factory. These were her daughters and no matter what cruelties her mother would throw at her she was going to deal with it to make sure her daughters had the best life possible.
Miss Pembers could hide the girls arrival for a few days as Cornelia health was failing and she spent days in bed. But when Cornelia learned the girls were living in her house she was surprisingly calm. She admitted the Danford lineage could not be shamed by this and that she would take the Cromwell girls in and make sure they got the best that Pine Haven offered. But no extra money could be spared for their dowry when that time came and therefore the girls were still piratically penniless minus fine clothes they received from their Grandmother and a fine education they received from Pine Haven’s school.
Eight years had passed from that time. Laurel the oldest was now eighteen and was by far the prettiest. She had perfect golden auburn hair like her mother and like her mother had sparkling deep green eyes. But her mannerisms were quite plain, she kept mostly to herself and she kept her looks modest. With all her simplicity and gentle manner every one in town found her pleasing. The middle daughter Emmaline was such tom boy every one called her Emmy. She was nearly sixteen and still stuck in her awkward teen years waiting for the day she would bloom like a Lilly. But that day had not come and she felt herself questioning every move she made. Her mother though saw some of the charms Jefferson possessed in Emmy. They both had a soft heart and a deep passion for life. Had Emmy known the tender spot her mother had for she might not have looked so poorly upon herself. As she held a strong belief that she was plain. She looked at her almond blond hair and saw it was common and her hazel eyes that had a soft blue sparkle to them as generic. She thought her skin was too pale
and hated the countless freckles on it. But a romantic she compared herself to Guinevere, Juliet or even Miss Elizabeth Bennett none of which were described as having plain looks and lots of freckles. She longed to look like Laurel who seemed absolutely perfect both in look and action. Laurel was never scolded for speaking out of turn or day dreaming. Laurel wouldn't dare get a rip in her dress by climbing trees or getting her petticoats muddy because she wadded in the river. No Laurel did nothing wrong. But then again Emmy thought if she did nothing wrong she wouldn’t have any of her adventures and dull life would be then. It was her adventures that kept her going when she could not spend all day cooped up inside doing needle point or carelessly playing the piano. And it was in the woods that surrounded the garden, the woods that her grandfather had once loved that she found the most life in.
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