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Ch 35: Sweetened bitterness
publish date:
2025-07-27 02:08:56
Latest chapter
The War Bride Ch 40: How to welcome a husband
A month had passed since Lord Darrell rode for Greymont.True to his word or perhaps to his discipline, letters arrived each week without fail. Brief, precise, and often maddeningly restrained. He wrote of weather, of progress, of the state of the men. Never of himself.I read each one carefully, twice over. Searching for something more, and emotion but caught nothing. But my heart would calm, filled with relief that all was well.Life within the estate had settled into a rhythm that felt… incomplete.My relationship with Coral had changed in ways neither of us acknowledged. We still dined together each evening, seated across from one another at the long table, exchanging polite inquiries about the day.We would talk about the garden, the weather and her son. How he was growing up so fast. And then silence would fall again, heavy and suffocating, filled only by the faint clink of cutlery.Whatever ease had once lived between us was gone, replaced by something fragile, strained, and
The War Bride Ch 39: Two letters, Different recipients
The halls smelled faintly of parchment and beeswax, and servants moved briskly about with the order of chaos of a household in motion.The butler stood beside me, staring down on the ledger I was holding."I want provisions sent to Greymont," I told him. "Dried meat, flour, grain and salted fish. Whatever we can spare on the storehouses. And medical supplies. More than what Darr....Lord Darrell took."He inclined his head without questions. "My lord will be pleased by your support.""It's my duty," I said my fingers twisting together before I stilled them against my skirts. "He left in a hurry, I have a feeling he didn't carry much."The butler’s eyes softened with something close to approval. “If I may, my lady… provisions alone will not ease a soldier’s burden. A letter from you would carry him farther than any cart of grain.”“I was going to,” I murmured, feeling a rush of warmth to my cheeks, though whether from shyness or stubbornness, I could not tell.Later, in the stillness of
The War Bride Ch 38: I knew nothing
The morning was bright, almost too bright, as if the world had chosen to forget the uneasiness of days before. Spring had fully taken hold, the air soft, the sky a washed blue, and the garden lined with plants no longer dull and filled with life.I stood by the tulip beds, my fingers brushing on the petals the shade of blush and gold. The air felt light and the beauty spring brought soothed me.A bubbling coo of a baby came behind me.I plucked a tulip and turned around.Coral stood there, her hair catching the morning light, her gown paling against the fresh greenery. In her arms, she carried Julian, wrapped in snug white linen. A maid followed close behind, carrying a basket and a blanket draped over her arm.My first instinct was to turn away before she saw me. I wasn't ready, not with Juliane gnawing on my mind, not with confusion curling tighter in my chest everytime she came to my mind.But her gaze was already resting on me.So I smiled. A small, practiced, polite..... anything
The War Bride Ch 37: Lies and Worries
I sat there, teacup cooling in my hands, but the taste was lost on me. My mind circled back again and again to the duke's words yesterday, as though they were words imprinted in my mind. I couldn't pry them off.Juliane.A name I had never heard until yesterday. Yet now I held a new secret I had no business holding. Was it a secret even? Coral never mentioned the name. Not once. Her husband was a guilt she held in her heart. Just wistful sighs and half–smiles. To others, he was deceased. And never a brother to a man who now haunted my mind.I tried to read, but the words on the page slipped away. I tried to embroider, but I ended up with a million pricks in the same spot. I gave up and sat by the window, watching the gardens where it had all happened yesterday. The willow still stood there, a witness to it all.Who was lying?The question had made me sleepless. Coral's tears and guilt stricken face, the duke's genuine expression, a rawness he was ashamed to show, .....who was I goi
The War Bride Ch 36: Juliane and Julian
My steps fell softly over the gravel path, my cloak brushing against the flowering hedges. It was peaceful here, deceptively so. I breathed in deeply letting the warmth of the sun settle over my skin. Just as I rounded the lilac arch, a blur of movement startled me. A wild hare darted across the path, no more than a whisper of fur and muscle. I gasped, frozen for a moment, stunned by it's speed. I didn't know they were so near the residence. The groundsmen should be worried of burrows being dug in his garden. As I was staring at where it dissapeared to, and arrow whistled past my ear, grazing the air with deadly precision before burying itself in the bark of the willow tree just ahead. I screamed, the sound torn from my throat as I stumbled backward and fell hard onto the path, gravel biting into my hands. My heart thundered in my ears and the world started spinning for a second. "Lady Clara!" Boots pounded the ground. The duke appeared in my vision as I blinked up. Bow in hand
The War Bride Ch 35: Sweetened bitterness
The embroidery needle paused between my fingers, hovering over the delicate floral needlework that no longer held my focus. I'd tried all morning to quiet my mind with the meticulous stitch work that my mother once claimed could cure even the most restless soul.But not today. Not when my soul felt like a wound still bleeding and aching.A knock sounded on the door."Come in," I said without looking up.My maid, Lara, stepped in quietly, her hands folded before her apron. "My lady."I nodded, resuming my needlework with feigned calm."I've brought you a fresh pot of tea," she said, setting the tray down on the side table. "And....some honeyed biscuits."I nodded, again.She didn't budge."Thank you, Lara," I said my voice shadowed with tiredness. "Is there anything else?"She hesitated. "Lord Darell and the his grace went out hunting in the southern woods."I didn't reply, but my hands stilled.She then continued, carefully. "I told Lady Coral as you instructed. That you were unwell
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