A Christmas Brothel by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-22T18:00:00+00:00

“You are being awfully brave.” The girl, Nancy, helped Emmaline fix up a cot in her room. “If I had a family, I’m sure I’d be blubberin’, had I to leave them.”

Emmaline sighed and smoothed a quilt over the cot. “The truth is, I don’t have much family left. My sister and mother were both taken by a fever years ago, although Father said that Mother’s broken heart was as much to fault for her passing.” She pressed her lips together. “He looked out for us, for my brother and I. As well as he was able, I suppose. But he was older than my mother, and I think his heart suffered the same ailment. He just gradually . . . declined. Now it’s only me and my brother left—and his new wife.”

“Ohhh . . .” Nancy nodded with understanding. “A new wife in the house. One who doesn’t care for the competition of a daughter of the place? Seen that one before.”

Emmaline sat down. She didn’t know if she felt grateful for the empathy or chagrin at being a cliché. She nearly felt the weight of the measuring glance Nancy ran over her.

“But—a girl like you? Pretty, with fine manners and blue blood? Why don’t you have a beau to get you out of this predicament?”

She rolled a shoulder. “I did have one once. A real beau. That is, one who cared for me, as much as I adored him.”

Nancy’s brows wiggled. “Handsome, was he?”

“So very handsome! He has Welsh blood, so he’s dark of hair and eye, with fine, lovely features.” She sighed.

“Well, somewhat must have been wrong with him. He ain’t here.”

“Not a thing! Not in my eyes, at least.”

Nancy shook her head. “Tsk. Yer da’ didn’t take to him, then?”

“No, neither my father nor my brother approved of him. He is a chef by training and very successful. He had his own thriving business—a tea shop in Dover.” She took a deep breath, full of remembrance. “He was lovely. We would meet in out of the way places and we would talk for hours. We took long walks and he would always cook for me—and bring along the most amazing treats.”

“And you didn’t grab him up?” Nancy sounded amazed.

“I would have. But we were discovered before I could break it to my father. And a man in trade—” Her eyes closed. “My family would not countenance it. I was to marry a title—or at the very least, a fortune.”

“Had someone else in mind, did they?”

“Yes. They turned him away. I should have fought harder. I tried to find him in Dover, but he’d left before I could get there. Hired away by a grand lord to cook at his estate. I . . . I thought my life had ended before it had truly begun. I stayed in my room for days, just wrapped in grief and anger. I . . . I said horrid things to my father.”

“Many a girl’s done the same, Miss, but I suppose none of us has ever died of a broken heart.

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