After She Said 'I Do'

The Start

It was a rather cool summer morning in Amherst and Emily was up with the sun, lying under the tree while she breathed in the crisp air. She could tell that Autumn was quickly approaching with how much the weather had been cooling down and she was happy. Summer was just too hot, especially for the girls who have to wear their big dresses, corsets, and hoop skirts. It was all too much.

Why do men have it so easy? She thought. It's not fair, really. Men can get an education, pursue any type of career that their heart desires and can vote. What about women? All that is expected from women is being a good housewife, and that was far from what Emily wanted to be.

As she laid under the tree, her mind began to wander. Thoughts of Sue and their stolen moments all summer flooded her brain. Emily was in love with Sue and the love was definitely reciprocated, but it was still very complicated since it was forbidden. Two women together romantically? Emily knew if anyone found out, it would cause complete chaos. Not only was Sue the wife of Emily's brother, but he was also aware of their relationship that happened in the past when they first got engaged. Austin had no idea that the relationship between his wife and his little sister was still happening.

"Oh, Sue," she whispered, followed by a sigh. "Why can't I shake you?"

Emily knew the relationship realistically could not work. She tried so hard to fight temptation and did so for quite some time. Before she and Sue rekindled their romance a few months prior, they had hardly spoken to each other for more than a year before that. After Sue and Austin got married, she was constantly busy hosting and throwing Salons. The girls had casual conversation in passing, but it was very different than what it had once been before Austin and Sue got married. Once they did, the girl's relationship came to a complete halt. They remained friends and were technically seen as sisters after Sue and Austin tied the knot. But Sue and Emily both knew that they could never be just friends, let alone sisters. The bond the two shared was as strong as they come. They told each other everything, did everything together, and had an incredibly quiet, but loving romantic relationship.

Sue confessed to Emily that she was still in love with her. Deeply...madly even. At the time, Emily was furious because of the incident she witnessed in the library. She was hurt and heartbroken—not over Sam Bowles, no, but over Sue. She knew that Sue obviously had an intimate relationship with Austin and she had finally started to get past that and accept it for what it was, but seeing Sue with Sam made her heart drop. At one point Emily believed that she herself was in love with Sam, but in reality—she only thought she was because of how fixated she was on him publishing her poems. In the back of her mind, she always knew she was truly in love with Sue and Sue only. Any of Emily's past relationships were simply just, well, distractions. 

Emily picked at the grass around her while she closed her eyes, thinking about the evening prior. She had spent some time with Sue like she had been doing often recently because Austin and many of the other lads in town were drafted to fight in the Civil War over the past few weeks. Sue did not want to be all alone in the Evergreens and who could blame her really? The house was quite large for just one person and since Austin would be gone for who knew how long, Emily had been going over far more often than she usually would in the past.

Emily never imagined that she would be in an affair with her brother's wife, but at the same time she wondered how Austin could be so blind to the fact that she and Sue were in love first. In all honesty, Emily never believed that Sue loved Austin in the way she had so dearly loved her. Emily had been in love with Sue since they were sixteen years old, and it wasn't until they were both nearly twenty years old that they began to have an intimate relationship. Sue was Emily's first for everything—never had a man she'd been with ever satisfy her or fulfill her love the way Sue always had. Nobody.