After delaying it as long as she could, Isabel Asturias is ready to make her debut onto the marriage market. Like every other mama in town, Lady Asturias hopes to gain an audience for her daughter with the season's most eligible bachelor, the Viscou...
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My dearest Isabel,
All I dreamt of last night was the way your soft lips curl up when you laugh, how pink rises in your cheeks when we are close, and the feeling of your skin against mine. As you can see, I am completely enamored and enraptured by you. When did you cast such a hex on me?
I jest. But know that my feelings are true. As evidence, I wish to ask for your hand, not here in this letter but in a proper setting where we can share our happiness with our families. It seems that happy day will not come just yet, as my plans have been thwarted by my brother's impending nuptials. But after all of that is over, I promise that you shall be mine and I shall be yours.
How about one more rendez-vous in the garden before we must bear witness to my brother's matrimony? I'll be waiting for you where the brook meets the meadow.
Yours (soon-to-be always and forever), Benedict
It had been a day since Benedict confessed his feelings in the rain, and Isabel could still feel his kiss on her lips. She was practically buzzing with delight. Even her housekeeper noticed her uplifted mood.
"Good morning, mama," Isabel cheerily told her mother as she came to the breakfast table.
"You're glowing, mi amor," her mother noted. "Is it a new soap?"
"No, mama," Isabel said with a flush rising to her cheeks.
Her mother gave her a curious look before presenting her with a small paper object.
"A letter arrived for you this morning," she said. Isabel quickly took the letter in her hands with a fervor that her mother had not seen in a long while.
Sofia watched her daughter's eyes light up while reading the letter, a smile growing on her face. It faltered slightly at one point, but it came back even stronger at the end.
"May I ask what has you so exuberant?" she asked her daughter.
Isabel cleared her throat. "It is merely Benedict."
"'Benedict'? Are you so intimate now?" Sofia said with a sly look on her face.
Isabel did not say anything, just looked away shyly.
"Well? What did it say?" her mother pressed on.
"He... merely asked to... meet in the park today," Isabel said, not yet ready to reveal the full contents of the letter.
"Then go to him," her mother urged, and though Isabel wondered if she should be wary of her overly encouraging tone, she gladly heeded her words regardless.
Isabel ran upstairs to grab her bonnet and a shawl. She came back down just as quickly and nearly tripped on her dress during the final steps. She regained her footing, though, and composed herself as she completed her descent.
