"You're offering me a rose?"
"Aren't roses a way of saying I love you?"
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In which [Y/N's] noble and honored family's money starts to decline and they find the only way of staying out of the ruins is to fix their daughter an arranged marriage.
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I ran towards Daisy just as she turned the corner into the heart of town, sunlight catching the cream-colored folds of her dress as she walked with arms outstretched, her face lit with joy. It had been months since I last saw her, and ten long days since I'd seen Tewkesbury—I missed them both, though in different ways.
"Daisy!" I called out, hurrying toward her.
She threw her arms around me, and we hugged tightly, the kind of embrace that seemed to stitch time back together.
She pulled away first, her smile beaming. "When did you return from your honeymoon?"
"Just a few days ago," I replied, squeezing her hand. "It was everything I dreamed of."
"You could've come to visit," I teased gently. "I've so much to tell you."
Leaning in, I lowered my voice. "Phillip's gone."
Her expression dimmed. "I heard. How are your parents?"
"My father's been wonderful. He told me not to worry about Phillip... But my mother's taken it harder. You know how she is. She barely speaks to me since he left."
Daisy shook her head in quiet disapproval, her lips pressing into a sympathetic line.
"But enough about that—tell me about you! How was Paris? How was everything?"
She smiled, but something in it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Lorenzo is... wonderful. He takes such good care of me. He even paid for everything I bought while we were there."
I laughed softly, shaking my head in amazement. "That sounds lovely. But what I mean is—what's it like to be married? All those dreams you had, everything you told me before... did it come true?"
Daisy's smile lingered, but it faltered. "It's like what you imagined when you met Tewkesbury," she said playfully, reminding me of the night I confessed to her the stirrings of something real.
"Yeah?" I asked, searching her expression.
She nodded again, but I could feel it—something held back. Something unsaid.
"You're not really answering me, Daisy."
She hesitated before replying, "Lorenzo's a good man. I love him." Her tone was firm, but her eyes slipped away.
Before I could press further, she shifted the conversation. "Come on, let's grab some tea. There's a shop just down the street. I want to hear all about Tewkesbury. Has he finally met your family?"
"No... not yet," I admitted. "But we're planning to introduce him soon."
I glanced at the clock tower and sighed. "I should go. I promised my mother and Aunt Josephine I'd meet them at the church. If I'm late, you know how my mother gets."
