Recluse Island

Chapter 13

August 1845

"Oh, Genia, you look so beautiful," Sally Rose gushed.

Eugenia slowly ran her hands down the skirt of her gown. It had been her mothers, or so Sally Rose had been told. Eugenia had been so relieved when the trunk she had packed it in had washed ashore otherwise she would have nothing but a simple day dress to get married in. And though both women knew this was common practice Eugenia had explained if her mother could not be present at her wedding or the birth of her children then at least she can stand before the man she would call her husband in the same gown her mother wore when she married her father.

The gown was satin Eugenia's mother had stitched it herself, carefully measuring and cutting though her mother had known none of her family would be present as they did not approve of her marrying a simple carpenter named Misha Ovechkin. Keeping with the times it was modestly done with quarter length sleeves, a square neckline with a nipped in waist and a full skirt.

"Robert won't know which way is up when he sees you," Sally Rose declared, handing off to Eugenia her homemade bouquet of butterfly jasmine and purple bougainvillea.

Eugenia accepted the flowers with a shaking hand. Sally Rose could tell her friend was nervous even though Eugenia always knew she would be getting married; these certainly hadn't been the circumstance she expected, Sally Rose thought her dreadfully lucky. Robert was a good man, he would treat her well, a far cry better than that Byron Huntsville!

Sally Rose sighed, she couldn't wait until it was her wedding day, and she was able to become Gauither's wife. Ever since she recovered, she believed she had gotten a second chance at life and didn't want to waste a minute. But Gauither being Gauither and therefore realistic and logical insisted they wait to marry until they were back in Taylor's Landing. He seemed convinced Sister Francesca and her niece Belle would be disheartened if they learned they were not at her wedding.

Perhaps Belle but she wasn't so sure about Sister Francesca especially after her leaving without a word or a note of where she had gone. She didn't expect much of a welcome when they returned. From birth Sally Rose had lived at St. Kilian's Convent raised primarily under the watchful eye of Sister Francesca now in her early sixties the woman had ensured over the years that Sally Rose never strayed from her duties. She rose and attended mass every day, helped cook and clean and care for the poor and homeless. And though she had expressed many times that she did not want to become a nun, Sister Francesca had never listened.

In essence she was left with no other choice but to run away. Although she did feel bad about the unnecessary worry that she was causing Belle. Isabelle or Belle as she had always instructed Sally Rose to call her was the daughter of Sister Francesca's brother Lucifer. Her mother died when she was young and so had spent a lot of her upbringing at the church while her father was busy - he was a doctor and constantly traveling.

Belle was seventeen years older than Sally Rose. Sally Rose always thought it odd she had never married; she was a beautiful woman with long dark hair and warm brown eyes. When she smiled it lit up her whole face while her laugh was both comforting and infectious. Belle insisted that she did not care to ever have a husband or a family and that she was content to spend her days helping at the church. Though if that were so Sally Rose often wondered why she herself never became a nun.

Belle is the only one who supported Sally Rose in her decision not to join the sisterhood believing Sally Rose should live whatever life she wanted so long as she was happy. It was because of Belle's understanding on this issue that Sally Rose felt so guilty about not telling her where she was going. The two had always been honest with each other, more sisters than friends so she knew Belle would be angry when she came back and learned of what she had done.